April 4, 2025
Winnowing and Singing
Friends, I bet you don't know what "winnowing" means. Maybe you do but I had no clue this morning when reading the Gospel (Lk 3:10-18). I quickly flipped to my dictionary app and learned that it was and remains a means to separate the seed from the chaff, chaff being of no value.
In today's Gospel, John the Baptist explains to the crowd that the One who is to follow him will have a winnowing fan in his hand. In today's first reading, the prophet Zephaniah also tells us something about God that we likely would not consider and it makes for an interesting image of God, one that I believe is accurate.
Winnowing is a method of separating components of a mixture. It is used to separate heavier and lighter components by wind or by blowing air. This method is used by farmers to separate lighter husk particles from heavier seeds of grain. The image of the winnowing fan is obvious that what God wants is the seed, for us to be seed and not chaff. With this image in mind, consider whether you desire to be wheat or chaff knowing that chaff, as explained by John the Baptist, is to be burned with the unquenchable fire.
Can you picture Jesus doing the winnowing, hopeful that He finds more grain than chaff, and as He does this, He is singing? Singing.
I was fixated on Zephaniah's writing that...
"He will sing joyfully because of you."
Picture this! God singing because of you; because of me.
Do you think God can carry a tune? What would make Him sing?
God created all things and deigned that some would have the gift of singing so singing is not beyond Him. Nothing is.
We are His creatures and He is madly in love with each of us. And possibly, as He is winnowing, He is also singing joyfully at all the grain that remains. God sings for us and over us. He is focused on the grain and it is up to us to be grain or chaff. Being grain puts a smile on God's face and causes Him to sing.
Chaff can also mean to annoy or irritate. May we not irritate God but cause Him to sing. What a voice He must have.
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