Sermon for January 12, 2025 - The Baptism of the Lord
As we begin our journey in Luke’s gospel for the coming liturgical year, we find that we have already been immersed through Advent and Christmastide in the first two chapters with stories of angels, shepherds, hymns of praise, and a little prophesy mixed for good measure, as these opening chapters sets us up with the backstory of both John the Baptist and his cousin Jesus. With many words Luke has told us of the births of John the Baptist and Jesus. Now with very few words Luke will transition from the end of John’s preaching mission to the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry. The necessary hinge is Jesus’ baptism. The people are wondering if John might be the Christos, the Messiah, but John lets them know that one more powerful is coming, one empowered by the Holy Spirit, as John’s ministry of preparation for the Messiah is ending with his imprisonment by Herod. The beginning of Jesus’ ministry is marked by his baptism, not described here in any detail, but merely reported in one-half of one verse: “When all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too.” Luke, chapter 3, verse 21…a.
According to Luke, all we know about the baptism of Jesus is that it is was with “all the people,” and that is a small detail that never popped out to me when reading this passage, that is until now. And I imagine that if I have overlooked this detail then perhaps the church has also overlooked this small but significant detail of Luke’s version of this story. With “all the people” means that Jesus presented himself for baptism as an act of solidarity with a nation and a world of sinners. Jesus simply got in line with everyone who had been broken by the wear and tear of this selfish world and had all but given up on themselves and their God. When the line of downtrodden and sin-sick people formed in hope of new beginnings through a return to God, Jesus joined them. Jesus got in line behind me, and in front of you. At his baptism he identified with the damaged and broken people who needed God.
With this singular act of coming alongside “all people,” Luke’s Jesus begins a ministry that will come to include all people; not just the people of Israel, not just those deemed worthy because of an adherence to specific structures of sacrificial atonement, but all people. So, then, a reflective question emerges and is worth asking, even of ourselves, whether the Church truly identifies with sinners and are we willing to get in line with them, to welcome and work with them as brothers and sisters in Christ? The Church may say all the right words, declaring that we are hospitals for sinners and refuges for those who have lost their way, but too often we may send the message that respectable, successful folks are the one we need to build up our communities. Time and again people who encounter difficulties in life drop out of our churches, seek help from other caregivers, and return to church only after they feel they can be received as respectable, churchgoing people. This detail is worth knowing and remembering because the universality of Jesus’ mission becomes a a central theme of Luke’s gospel that will keep reappearing throughout our yearlong journey with Luke.
There is another small detail about Jesus’ baptism that is unique to Luke and worth our consideration is prayer. Luke does not have Jesus say a single word our loud at his baptism, but after he is baptized, Jesus prays. Jesus is not only coming to us sinners; he is also coming to God in prayer. He will not undertake his public ministry of teaching and healing in his own power and abilities. The source of his strength will be beyond himself. The Holy Spirit will encourage him all the way, even when the way becomes difficult. The disciples will learn this posture of prayer from Jesus, as the Spirit will give them the stamina and patience to love and love again in faithful ministry.
Again, it is worth asking the reflective questions of whether our churches depend on the Holy Spirit and our connection to God in prayer for the spiritual stamina to go into the world and make a difference in peoples’ lives through Christ? This connection remains the lifeline of every disciple, me and you included. It is significant that this intensely spiritual experience following Jesus’ baptism happens while he is in the posture of prayer. The American author and civil rights activist James Weldon Johnson prays that the church will never forget how to bend towards God for its strength as he writes:
O Lord, we come this morning
Knee-bowed and body-bent
Before thy throne of grace.
O, Lord, this morning
Bow our hearts beneath our knees
And our knees in some lonesome valley.
We come this morning,
Like empty pitchers to a fountain full.
Identifying with sinners in the waters of baptism and holding onto God in prayer, Jesus will now be claimed as God’s Son. As Clarence Jordan, a Baptist theologian and the founder of Habitat for Humanity, renders it: “the sky split, the Holy Spirit in the shape of a dove came down upon him, and a voice fame from the sky saying, “You are my dear Son; I’m proud of you.” At his baptism, Jesus is ordained as Messiah by a God who loves him and tells him so. This powerful affirmation, this calling from God, will sustain Jesus through a time of temptations in the desert and then through the joys and trials of faithful ministry.
Yet again, it is worth asking whether the church is sustained by knowing that God claims us as his children and is proud of us for bringing God’s love to all people. Every human life is rooted in the will and intention of God. In baptism, as Isaiah reminds us, a person’s name is called because our faith is that God thought of this person before the person was, that God gave this person an identity, an individuality, a name, and a dignity that no one should dare abuse.
We need to hear this affirmation from God, and we need to hear it from each other. These are life giving words that every human being upon this earth should hear: “You are my dear child; I’m proud of you.” Imagine that, hearing “I’m proud of you”…from God. Take a moment and imagine God saying that to you… “I’m proud of you.” You, in all your perfect imperfections. God is proud of you.
When Jesus heard those words, they changed his life forever. They will do the same of our children, our neighbours, our partners, those sitting next to you right now, and as Jesus promised, even our enemies. So, imagine how your life can change when you hear those words uttered to you. Imagine, how you can help change someones life when you utter those words to others.
Luke uses very few words to share with us the baptism of Jesus. But those few words lead us to very deep wellsprings of joy in the faithful ministry of God. To identify with all people, to depend upon God in prayer for strength to live and love, and to hear the affirmation of your God as the source of your calling and purpose in life are the most enduring joys of life. These are the blessings of our life to together in Christ as the church bound together both near and far into one beloved community of faith. Amen.
