Luther Memorial Church Seattle, WA
The Rev. Julie Guengerich Hutson
Isaiah 42: 1-9 + Psalm 29 + Acts 10: 34-43 + Matthew 3: 13-17
May the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O LORD, our rock and our redeemer. Amen.
This morning I invite you all to this sobering thought: it is approximately 1156 days until the next presidential election. Ponder that for a minute, if you will. Which means that political handlers are already working with presidential wanna be’s and pundits are already speculating about who will come in first in Iowa.
But now, here’s what I invite us to imagine this morning: what if Jesus had been running for political office? After all, the politically powerful in Rome saw him as precisely this: a political threat. Which, of course, he wasn’t. But they thought he was. So for the sake of creative imagination, then, let’s pretend that he was. Jesus for President. What would that look like?
Then let’s imagine that Jesus’ handlers – the folks who told him what to do and not to do in order to gain the hearts and minds of his people, were with Jesus when he left Galilee at the beginning of our Gospel reading this morning and headed out to find his cousin John the Baptizer at the Jordan River. Can you imagine it? The furitive looks they might give one another, the debates over how to stop him from being baptized. Ok, fine, they might have said, he can stand on the shore and be supportive of everyone else being baptized by John…all of those sinners having their shame swirl around them in the water. He could even help the people step into the water so they didn’t fall or greet them with a Messiah-like embrace when they emerged from the water…yeah, that would look good. And if he needed to take over for John, let John have a rest on the river bank, that would look good to his constituents, too. But under NO circumstances was he to be baptized.
You see, John had been making it perfectly clear that baptism was for the forgiveness of sin. By being symbolically washed in the waters, they were washed clear of their sins as well. This was the way, before the ministry and death of Jesus, that the people of God understood baptism. So, even if Jesus was perfectly without sin, and of course he was, just the idea that he needed baptism and the attendant forgiveness of sin, could be enough to tarnish his reputation.
And then here’s what I like to imagine…I like to imagine that Jesus did not pause at the water’s edge. That he didn’t hesitate or even wait his turn. I like to imagine that Jesus came boldly into that water, startling John when he appeared before him ready to die and rise again.
And John DID protest. And to this day we wonder, why did Jesus have to be baptized if he was without sin? Scholars have long answered, correctly, that at his baptism, Jesus’ earthly ministry began. He was revealed as the Messiah, the son of God. The words that are heard from that voice from heaven give identity to Jesus. “This is my Son, the Beloved” comes from Psalm 2, a coronation psalm, a psalm Jesus would have known well. And anyone hearing those words would equate them with the coronation of a King or a ruler…the Messiah. Here he is. And the second part of what was said by that voice was “with whom I am well pleased” or “in whom my soul delights”. This is from our first reading from Isaiah this morning, a direct quote. God is talking about the suffering servant, the chosen one of God, who will redeem the world by sacrificing himself. So, putting these two together we have a God given description of who Jesus is and what he has come to do.
So this is a piece of what happens as Jesus is baptized. He goes into the water known as the son of Joseph and Mary, and he emerges and is known as the Messiah. He is the same person, but one whose purpose is revealed.
From this time on, the message that Jesus preached, a message of peace and justice and grace and love spread throughout Judea, as we read in the reading from Acts this morning. From this point on, Jesus went about doing the work of the Lord, for God was with him.
Still, we are left to wonder….why baptism? Why not an inaugural sermon or a big fanfare, coming down off the mountain parade? Why come to the waters?
This is the ponderous question of theologians and scholars throughout time. And their answers differ. But here is what I believe. God came to be with us in the person of Jesus, Emmanuel, God-with-us. And as hard as it might be for us to imagine, God’s desire is to be with us in every place in our lives….in the hard and despairing places, in the places where we have absolutely made a colossal and horrible mess of things, in the places where we are certain that we cannot go on. And God is with us in our doubting…in those niggling night moments when we wonder if what we believe is really true or makes a difference. And God is with us in our moments of unbridled joy and wonder…at the birth of a child, in the love of another, in the unmatched beauty of nature – mountains, trees, water, sunset.
Jesus is God with us. And rather than insist that we come to Jesus….Jesus comes to us. Jesus wades into the water alongside every sinner of every time and place for this simple reason: because we are God’s beloved children. Jesus is baptized to convey the profound truth of our faith, we are loved beyond our ability to imagine. There is nothing that we will go through in life that Jesus does not accompany us there. Our sins are washed away, not because water literally does that, but because Jesus, who waded into the water to be baptized by John, loved us enough to come and live among us, to suffer as we suffer, to laugh as we laugh and to die as we die. And because of Jesus, death does not have the final word. Because of him, we are assured of life in the kingdom, life eternal, life that does not end.
Next Sunday we will gather around this font and baptize Lily Tiglao. We will remember that just as she is baptized, Jesus too was baptized. And we will pray this prayer for her: “Sustain Lily with the gift of your Holy Spirit; the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord, the spirit of joy in your presence, both now and forever.” And in baptism, that is the sustaining prayer for each of us. Sustain Clara Lu…Sustain Bob….Sustain Kyle….sustain Katy.
And then, at the end of the baptism a candle is lit from the paschal candle and given to the baptized or the sponsors or parents and we say these words: “Let your light so shine before others that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.”
Very often we remember our baptisms by dipping our fingers in the water and making the sign of the cross on our foreheads. Some days, we are splashed with water as a sign of remembrance. And on this day, when we remember Jesus’ baptism, I invite you to remember your own. If you are here and were not baptized, please do participate with us. If you desire baptism, I hope you’ll talk to me after worship.
I am going to read the prayer that begins with “Sustain” and after I have said that first word, “sustain”, I invite you all to speak your names aloud. I will say sustain and you will say your name, with the boldness of a beloved child of God. And then I will continue the prayer.
“Sustain XXXX with the gift of your Holy Spirit; the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord, the spirit of joy in your presence, both now and forever.”
And now I invite you to light your candles from the light of the paschal candle….
Raise them high and hear again these words: You are my Beloved child, with whom I am well pleased. Let your light so shine before others that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.
Thanks be to God. Amen.