Sermon for Epiphany I Feast of the Baptism of our Lord January 11, 2014 Trinity Parish in Seattle Jeffrey Gill

Transcription

1 Sermon for Epiphany I Feast of the Baptism of our Lord January 11, 2014 Trinity Parish in Seattle Jeffrey Gill Mark 1:4-11 Imagine for just a moment that you were a Christian in the second or third century, maybe in some place like Antioch in Syria, or Ephesus in what is today Turkey, or Alexandria, Egypt, or Philippi in Greece, or Rome this day, the Feast of the Baptism of our Lord, would have been celebrated as the second most important day in the whole church year. Not Christmas, not Pentecost or All Saints The Baptism of Jesus, second in importance only to Easter. Somewhere along the way Christmas became much more important, and this day, at least in some parts of the church, receded in importance. It wasn t for quite some time that the date of Christmas was even finally fixed. But the feast day commemorating the Baptism of Jesus was from very early times considered to be a very significant day for Christians. Why do you think this was so? What is it that is so special about this occasion? Well, first of all, did you hear the story we just read in Mark s account of it? All three persons of the Holy Trinity are manifest the Spirit descends like a dove on Jesus. And then we hear the voice of God saying: You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased. It was a moment of revelation an Epiphany! It is one of the Feasts of Light during this season of Epiphany, an opening of our eyes to the glory of God in the face of Jesus. This event signaled that in Jesus, truly, God was present, doing a new thing among us, and we just might want to pay attention. Secondly, it was a moment when Jesus, just at the beginning of his public ministry, identified with us humans more fully than ever. The question has often been raised from earliest time, why did Jesus, the sinless one, have to undergo a baptism for repentance? He had no need to repent! Why did 1

2 he need to be baptized?! Jesus came to identify with every single one of us, no matter how low, how flawed or imperfect, how much in need of repentance, and this was his way of demonstrating that desire to be with us right at the very point of our need. He is truly, as he demonstrates in his baptism one with God, and yet one of us. Thirdly, this is one of those highly symbolic stories in the Bible one that Walter Brueggemann (one of my favorite Old Testament theologians) calls a thick text. He says that in its symbolism we find the whole history of Israel. It takes place in the Jordan River, and It is at the Jordan that Moses interprets the Torah, that Israel enters a land of freedom and that Elisha receives Elijah s spirit. When Jesus approaches John on the banks of the Jordan River all of this collective memory is put into play. And all of it will be recapitulated in the life, ministry, death and resurrection of the Son of God. 1 And finally, what really makes this story and this occasion unique is that baptism was unheard of until this time in Jewish practice in Jesus time the closest thing to it was a ritual purification rite for Gentiles who became converts to Judaism; so even though Jesus was himself a pious Jew, one who was pure and lived a devout life, he identified here even with the impure, with Gentiles and all those outside the boundaries of acceptance and inclusion. He made it clear that he would not hold himself apart, even though he had every right to do so. Jesus baptism in the River Jordan is a precedent for Christian baptism. Today is one of the four baptismal feast days on which we normally baptize new people into the Christian community. We don t have any candidates for baptism this morning, but it s an important opportunity for those of us who are baptized to reflect on what it means. And for those here this morning who are not baptized, it is an opportunity to reflect on what it might mean for you to consider taking that step for yourself. A few years ago I had a young girl about thirteen years of age who was preparing for her baptism at the Easter Vigil. She and her sponsor came to my office about once a month during her year of preparation for us to talk 1 Kathleen Norris, Marked for a purpose, in Christian Century (December 25, 2007), p

3 about baptism and what it meant for her to make this kind of a decision for herself. I wish I had a recording of our conversations! And I wish we all had the chance as she did to come to baptism with all the desire, and intention, and passion that she had! It was a decision that she had made totally on her own. And she was so excited about her decision to be baptized! She spoke with such confidence and eloquence and excitement about how aware she had become of God s presence. She said, I want to be baptized because I want to do my part for God, to give myself to God just because I m so thankful that God does so much for me! What I loved in her enthusiasm and innocence was that she understood that baptism wasn t just an insurance policy, and not just a nice tradition that Christians do, or a ticket to communion. And iit s not how you become an Episcopalian. It s our initiation into a way of life and a way of love as followers of Jesus. It commits us to loving and serving God as Jesus did in his own life. Jesus baptism was the beginning of his public ministry, and so it is for each one of us. Kathleen Norris speaks of baptism as being marked for a purpose. She says it s about celebrating the incomparable gift we receive as creatures beloved of God. [And] baptism is also about more fully engaging the responsibility that this identity entails For [the Christian], baptism is our call to the community of the church, which often provides us with crosses of our own to bear [as it did with Jesus]. Yet it is together, as church, that we are meant to witness to peace in a cruel and violent world and bring a message of hope in the face of despair. Whatever the worldly powers may be Roman rulers or contemporary [shadow governments or] dictators, corrupt lobbyists, arms traders and war profiteers Christians are called to witness to another, greater power. Our baptisms mark us for this purpose.2 Our young candidate for baptism got it! 2 Ibid. 3

4 There s an old saying more common in England than here that when someone is ordained to the priesthood, he (or she) has gone into the church. It s a phrase that exemplifies a kind of clericalism equating the ordained ministry with the church, and totally missing the point of baptism. But I ll never forget hearing a dear friend of mine who is a retired priest in the Church of England preach a sermon saying that they had it all backward. Instead of giving priests those beautiful big certificates suitable for framing with all the insignia and wax seals and fancy calligraphy when they are ordained, we ought to give those to people when they are baptized and give priests the little bitty ones we usually give those who are baptized. Because our baptism into Christ is a profound thing! It commits us to an alternative way of life, one lived by the law of love, and forgiveness, and peace, and justice, and respect for the dignity of all people, and therefore one that has the power to change the world. Priests can t do that. Certainly not by themselves. And all of us, lay and ordained, must bring the full force of our will and our desire to the promises we make in our baptism. Whether we chose to be baptized or not, whether it s something that our parents chose for us as infants, or whether you as an adult decided it for yourself, it doesn t matter one bit. And, whether you knew it or not, in your baptism you, too, became a priest! How can that be? you ask. In the 5th century St. Augustine said that baptism conferred habitual grace, the infused virtues and the gifts of the Holy Spirit. The Baptismal character formed the Christian in the image of Christ and bestowed on him [her] a certain participation in [Christ s] priesthood. 3 It s what we call the priesthood of all believers. So what s different about that and the ordination some of us have as a priest, you might ask. Every ordination is a sacrament that is, an outward and visible sign of what is always and everywhere true, not only of the ordained, but of every baptized believer. Every priest you see with a dog collar around the neck is a sign and a reminder that we are participants 3 The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church (Third Edition), p

5 together in the priesthood of Christ, making an offering of ourselves for the healing of our world. That s right, we all partake of Christ s priesthood. And it is in our baptism that we are marked for a purpose, to quote Kathleen Norris again. Just as Jesus set out from the Jordan to engage the powers of this world, and to begin to speak of the kingdom of God, so we too are called and equipped with the gifts of the Spirit to live into the kingdom of God even right here and right now. We re called to show the world a new way of being. And it s a way of being we affirm as we make our baptismal promises. In just a minute or two we re all going to stand to remind ourselves of what those promises are, and as we do, just imagine the kind of world we re creating if we will truly live into these promises with the kind of intention, and joy, and freedom, and commitment that Jesus had in his own baptism. It s the intention, and joy, and freedom, and commitment to which all of us are called in our own baptism. 5