January 12, 2014 (Baptism of Our Lord) Matthew 3:13-17
Matthew 3:13-17
Remember Your Baptism
Baptism of Our Lord – January 12, 2014
First Lutheran Church – Winnipeg, MB
There’s a dramatic moment in Martin Luther’s life when he was
kidnapped by his own friends, and taken to the famous Wartburg Castle for safe-keeping.
There was a price on his head and so he had to be shut away and hidden for many many months.
Luther, though, was a person of action, and found it very difficult to be shut up like that.
He was lonely and became depressed and full of despair and doubt.
The only thing that comforted him during that time was his baptism.
He would scribble out notes to himself on his desktop that simply said, “I am baptized.”
Notice he didn’t say, “I believe,” or “I have faith,” or “I trust in God.”
It was much more passive than that: “I am baptized.”
It’s maybe a puzzling thing for us to hear that that would be a comfort to him, the only comfort.
But it was.
Maybe there’s some wisdom in there for us.
Just as I’m sure there is in the account of Jesus’ own baptism this morning.
John seems puzzled that Jesus wants to be baptized by John.
“Whaddya mean?” says John. “I should be baptized by you!”
But Jesus says, “John: this is right. This is what God wants. Just do it already!”
At the very beginning of his public ministry, Jesus passively accepts the baptism John offers.
Jesus passively accepts a gift from God: an assurance and a commissioning.
An assurance that he is beloved of God,
and a commissioning that he is a child or apprentice of God’s work in the world.
In times of stress and difficulty and despair, Martin Luther remembered his baptism.
At the very beginning of his ministry of healing and teaching and forgiving and feeding and
raising to life, Jesus was baptized and I’m sure hung on to the
assurance and the commissioning of his baptism throughout the rest of his life.
Jesus remembered his baptism.
Luther remembered his baptism.
And this morning at the beginning of worship, so did we.
Remember your baptism, we say.
Remember, though, is a word we can use in a couple of different ways, right?
On the one hand, it can mean calling to mind a past event, like:
“Remember the Alamo!” or
“Remember when Uncle Jeb stuck those chopsticks up his nose!” or
“Remember the tsunami of December 2004.”
And let’s face it, most of us who were baptized as infants don’t remember the occasion!
So what could “remember your baptism” possibly mean for us?
Well, on the other hand, the word “remember” can mean something quite different.
It can mean calling to mind something that is still currently true, not a past event.
It can mean waking you up to that thing that is still true.
(William Willimon at http://www.logosproductions.com/content/january-12-2014-remember-your-baptism)
“Remember, you’ve played this piece hundreds of times and it will go well at the recital.”
“Remember, you are a very gifted teacher.”
“Remember, you love cake!”
Remembering doesn’t just have to do with the past.
Remembering also has to do with waking us up to the present reality of who we truly are.
Lynn Granke gave me a second hand snow suit about a month ago or so.
When she asked me if I wanted it I said “Sure,” thinking I’d maybe use it occasionally.
Well, let me tell you I have used that snow suit just about every single day this winter!
And I’m very grateful for it! It has completely changed my life!
The cold holds no more terrors for me!
So now I go walking – even in the cold!
I went for a walk last week and I crossed over the Assiniboine River on
a bridge in my neighbourhood.
I looked down at the river and it seemed completely frozen solid.
I had to remember, I had to call to mind, that there was still water flowing underneath the ice.
I couldn’t see it – but it was still there.
Remember, Michael, the river is still flowing even beneath the ice of winter.
Remember.
You’ll note that when Luther wrote his little notes to himself he didn’t say,
“I was baptized.”
Oh no: he wrote “I am baptized.” Present tense: something that is currently true.
He called to mind – he remembered – his baptism.
This morning we remembered our baptisms with some style.
We called to mind a current reality: we are baptized!
We called to mind an assurance: we are beloved! No matter what has happened to us or
what we have done!
We called to mind a commissioning: we are God’s children, God’s apprentices in the world
to God’s work of healing and feeding and including and forgiving:
we are useful to God just as we are. We are enough for God’s work!
That is good news! That is the Gospel!
Beneath the accumulated ice and snow of all that happens to us,
a baptismal river is still flowing within us, a river that no amount of cold can freeze.
You are beloved, just as you are.
You are useful in God’s mission to love bless and heal this world and every person in it –
just as you are.
You are baptized: remember!
The baptismal assurance and the baptismal commissioning are what you have been made for!
You have been made for more than your fears and anxieties seek to make you.
You have been made for more than addiction seeks to make you.
You have been made for more than grief seeks to make you.
You have been made for more than our impoverished technological culture of
consumerism and superficiality seeks to make you.
You have been made for more than your sins and
sinfulness and self-centredness seek to make you.
No: you are beloved, noble creatures, made for mercy, made for love,
made for transforming the world, made for following Jesus into
all those places that are maybe not so important in the world’s eyes,
but that are important in God’s eyes.
This is how the gift of baptism worked for Jesus:
the belovedness he received is belovedness he shared with all who needed it.
And this is how the gift of baptism works for us:
the belovedness we receive is belovedness we share as a community with all who need it.
Remember your baptism. Call to mind your baptism.
Wake up to the assurance of your belovedness and your usefulness.
Wake up to your commissioning:
to live with one another in this community of manna sharing and mercy giving;
to hear God’s word to us and be fed with Christ on Sunday mornings;
to proclaim this good news that God’s Spirit is at work in us;
to serve all people and to work for justice and peace in every time and place.
Remember your baptism, for that is what it means to be baptized.
Pope Francis has, I think, awakened many to the meaning of their baptisms.
He has helped us remember our baptisms.
In the stories we’ve heard of him, we see him passing on the kindness and grace of Jesus that
he has known in his own life to others.
When he invites homeless men to have breakfast with him on his 77th birthday;
when he provides a chair and food for the Swiss Guard outside his room;
when he kisses the feet of Muslim prisoners;
when he chooses a simple place to live and simple clothes to wear.
(Jim Wallis at http://go.sojo.net/site/MessageViewer?em_id:35826.0&dlv_id=45021)
When we see and hear of these things, we are being reminded to remember our baptisms.
To remember that the belovedness we receive in baptism is belovedness to share.
So, beloved, on this day, remember your baptism.
Remember the assurance that you are beloved, and that you are useful just as you are.
Remember that you have been commissioned as a child or apprentice of God in the world –
and that you as a community are enough, just as you are.
Remember that beneath the accumulated ice and snow flows the baptismal river of life.
Remember – and live.
So together let us say, “Amen.”
Pastor Michael Kurtz
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