Jesus Baptism and Ours

Matthew 3:13-17

January 12, 2013

Baptism of our Lord

I always thought it was strange

that we go right from Jesus birth to his baptism.
He’s an older man by this time, around 30,

it seems like there would be some other events in there.

But this is actually how our life in the church goes too.
We’re born and, for most of us,

our first church involvement milestone is baptism.

We know that baptism is important to our lives as Christians.

The Scriptures stressed its importance

Luther stressed its importance of baptism

we stress its importance too. We remember it we discuss it,

we teach it, we give the gift of baptism

to our children and anyone who wants it, we do it.

Now for many years,

people have stressed that baptism is primarily

about the forgiveness of sins.

Even for Lutherans, we have gotten the impression that baptism
is mainly –sometimes only - about forgiveness and repentance.

A ritual that forgives our sins so that we can

enter into heaven as righteous people when we die.

A “get out of jail free card”, so to speak.

Some of us grew up hearing nothing much more about baptism.

But the question is holds, if baptism is just about forgiveness of sins

then why did Jesus need to be baptized in the Jordan?

And John was right, if that’s all it was about,

Jesus should be baptizing him,
not the other way around.

  

I think the answer for us about what baptism

really means, is found in the scriptures, in this event. Jesus baptism.

Jesus baptism is in every gospel. It’s important.

Only Jesus death and resurrections and a few

other things are in each book.

Each writer thought it was important enough to include.

Now John’s baptisms were for repentance and forgiveness of sins.

He makes that pretty clear to everyone.

And some have tried to say that Jesus was just doing it

as an example to the rest of us. He did it, so we should too.

But it doesn’t say that at all.

And a lot more things happen in Jesus baptism.

It’s a unique event. Different than the rest of the baptisms John did.

And that is what we are given. Not John’s baptism, but Jesus baptism.

In Jesus baptism, he was named by God.

Given an identity as belonging to God.

“This is my son”, the voice said.

We get this in our baptism too.

More than just created by God as all creatures are

The Baptism of Christ, Daniel Bonnell

when we are baptized, we are identified as God’s own.

In Jesus baptism,

The voice from heaven
said that Jesus was loved.

“This is my son, my beloved, 

with whom I am pleased.”

When we are loved,
it is important to be told we are loved.

To have that expressed
to us in different ways.

When we are baptized,
we are told that we are loved by God.

We are cherished forever.

In every account, when Jesus was baptized, the heavens opened up.
Maybe this was a also a description for how the clouds parted,

but each one says it like this – heaven was opened up.

When we are baptized in Jesus name, the separation between

us and the eternal is broken. We are joined with our creator.

And in every account,

the Spirit, in the form of a dove lands on Jesus.

And it's then that he is called into his public ministry.

In our baptism, the Spirit lands on us too.

And when we are baptized,

we are commissioned to do ministry in Jesus name,

to spread the word of God, the love and acceptance of Christ,

to be kind and compassionate to others,

to stand up for justice and the oppressed

we are commissioned to share the word

and the gift of baptism that we’ve received.

We don’t have to ask permission,

that is given to us from the start.

And finally, in baptism our sins are forgiven.
But not primarily so we can escape eternal punishment,

but so we can start anew after each stumble.

Forgiveness is a second, third, and

four hundreth chance to start again every day.

So we are not permanently marked by our past.

We are not spending our whole time trying to redeem ourselves.

So God’s ministry through us is not hampered by our

own shortcomings, God has given us forgiveness -

the gift of being able to start anew.

The church by definition, is the community of people

who have received this gift of baptism.

People who know we have been given this gift

and are living in it’s light and deciding

what it means and what God wants us to do with it.

It is central to our lives together.

When we are baptized we become part of that group forever.

 

I want you to take a second now.

Close your eyes to take away any distraction.

That cross of water you put on your forehead

at the beginning of the worship is dry now.

Just like the water of  your baptism has dried off

but even though you can’t see it or feel it, it’s still there.

Remember that water.

And remember that you have been baptized.

•  You have been named by God.
• You have been chosen as God’s own child.
• You have been told that you are loved forever.
• The separation between you and God has been taken away.
• You have been anointed by the Spirit for ministry
• And whenever you don’t live up to your calling in life, every day you are forgiven and given a chance to start again.

Thank you Jesus for giving us this gift.
May we always live it,

and share it’s joy with others.

Two Christmas Stories

Matthew 2:1-12

Epiphany

January 5, 2014

Christ has been born,

the savior has come into the world

the light has shattered the darkness

And now everyone is happy,

and all it takes is for the wise men to follow the star

and find the child, spread the good news far and wide.

Everything else goes absolutely smoothly.

Maybe we could believe that

if we just read Luke’s version of the birth of Jesus

like we do on Christmas Eve.

We could enjoy the sights of shepherds,

angels, heavenly hosts,

quiet mangers and holy families.

But Matthew’s gospel doesn’t

let us get away that easily.

In Matthew’s story, the birth of Jesus isn’t just a family affair,

it’s not just a miraculous birth of a boy

who will do things when he grows up.

In Matthew, the birth of Jesus almost immediately

sends ripples through the world,

not all of them good ripples either.

Of course we know about

the wise men who see the star in the sky and understand

that this indicates that the messiah has been born.

The Three Wise Men
Bowing With Gifts In Hand,
Penny Pausch ...

And even though they
are not of the Jewish faith

they see the sign and they want to pay their respects to him,

This scene is familiar enough
pleasant enough

To show up in our nativity scenes,

the picture of three kings bowing to a baby.

Giving gifts to him.

And Matthew’s birth story would be a pleasant enough

and full of joy and peace, if this were the end.

But to help them find where this baby is,

the wise men go to the person that they assume

will be in the know about the event --King Herod --

the man who has been appointed the king of the Jews.

But it turns out Herod is not excited that the hopes

and prophecies of his ancestors are coming true.

He is not to have this baby born in his kingdom.

Massacre of the Innocents, Fra Angelico, 1451

He’s not overjoyed
that the messiah has come -

about the light scattering the darkness.

It says that at this news that
Herod was frightened

and not just him, but all of Jerusalem with him.

To think that Herod just didn’t understand

the importance of this birth
would be nieve I think.

Herod understood,
he understood all too well

maybe more than some others.

The birth of the Messiah didn’t just mean

light and fulfillment of everyone’s hopes.

the birth of the Messiah meant,

a different reality, God coming into the world.

it means justice and that means change.

It means that things would be different

that the lowly would be raised

and the powerful would be tumbled down.

And Herod was the powerful.

Herod’s fear had already driven him to kill

several close family members.

And his fear of the Messiah led him to do the unspeakable.

Which is the second part of the world’s reaction to Jesus birth

in Matthew’s story.

 

Herod had his people kill all the children in and around Bethlehem

who were two years and younger.

Some say it was 20 deaths, some say it was 10,000.

Some say it never happened at all.

But it doesn’t matter, we have seen enough leaders react

out of fear and paranoia and a need for control.

We have seen enough killing in our lifetime

we have seen enough innocents slaughtered

to know that even if Matthew isn’t talking about a historical event,

Matthew is telling us a Truth.

Matthew knows, the good news of the birth of

Jesus the Messiah, is not good news to everyone

Everyone who understands the importance

does not automatically react with joy and worship.

Everyone does not risk everything and follow Jesus way.

The wise men understood the news

and they sought it out, they embraced the possibility joyfully,

knelt down to worship, offered their gifts to the cause.

Hero understood the news of the birth

and lashed out in violence in an attempt

to control the situation and maintain the old way.

The foreign, pagan, wise men chose to step

into the mystery and embrace it,

But the king who spoke the words of Jesus’s own religion

chose to violently maintain the status quo.

In these first chapters, Matthew is getting us ready

for the end of the story of Jesus

where religion and power come together again

and eventually put Jesus to death.

 

Now we can come to a conclusion, which some have,

that the world is divided into two kinds of people

that the good people just choose the wise men’s route

And those evil people choose Herod’s way,

But isn’t it closer to the truth that both exist

are in each of us?

Don’t we all have the propensity for worship with our whole selves

to embrace the unknown, to risk going wherever God leads us?

But don’t we also have the inclination to try and control,

to even support violence at times

if it maintains our comfort, our status quo?

We all have the ability to embrace God’s justice and rule and will

and to turn it away, ignore it, rebel against it.

We all make that choice every day.

Matthew’s story is about the world’s journey of faith.

It’s about the many ways that we can react to

the good news of Jesus Christ.

And it’s about what God needs from God’s people:

Not people who are slaves to their fears

who cling to power and violence and control.

but wise people who risk things to follow stars.

God needs people  who are willing to follow

uncertain things with certainty,

God wants us to follow that star that

looks like all the other stars to everyone else,

but that we’re sure in our hearts means something.

God needs us to follow that star even if it means

a loss of our own power and our own status our own comfort.

The messiah has come to us,

Christ has been born,

the savior has come into the world

the light has shattered the darkness.

Let us embrace this, risk the unknown, and follow Jesus.