January 7,
2007 1
Epiphany, Baptism of Our
Lord Isaiah
43:1-7
Mark
Eccles
Psalm 29
Acts
8:14-17
Luke 3:15-17, 21-22
With Christmas behind
us, this weekend brings
us into the Epiphany
season and we remember
especially the Baptism
of Our Lord. We recall
that Epiphany
means “manifestation”,
“showing forth” or
“revelation,” a good
word to use since our
faith is in God who has
revealed himself to his
people throughout the
ages and still does
today. Specifically,
Epiphany has to do with
the revelation of Jesus
to the world.
The church commemorates
three events of
Epiphany. One is the
visit of the Magi to the
Christ Child. Another
is the revealing of
Jesus as he turns water
into wine at the wedding
at Cana of Galilee,
which we’ll read about
next Sunday. And third,
Jesus’ baptism which we
read about in Luke’s
Gospel today.
This morning I invite
you to think with me
about the baptism of
Jesus, and also about
baptism as we understand
it today and how we see
ourselves living out our
baptismal vows.
In considering Jesus’
baptism perhaps it’s
fair to ask “why”? Why
did Jesus present
himself to John to be
baptized? We associate
baptism with repentance
and forgiveness of sin,
but Jesus was without
sin and had nothing of
which to repent, so this
isn’t the answer.
Commentator William
Barclay provides a
discussion about Jesus’
baptism. In introducing
his piece he says
something interesting:
“In the early Church
it was sometimes
suggested, with a homely
touch, that he did it to
please Mary, his mother,
and in answer to her
entreaties; but we need
a better reason than
that.” I’d never
heard that before, but I
guess I could imagine
it. If Mary had asked
Jesus to do it … minding
our mothers is
important, right? But
as Barclay says, we need
a better reason.
What seems clear is that
Jesus’ baptism was
intended to reveal him
as “God’s beloved Son,”
as God among us. We can
see how the words of
comfort and assurance
from today’s Isaiah
reading come alive in a
new way as Jesus is
identified through his
baptism as God in our
midst.
As we look at Jesus’
baptism, perhaps it is
natural that we examine
the sacrament of baptism
today. Maybe a short
refresher from our
catechism can help with
this. There we read,
“Holy Baptism is the
sacrament by which God
adopts us as his
children and makes us
members of Christ’s
body, the Church, and
inheritors of the
kingdom of God.”
Through Baptism Jesus
was identified as
God among us; through
our baptism we are
identified with
God who is among us.
Again from the
catechism, the inward
and spiritual grace we
receive from the
sacrament of baptism is
four-fold. We receive:
1)
Union with Christ in his
death and resurrection.
2)
Birth into God’s family
the Church.
3)
Forgiveness of sins.
4)
New life in the Holy
Spirit.
I realize this is pretty
basic doctrine;
Christianity 101, if you
will, which most of us
learned long ago. But
you’ll have to forgive
me, I still find it
amazing! To me, what
happens in baptism
brings the Gospel before
us with crystal-like
clarity. When we see a
baby baptized at this
font it’s as if heaven
and earth pause for a
moment to greet the
event. Just as Jesus
was revealed at his
baptism, the love of
Christ is revealed every
time a new person,
little or big, young or
old, becomes a child of
God through this
sacrament. Every
baptism is a special
moment full of wonder
and promise.
If we ask “How does this
happen?”, “How can it
be?” my short answer is,
“it’s a miracle! And
it’s a mystery, as every
miracle involves
mystery. The grace
bestowed on us through
baptism comes about
through the unbounded
love and mercy of God,
who embraces us in his
arms and promises to
never let us go. That
kind of love is a
mystery to which all we
can do is say, “thank
you.”
This morning I ask, what
difference does baptism
make in our lives? What
difference should and
can it make? In
touching on this let me
share a brief piece from
Evelyn Underhill in
The Light of Christ:
The birth of
Christ in our souls is
for a purpose beyond
ourselves: It is
because his
manifestation in the
world must be through
us. Every Christian,
as it were,
is part of the
dust-laden air which
shall radiate the
glowing Epiphany
of God,
catch and reflect his
golden light. “Ye are
the light of the world”
– but
only because
we are enkindled, made
radiant by the One light
of the World. And
being
kindled, we have to get
on with it, be useful …
In all the Gospel
accounts, after Jesus
was baptized he began
his ministry. In the
same way our baptism
calls you and me to
ministry. Few Sundays
around Christ Church go
by without some mention
of Matthew 25 – the call
to walk in Jesus’ steps,
reaching out to those
who are hurting and in
need. We do that as
best we can, and it
seems to me that we
support each other and
encourage each other in
our walk with Christ
That being said,
however, giving of
ourselves and following
Christ is not always
easy. And it is made
harder if we happen to
accept the idea that
somehow good Christians
are supposed to be above
it all and not have any
problems ourselves. We
all have our
difficulties and fall
short sometimes. At
least I do, and I’d
guess that most of you
struggle along the way
too.
Living our faith does
not mean we need to hide
from or be ashamed of
our difficulties and
shortcomings. I
recently read the book
The Spirituality of
Imperfection, by
Ernest Kurtz and
Katherine Ketchum, and
it addresses some of the
false assumptions we can
have about
spirituality. The book
includes wisdom taken
from the experiences and
practice of Alcoholics
Anonymous, and is based
on the premise that the
spiritual hurdles faced
by AA members are not
specific to AA, but
apply to all of us.
The book reminds us that
we are not perfect; in
fact we are mixed-up,
paradoxical, incomplete,
and imperfect. And we
are not in control. We
might like to be and may
think we are, but we’re
not.
Some of you may remember
the book “I’m OK, You’re
OK.” The
Spirituality of
Imperfection turns
this around, into “I’m
not OK, and you’re not
OK, but that’s OK.”
One more excerpt from
the book:
A man was
looking for a good
church to attend and he
happened to enter one in
which the
congregation and the
preacher were reading
from their prayer book.
They were
saying, “We have left
undone those things
which we ought to have
done, and we
have done those things
which we ought not to
have done.”
The man dropped into a
seat and sighed with
relief as he said to
himself,
“Thank
goodness, I’ve found my
crowd at last.”
The more we see
ourselves as we really
are, the more effective
and authentic ministers
we can be. God can turn
our weaknesses into
strengths, our
imperfectness into hope
for some other imperfect
person. And remember,
as the saying goes,
we’re not called to be
successful, just
faithful.
This morning as you and
I think about our
baptismal promises we
are not alone. We have
each other and we have
the Holy Spirit to help
us and give us
strength. The Holy
Spirit is given to us at
baptism and when we open
our lives to him he
makes all the
difference.
From the New Testament
it’s clear that the
early Church depended on
the work of the Holy
Spirit. The Holy Spirit
worked through Jesus’
early followers in
amazing ways, and he can
do so today. I’d invite
us to think and pray
about how much control
we allow the Holy
Spirit, how we might
more readily slide out
of the driver’s seat and
let the Holy Spirit take
the wheel more often.
So, in summary this
morning, let us remember
the Baptism of Jesus and
reflect on our own
baptisms. Know that God
is good. Jesus is alive
and he loves us. The
Holy Spirit is present
to bless and enable us
to serve others in Jesus
name.
After the homily we will
together have an
opportunity to reaffirm
our own baptismal vows.
When we do this, as we
recite our vows let us
open our hearts to the
living God. As we renew
our commitment to Christ
may this day be sort of
a new start for each of
us. Fresh starts, second
chances, new beginnings
are important. We all
need them.
May God bless you in
Christ, today and every
day.
Amen.
