Baptism of Our Lord

 

Matt 3:13-17

This is the start of the season after Epiphany here in the church.  It is the season of time between Christmas and Lent where we begin to discover who Jesus is and what it means to be his disciples.  It is a time we will begin to consider what it means to be called by God and how that affects us.  Over the next several weeks we will hear a whole series of readings where Jesus suddenly appears in the lives of those around him and we will see how his presence changes everything.  And how being near Jesus gets people to do all sorts of new, weird and scary things.  How Jesus pushes people out of their comfort zones and into new things.  And how amazing things happen when he does.

This first week we hear the story of the Baptism of Our Lord from the book of Matthew.  In this story Jesus comes into the wilderness to be baptized by John.  And John flatly refuses.  Because the whole idea is absurd in the face of it.  John has just gone on saying not two verses ago that “I baptize you with water for repentance, but one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to carry his sandals.”  And all of sudden this one who he has been waiting for appears, whose shoes he is unworthy to touch asking to be baptized by him.  Clearly it should be the other way around.  Jesus should be the one doing the baptism.  Plus, John was baptizing people for repentance, to cleanse them of their sins and help them live more faithful lives.  But Jesus was sinless, he has nothing to repent, he has never been unfaithful.  So what would John even be doing?  He feels in every way unqualified for this task.

But Jesus insists.  And against his better judgement, John consents.  And so there is this weird sort of inversion where very human John does this very divine thing of baptizing the already divine and already perfect Jesus.  And when he does, amazing things happens.  John gets huge results, the heavens open, the spirit descends, a voice from heaven speaks his pleasure.  It doesn’t get much bigger than this.  And all because John was willing to listen to what Jesus was asking him to do.

And this happens for all of us, all the time.  We too can do great and amazing things. Things we think we are wholly unqualified for.  Jesus takes us, moves us, changes us, rearranges us into exactly what he needs to accomplish his mission.  Because Jesus doesn’t call the qualified, he qualifies the called.

It is important to remember that in this story and all others that God is in control.  John by his own effort and skill isn’t the one who causes the heavens to be torn open.  God does God’s work here, he works the miracles.  John just does his tiny part and God does the rest.  But this is still hard, really hard.  Because it is hard to let God be in control.  It’s hard to step out there and put yourself on the line and trust that God will act.

Trust me, it was hard for John too.  When John talks about the Messiah before meeting Jesus, he cuts a pretty terrifying figure.  John has been telling people that when the Messiah comes “He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing-fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing-floor and will gather his wheat into the granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”  And then suddenly this fire bringing, chaff burning, Jesus shows up demanding that John be the one to baptize him.  The stakes here for John are huge, but he does it anyway.  And sometimes the stakes are huge for us too.

But Jesus calls us to do it anyway.  Because he knows that we will never do it alone.  Because we have all been where Jesus was.  We have all now too been though these same waters of baptism and entered into this same holy covenant.  All these things happen on this day not because Jesus needs them.  Not because Jesus needs his sins forgiven, Not because Jesus needs to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, Not because Jesus needs to hear “You are my child, the beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”  But because we need these things.  And at our own baptisms, because Jesus showed us how, all these things happen for us too.

Now most probably when you were baptized it didn’t seem as big and spectacular as the clouds parting and booming voices from heaven.  But all this stuff still happened.  Because that is what it means to be baptized.  It’s not just about forgiveness anymore.  At our baptisms we have all been given the gift of the Holy Spirit and we are all made children of God.  We all, every one of us hears that same message “You are my child, my beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”  Every one of us has this message, has this power, has the Holy Spirit. 

And this is so very powerful because it means we too can do things that we could never do before.  Because just like with John, it is God who does the work.  It is always God who does the work, who makes the miracles, who changes the world.  We are just here to say yes and do our tiny part.  And we are never asked to do it alone.  At our baptisms, each and every one of us received the gift of the Holy Spirit and each and every one of us is accompanied by the presence of the Lord every single day of our lives.  And we are gifted with the community of the church to help, guide and support us every step of the way. 

Which means we can do all the things we are called to do, even if we currently feel wholly unqualified or under-resourced.  We can step out and do new things, we can take the risks, because it is God who does the work and we are never alone in our callings.  So all we need so is just slip your hand into God’s and stretch out and take that first step, and amazing things will begin to happen.  Amen.