Baptism Of Jesus

This sermon is based on the Baptism of Jesus as recorded in Luke 3:15-22.

There is a lot going on in today’s gospel reading. We have we have John and Jesus, mistaken identity, the Baptism of our Lord, what we are celebrating today, promises fulfilled, heavens open, and a new era beginning.

 

At the beginning of our reading, people are excited. I invite you to imagine the scene. It’s a warm, dusty day. A rusty, orange-brown color sort of swirls around clusters of people at the edge of a village. The buzz of conversation reaches a new level. If we walk up and stand near one of these clusters, the talk becomes a little clearer. We hear the name Messiah, and our own pulse skips a beat. The Son of God? The one we’ve been waiting centuries for? The one the prophets spoke about? Messiah. We listen a little longer, and hear a little clearer. The Messiah is coming. Now is the time. He’s been in the wilderness. His name is John, isn’t it? John the Messiah.

 

The people are excited. They’ve been waiting centuries—hundreds of years—for this person, and they finally have a lead. John, the one in the wilderness, the one who provides the cleansing ritual of baptism for the forgiveness of sins. Could he be the Messiah? Could this be real?

 

John says no. John himself comes on the scene and answers the crowds for himself. He is not the one they are looking for. The one they are looking for will baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire. The one they are looking for will be able to separate the wheat from the chaff, the good from the evil, the necessary needed harvest from the empty straw that gets in the way.

 

That’s the one we’re looking for. That’s the promised Messiah.

 

Hmmm. Okay, so not John. Again we go back to the scene. Maybe we sit down, just a little deflated from our disappointment on the river banks and watch those getting baptized. Time goes by, maybe a few hours, maybe a few weeks. We go back, but we don’t know why.

 

Suddenly, one day as we’re sitting there, something happens. The sky looks…different somehow. The heavens are, could we say, opening? Pulling apart.

 

Pause for a second—THE HEAVENS ARE PULLING APART. The sky is falling, the heavens opening. Something like a bird comes down, and a voice that seems to come from every angle swallows up the world as it speaks.

 

There’s a lot going on in the reading today because this is a HUGE event.

 

Jesus has been baptized, and we now know who it is that has been promised is here. Jesus’ birth is told in two of the gospels. His lineage is recorded in two of them as well. This story is recorded in all four gospels. Every one of them. The one God is present throughout the Bible. This story has the three distinct persons—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—there in specific distinction. The voice of God the Father, who names Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit that descends in bodily form like a dove—you can see the Holy Spirit.

 

This is a HUGE event.

 

Jesus has been baptized. His divinity is clearly established. It’s right there for people to see or hear.

 

And guess what? His humanity is now unquestionable, too. Jesus has been baptized as all the people—all the humans—were baptized. Jesus is one with humanity in this act. Fully human, fully divine. He now comes with the authority and ability to understand humanity and save it.

 

Okay, that’s big in and of itself, but what does it mean for us?

 

Over the past year, this congregation celebrated 12 baptisms. Many of us may have also received this sacrament. In baptism, we are united to Jesus Christ as well. Through him, with the power of the Holy Spirit, we are made children of God. We are given the promises of forgiveness, salvation, and eternal life.

 

Like I said, HUGE event.

 

And it changes us. We are united with Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, and that makes things different for us. We get to act like people who have been saved and forgiven, because that’s who we are. In response to this gift of grace God gives us, we PROMISES OF BAPTISM. Essentially, we try to follow and live like the one we are united to in baptism—Jesus Christ.

 

We can never be Jesus, however. That’s important to remember, too. Think of John—oh yeah, remember him? Who was he, anyway? Not Jesus, but the one who pointed to Jesus. One who looked for the Messiah and knew that the Messiah would come, but John was not him. John was a human and not divine.

 

John is a great example to us. Like John, We are human and not divine—we are united to God through Jesus, though, and God is the one who does that. We don’t—we can’t—do the uniting, but we are united to Christ and one another through God’s work in us. 

 

How that changes us and what we do in response, that part is for us to worry about.

 

We are saved, and we get to act like it.

How do you say that I am?

This week's sermon is based on the Gospel Reading of the Revised Common Lectionary, Mark 8:27-38.

Every week, a group of people gather in this space to sing praise to, offer prayers to, read stories about, learn about, and worship this person called Jesus. Every week, we come together around word, water, bread and wine for this purpose.

But who is Jesus and why do we worship him?

 

This is the very question that is brought to us by today’s gospel: Who is Jesus? Who do we say that Jesus is?

 

We have many names for Jesus—you may have learned some of them in Sunday school, confirmation, parents' instructions, or church.

 

Jesus is the Son of God.

The Second Person of the Trinity.

The Savior of the World.

Emmanuel.

God with us.

 

Those are all great descriptions, but what does that mean, really? Who is Jesus?

 

Well, let’s start with Son of God. Jesus is in an unbreakable relationship with God the parent. That parent/child relationship that never can be erased. But Jesus’ connection is even deeper than that. Jesus is the Second Person of the Trinity. This Jesus is a part of God, equal to God, is God. Everything Jesus does in his lifetime on earth is in line with God because Jesus is one being with the Father and the Spirit—so in line with them because he is part of them. One being.

 

Jesus is God as human—Emmanuel—God with us. God speaks to us and walks with us in Jesus. As God with us, Jesus proclaims and lives a life of radical hospitality and inclusivity. Don’t believe me? Just ask some of the untouchable lepers Jesus spoke with and healed. Some of the children, women, poor, blind, widows, foreigners, strangers, sick and suffering people that society had written off. These are the people Jesus sought out, spoke with, loved, and healed. That’s our example. That’s God in the world.

 

Savior of the world. Jesus suffered and died on the cross and rose again three days later. He died for the sake of the world, so that we might be saved from the eternal consequences of sin—that is, death. Jesus loves the world and everyone in it. He died that we might have eternal life—Jesus himself tells Peter this is the plan in today’s lesson. Jesus is the Messiah sent to save the world from the hold that sin has on it.

 

So that’s who we say Jesus is.

How do we go about that?

 

Well, we have inherited some invaluable gifts as children of God to help us do that. 

 

Faith given to us by the Holy Spirit, who is God’s continued presence among us. This faith isn’t something we choose, but is a gift. We learn about it through the Word, most tangibly, the Bible. In the Scriptures, the story of God and God’s people from creation through Jesus to the early church are recorded for us to learn about and better understand our faith. We read from it every week so that we might grow and continue to be reminded of this story.

 

Two more things we are given: baptism and communion. These sacraments—these sacred traditions—are instituted by Jesus himself and promise us that God is with us.

 

In baptism, we gather around water and word to celebrate our unity with Jesus. We are assured that the Holy Spirit comes to us there not because of what we do, but because of what Jesus has done. Because of what God has done in us. Through baptism, we are joined to Christ and brought into the family of God as sisters and brothers.

 

Then there is communion--bread and wine. Common physical elements from daily life. Yet through this, we recall Jesus’ ultimate sacrifice for us, and we are again assured by Jesus that he is here, present in the bread and wine, forgiving our sin and calling us to lead lives like his.

 

And guess what? We can lead lives like that. We are assured through baptism that we are united with Christ and brought to eternal life. Through communion, we are assured of this and that we are forgiven of our sin. Freed from those worries, we can simply live in response to these gifts.

 

In worship, we gather around word, water, bread and wine. We receive God’s gifts—God’s word, the Holy Spirit’s presence, Christ’s body and blood. We are assured of our connection to Christ and one another, and of the promises given to us in word and sacrament.

 

We are freed from the burdens of sin and given eternal life. We can go into the world, knowing—knowing­—that we don’t have anything to earn where God is concerned.

 

We are free to live a life like we have been saved and given gifts too great to keep to ourselves. We are free to live like Jesus—imitating the radical hospitality he showed to so many, including ourselves. We are free to respond to God’s call in our lives.