Immeasurable Worth

Sermon by Pr. Sharai Jacob on the Baptism of Our Lord + Saturday, January 11, 2025.

Our reading mentions the Wheat and the Chaff. Often this metaphor is interpreted to mean that Jesus is going to separate the sinful from the righteous. And in that interpretation, the chaff or the sinful are burned by unquenchable fire. It stirs up a terrifying image of an angry, unfeeling God with a winnowing fork in hand (which looks quite similar to a pitchfork). Backlit by a raging, unquenchable fire tinting everything red in its light. Fork fulls of chaff burning for eternity.

But the thing about chaff is that it is actually part of the wheat plant. It is the outer layers that cover and protect the grain as the plant grows. When it is removed, the grain reaches a new level of potential, becoming flour to be used in many delicious foods. But the chaff is not some separate entity from the wheat. They are one plant. So the image becomes one of a careful gentle God, peeling back the layers of chaff to reveal grain of immeasurable worth. 

Throughout our lives in this often harsh world, there are habits or ideas we find that make us feel safe. They become like our protective shells, like our chaff. When we learn to push past the pain we or others feel instead of confronting it that habit becomes like our chaff. When we keep loved ones at a distance instead of asking for their help that could also be part of our chaff. Some of us adopt the mindset that there is nothing we can do to fix the problems around us and that way we can protect ourselves from the pain of facing the world’s problems. Maybe you’ve learned that others will never understand or respect your perspective because in the past your perspectives were rejected or dismissed. It’s often easier for us to see when others are wrapped in their protective shells, than it is for us to see our own. But we all have them. For some of us the Chaff feels less like protection and more like walls closing in around us. Trapped in a culture that doesn’t quite fit. Trapped in a situation that we just can’t seem to change. Trapped by our own grief or guilt.

Jesus’ promise is not that the chaff - the scars of life - will suddenly disappear. Jesus offers us freedom from them by showing us how to experience new life even while we’re within the chaff.

So what is this new way towards freedom from the chaff that traps us and pulls us away from our communities?

This week a woman at the hair salon I go to, confessed while getting her hair done that her father is ignoring his anger over a secret that was recently uncovered about his childhood. She asked, “He’s irritable and angry all the time. How can we support him when he refuses to accept that he’s hurting?” His inability to be open about his anger and hurt was affecting his relationship with his family. We offered her our perspectives and support, and she left determined to have an open conversation about it with her father.

The gospel reading starts with a community. They were filled with expectation and questions about whether John was the messiah. From the perspective of these people, John was a strange man, but there was something about the unapologetic truth he spoke that made this crowd of people think, and question, and hope. It was because of their questioning that John was able to provide clarity - with an answer from his own perspective: John is preparing the way for someone even greater. Someone truly worthy of their hope.

This kind of communal wondering has been used to interpret scripture and to understand the world for hundreds maybe even thousands of years. We see its value in our gospel reading today where the crowd receives new hope for a coming savior simply because they voiced their questions in a communal setting. Communal wondering helps us to understand our world from the perspectives of others and to shift our understanding based on the ideas we hear from one another. It is one of the pathways towards hope and new life. Allowing God to speak to us through our trusted community or even strangers at a hair salon.

Beyond communal wondering, Jesus models for us that prayer is more than a religious obligation. After his baptism, Jesus took a moment to pray. This only happens in Luke’s account of Jesus’ baptism, so there must be a reason Luke highlights it

We don’t hear what Jesus says in his prayer, but God’s answer is full of love and acceptance. God’s answer is incredibly personal - a parent assuring their child that they are loved, “I love you and I’m proud of you.”

Imagine the kind of prayer Jesus must have prayed to receive that response. Maybe Jesus was dealing with imposter syndrome - second guessing his ability to fill his role? He might have been listing all the reasons he wasn’t good enough or prepared enough to be revealed as the Son of God. He might have asked a question many of us could relate to, “God, where are you? Are you here? Are you listening?”

Prayer is often talked about as a comforting ritual. It can be an effective tool for processing difficult experiences. Prayer is one of the ways we are equipped to search for hope, meaning, and courage in our daily lives. Through prayer, the Holy Spirit assists us in our searching and can guide us towards the answers we need in the world around us - through our loved ones, through a book or tv show, through music or other forms of art. God’s answer may not come booming from a cloud, but you may suddenly feel the urge to call a friend. You may suddenly remember a phrase you heard or read to ease your mind or bolster your faith. You may notice the rain and how it falls and feel at peace - unsure of how you’ve achieved it. Prayer allows us to share, to wonder, even when we are separated from community. It allows us to shed our chaff in God’s presence. Prayer creates the opportunity for us to be truly who we are, with all of our rage and our hurt, to be our softest selves in the presence of a loving God who sees us and says, “You are my child. I love you. I’m proud of you.”

This week whether we take a small step like saying a simple prayer, or a bigger step like sharing our wonderings in trusted community. Let us be more aware of the ways that Jesus works around our chaff to share God’s Grace with us, and let us try to reach out past our chaff and into the world around us.