January 9, 2022 – The Baptism of the Lord

Our baptism into Christ is God’s eternal gift to us. And living out the Baptismal Covenant is the way that God makes sure we are able to continue in God’s love.

Let us pray.  Holy and gracious God, we give you thanks for your presence in this time and place, and within each one of us in the many places we are gathered. Help us now to open our minds, our hearts, our whole lives, to receive the gift of your living word for us this day, and may the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our strength and our redeemer.  Amen.

So we have just read Luke’s account of Jesus’ baptism, and there are very similar accounts in the Gospels of Matthew and Mark as well.  And as I mentioned last week, for our brothers and sisters in the eastern Orthodox churches, this is the primary Epiphany event – this baptism of Jesus – revealing him as the Son of God, the Messiah.  For us – we see this as the event that reveals the truth and identity about Jesus as an adult as opposed to the visit of the Magi when he was just a young toddler. 

It’s very clear from the synoptic Gospels, and the Acts of the Apostles, and in fact – the rest of the New Testament, that baptism in water and the reception of the gift of the Holy Spirit go hand in hand.  And in the anomalies where that didn’t seem to happen together, such as today’s Second Reading from Acts, and also later in Paul’s ministry as recorded in Acts, it was quickly rectified.  Those who had been baptized then receive the Holy Spirit.  And it was obvious that they did.  There were outward signs that this had taken place. 

So Jesus’ baptism confirms his identity as the Son of God, and our baptism into Christ confirms our identity as a daughter or son of God, and a sister or brother of Christ.  So we can comfortably pray as we did in this morning’s Collect, these words: “Keep your children, born of water and the Spirit, faithful to their calling.”  That’s us!  So we have been given exactly the same gift from God – baptism in water and the reception of God’s Holy Spirit.  Now the fact that many, if not most, of us were baptized as infants has an upside and a downside.  The upside would be that our baptism was completely and utterly a gift of God’s love for you and me.  We have done absolutely nothing to earn or deserve that gift as an infant.  The downside, I think, is that we have a tendency to place less value on things that we receive for free.  It’s true, isn’t it?  If we didn’t work for it, then at least we want to conclude that we’ve received this gift because others really appreciate the kind of person that we are – or how much we love them.  We tend not to place the same value on things that we receive for free.  But our baptism in Christ is far and away the greatest gift that we could possibly receive.  And yet, we have done nothing – nothing – to deserve it or earn it.

This morning, in this service, we have the opportunity to formally reaffirm our reception of that gift – to reaffirm our baptism.  We do that implicitly every Sunday in our worship when we recite the Creed, when we celebrate the Eucharist.  But today, we’ll do it explicitly.  And I think it’s a very appropriate time to do it as we begin this new year together.  Intentionally, I use the word ‘together’, because we’ve been called to live out our baptism in this particular community of Christ’s Church that we call All Saints.  So I want to invite you to turn in your service booklet to the Baptismal Covenant.  You’ll find it on pages 8 and 9 in the service bulletin.  It is called the “Baptismal Covenant” because it is a covenant between each of us and God, the Holy Trinity, and each other.  It’s unfortunate, I think, that we often view this Covenant – this Reaffirmation – as a kind of examination – questions that are asked of us publicly to, kind of, call us to account – make sure that we measure up.

So with that understanding, we might visualize it as us seated, say, at a table and God sitting opposite us while some official (maybe an angel?) reads out the examining questions.  “Will you continue in the Apostles’ teaching and fellowship”, and so on.  But wait!  Our baptism is modelled after Jesus’ baptism, and while he certainly did dedicate his life – his entire life – to obeying God even to the point of death, he was not examined first! 

We need to adopt, I think, a different image of what is going on as we make this covenant together.  Look back at the final verse in Luke’s account of Jesus’ baptism.  Luke says this, “… 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.’”  The last phrase “with you I am well pleased” – an equally valid translation is “I take delight in you.” – I take delight in you.  You see, in our ‘works-oriented’ ear, “with you I am well pleased” still sounds like God is happy with our ‘track record.’  Somehow, this kind of assumed interpretation on our part probably started when we were very young children – perhaps in elementary school - when we brought home a report card, hopefully with good grades, and we showed it to mom or dad, and they said, “I am pleased with you” because we had done a good job at school.  But that’s not what is happening with God in Jesus’ baptism!  Jesus hasn’t even begun his ministry yet.  And yet God says, “I take delight in you.”  It is a more honest and true statement – an affirmation of God’s predisposition toward Jesus.  And because of God’s gift of Jesus Christ to us, exactly the same affirmation is given to us in baptism – “I take delight in you.”  Let that sink in for a moment.  God’s first and eternal words for you – “I take delight in you.”

Now, the reaffirmation of the Baptismal Covenant is an entirely different scenario.  God is not sitting across a table listening to your answers to these questions.  No!  Picture it this way: God is right beside you, standing close, bending over you as both of you look at your present and future life.  And God is speaking encouragingly into your ear, after affirming that God takes delight in you, saying these words, “Here’s what I need you to do: 

I need you to continue in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in the prayers, because I need you to be immersed in the teaching and community of Jesus’ disciples. 

I need you to persevere in resisting evil and, whenever you fall into sin, repent and return to the Lord.  That way you can stay connected to the abundant life I want you to live. 

I need you to proclaim by word and example the good news of God in Christ.  That way, you help people to actually experience the grace of the emerging reign of God, and you continually are nourished yourself as well.

I need you to seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbour as yourself.  That way, you will experience more and more of my love and my truth in others, and they’ll experience it in you.

I need you to strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being.  That way, you will help everyone else, and yourself, to realize the dignity and ultimate value of every human being.

I need you to strive to safeguard the integrity of God’s creation, and respect, sustain and renew the life of the Earth.  That way you will help to sustain the beauty, richness, and life of all creation, of which you are a part.”

Remember, the Covenant in Baptism begins and ends with God’s “I take delight in you”.  Our commitment to living out that Covenant is our loving response to God – and to each other.

Amen.