The Baptism of the Lord (1/10/2016)
Baptism of Christ, mosaic, detail, from Ravenna Baptistery, Ravenna, Italy
On Sunday, January 10th we observed the Baptism of the Lord. We examined what it means to be baptized into Christ's life, work, death, and resurrection.
Sermon
Good
morning! Some of you look really tired this morning. Did you stay up late
watching TV? Was there a game last night or something? I know the Pens played,
but that was over by 10:00. That should leave plenty of time for sleep. Oh,
right, the Steelers! That had to be the craziest ending to a Steelers’ game
since the Immaculate Reception. Unbelievable. All I can say is, if I ever get a
call to serve at a church in Cincinnati, Cleveland, or Baltimore, I’m getting a
black stole with gold crosses on it.
Today
we observe the baptism of Jesus. It’s not uncommon for congregations to include
water in the service of worship on this Sunday. As I was preparing this sermon,
I thought about a number of different ways to do this. In some congregations, a
branch or a piece of greenery is dipped in a bowl of water and then sprinkled
on members of the congregation as they sit in the pews.[1] I
thought about what it would look like, with me running up and down the aisles,
splashing you all with water. And then an even more mischievous thought crossed
my mind.
Now
you have to remember, I grew up in the 1980s, and we had cable TV. I saw a lot
of comedy shows on HBO in the 80s. One of those comics was a man named
Gallagher. Do any of you remember Gallagher? At the end of his show, Gallagher
would bring a heavy wooden table to the center of the stage and he’d put a
watermelon on that table. Then he’d get a big wooden sledgehammer and smash the
watermelon. Splat! All over the audience! As you can see, your pastor was into
some really highbrow entertainment.
Truth
be told, I actually thought about placing a small table in front of the chancel
and getting out from the pulpit. Then I thought that maybe I’d put a water
balloon on the table. And then I might make you wonder if I would actually go
through with the stunt and break the water balloon and splash some of you.
Of
course I’m not quite dumb enough to go through with a stunt like that. Still, I
think that we’re so used to the tame, controlled experience of the pastor
gently sprinkling a little bit of water on an infant’s head that we don’t see
baptism as a radical, visible act of discipleship. As Presbyterians, we like
things to be orderly, but the Holy Spirit doesn’t always move in a neat and
predictable fashion. Sometimes the Spirit hits you like a tidal wave—or a
standup comedian smashing a watermelon with a sledgehammer.
As
Presbyterians, we believe that baptism is “the sign and seal of incorporation
into Christ.”[2]
The root of the word incorporation is the Latin word corpus, which means body. Just as Jesus is the Word of God, made
flesh, through our baptism, each and every one of us is marked as being part of
the body of Christ.
In this
morning’s reading from the Gospel of Luke, John the Baptist tells the crowds
that he is not the Messiah, but that someone is coming who is more powerful
than John, and this person is coming to baptize the people with the Holy
Spirit. We are also told that after Jesus was baptized, “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 pleased.’” So
Jesus is anointed by the Holy Spirit and God attests Jesus’ divinity. This is a
very important image.
Apocalyptic theologians
of antiquity anticipated that God would begin the apocalypse by opening the
barrier between heaven and earth and sending angel hosts to destroy and
reconstruct. Luke draws on this motif by describing the heavens opening over
Jesus. However, the Spirit descends without the angelic hosts. From Luke’s
point of view, that will occur only at the second coming.[3]
Luke
understands that the people are looking for a host of angels, sent from heaven,
to put right everything that is wrong in the world. But that’s not what
happened. God entered the world in the person of Jesus. Yet Jesus did not drive
the Romans out. He did not right every wrong in the world. And the world is
still broken today.
This
morning’s gospel reading leaves out a lot of what Luke has to say about John
the Baptist. In some ways, what’s left out of this morning’s reading is almost
as important as what is in the reading. Earlier in this chapter we learn that
John the Baptist has been busy wandering in the countryside around the River
Jordan. He’s been “proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of
sins,” (Luke 3:3).
People
were interested in John’s message of repentance; many were baptized. And the
crowds of people asked him how they should live their lives after they’ve
repented. John told them: “Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has
none; and whoever has food must do likewise.” He also told tax collectors and
soldiers—people in positions of power—not to cheat others.
In
the verses from the Gospel of Luke that were omitted from this morning’s
reading, we learn that John the Baptist was arrested by King Herod for
proclaiming this message. Think about it. What John was suggesting was so
radical, so disruptive to the existing power structure that it landed him in
jail. Mind you, everything that John said was entirely consistent with the messages
that were delivered by the prophets of the Old Testament! John isn’t telling
people anything new, he’s just telling the people that God wants them to share
with one another. And he’s telling the truth. “The imprisonment of John reminds
us of what happens to those who tell the truth, or, to those whose words we
don’t want to hear. This will certainly be the case for Jesus.”[4]
Now I
think that this is a message that most of us can get behind—in theory. But
really, when’s the last time you gave away half of your stuff? After church
today, how many of you will cook dinner and then give half of it to the poor?
Now I know that’s not practical; you can’t just roast a chicken, slice it in
half and take it to your local food pantry. You could, however, find a family
in need and invite them over for dinner or take them out to a restaurant. Or
you could get that can of ravioli that costs 99 cents at Wal-Mart and drop that
in the box for the food pantry. That’s about the same thing, right?
Now I
don’t mean to be too harsh, but I don’t think that we’re living into the sort
of life that John the Baptist is proclaiming here. And to be fair, I include
myself in that “we.”
Yesterday
I went to a little party. There were about fifteen or twenty guys there and we
roasted a small pig. Most of the guys who were there belong to a country club.
We ate very well. The guy who hosted it had turned his entire basement into a
man cave. The basement itself was almost as big as the Fellowship Hall here at
the church. There was a pool table, a card table, some couches, a fireplace, and
a bar that was as long as this chancel. I’m not kidding. We each kicked in
twenty-five bucks to help cover the cost of the pig, plus some of us threw in
another ten bucks each so that one guy could go out and buy a bunch of Power
Ball tickets. Think about that for a second. Everyone there, except for me, was
probably pulling down a six-figure income, yet we all chipped in for lottery
tickets.
I
admit, I didn’t try to take up a collection for the needy. I didn’t urge these
guys to donate more money to their churches. They’re my friends and I was just
happy to be included, to see how the other folks live. And I’ve got to say: Man!
We’ve all got a lot of stuff. And some of these folks who have the most stuff still
bought lottery tickets! And so did I. I wanted to be a part of it all, too. I’m
not immune to that temptation. The question we have to ask ourselves is, are we
serving Christ or are we serving our stuff?
If
anything, the distribution of wealth and power in Greco-Roman world of Jesus’
time was even more unbalanced than in our communities here in the United
States. Jesus did not, in and of himself, upset that system. But Jesus taught
the disciples and the crowds that there would be a new creation, a new heaven
and a new earth, and in this new creation, all things would be put right, all
would be as God intended:
When Jesus came to be
baptized, he came to be publicly identified as the pivotal figure in the movement
towards [remaking the world as God intended it to be]. Moreover, his baptism
signaled that God was now taking steps through the ministry of Jesus to signal
that the turning of the ages expected by John has now begun to take place.[5]
Something new happened in the world. The inbreaking
of God’s kingdom began with the birth of Jesus—the Word of God, made flesh!
God
didn’t send a host of angels to fix all the world’s problems. God did send
Jesus into the world—the Word of God, made flesh! But Jesus didn’t solve all
the problems in the world, either. Perhaps that’s because most of the problems
in the world are here for us to solve. That’s why Jesus called and trained the
disciples, and that’s why we’re called to be disciples to this very day!
In
this morning’s reading we hear John the Baptist tell the crowds that Jesus will
come and baptize people with the Holy Spirit. And every time a baby is baptized
in this or any other congregation, the pastor will say, “I baptize you in the
name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.” Through the Holy Spirit, Jesus has equipped
us to be disciples. The Spirit is still with us. We proclaim that every time we
baptize a new member of this community. We are called to do Christ’s work in
the world and we are called to go out and make disciples! This work belongs to
all of us. Let’s get to work! Thanks be to God. Amen!
Benediction
Now, beloved,
as you depart from this place, remember that the Holy Spirit is still with us
today. Remember that we are called to make disciples. And remember that we are
equipped by the Holy Spirit to make disciples, to be Christ’s church in the
world, and to do God’s work in the world. Do not return evil for evil to any
person, but know that we are all loved by God, and that we are called to
reflect that love to everyone we meet. In the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord,
let all God’s children say, Amen!
[1] Ron
Allen, “Commentary on Luke 3:15-17, 21-22,” retrieved from http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=2709
[2] Book of Order, W-2.3001.
[3] Ron
Allen. “Commentary on Luke 3:15-17, 21-22,” retrieved from http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=2709
[4] Karoline
Lewis, “Commentary on Luke 3:15-17, 21-22,” retrieved from: http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=1557
[5] Ron
Allen, “Commentary on Luke 3:15-17, 21-22,” retrieved from http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=2709
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