THE WORD 4 ev 1

Today’s text is Luke 3 (Click here for link)

Our reading today describes for us one of most theologically perplexing events in Jesus life, his baptism. Jesus Baptized? I know I haven’t been a Pastor for long, but every time I teach this in Catechism or Sunday school, the question always comes up, “Why in the world did Jesus do that? Did he really have to? And, of course, I try to be the wise pastor; I try to give an eloquent answer that actually has some meaning, but I don’t know that that is what always happens. Somehow, all that I manage to stammer and stutter out seems more like random and varied theological speak than anything meaningful and relevant to everyday life. Of course that doesn’t mean that here is no answer. I have books and books upon my office shelves that speak to this matter. But sometimes I wonder how does all that “theological speaking” really matter? Yes theology is the very substance of our faith, and yet sometimes theological words just seem to get in the way.

Take our writer Luke this morning. There really isn’t any theology in his description of Jesus baptism. He really doesn’t explain any of it to us, just the bare minimum. In fact, he describes the baptism of our Lord as though Jesus was simply swept up with the crowd and herded through the river, but nonetheless, something significant happens in those shallow waters of the Jordan. Luke says Jesus was baptized, that he prayed. But then an amazing thing happened—God spoke from heaven and the Holy Spirit descended on him as a dove. But we must ask, “What does this mean?”

Of course, we could talk about the theology of anointing, or Christ’s perfect example to humanity, there is the theology of recapitulation, of identification, sanctification of baptismal waters, Scriptural fulfillment… In fact, there are as many as 8 distinct theological reasons for the necessity of Jesus baptism in the Jordan, all them good and right and salutary. But somehow, I couldn’t quite get them to jive in my head with this bare bones account from Luke. Somehow they don’t quite capture that particular day and that hour when the Son of God made flesh, took off his apron, headed out into the desert to gather with the crowds and hear that itinerate preacher proclaiming that the kingdom of God was at hand, “Repent.” “Be Baptized.” And there, with sinners on either side of him, Jesus walks out into those waters to be met by John, and he is baptized. There in that moment was God standing hip deep in water with sinners! Yes, there are many theological reasons why Jesus was baptized, but the picture Luke paints for us this morning is clear: whatever the reasons, here is the Son of God and he is standing among us.

But how does this help us now? Perhaps it is only people who truly are in need. Take the Haitian earthquake which unfolded before us on the evening news broadcasts a couple of weeks ago. It is hard to put words to such things. Countless people dead—mothers, children, husbands, daughters, and aunts and uncles; so many empty eyes, wandering souls, looking for water or food or shelter. Such a place could no doubt make one question the motives (or even the existence) of God, especially as you walk among the dead and the suffering. However, could it not also be that sometimes it is precisely in such places that God is found to be more with us than anyone ever imagined?

I think of the woman I saw on the TV being interviewed by an NBC reporter. She was clutching her two children. She described the horrors of that moment when all the earth trembled and buildings and brick and mortar came crashing down around her. But all she could think about in that moment was the fact that her two babies were at home, 3 blocks away, in the third story of their apartment building. She described how she scrambled, even as things still heaved beneath her, over the wreckage, down the street, searching for but unable to recognize the rubble that used to be her apartment. She described that desperate moment when she realized she had lost them—that she had lost everything—when she realized that she was standing on top of what used to be her apartment. Crying to the reporter, she recalled asking God, “Why have you forsaken me?” Her life truly felt destroyed in that moment like the city around her. That is, until she heard the most beautiful sound in the world. From deep down inside the rubble of the apartment building, she heard the weak cries of her precious babies calling out for their mommy. She described digging them out with her bare hands. She described that moment when she reached down with bleeding hands and pulled out her two little treasures. And then (I will never forget this), she stopped her story and looked the reporter right in the eyes and said, “In that moment, I knew, more than ever before, that God loves me.”

Yes, it is hard to nail down the assurance of God with us in any better words than those of that Haitian mother. No theological book could compare. In fact, perhaps sometimes it takes tragic circumstances for us to see this. However, we would be wrong to assume that it is only is such circumstances that we need God. Baptism is not just for Haitian earthquake survivors or the down and out. No… that is too often the mistake we make in the church, as individual Christians when it come to telling our friends and family about the wonderful assurance we have in Christ through a simple thing like baptism. We think we need a crisis to happen before we can act; and so we sometimes wait, thinking that circumstances will change things. Thinking that God only makes sense when the sinner feels a need for him. And so we wait. We think we can only minister to people when they are down and out, got a crises, family falling apart, got fired, on drugs, this and that. We are like vultures circling overhead thinking to ourselves, “One day you will go down, and then I can help you?” And then one day you find that person in a dirty room, 15-watt bulb swinging overhead, bare mattress on the floor, smell of stale beer and cigarette butts in the toilet, and then finally you come waltzing in saying, “You need the Lord.”

Tragically, that is what they needed before.

You see, it doesn’t matter who you are—an American idol or someone who is wheeled into service each week in a chair because they have muscular dystrophy. Your need is the same. It doesn’t matter if you are at the peak of your financial power, or you’re the person whose credit card won’t swipe at the grocery store because it is maxed out. It’s all the same for us. Your Baptism means God IS WITH YOU. YOU WILL NEVER BE ALONE. We stand where he stood and as the deep waters of baptism were sprinkled over us, the name of God was applied to us, heaven was opened to us, and the Holy Spirit is in us. You are God’s child now. You are forgiven.

So what is that like? The Bible speaks about it in so many ways. New creation… don’t let that theological term slip past you. New Creation? It means for you it is like morning has broken like that very first morning--a new beginning. Sort of like when you were a kid, trying to finish your math test with only a few minutes before the bell. You hurry, the teacher is fussing. You make a mistake; try to erase it, but the paper tears. You try to flatten it out, but now everything has become a big black smear. You’re not going to make it and the bell is going to ring. Another failed exam… But then the teacher comes by and sees your predicament and says, “My goodness,” and slides a clean white sheet on your desk and says, “Why don’t you just start all over.” Your baptism in to Jesus means that for you—not years ago, but right now, today.

The bible calls it new birth, like at the hospital… A new dad, standing over the little warmer studying each feature of his little girl. He looks at her squinting eyes and wrinkly skin and fuzzy hair. His eyes look at each little arm, tracing each little finger and there on the wrist that little band that bears a name—His name. This is his little girl! That is what Jesus means for you. His baptism and your baptism into his name means you bear forever the name of God. You are God’s new creation.

The Bible describes it like snowfall. You get up in the morning, early, and you look out: just a few inches has changed everything. You look down the street and what the day before had been an ugly dumpster has suddenly been transformed into a mound of brilliant glory. That is what the Bible says it is like. Jesus came for you. He has claimed you. Baptism saves you. You are forgiven. Right now! You have nothing to be afraid of anymore.

Remember your baptism today,

Pastor Aaron