A Baptism

To live through Christ is to live into our own baptism where God affirms us, commissions us, and tells us to go and be fruitful

Kathleen and I just got back from a little getaway where we celebrated 27th anniversary in a tiny treehouse on Vashon Island just off hte coast of Seattle.

Trust me when I say you really get to know a person well …after that many years of marriage.

I know things about Kathleen she hopes will never make it into a sermon. And she knows things about me that that I’d probably prefer stayed out of the public eye.

​The way I see it, there are just some things you don’t need to know about your minister. Just as there are some things you don't want your minister to know about you.

​But do we need to know everything little detail about someone before we like or love them?

​Because when it comes to Jesus, how much do we actually know?

​We come here every week to learn about him, to pray in his name, and even try to live like him. And yet, so much of his life remains a holy mystery.

Last week as we entered the season of Epiphany, we talked about who we are — beloved children of God, named and claimed by divine love. Today, I want to take us one step deeper into that revelation. Not just who we are, but what we learn about ourselves by watching Jesus.

I have a feeling he wouldn’t mind us sharing what we know about him because it reveals something beautiful about us as well.

Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan, 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 it is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he consented.  And when Jesus had been baptized, just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens were opened to him and he saw God’s Spirit descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from the heavens said, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”                                           - Matthew 3:13-17 -

For some reason we get this baptism story numerous times in the church calendar. And every time we get it, I wonder what went on in Jesus’ life that led up to this moment. Given the historical data, most scholars agree this event happened roughly 30 years after his birth. So what happened in between?

The gospel of Luke gives us a birth story and one quick glance of a precocious 12-year-old holding an intense Q&A session with the Rabbis in the Temple. That’s it. Matthew skips over this stuff. The most he offers us is a visit from some stargazers a year or two after his birth.

There’s nothing about a teenage Jesus having weird emotional mood swings. Or him dealing with pimples and peer pressure. There are no stories about him trying to find the words to ask someone on a date. Or of him sulking in his bedroom wishing that “someone would just understand him.” And that’s probably a good thing.

I think if we knew those stories, Jesus might come off as a little too human for our comfort. But he was human. And yet he was more than just a man. As Jesus will discover, he’s God’s beloved son. And he’ll spend his short life revealing to himself and his community what that means.

In his book “Lamb. The gospel according to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal” author Christopher Moore offers us a playful, satirical look at a young, recently bar-mitzvahed Joshua--a.k.a Jesus—trying to figure out who he really is and what his life is meant to be about.

The young man is convinced the answers might lie with those mysterious Magi who showed up when he was a baby. So, he and his best friend Biff head out on a spiritual road trip to find them.

Not long into their journey, the two pals come across Joshua’s crazy cousin John, who, as far as they can tell, is drowning people in the river. They try to stay clear of him. But John sees and seizes his cousin, shoving him underwater.

Right there, in the middle of the splashing and the gasping for air, heaven opens. And voice speaks, revealing him to the world: “This is my Son, the beloved, in whom I am well pleased.”

When he comes up from the water, everyone is starring at Joshua, but no one will tell him why. And so his mission continues.

Although it’s satire, it does remind us that Jesus is like us. Which suggests to me that we can be like him. Which means on any given day, God can reveal to the world who we really are: Beloved children. In whom, God is well pleased.

Again, we have no idea what Jesus did up to this point to earn that title. But what it would take for God to say that about one of us?

Or does it take anything? Maybe we’re born beloved. And maybe we just need to go out into the world to discover this truth for ourselves.

Christine Chakoian suggests, we’d do better starting off the new year not with resolutions we quickly abandon but by recommitting ourselves to our baptismal vows. To trust in the mercy of God, to renounce evil and turn away from sin, to walk with Christ, obeying his word and showing his love.

In other words, maybe this is the year to actually live faithfully to what we proclaim: That God is love. After all, “Jesus’ baptism didn’t end with him. It was only the beginning of the fulfillment of God’s promise to the world—a promise we are called to carry on in his name.” (Chakoian)

Like those standing on the banks of the Jordan, we are a part of his story. Perhaps the gospel writers jump over the early years to point us to the water, so we’re not fixated on Jesus’ human side, but focus instead on his divinity.

That's the part of him which awakens us to our truth and reveals our purpose, our calling: to be the human manifestation of God’s divine grace and love in all that we do. And we do this not just by proclaiming Jesus’ story but by living our own life in imitation of him.

As John the Evangelist put it, “In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him” (1 John 4:9 ESV).

To live through Christ is to live into our own baptism where God affirms us, commissions us, and tells us to go and be fruitful.

It’s here, in the space between the baptismal font and heaven, God sends us into the world to make a difference.

To stand up to the injustices that are being committed on our streets. To place ourselves between those who are being cruelly persecuted and their abusers. To humble ourselves before others, to serve and not be served.

This is the call of the church.

This is what it means to be, in the flesh, the kind of love that transforms foes into friends, that turns weapons of war into tools for peace and prosperity for all.

It might sound impossible given the darkness that has come over this world. But Christ came in as the light and the darkness could not overcome it. 

The thing is, God doesn’t need us to be perfect. But we have to be willing to participate. To accept our baptism and put it to good use, ministering and manifesting God’s glory in all the ways we love God, love others, and serve both.

We set this as our vision for the church from day one because we believe this is the most important thing we are called to do. And we do it, knowing and trusting faithfully that God is leading us, watching over us, caring for us always.

Because the way I see it, God needs humans like you and me, just like God needed a very human Jesus to put flesh and blood on God’s divine glory for all the world to see and receive.

Jesus’ baptism is an epiphany moment in that it tells the world he belongs to God. This is the same truth about us. Our baptism is our reminder of who we are and to whom we belong.

Jesus said it like this, “They will know you belong to me by the way you love one another.”

Love is our outward sign of our baptismal promise. Our way of becoming a divine revelation in the world of the God who has knitted us together in love. As we reconnect with our own baptisms, we remember that we too are anointed and sealed into the body of Christ.

Each one of us is a thread in this divine tapestry God is weaving. No one string is better than the other.

We are all given the same relationship with the Father that Jesus had. We are all given the same power of the Holy Spirit that emboldened Jesus to enter into our pain and enlighten us with truth.

And we are all called to bear the same responsibility giving ourselves completely, just as Jesus gave his life for you and me. 

So, let’s go out into the world as God’s beloved sons and daughters, to continue Jesus’ earthly ministry; longing for the day we can hear him say to us:

“Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world…

When I was hungry you fed me. When I was thirsty you gave me drink.

When I was a stranger, you let me in. When I was naked you clothed me.

When I was sick you comforted me. And when I was in prison you visited me.

​For every time you do stuff like this in my name, I am well pleased.”