January 13, 2013 – Luke 3:15-17, 21-22
Luke 3:15-17, 21-22
“Uh-oh”: Baptism and Baptismal Living: It’s not Rocket Science
Baptism of our Lord – January 13, 2013
First Lutheran Church – Winnipeg, MB
Amazingly, the people have come to the crazy man John.
They’ve come to the wilderness where’s he been preaching and teaching.
They’ve come to him because they’re fed up with the way things are.
They’re tired of being oppressed by the Romans.
They’re tired of their own leaders colluding with the Romans.
They’re tired of poverty, they’re tired of greed, they’re tired of hunger, they’re tired of injustice.
They’re longing for God’s promised future.
They’re longing for a better world.
So John brings them to the wilderness and tells them . . . God is coming!
Make a straight path for him!
God is coming to save this world and every person in it and everyone will see it! (Luke 3:1-6)
What should we do, the people ask him?
And there, out in the wilderness where the Israelites were schooled in the ways of manna-sharing
after the Exodus from Egypt, John schools them again in the way of manna-sharing:
Whoever has two coats, share with those who have none.
Whoever has food, share with those who have none.
And then, after schooling them, just like those Israelites who went through the Jordan River
in order to live what they had learned in the wilderness,
John takes the crowds out into the River Jordan, dunks them under the water,
and releases them to live what they have learned.
To become what God has intended them to become all along:
a people of blessing, a people of manna-sharing, a people blessed and set apart to
make a difference in the world.
But the people know there’s more to it than that.
The people know that for this really to work, God has to be at work in it.
And so they ask him, “Are you the messiah? Are you God’s agent who will accomplish all this?
who will set things right?” And John says, “No: I’m baptizing you only with water;
the messiah will baptize you with the Holy Spirit,
a Spirit of dynamism and energy that will work in you and through you.
He will give you that.”
Ah: but first the Messiah, too, has to receive it, that Spirit of dynamism and energy,
in order to be able to give it away.
So Jesus comes, takes his place with the people in the water, is baptized, and then,
and then, the Holy Spirit descends on him in bodily form like a dove.
like the dove that is the herald of a renewed earth after the flood in Genesis 8.
Through the Holy Spirit given to this one, the earth will be renewed.
And then a voice, God’s voice, proclaiming:
You are my son, anointed like a king for this task. (Ps. 2:7)
And then, too, you are my beloved, in whom I delight, like the suffering servant in Isaiah. (Is. 42:1)
You will rule and renew the earth through servant love.
Through blessing as I have blessed you. Through loving as I love you.
What Jesus is given in the wilderness he is going to share in order to renew the earth,
in order to restore bless heal and love this world and every person in it:
Jesus is going to share the manna of his spirit, his holy spirit, with everyone.
In the Gospel of Luke, he shares it by engaging in a ministry of healing and feeding and
forgiving and teaching and including and raising to life.
In the Acts of the Apostles he’s going to share it by pouring it out on all the baptized
so that the same energy and dynamism that was at work in him will now be
at work in them.
In baptism, God claims Jesus for his own, and names him for who he truly is:
a child of God, loved, full of delight.
In your baptism, too, you are named brother or sister of Jesus, child of God, loved,
of infinite worth, full of delight, capable of making a huge difference.
In your baptism you are given the gift of Jesus’s Spirit,
the ability to make a difference in the world and in the lives of those around you.
Epiphany means “revealing,” and this baptism reveals who Jesus is and
therefore who we are as his brothers and sisters.
In the ancient church, Baptism was called “Illumination” or “Enlightenment” because
it reveals who you truly are regardless of what happens to you in this life:
beloved, delightful, of infinite worth, full of dignity,
regardless of what you do or what you fail to do.
You are not a consumer. You are not a loser. You are not junk. You are not alone.
You’re not overweight, you’re not underweight, you’re not lacking anything.
You are wonder-ful, you are hand-made by a loving God: God loves you and
God will never ever abandon you, God will journey with you because
you are claimed by God, beloved by God, delightful to God, loved by God.
That is the truth about who you are.
That is the truth that lies behind all the lies we are told about who we are, that we tell ourselves.
This is pure Gospel, pure Good News: to hear this is grace, to hear this is gift.
That is what your baptism means.
So what does this mean for you?
What does this mean for daily living?
How do you connect what you do on Monday with what you hear and receive on Sunday?
It is only, I am sure, when we know that we are valued, that we can come to value others.
It is only when we know that we are deeply and unconditionally loved that
we can deeply and unconditionally love others.
It is only when we know we are deeply respected and full of dignity that
we can deeply respect others and recognize the fullness of their dignity.
The “illumination” we receive in baptism has to do with having our eyes opened,
to the wonder of ourselves, to the wonder all around us,
to the abundant generosity of God, and to the possibility of our making
a difference in the world and in the lives of the people around us.
Our job, as baptized, beloved children of God is to take what we have received here – dignity,
forgiveness, respect, and love – and give it away when we leave this place.
Our job is to share the manna we have received here –
empowered by the Spirit Jesus has given us – and share it
just as freely as we have been given it.
This is how God’s gifts come to the world: freely down to us, freely out through us.
This is how God renews the earth: through us.
Baptism and baptismal living: it’s not Rocket Science. But it is hard work.
It was hard work for John: there is some question as to whether he is even at Jesus’ baptism in
Luke’s account because he has perhaps already been arrested by Herod for
telling Herod the truth about his life.
It was certainly hard work for Jesus, who laboured to share the gift of the Spirit he’d been given
on his baptism day.
And it’s hard work for us.
But Jesus is standing with us in the water.
And Jesus has given us his Spirit to do the work of giving his gifts away freely.
Recently the editor of the Christian Century, John Buchanan, told a story about
baptizing a two year-old.
After saying what the pastor says in the Presbyterian tradition:
“You are a child of God, sealed by the Spirit in your Baptism,
and you belong to Jesus Christ forever,” the child responded “Uh-oh.”
And the child was probably right to say that.
It’s a wondrous thing to have those words said over you,
but the implications can be daunting.
To give away freely the forgiveness you’ve been given.
To share the hope you’ve received.
To respect all others with the dignity you’ve been acknowledged as having.
To love with the love you’ve been freely loved with.
Baptism and baptismal living is not Rocket Science.
But “Uh-oh” is a right and good response to it.
So: remember your baptisms, as Martin Luther invites us to do each day in the Small Catechism.
Remember who you truly are: God’s beloved, crowned with grace, filled with the Spirit,
in order to be servants of God’s loving mission to love bless and heal this world.
Remember what you have come to receive in order to take out with you:
love, forgiveness, grace, respect, dignity, peace.
Every time you take a shower or wash your face, remember who you are – who you truly are –
and what you have been created for.
Remember that baptism is God’s affirmation of our ability to make a difference in the world.
Remember that with the crowds on the banks of the Jordan River that day long ago,
with John the Baptist and Jesus, with all the saints of every time and every place:
remember that you now belong to something much larger than yourselves,
A new community blessed in order to be a blessing,
engaged with God in the transformation of the world,
clothed with light in order to be light,
engaged with God in bringing a new world to reality.
This is the reason for our baptisms: it is not Rocket Science.
It is not heavenly life insurance and it is not a ticket to heaven. It’s sooooo much more than that.
It is reason for saying, “Uh-oh,” but . . . it is also reason for thanksgiving.
You have come to the river, you have been baptized and given the Spirit, at the table you’ve
been given the gift of grace and schooled in the ways of manna sharing:
be released now and set apart for making a difference in the world.
So together let us say, “Amen.”
Pastor Michael Kurtz
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