When you and I think of “fruit” we probably think about apples, oranges, mangoes –and even tomatoes! But we seldom think of wheat. When we read about “fruit” in the scripture, however, the most common definition of fruit is wheat!  Either wheat of the field or grapes of the vine! In today’s scripture, when John issues a warning to the crowds coming to repent and be baptized, he tells them, they must produce “fruit.” In this metaphor, John is talking about wheat! How do we know? Because the second part of his message has to do with another prominent metaphor of scripture –the threshing floor!

In today’s world, we don’t think much about grain or the way it’s harvested or prepared. Most of us no longer live in an agricultural community, on a farm, or near enough to one to understand the way a farmer processes grains. We simply go to the grocery store, buy our favorite bread, cereal, or flour, and we go on our way. Because of this, many of the fantastic metaphors of scripture can confuse us, or at the very least, pass us by. If we don’t investigate their meaning, we can lose the weight (pun intended) of their message.

In the case of wheat, everyone in John’s day would have easily understood his message about wheat! For most, that message was “good news!” For a few, those designated by John as “vipers,” the news wouldn’t be so good.

This passage can be seen as quite similar to the kinds of passages we read in Revelation. The text sounds scary, but it was written as “good news” for those following Jesus! Their lives could be tough. They could be going through some heat for what they believe. They could find it difficult or risky to live in the ways suggested. They could experience losses due to their generosity. But in the end, they would win! This was the good news! That when it came down to it, their lives would be honored, celebrated, lifted up, and gathered in by God.

Remember that song, “Bringing in the Sheaves”? The song, in a way, helps us to understand that we live our lives as “sowers” of good or evil. When we sow well, God will bless the “fruits” of our actions, and we will live and be rewarded with an abundance of grace. We will, at the harvest time, celebrate the richness of the “sheaves” of grain –fruit and food for all!

Food then and until recently in many areas was not a matter of going to the grocery store. Even then, most of you probably remember the shortages of COVID-19, when the “storehouses” we depended on began to fail us. We were shocked. Most of us had never before experienced “shortages”! Some of us remember experiencing a similar shortage in the gas industry of the 70s. Or for a few, in the mass shortages of the Great Depression. When we come to depend upon “having,” it frightens us when our streams of “goods” and “services” begin to fail. The song, and this scripture, celebrate the joy of abundance! The joy in the restoration of more than enough for all! The gratitude of God’s providence and grace. In this case, God’s acknowledgement, reward, and final victory!

John’s appeal to the people of Israel covered everyone no matter what their class, station, or age. He called them to repent, live according to God’s expectations, and celebrate the coming of God! 

For those whose lives were tough, the “coming” of God would be a victory, or as Jesus would put it, a release from captivity, a feeding of the hungry, a giving of sight to the blind, a liberation from one’s difficult circumstances and a victory of God’s grace for those who live according to God’s goodness and generosity, meekness, and compassion. For those who do not….not so much! For those doing the oppressing, the cheating, and the stealing, they would be removed from their “posts of power!”

How? God’s own threshing floor! Now here’s where the metaphor gets really good!

Threshing floors were sacred sorts of places. They were also practical places. They allowed the harvester/farmer to sort the heavy wheat seed/fruit from the seed covering or “chaff.” Think of the husk of corn that you rip off in order to get to the “corn” inside on the cob. You throw the husks away, but you roast the corn. Or think of a peanut. It has a reddish, thin “husk” around it. Most of us remove it to get to the actual weighty peanut within. It’s the same way with other grains. If you’ve ever looked closely at a grain of wheat, you’ll see that it also has a kind of thin, light “husk” on it. If you peel away the husk, it’s so light and weightless that it merely floats away. It’s easily blown off by the wind. Only the grain remains. You don’t want to eat the husk. You only want the grain.

Threshing floors were flat stone, round, surfaces with a lip on the edges. They were built on the top of hills or other elevated places where the wind could easily blow away the chaff of the grain, leaving the weighty wheat to lie on the threshing floor. The farmer or harvester would use a “winnowing fork” or threshing tool to break the husks and separate them from the “fruit” of the wheat. Once the chaff had blown off, he would gather in the grain left on the threshing floor, gather it into bundles, and take them to the barn for storage. The gathering in of the grain was cause for celebration. Abundant harvest meant food for all during the long winters.

But threshing floors were used for other purposes as well. They became gathering places for meetings, sacrifices, places of judgment within the tribes, and even funerals. Those attending a funeral would standing around the threshing floor, telling stories, and mourning their lost relative and friend. 

In 2 Samuel 24, King David celebrates God’s decision to stop the Angel of Death from punishing sin by building an altar to God right there on the threshing floor on Mt. Moriah –the same hill in which God spared Isaac! This would be the later site of Solomon’s Temple, and the later Temple in Jerusalem (now covered over by the Dome of the Rock). 

The threshing floor had become a symbol for many, not of God’s retribution, but of God’s grace, favor, compassion, and salvation of the people of Israel! A place in which the power of death had been “stayed” by God’s own decision!

What we need to understand is that the All Powerful God has the right in any circumstance to create or destroy at will. But….that God gives up that power out of love and compassion for God’s people! This…is what we celebrate!

In our scripture for today, Luke tells us that at John’s explanation of what was to come, the people celebrated, as he “proclaimed the good news” to them!

The coming of the Messiah, the judgment of God, would be the best thing ever to happen! 

The only ones not celebrating would be those who were wed to power –the officials (vipers) wielding poison at those unable to defend themselves. But for the majority of the people, for all those who may have made mistakes but who would now repent, they would be granted pardon, given abundant blessings, lifted up to God, rewarded for eternity!

For them, the threshing floor represented salvation, mercy, freedom, and security –much as for Ruth with her marriage to Boaz!

For us today, in this time of Lent, we too celebrate the coming (the true presence) of Jesus, the messiah, who came for all of us to “stay the forces of sin and death” and to offer his gift of salvation. To appeal to God for our lives, and to offer himself in our stead.

For us, Jesus would be our First Fruits, our saving grace, our gift of abundant life, our “get out of jail free” card issued directly from God.

All we need to do is put God first.

Advent is not just a time of waiting. It’s a time of celebration. For he has come with good news –for us and for all generations!

May your heart be glad and your soul rejoice! Gather around the threshing floor, for he is bringing in the sheaves!