Text: Luke 3:15-22 (RSV)
15 As the people were in expectation, and all men questioned in their hearts concerning John, whether perhaps he were the Christ, 16 John answered them all, “I baptize you with water; but he who is mightier than I is coming, the thong of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie; he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. 17 His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor, and to gather the wheat into his granary, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”
18 So, with many other exhortations, he preached good news to the people. 19 But Herod the tetrarch, who had been reproved by him for Hero′di-as, his brother’s wife, and for all the evil things that Herod had done, 20 added this to them all, that he shut up John in prison.
21 Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened, 22 and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form, as a dove, and a voice came from heaven, “Thou art my beloved Son;[a] with thee I am well pleased.”[b]
In the Name of God, the Holy and Undivided Trinity. Amen.
The echoes of the great Christmas and Epiphany carols are still ringing in our ears. The goodies from our celebrations have all been consumed, but their savor lives on. The Christmas trees, now almost totally bare of needles, are out back with the rest of the garbage, but we remember how they made our festivities so memorable. Though we sigh and say with sadness that Christmas is over, we still bask in its glow.
So it’s not surprising that we tend to gloss over the event that today’s Gospel lesson describes – the baptism of Jesus by John in the Jordan River. We tend to just take it for granted as part of the biblical story that just follows like clockwork after the visitation of the Wise Men. Even the heavens opening and the Holy Spirit descending bodily like a dove, even the voice of God thundering from heaven – even all of that may not have quite the impact we might expect, because we’ve heard it so often.
Yet this was a major event – all four Evangelists mention it, even the maverick, John. But one thing that is very significant is how each of them recounts this story. Because, as it happens, this event was actually rather scandalous. The logic they had to wrestle with goes like this: If baptism is for the remission of sin, and we all confess the truth that Jesus, being God, was sinless, then why was Jesus baptized?
That ambivalence, combined with a similar ambivalence about the character of John the Baptist – even though John was doing the baptizing, the Gospel writers were very specific that he was not the person with authority. This gives rise to some interesting variations in the baptismal stories. All the Gospels report John declaring Jesus’ superiority, for instance, and make clear that John is more or less the facilitator of the baptism while the Holy Spirit is the true agent. John the Evangelist goes even further and doesn’t even record John (the Baptist) as baptizing Jesus. He doesn’t even acknowledge directly that Jesus was baptized. Instead, John just recounts only having witnessed the Spirit descending upon Jesus. Luke, in today’s passage, takes a middle road. John is baptizing and Jesus is baptized, but it all feels rather passive: “Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying,….” Moreover, oddly enough, in the midst of reporting John’s active baptizing and Jesus’ more passive baptism, Luke inserts the report of John’s imprisonment by Herod, which has the effect of separating John even further from the scene.
So, you can see that the early church, including the Evangelists, weren’t quite sure what to make of it all.
Matthew, it seems to me, is the one who goes the farthest toward resolving the issue: “Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. John would have prevented him, saying, ‘I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?’ But Jesus answered him, ‘Let it be so now; for thus it is fitting for us to fulfil all righteousness.’ Then [John] consented.” (Mtt 3:13-15, RSV). In other words, this baptism needed to happen to show once and for all that the “bad old days” were over, and the Good News of God’s love and forgiveness had come into the world. All the prayers of the faithful from ancient days onward were now being answered, and all the efforts of the prophets, major or minor, were being blessed and vindicated. Jesus’ baptism is the kick-off of his ministry; and God’s own voice thundering from the heavens affirmed that Jesus was and is indeed His beloved son.
So, there was a very good reason for Jesus to be baptized. The underlying point behind the lessons for Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, and now today – in fact, the key point behind the entire Gospel record is this: Jesus came to earth as a human being, and knew exactly the life we know, with all of its turmoil, ups and downs, heartaches and joys. This is the one majestic and magnificent act of God that bridges the gap between God and humanity. Before this, God was seen as a distant, aloof, even angry and vengeful God. The coming of Jesus changed all of that. That’s the real significance of the Baby in the manger; and that is what gives the Cross its power to rob death of its victory. Jesus – our God – dies on the Cross to blot out our sins forever.
Baptism is about forgiveness and the remission of sins. The waters of baptism wash us clean of the old human condition that existed before Jesus came. That we all know. It’s a given. But it can be a tough concept for us to take on board. Even though we’ve heard this and known this all of our lives, it still sometimes makes us shake our heads when we really sit down and think about it, doesn’t it? God took human form, endured pain, humiliation, and death – just for us? So we can be reconciled to God? That’s the meaning of the word “atonement” – Jesus atoned for our sins.
But here’s the most overwhelming thing: Baptism isn’t just about forgiveness, it’s also about relationship. When we are baptized into the Body of Christ, we become part of a community that stretches back into the distant past and forward into the distant future and unites us with billions of others around the world. It establishes the relationship that we have with God and each other through Jesus. We are truly loved by God. We – you and I – all of us sitting here this morning, with all of our warts and foibles, all of our shortcomings, all of our pettiness, all of our jealousies, all of our conceits, just as we are, right now, are also beloved of God.
Imagine that.
Forgiveness is not a mechanism or a tool God uses to forgive us in order that we can be named, claimed, and called God’s children. God forgives us not to make us God’s children but because we already are God’s children. Again, Baptism is about forgiveness. But forgiveness is not a mechanism but rather is a gift.
When Jesus was baptized by John in the Jordan River, he distinctly heard the voice of God speaking to him, and saying, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”
What would it mean to you, how would it change your life, if you came here one Sunday and out of the blue heard the very voice of God saying, “You are my beloved son; you are my beloved daughter. I love you with an everlasting and unshakeable love. I hold you close to my heart, as parents do their children. You belong to me and I belong to you. Nothing can ever get between us. I will be with you no matter what happens to you. I will never leave you, I will never forsake you, you will never be left alone. There is no place too distant for me to not find you. You can trust that I love you – no matter what you might feel at any given moment, or where you go, or even what you do. Because you are my beloved. That is who you truly are.”
That is the voice that Jesus heard when he came up out of the water. That same voice speaks to us, too. For we are the Body of Christ. If God loved the Baby Jesus in the manger, if God loved the boy Jesus in the Temple, if God loved Jesus at the Jordan River, if God loved Jesus on the Cross, if God loved Jesus when he gave himself for those whom he loved, then God loves the Body of Christ now. And that’s us.
Athanasius, one of the towering theologians of the early church, put it this way: Jesus became one of us so that we might become like him.
That is why it’s so important for us today to observe and celebrate the baptism of Jesus.
And we all need to hear that voice of God. It still speaks to us. But we need to do even more than just hear it. We need to claim it. We need to claim it as our own so that it can truly be the balm that heals us and the spur which moves us on. Hearing and claiming that voice makes all the difference in the world. It’s the difference between living out of fear or guilt and living out of gratitude. It is the difference between acting out of duty and acting out of joy. It is the difference between acting out of obligation and acting out of freedom. You are my son, my daughter, my child…my beloved.
That voice tells us who we are.
But wait! There’s more!
If we are beloved by God, then that means some very important things. One of them is that we are chosen. God has taken us out of ourselves and called us together in this unique community of faith known as St. John’s. God chose us to be together. God chose us to be together for a unique and wonderful purpose that only we of St. John’s can fulfill. God has a special place for us in our generation, in our community, in our world.
Friends, let us never forget that we are beloved of God! Let us spread God’s love to the world in Christ’s name!
In the Name of God, the Holy and Undivided Trinity. Amen.