Epiphany 1 - The Baptism of our Lord

May my words and my thoughts be acceptable to you, O Lord, my refuge and my redeemer. (Psalm 19:14)

SEASON: Epiphany 1 - The Baptism of our Lord.
PROPER: Year C
PLACE: St. John's Parish, Kingsville, Md.
DATE: January 11, 1998

TEXT: Luke 3:15-16, 21-22 - Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, "You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well please."

See also: Isaiah 42:1-9 - Servant Passage

ISSUE: The Baptism of Jesus marks the beginning of Jesus' ministry. It defines clearly who he is, The Beloved, the Son of God. He is the answer to the servant passage of Isaiah, as the one who comes to open the eyes of the blind and liberate the captives in darkness. Yet God is pleased before Jesus does anything. Jesus does rise to his calling. For all who are baptized into Christ we are also given our identity as the people of God who follow Christ as Lord. The excited, searching people find their Messianic hope in Christ Jesus and their way of life through him.
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We are now into the church's season of Epiphany. It is the time of the year celebrating that Jesus came to all people, as a light to all the nations both Jewish and Gentile. The Scripture this day is one of the first passages of manifesting Jesus as the true Messiah of God. He is the Beloved of God, the one in whom God delights. The messiah is not John, not the Torah, not the Jerusalem temple, not just the nation of Israel, but it is Jesus who is the Christ. Luke's account attempts to make that very clear. It proclaims and manifests Jesus as Lord.
In this passage for today the manifestation of Jesus as Lord is given through Luke's attempt to make a clear presentation as to Jesus' identity. In the first century in the middle eastern culture a person's identity, standing, and place of honor in the society was given by the father of a child. If you were unclaimed by a man, then you were without identity, standing, or honor. There were no paternity tests in these times, and a very primitive understanding of the biological reproductive process. It was believed that a man carried in his seed a fully developed child that was deposited and grown in the mother's womb until large enough to be born. Offspring were then belonging primarily to the father, and they followed in their father's footsteps and their occupations. Geneologies were therefore quite important, because they established a person's identity, status, and honor standing in the community. This fact is the reason for so many geneological lists in the both the New Testament and Hebrew scriptures.
In the story, Jesus is baptized by John. Jesus associates with and is totally immersed in the human condition. He identifies with John's baptism of sinners. Jesus is immersed in that. It is also significant that the baptism of Jesus takes place in the Jordan River. The Jordan River for the people of this time was an historically important river. The Jews had crossed that River as they entered into their Promised Land. Being immersed in it meant an immersion in to the past and rising up out of these waters was a symbol of a new beginning. Thus, Jesus is immersed deeply in the Jewish tradition and becomes himself the hope of Israel to enter into the Kingdom of God.
Once Jesus is baptized into this significant Jordon River, by the charismatic prophet, John the Baptist, Luke tells us that it is as if the heavens were torn open and the Holy Spirit descended upon Jesus and there was a voice of God from the heavens declaring the identity of Jesus: This is my Son, the Beloved, with you I am well pleased." Jesus is hereby declared and proclaimed to be the Son of God who is the Father. His identity is manifested, his standing is made clear, and he is give the honor of being the child of God, son of the Father. The story emphasizes and highlights the esteem in which Jesus was held by the early Christian community.
The honor of Jesus was maintained through his facing the challenges that confronted him: the temptations of satan in the wilderness, the challenges of his enemies, and even death on the cross. Jesus was the Son of the Living God who was seen as the fulfillment of Isaiah's servant. Jesus is the one who is the non-violent, non-manipulative leader who breaks not a bruised reed nor quenches a dimly burning wick. He works for justice among the oppressed and the disenfranchised. He opens the eyes of the blind and give them new insights into the beauty of God and a new way of life. He liberates those who are enslaved to old meaningless traditions and rules and who were the outcasts of the society. He gives them a new understand and hope. Without question he was "Truly, the Son of God," the true messiah, the Anointed One, the Christ. The early church and the evangelists and certainly Luke makes Jesus manifest as the Christ and saving hope and meaningful figure for the world.
The church has carried on the practice of Holy Baptism as one of the two major sacraments. This passage this morning sheds considerable light upon the sacrament. Many people in the past have thought of Holy Baptism from a John the Baptist point of view. Baptism has been seen as a rite which emphasizes the need to be cleansed from sin and prepared for a repentance, a change or a turning over a new leaf, to make a new beginning. This aspect of the sacrament is emphasized in the Advent season as we discuss the preparation for the coming of Christ. We need to be ready to forsake the old that has alienated and separated us from God and be ready to assume a new stance with Christ.
In recent years, the church has stressed that Baptism is initiation into the body of Christ. We, through baptism, enter into the ministry of Christ. It is as if we become the body, the arms and legs of Christ. We are in partnership with Christ. Thus, baptism is not just something we do, that magically saves us, but makes us partners in the ministry of Christ.
The aspect of baptism stressed today is the issue of identity. It establishes who we are. In union with Christ we become also the sons and the daughters of God. We are claimed not merely by our fathers and mothers, but we in and through Christ are more specifically the children of God with challenges to be met as the people of God. We are called into an adult relationship with Christ to participate in that ministry as disciples and to make disciples, and to immerse them into the ways and teachings of Christ. Thus, all people will have the Light revealed to them and see themselves as the children of God.
Dr. John H. Weterhoff, a Christian Education Scholar in our church tells the story of a very significant baptism that he witnessed in a church in Buenos Aires. The story is told in his book, Holy Baptism: A Guide for Parents and God Parents, St. Luke's Episcopal Church, Atlana Georgia. The people in the church were on their knees singing a Good Friday hymn. The father carried down the aisle a handmade child's coffin. The mother carried a pail of water from the family's well. The godparents brought into the church a naked child in a serape. The father placed, with tears in his eyes, the coffin on the altar, and the mother filled the coffin with the water from the pail. The priest took the child from the godparents arms. He asked the parents and the godparents the appropriate baptismal questions, and then holding the child's nose immersed the child into the water saying: "You are drowned in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit." The child cried when lifted out of the water, as he would have when he left his mother's womb. The priest exclaimed: "And you are the resurrected that you might love and serve the Lord." The congregation burst into the singing of an Easter hymn. The priest then anointed the child with oil and signed the baby with the cross saying, "I now brand you, as we do cattle on the range with the sign of the cross, so that the world will always know and you will never be able to deny to whom you belong." The identity was made clear. The congregation with applause welcomed Juan Carlos Christiano. The child was no longer Juan Carlos Renosa. He was God's child, his identity declared, and a fellow heir with Christ.
Few people today remember what happened at their own baptism. Many of us older folks were quietly baptized on a Sunday afternoon unbeknown to the larger congregation. I am grateful for the liturgical renewals of recent years. Today our baptisms are part of the main Sunday Service where everyone is present. We can be made aware of what happened at our own baptism and continually reflect on their meaning. Certain Sunday's of the year, like today, are set aside for the renewal of our baptismal vows. Once again we are reminded of our true identity. I may be a Remington. You may be a Smith, Johnson, Baron, or Brittingham. But what's more. . . . You are really God's and share in the royal priesthood of Christ Jesus, the servant ministry. We are signed with the sign of the cross and branded as God's own. As the Jesus' identity was proclaimed in this baptism, so is ours. We are the children and people of God.
The issue that we face is, of course, are we living into our true identity? Do we still see ourselves as the offspring of the fallen Adam, or of the reborn children of God the Father in the brotherhood and sisterhood of Christ Jesus? Pray that God will makes us always mindful of who we really are. We are a people of love and forgivness. We are a people of justice who set aside our prejudices, and feuds and old hatreds. We are a people who see the dignity of every human being, because we are branded in love and dignity, and liberated from the past and are given the light to see the true beauty of God the Father. We are a people and a community of Christians called to meet the challenges of life and the world. May we be truly honorable as branded Christians whose life together as a Christian parish reflects our true identity in the way in which we live together, and train our children, and minister to needs of all God's people.