1-11-26 Feast of the Baptism of Jesus
Last Sunday we celebrated the feast of the Epiphany, (i.e. manifestation), of the Lord as made manifest in vision of a star and the realization of 3 magi that a new and great king has been born in the world. This weekend’s feast, the Baptism of the Lord, is like last week’s feast of the Epiphany in some ways, in that it is another manifestation of who that child, now an adult, this Jesus of Nazareth, has become. Like the feast of last week, this feast occurs out of the view of most of the world. It does not occur in the halls of power or influence. It does not occur in a beautiful cathedral, or on a busy city street corner. Rather, it occurs out in a desert-like area through which the ancient Jordan river flows. Into that river Jesus steps along beside the other people who have come to be baptized and to have their sins forgiven by John. In that river, he stands beside all of humanity, but he is seen for who he truly is only by John the Baptist. John is the only one who recognizes that this man, who of all men, does not need to be baptized by him. Rather, as John says, it is John who is the one who needs baptism by this man. And so, he, who is both divine and human, submits himself to this ritual in order that all things be rightly done in preparation for the beginning now of his public ministry, and that all things may be rightly done in preparation for the salvation of mankind. John’s perception that this man, Jesus, is a very special individual is confirmed when Jesus comes up out of the waters and suddenly all of creation pauses for a moment, while the heavens above are opened so that God’s blessing on his son might be displayed for John to see. Through John’s actions, God’s announces who is this man, Jesus, truly is. “This is my beloved son.” When we were baptized as infants our parents were the ones who pronounced our name. By that name, many others in our lifetime have come to know us. But also, in the sacrament of Baptism, God pronounced our name, not our given name, but our relational name to Him. He called us his child- “This is my son; this is my daughter.” That is our identity, which is who we truly are, “a child of God.” Through the course of our lives, the world has had many descriptors for our identity. Some of them may have been positive descriptions, others, not so positive or validating of us. But that original divine definition of who we are has never changed. Later in our lives when we chose to be confirmed, we may have chosen to take a new name to add to our given family name. Hopefully, whatever name we chose for our confirmation, it reflected more fully the reality of our relationship to God and our willingness to live out our lives in that relational stance as- a child of God. “The writer Frederick Buechner once noted that God speaks a true name over every life—a name not earned but given, a name that reveals who we are in God’s eyes.”1 For most of us, living out that special relationship to God, can become marred at times by our sins. But it can never be truly broken. Jesus, understanding fully our nature to sin, gives us the means through which we can restore that relationship at any point we choose, even to the moment of our last breath, as seen in the life of the good thief. At those last moments of his life, he chose to be with Jesus and accept his restored sonship through Jesus ’s redemptive act on the cross- “remember me” (Lke23:42). In the first reading this weekend God, through the writings and mouth of Isaiah the prophet, gives us a snapshot of what this one, who is called “son” will be truly like. He is not someone who condemns, punishes, and rejects, no, this one, the beloved son, “will bring forth justice to the nations, He will not cry out, nor shout, nor make his voice heard in the street. A bruised reed he will not break, and a dimly burning wick he will not quench ….” (Isaiah 42:1-3) Are we ever that bruised reed through the judgement of others or even ourselves? Are we ever that "dimly burning wick" because hope has gone out of our lives? Jesus rises from the waters of the Jordan river, and the Spirit pronounces Jesus's special relationship with the Father and his destiny to fulfill God’s work within humanity. But who is it, we might wonder, who hears these words about Jesus's specialness? Were they spoken for John’s benefit? Were they spoken for Jesus's ’ benefit? Or were they spoken for our benefit? Or were they spoken for all three. This special relationship that Jesus shares with the Father was to be a foretaste of the relationship that all humanity could have with the Father, if they wish. But each person must decide for themselves if they will seek to live out this relationship. In the second reading this weekend from the Acts of the Apostles, we see the story of Peter, who after he accepted the invitation to come and preach at the home of a roman pagan, Cornelius, suddenly discovers that Spirit has already prepared the soil of the souls gathered in Cornelius’s house. For when Peter gets to the house, he sees that everyone there is praying and praising God through Jesus Christ. He sees that the Spirit has already descended on these so-called pagans, who have chosen to follow the ways of Christ. It is in this encounter with these pagans that Peter learns that God shows not favoritism and that we are all his children. And so, Peter cries out - “In truth, I see that God shows no partiality. Rather in every nation whoever fears him and acts uprightly is acceptable to him…. Can anyone withhold the water for baptizing these people, who have received the holy Spirit even as we have?” (see Acts10:1-48) To accept this relationship, of being a child of God, that Jesus mirrors for us in the gospel today, is sometimes hard for us to do. Sometimes we are more comfortable in accepting a God who is distant from us, or a God who only wishes to punish us. But the Gospel insists otherwise. Jesus enters the water not because He needs forgiveness, but because we do. He stands among sinners so that sinners may know they are not beyond the reach of grace. He aligns Himself with humanity so that humanity may be drawn into the life of God.2 And so, the feast this weekend of the Lord’s Baptism, asks of us are we willing to lay down our specifications or definitions of what a perfect daughter or son looks like, and instead are we willing to accept Jesus’ outstretched arms toward us in invitation to join him in waters of freedom. The waters of freedom by which we accept that we too are a beloved child of God.
1. 1. Sunday Seermons.com 2. When Brightness Blinds Voicings.com
