RVCC Pastor's Sermon

Sermon - January 13, 2008

“Beloved”

By Rev. Nancy Foran
Matthew 3:13-17

Christmas, of course, is the beginning of it all. There we were just a couple of weeks ago celebrating with the joyful angels, the lowly shepherds, and the mysterious magi. There we were in the shoes of the old innkeeper, alongside the ancient donkey, in the chill of the ramshackle stable. We remember so well the rickety manger, the hay smelling faintly of manure, the swaddling clothes.

But then, the moment of birth is always the beginning, and it is always etched indelibly in our minds and on our hearts. However, for Jesus (and for us who have chosen to follow in his footsteps), there was (and is) another beginning – and that is the moment of baptism, that moment in time when we (or our parents for us) formally accept our new relationship with God and affirm our calling to minister to one another in Jesus’ name.

That second beginning for Jesus occurred one sultry sweltering day on the muddy banks of the Jordan River. In only five verses, Matthew relates this most important moment in the life of this most important man as he begins his astoundingly courageous ministry.

As Scott Black Johnston retells it: “a lot of people were heading down to the Jordan to listen to some fiery preaching and to pray that God would forgive their sins. It is the original revival. John stands by the bank of the river exhorting all to seek repentance, then one by one contrite sinners step forward; and trusting themselves to calloused fingers which pinch their nostrils shut, they are plunged-every bit of them-beneath the moving waters.”

Oh, the men and women came for various reasons that day, believing many things about baptism – not unlike us as we watch the water trickle down our child’s temple. Some of us figure we and our kids really need to join the “Jesus Club”. Like Brownies, Boy Scouts, or the Rotary, if we join up, we will have rules and regulations to live by, so some of life’s complexity will be taken care of.

Others of us figure that baptism would at the least make good “hell insurance.” That is, it might come in handy if your car crashes and you end up just outside the Pearly Gates sooner than you thought you would, and needing a little boost in the “good column.”

But if either of these notions is even remotely accurate, then why did Jesus come down to the river? Why did he pick his way through the crowd, slowly moving down the embankment, seeking his cousin, the wild-eyed preacher, amidst the waters of the Jordan? Why did Jesus insist on baptism? That sure is what John wanted to know!

As Matthew tells us, John protested, "I need to be baptized by you…Who? Me? Baptize you? That’s crazy! It should be the other way around.”

John's confusion, of course, made perfect sense. He had just been crying out that baptism is about repentance, so why would Jesus want anything to do with it? As Lori Cornwall notes, “John never expected to find the Messiah among a bunch of sinners, and he never expected to treat that Messiah in the same way he treated other sinners."

And yet, there is something oddly comforting about Jesus and his choice - right from the start - to stand not aloof from the riff raff on the banks of the Jordan, but rather to dive (no pun intended) right into their midst.

But the riff raff, the folks who gathered that day figuring that this was as good a time as any to be made pure and clean and white as snow – they did not know the half of what really happened in the heat of that afternoon.

You see, Matthew tells us, the Holy Spirit came down and a voice that only Jesus heard declared him to be the beloved son of God. You get the feeling that it happened while the crowd went about its business, in the midst of the children trying to wade into the river with their clothes on, of mothers wondering if they had packed enough for lunch, of people continuing to wait in the baptism line, mopping their foreheads as the day got hotter and hotter. Not to mention, on the fringes of it all, the Pharisees jotting down more notes in their ever growing file of charges against John the Baptist.

But had even a few of them heard God’s affirmation, I wonder if it would have made any sense at all. Hardly original, the words smacked of the ancient prophet, Isaiah, that we heard earlier. "Here is my servant," God said to Isaiah, "my chosen, in whom my soul delights. I have put my spirit upon him. He will bring justice to the nations."

As Scott Black Johnston reminds us: “We are told that Jesus is the beloved son, but we are also given a picture of what kind of son he will be. He is the gentle servant….and also commissioned to bring light and freedom and justice to the blind, the shackled, the forsaken.”

Of course, according to Matthew, it all happened in an instant – the dove, the voice that only Jesus hears, the heavens opening. Blink your eyes, and you would have missed it – as the next person in line stepped into the waters, ready for the ritual bath.

Yet sometimes – and here is part of the truth of this story – sometimes the greatest power of God is found in just such simple and quiet times in life. We in the church call them sacramental times, holy times, times when we believe that maybe, just maybe, God is indeed with us, still speaking, and all is well.

You see, I believe that the truth of this story of Jesus’ baptism is that those words of affirmation are not just for Jesus. I believe that they were whispered and flowed gently all around us when we were baptized too. You are my beloved son. You are my beloved daughter. My very soul delights in you, for I have put my spirit upon you.

Think of it. Could it be that through our baptism, we too are touched with the Holy Spirit in a mysterious way that we can not fully understand, caressed by the same Spirit found in creation, the same spirit found in the prophets, the same Spirit who filled Jesus that day on the banks of the muddy Jordan? Ponder that one.

Of course, whether we acknowledge this sacred mystery of baptism and, if we do, then what we choose to do with the Spirit being upon us is up to us. Whether we can hear God’s affirmation of us – you are my beloved son, my beloved daughter in whom my soul delights – and, if we do hear, how we respond is our own choice.

It is like back when the telegraph was the fastest means of long-distance communication, and there was a young man who applied for a job as a Morse code operator. Answering an ad, he found himself in a bustling office with a noisy telegraph clacking away. A sign on the receptionist's counter instructed applicants to complete a form and wait until they were summoned to the manager’s office.

The young man completed his form and sat down with seven other applicants. However, after a few minutes, he stood up and walked right in to the office. The others scoffed at his boldness, assuming that he would be reprimanded and summarily disqualified for the job.

Within a few minutes, however, the young man emerged from the inner office with the manager, who announced to the other applicants, "Gentlemen, thank you very much for coming, but this young man has filled the job."

"Wait a minute--I don't understand,” one of the applicants said. “We never even got a chance to be interviewed. That's not fair."

The employer responded, "All the time you have been sitting here, the telegraph has been ticking out the following message in Morse code: ‘If you understand this message, then come right in. The job is yours.' None of you heard it or understood it except this young man, so the job is his."

Jesus received his commission that day on the banks of the Jordan. He understood the message, and the job was his. He accepted his relationship with God and acknowledged that he would live and minister according to God’s will.

However, the real truth of this story for us lies in our acknowledging that God’s voice whispered to us at our baptism too. Of course, for many of us, our parents made those baptismal promises long ago and, in the press of business in this crazy world, they are often the furthest thing from our minds – if we remember them at all.

So I suggest, in closing, that we reaffirm our own baptismal promises, acknowledge anew that we understand that the message of the Gospel is for us and that the job of ministry is ours. Let’s make this story of Jesus’ baptism come alive for us by affirming the new relationship we have with God and rejoicing that we are indeed the beloved sons and daughters of the Holy One.

I hope that those of you who are baptized will join me in reaffirming our baptismal promises, and that those of you who are not baptized will listen closely to these words because perhaps someday you will want to say them too.

REAFFIRMATION OF BAPTISMAL PROMISES

Leader: God calls us to the water to find a new way: a new grace, a new hope, a new faith, a new life.

People: God calls; we come.

Leader: Come to the water and let go of the outworn: outworn habits, outworn pains, outworn angers, outworn burdens.

People: God calls; we come.

Leader: God blesses the waters of baptism and all they represent: healing, cleansing, renewing, refreshing

Hear us now as we reaffirm our own Baptismal Promises:

(L) Trusting that we are God’s beloved sons and daughters, will you do all that you can to renounce evil and its power in the world? If so, please answer: “I will.”

(L) Trusting that we are God’s beloved daughters and sons, will you look to Jesus Christ to find your way as you minister to the world’s people? If so, please answer, “I will.”

(L) Trusting that you are God’s beloved child, will you be Christ’s faithful disciple, even when it is difficult or unpopular, obeying his word and showing his love today and in all the days ahead? If so, please answer, “I will.”

Let us pray…God of Grace, we thank you that you are with us every step in our ever-changing journey of faith. We thank you that we have heard your message and know that the job of ministering in your name is our job. We ask that we may live fully in the promises of our Baptism. Give us the ability to open the whole of our lives to your will so we may know in full what it means to be your beloved sons and daughters. We ask this for ourselves, each other and the whole of your Church. Amen.

Sermon - January 13, 2008

“Beloved”

By Rev. Nancy Foran Matthew 3:13-17

By Rev. Nancy Foran
Matthew 3:13-17