January 13, 2019 – Luke 3:15-17, 21-22
Luke 3:15-17, 21-22
Baptized into God’s Mission
Baptism of our Lord – January 13, 2019
First Lutheran Church – Winnipeg, MB
The moment of Jesus’ baptism marks the beginning of his public ministry.
He goes into the water, stands with, and is joined to, all those he will minister to.
The poor, the sick, the tax collector, the enemy Roman soldier. All of them.
And when he is baptized, he will be baptized into God’s mission –
God’s mission to love, bless, heal and set free this whole world and every person in it.
In this way, Jesus’ baptism is very much a model for your own.
For when you were baptized, you were baptized into God’s mission.
Like Jesus, you joined in the water all those you are now bound to by God’s love.
The people in this room as well as all the broken of this broken world.
And you made a commitment – either on your baptism day or your confirmation day –
to be part of this movement of God.
The movement from a broken world to a restored world.
John gets things going by calling the people to repent, that is, to turn around,
to turn from the old, broken order to the new order of love and justice God promises.
In our daily lives, what does that look like?
It looks like a woman who comes to me and says in the throes of addiction,
I don’t want to be like this anymore.
In that simple statement, she is turning from the old broken order to a new order.
It looks like the person who comes to me and says,
“I don’t want this relationship to be like this anymore.”
Repentance looks like the people who say to me, “We don’t want this neighbourhood to
be like this anymore.”
And then – when the people in the story are baptized, when Jesus is baptized,
when you are baptized – then, you along with them come to experience that
this world is in fact no longer determined by the old order of brokenness.
That you are not truly defined by addiction, or your mistakes, or the past, or
by other people telling you you are not good enough, not smart enough,
not wealthy enough, not slim enough, or not gifted enough.
When you are baptized, you experience just Jesus experienced: you are named Beloved.
You are named Enough.
You are named Pleasing and Delightful.
You are named Full of Gifts, Worthy, Dignified.
From now on, the old order of brokenness does not get to define you –
from now on, God’s love for you,
the voice that says You are making this day special by just being you, does.
The ancients called Baptism “Enlightenment” or “Illumination” and there is good reason for this.
You come to see yourself differently in baptism.
And you come to see those around you, and the things around you differently –
and indeed the whole world.
Jesus sees people differently.
Jesus sees the poor differently.
Jesus even sees his enemies differently.
It’s not that those people look any different – it’s that they look different to him.
Because he has been changed.
He is no longer defined by the old order of brokenness.
He no longer sees people named Hopeless by the old order of brokenness.
He sees people who are named by God Beloved, Worthy, and Dignified.
And he ministers to them accordingly.
What does this look like to us, though?
What does it mean in 21st century terms?
Most of us at baptism do not see the Holy Spirit coming down like
a dove in bodily form.
Most of us do not hear a voice booming from the sky,
“YOU ARE MY BELOVED! WITH YOU I AM WELL PLEASED!”
Only, here’s the thing: Luke doesn’t tell us the voice boomed.
I suspect it was more like the still small voice Elijah heard in the whirlwind.
Jesus had to listen for it.
Maybe in the 21st century we would wish for our epiphanies to bowl us over.
Maybe we wish signs of God would be more obvious and splashy.
But that is not God’s way.
God chooses not to bowl us over.
God does not coerce or intimidate or threaten.
God is, above, love – he names Jesus Beloved today and says to the people of Judah
(and it is the only time God says this in scripture): I love you.
The lover does not coerce the beloved, nor overwhelm, nor intimidate.
The lover leaves it to you to participate in the enchantment – or not.
The lover puts a small faint new star in the sky – and then leaves it to you to follow – or not.
Love leaves you with a choice.
You can participate in the enlightenment, or not.
You can choose to see goodness and value and life in sharing some bread and wine – or not.
You can choose to see God luring this broken world towards goodness and
healing and inclusion in the things we do here at FLC – or not.
You always have a choice.
Jesus chose to hear the voice naming him beloved on that day in the river long ago.
I am sure it was not easy.
It was a decision his family likely did not approve of.
It meant suffering and sacrifice and ultimately it would mean death.
But out of that came so much life – life continues to come from it.
Because Jesus was raised from death, and continues to lure us away from the old broken world
toward a healed and restored world.
And so you still have the choice – to participate in the enchantment, or not.
Can you hear the voice naming you Beloved, Worthy, Full of Gifts?
That is the voice of God.
The voice is calling you to participate in the enchantment.
Participate in God’s mission.
Participate in the movement from the old broken order to the new order of
healing and justice.
Let the old broken order define you no longer.
But do let the new names of Beloved, Worthy, and Full of Gifts.
Stand in the water with Jesus and with all the rest he has gathered and named Beloved,
and together let us all say, “Amen.”
Pastor Michael Kurtz
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