Sermon delivered on the first Sunday after the Epiphany, January 8, 2012, at St. Augustine’s Anglican Church, Columbus, OH.
Lectionary texts: Genesis 1.1-5; Psalm 29; Acts 19.1-7; Mark 1.4-11.
In the name of God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.
Today we celebrate the baptism of our Lord as well as our own baptism and I want to look briefly at what the might mean for us as Christians today. We will look at Jesus’ baptism through the lens of the Epiphany (or manifestation), which we observed on Friday because as we will see, Jesus’ own baptism signaled the beginning of God’s glory being revealed to the nations in and through his Christ, which is what the Epiphany celebration is all about.
“In the beginning God…” With these four words we are alerted to several things about God and his creation. First, we are alerted to the fact that God is eternal, that before anything existed God existed and he is our Creator. Second, implicit in this phrase is the idea that where there is a beginning there is also an ending. This alerts us to the idea that God’s creation is a project with a definite beginning and an ending. In other words, creation and its history are going somewhere, and for the good because God is good. Third, this reminds us that God foreknew the future problem of human sin and already had a plan to deal with it before God created anything at all. Is that just not the coolest thing?
The writer of Genesis then tells us that God’s Spirit hovered over the formless void and the waters. This reminds us that God is always active and present in his creation through the power and Presence of his Spirit and to that we will return shortly. The passage goes on to tell us that God then spoke light into existence and this takes us by surprise when we realize the light God created was not the light created by the sun and moon and stars. Those lights weren’t created until the fourth day (cf. Genesis 1.14-19). No, the light here is surely from God and tied to God’s presence, and we note carefully that before human sin entered the picture, darkness did not have a bad connotation. It simply existed separate and apart from the light God created.
But sadly human sin did enter the picture and we all know what it is like to walk in that kind of darkness. It might be the darkness of our alienation and loneliness. It might be the darkness of evil smacking us right in the face. It might be the darkness of injustice and selfishness. The list is endless and we all instinctively get it because we understand that this kind of darkness turns us into creatures that are not fully human so that we cannot be the wise stewards of God’s creation that he created us to be. That is why we yearn for the light of God’s presence in our lives and his world, the very light we read about in Genesis and surely the light the OT prophets spoke about (see, e.g., Isaiah 9.1-7; 60.1-22). We yearn for this light because we want to be fully human, even if we don’t quite know how to become that. This was the light God’s people, Israel, were supposed to be for the world to bring healing and redemption to a sin-sick, alienated, and exiled world. But sadly the people of Israel were as profoundly broken as the people God had called them to redeem and heal and so the world remained in darkness.
“That’s all well and good,” you say. “But what does it have to do with Epiphany and the baptism of our Lord? And what does it have to do with our own baptism?” Good questions that will allow me to get to the point in a timely manner! The biblical narrative is the story of what God has done, is doing, and will do to end our exile and alienation from him (which can only lead to our death since God is the Source and Author of all life) and put his good but fallen creation to rights. We have already seen that God’s called-out (holy) people, Israel, were part of the problem instead of part of the solution so God intervened in our history and became human to be Israel’s true representative, the Messiah. In other words, what God’s people had failed to do, God would do himself in the person of Jesus. And at his baptism, Jesus’ vocation as God’s chosen Messiah was confirmed when the Spirit descended on him in the form of a dove and the voice from heaven affirmed Jesus as God’s beloved son. We need to pay attention to this because since Jesus was fully human (as well as being fully God), he would have needed the help of the Spirit to bring God’s healing love and redemption to the world just like we need the Spirit’s Presence in our lives to become God’s called-out people. That is the point of our NT lesson today as well. Baptism means little without the promise of the Spirit’s presence to accompany it. Until the Spirit descends on us to live with us, we are not going to possibly be the people God created us to be or do the things he calls us to do.
But even though God’s Spirit had always been present in and among his people, God still had to deal with the intractable problem of human sin in the flesh and so perforce God had to became human in Jesus so that he could bear the condemnation for our sin in his own body so that we wouldn’t have to bear it ourselves (cf. Romans 8.1-4). This, along with the call to announce the Good News that God was now fulfilling his promises to come and live with his people, is Jesus’ vocation that was affirmed at his baptism. This is why God said to him, “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.” Jesus was sinless and entirely faithful to his calling as God’s Messiah to bring God’s healing love and light to his world.
And that, of course, is the point of our baptism. We are not the Messiah; only Jesus is that. But we are redeemed by God’s great love for us in Christ so that we are made ready to do the work God calls us to do, the work of new creation to be God’s light to the world. We do that work together, primarily as Christ’s body, the Church, and baptism is our initiation into this grace because we are made new in baptism. Think about it. The very act of our baptism is hugely symbolic. It reminds us of the creative and restorative power of the Spirit who hovers over the waters and is actively involved in God’s world and the lives of his people. It reminds us of God’s rescuing his people Israel from their exile in Egypt by bringing them through the waters of the Red Sea. It reminds us that Jesus has dealt with our sin and when we are baptized we are buried with him so that we can become like him by putting to death everything that keeps us hostile to God (cf. Romans 6.1-23).
What all this reminds us is that our relationship with God is restored and put to right through the death of Christ for our sake. Unbelievable as it may seem, when we are baptized we too hear the wondrous words God spoke to Jesus at his baptism: “You are my Son (or daughter) whom I love; with you I am well pleased.” Stop and think about this for a good long time this week. Let it sink in so that, by God’s grace and the power of the Spirit, you really believe it. When you do, you will begin to know the meaning of grace.
When that happens, you will also be ready to do the work you are called to do as God’s people because your mind will be right. In other words, you will know it’s all about God’s grace and love for you, and not about you or your worthiness. As we have seen, the beginning of the creation narrative reminds us that God’s creation has an ending but also a future. In the cross, God has acted decisively to defeat evil and the powers and principalities who are implacably opposed to his good rule. And as we saw during Advent, we have the hope and promise of new creation that Jesus’ resurrection previewed. This reminds us that creation and its creatures, especially humans, matter a great deal to God and that he has acted decisively on our behalf to rescue us from the sin and evil that bedevil us and continues to act for us in and through the Spirit.
Therefore, we who have been baptized in Christ and buried with him in his death also have the hope and promise of being raised again with him to live in his promised new creation. This isn’t an invitation for us to sit around and get all spiritual and act holier-than-thou until Jesus comes again. No, it is a call for us to roll up our sleeves in genuine humility and become the people God calls us to be, agents of new creation. We are called to imitate Jesus so that he can use us to bring his healing love and light to the world.
We don’t do any of this on our own power. We have to do our part of course, to put in our sweat equity so to speak. But ultimately we become the people God calls us to be in and through the power of his Spirit living in us. That means we have to allow the Spirit to do his work in us. He shapes us into his people through daily prayer and regular Bible study. He shapes us in and through weekly worship and partaking in his sacraments. He shapes us in the fellowship of believers and calls us to love and support each other as we engage the work he calls us to do. That’s what our mission statement here at St. Augustine’s Anglican is all about. That’s what it means to be changed by God so that we can make a difference for God, and it all started with our baptism, whether we were aware of it at the time or not.
What is it God is calling you to do to bring his healing love to bear on his broken and hurting world? Whatever it is (and nobody gets a free pass, BTW), you can do it with confidence that you have the help and support of both God’s Spirit living in you and the love and support of your fellow believers because we are called to do this work together. Will we always get it right? Hardly. That’s partly why the human condition can be so frustrating and why God had to act on our behalf in Christ. But when you stumble, remember that you have been baptized and are now God’s son or daughter whom he loves and with whom he is well pleased. He’s not well pleased because of our intrinsic qualities. He’s well pleased with us because we are in Jesus the Messiah and it is in Jesus’ image that we are being shaped. Each of us has the choice to opt out, of course, because the Spirit never forces himself on us. But when you’ve got the good sense (and grace) to accept God’s gracious invitation to you to be his child in and through the Messiah and to continue to do Jesus’ work here in the world by becoming like him, you really will have every reason to have real hope as well as the opportunity to live life with meaning, purpose, and power. And yes, you also will have Good News, now and for all eternity.
In the name of God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.