Sermon - January 9, 2011Year A - The Year of Matthew - The Baptism of Our Lord
Isaiah 42:1-9; Psalm 29; Acts 10:34-43; Matthew 3:13-17
Jesus joins the crowd at the river Jordan. His cousin John has been baptizing people with water – the water of repentance. Only a few weeks ago in Advent, we heard John tell those gathered at the river that one would come – whose sandals John was not worthy even to hold. The one coming would baptize them with fire and with the Spirit.
That day John hurled insults at the Pharisees and Sadducees, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Even now the axe is at the root of the tree!” Back then in Advent, we could imagine the excited murmurs that might have rippled through the crowd. “Baptize with fire?”
“Someone so great that John will not hold his sandals?”
“Will it be someone who will wield an ax to cut down maybe the curse of the Roman occupation?”
The people wondered who they might see, “Perhaps someone powerful and mighty – maybe a general.”
Then, Jesus joins the crowd at the river Jordan. His cousin John is there and only he can identify Jesus. John recognizes the greatness of the Messiah. “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?”
There was no flourish, no parade of horses, no axe, and no fire. However, something did happen in that baptism that changed the world. The heavens opened and the Holy Spirit descended in the form of a dove. The voice of the Father spoke saying that this was his Son in whom he was pleased.
The Holy Spirit comes in the form of a dove, why a dove? In the story of Noah's Ark and the flood, there is a dove. Towards the end of the flood, Noah releases a dove to see if the water has receded. The account eventually says, "...the dove returned to him in the evening, there in its beak was a freshly plucked olive leaf." Noah sending out a dove to search for new land becomes a symbol of a new beginning. With the ministry of Jesus beginning, so, too, there is a new beginning for all people. In Jesus, the gap between humans and God is being bridged. God begins his re-creation of the world and the messianic age begins with the Holy Spirit's power.
In Sunday school, or at other times in our lives we might ask, “Why did Jesus need to be baptized if he did not have any sin? Why would Jesus be baptized by John if he was greater than John?”
When Jesus was baptized, he showed his identity with humans, and his willingness to be counted among the people who were confessing their sins to God. Jesus, who was the Word Incarnate, was again showing that God was content to pitch a tent among the people and live with and like them. As the gospel tells us, by doing this, being baptized by John, Jesus was fulfilling all righteousness.
This was just the beginning. Jesus is baptized and anointed with power and the Spirit; more will come. This is the point at which Jesus’ mission and ministry begins.
After this, various scripture passages bring us back to baptism. In the reading from Acts today, Peter explains to new followers that the spreading of the message of peace preached by Jesus Christ began in Galilee after Christ’s baptism. We know other stories, such as the baptism of the Ethiopian eunuch by Phillip and the baptism of the prison guard’s entire household by Paul, and of course, the baptism of more than 3,000 after Pentecost.
Baptism is critically important to our understanding of who we are as a people of God. We believe baptism cleanses us from sin, but even more, it gives us power and grace to accept our own ministry and mission as offered to us by God.
It is tempting to compare our baptism with Jesus’ baptism and for us to come up wanting. Jesus went on to preach, teach, heal, and collect a vast number of followers. Jesus suffered, died, and rose again. Jesus was, after all, both human and divine; however, what about our baptism? We do not do the things Jesus did, so, our baptism surely must be less. We are not divine. We live ordinary lives, or do we?
No. Nothing is ordinary about any of our lives. The church reminds us every year at this time about Jesus’ baptism. That should be a clue that our own baptism is important. We need to celebrate the fact that we too were baptized with power and the Holy Spirit – the same Spirit that descended on Jesus like a dove. We might not have the visual of the dove and the sky broken open, but we are equally graced, and filled with the Spirit. We are God’s own; and we are given a ministry and mission for our lives. It is that important.
In Isaiah today we heard these words of the Lord: “I have taken you by the hand and kept you; I have given you as a light to the nations, to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness.” We know these words were used in Isaiah’s time for his community; and we now use them to talk about the Messiah. However, we must understand that they are meant for us too. Jesus constantly tells his followers, and us, that we must take up Jesus’ ministry and continue spreading the good news. We are supposed to care for the poor, build up the weak, and spread peace.
The church gives us this celebration of Jesus’ baptism every year in the hope that it will lead us think about our own baptism. Maybe that memory will ignite the fire that smolders in our souls. That fire is there. Baptism gives it to us, and it never goes out.
We are created in the image of God. We are loved beyond measure – all God’s people are loved beyond measure. Imagine the Church on fire with the power of the Spirit. Imagine the peace and joy that we could proclaim and which could be ours if we would take seriously what we are given in baptism. God says, “See, the former things have come to pass, and new things I now declare; before they spring forth, I tell you of them.” Amen.