First Epiphany, 2005

The mother had told her son not to go swimming on his way to buy some milk at the country store.  She was a bit upset when he came home with his head all wet.  He told his mother that he had fallen in the water down by the creek, close to where the best swimming hole was. 

“Then why aren’t your clothes wet, too?” she asked.

“Well,” said the boy, “I had a hunch I might fall in, so I took off my clothes and hung them on a limb.”

I suspect that John the Baptist had a hunch that his cousin was not making a social call when he came out to Jordan that day.  Jesus knew that the time had come.  He had been faithful to his family in helping provide for them in Nazareth.  He had learned the carpentry trade.  He knew what it meant to work hard, to deal with the dissatisfied customer, to be diplomatic in collecting from the fellow who never paid his debts on time, and to fulfill the duties of the eldest son.  Now, the time had come to step forward.  So, he comes to John and asks to be baptized.  It was the proper starting point.

I hope you have noticed that not sermon is preached, not one disciple is called, not one miracle is performed, not one sickness is cured, and not one self-righteous person is rebuked until Jesus is baptized.  It is done for our benefit, not for his.  He didn’t need it.  We do.  Jesus moves from being just the son of Mary to being the Christ, the Son of God.  What the first Adam did, that is to set himself up as his own God, and the second Adam undoes, and opens the path back to God.  This baptism marks the beginning of a journey that would turn the world upside down.

After a period of testing in the wilderness Jesus returns to the crossroads of life and begins to preach.  His first message, like that of John the Baptist, is “Repent, turn around, the Kingdom of heaven is at hand.”  Now the long years of silence are shattered and the quiet of the peaceful hillsides are stirred into a multitude of words and actions.  Sermons are preached, disciples are called, commands are given, lepers are cleansed, the sick are healed, storms are stilled, demons are cast out, and those who think they are in good standing with God are told they will be the last in the Kingdom.  There is no end to the confrontations and challenges hurled at him.  His authority is questioned, his motives are made suspect, he preaches his first sermon to his hometown folks and is almost stoned to death, the religiously rich he chastises, the morally corrupt he confronts, and blindness, deafness, paralysis, and death itself stagger before his relentless onslaught.  No need is to too small for his compassion, no false piety too revered for his rebuke, and no person is so outcast that he doesn’t reach out to touch.  Finally, he is silenced by the agonizing death of a common criminal on a cross.  We have just celebrated his birth and we remember his death and resurrection in the bread and wine of the Holy Eucharist.  Birth and death marked the parameters of his life, like yours and mine.  But, his ministry and mission did not begin until his baptism.  Our baptisms in his name serve as the hinge that opens our ministry and mission in his name.

The second thing the baptism of Jesus is intended to remind us of is that we have no power in ourselves to help ourselves.  Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John make the point.  There is no power, no authority, no reliable claim apart from the Spirit of God that is given through the water and word of baptism.  And there is no ministry except it first is tested in the wilderness of life.  Like Jesus, being faithful in the little things prepares us for even bigger things.  No person can lay claim to power or authority or ministry unless they follow the example of the one called Jesus the Christ. 

We live in a time in history when we are inundated by all manner of spiritual gurus, new-age advisors, self-help counselors, would-be world changers, and religious hucksters going about their self-appointed duties.  Modern day false prophets are busy forecasting a future of doom and people are working themselves into a frenzy with the newest canned program guaranteed to provide a valid religious experience.  In all this it seems we have failed at the crucial point.  We have been baptized.  And we have had our wilderness experiences.  We have received the Holy Spirit and power from God through the water and word of baptism and we have been molded for our ministry with and to each other and the world in those wilderness times.  We have been given the word of promise and the word of power.  We are the sons and daughters of the one who is the Ancient of Days.  We are brothers and sisters of the one who died and rose again.  We have been baptized into Christ!

I also believe that Jesus’ baptism and our baptisms in this name means the possibility of regeneration exists for every person.  Having been baptized into the one who alone can put us back into a right relationship with God means we owe him; our heart, our life, all that we are, all that we have, and all that we may become, precisely because he loved us more than he loved life.  2004 brought many of you terrible losses, in families, in relationships, in businesses, in health.  You do not have to carry that burden alone.  You have been baptized in Christ and he has been there.

Does he understand the vacuum, the emptiness, and the agony of a broken relationship?  Yes, he’s been there and you have been baptized in his name.  If you do not feel close to him at times and feel you are in the wilderness, remember he has been through the desert and has drawn close to you in your baptism.  If you doubt and despair, remember that God has given the promise in baptism to walk with you in your doubts and see you through the despair.

If you journey to the far country and wallow in the pigpens of the earth, remember that a loving Father who has named you and loves you more than you can ever possibly love yourself has known you in your baptism.  If you renounce it all and give yourself over to the temptations of the world, remember that in your baptism God has not renounced you and never will.  If you stumble in your sin and stammer in your confession, as I so often do, remember that in our baptisms we who are guilty have been assured of perfect forgiveness.  No ecstasy, no vision, no experience can make it more real.  No doubt, no despair, no wilderness can take it from you.  Remember in our baptisms, as in the Lord’s, God has said to us, “You are my beloved, and with you I am well pleased.”

The great good news of today is that we had a hunch we served a God like that.   Amen.