Today’s word comes from the gospel of the 2nd Sunday of Advent from Matthew Chapter 3: “He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and will gather his wheat into the granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”

The separation of those who are truly following Christ and those who are not – either because they pretend to or because they intentionally oppose the Messiah and his teachings, is a theme in the gospel of Matthew. In chapter 25 it is Jesus who separates the sheep from the goats, and the goats will include a lot who called Jesus their savior but who were not honest or earnest about being disciples, to the point where Jesus says some who called him Lord he does not recognize. This fire which cannot be quenched awaits, metaphorically, those who oppose the message, love, grace, and redemption of Christ in order to protect their own earthly power, power which is short lived vs the eternity of fire or glory with God.