So… what now? Now that
Christmas is done—now that we’ve opened all the presents and sung all the
Christmas carols. Now that we’ve seen
Mary and Joseph travel to Bethlehem and we’ve celebrated Jesus’ birth. We’ve rung in the new year, made new year’s
resolutions, and maybe even broken a few resolutions. Most of us have probably taken down the
Christmas tree and the decorations. We’ve
finished all our celebrations, returned from our vacations, and gone back to
work. And maybe it kind of feels like
nothing’s really changed. Maybe it kind
of feels like we’ve just gone right back to the way things were. So, what now?
What do we do now, on the other side of Christmas?
Well, clearly those who compiled the lectionary anticipated
that we might be asking this question right about now. For they have given us not one, but two texts
this morning that deal with beginnings. As
if to say, now is not the time to slip comfortably back into the old. Now is not the time to go back to business as
usual. Now is the time for new
beginnings.
We are reminded in our text from Genesis of the very
beginning of it all— the moment when God brought the world into being, the
Spirit of God moved over the earth for the very first time, and claimed it as
good. And then, who knows how many
thousands (or millions) of years later, human beings came along, and they started
to form tribes, then farming communities, then cities, and eventually nations. And God’s creation got banged up pretty good
along the way. So that by the time Jesus
comes along in the New Testament, people may have been asking the same question
we find ourselves asking today—“what now?”
And that is where we find ourselves with this morning’s
gospel text-- Jesus finding his way to John the Baptist to be baptized. It’s the story that lays the foundation for
our own baptism, and it’s also a story of new beginnings, for after this
nothing was ever quite the same for Jesus and the small countryside villages of
Judea. Indeed, nothing was ever quite
the same for Jerusalem itself, or Rome, or anywhere else for that matter. Because this was the beginning of something
big. And it all started with this
seemingly small act of baptism.
I have to admit, there is something that has always bothered
me a little bit about the story of Jesus’ baptism by John. Here we have John the Baptist, who according
to scripture, proclaimed a baptism of “repentance and forgiveness of sins.” The idea being that people came to him in
order to cleanse themselves of their sins and imperfections-- to repent from
their old and corrupted ways. How odd it
seems then, that Jesus would seek out John to be baptized by him. It begs the question: why would Jesus— Son of
God— the divine Spirit made flesh— need to be baptized? Is humanity so sinful and corrupt that when
God became incarnate in Jesus, he suddenly took on that sinfulness? Did he need to be cleansed from it before he
could begin the work of his ministry? And
if this is not the case-- if Jesus didn’t need to be cleansed from sin,
then what exactly was his baptism all about?
Furthermore, since we are baptized in large part because Jesus himself
was baptized, then what exactly is our baptism all about? Is it a means of purification from sin-- a
way of securing our place in eternal life?
Or is it merely a symbolic gesture?
Is it nothing more than act of initiation into a faith community? Baptism marks the beginning of something—
that is certain-- but what, exactly? What
is our baptism for? What is the purpose
of it?
I think it’s important to keep in mind, when talking about
something as complicated as what happens during a sacrament like baptism, that
there are many Christians out there with many different perspectives on the
matter. And most likely, none of us have
it exactly right. German theologian Karl
Barth has said that any words we speak about God can never really encapsulate
God. They can only serve as signposts
that point us in the right direction. I
think the same thing applies when talking about sacraments. We not be able to fully articulate the mysterious
way the Spirit moves when we call upon Her in baptism, but it’s still worth
thinking about every now and then.
Especially on a morning like this one when we find ourselves asking the
question, “what now?” And this morning’s
gospel gives us the perfect opportunity to reflect upon and explore this
question of what our baptism really means—and what it might mean for those of
us seeking new beginnings at the start of a new year.
Now at the most superficial level, our baptism is indeed a
rite of initiation. For those of us who
received this sacrament as infants, our baptism was a chance for our parents to
make a public commitment to raise us in the Christian faith. To teach us to follow in the paths of Christ,
and to introduce us into a community of faith.
But there is something much deeper going on in this act of public
initiation. Through baptism, we become
part of something larger than ourselves-- a body of believers that spans across
the globe and over centuries. We become
linked with brothers and sisters from many different cultures who may practice
their faith in ways quite different than our own. But in our baptism, we become a part of one
family. Our common baptism is meant to
bind us together in unity. A unity that
recognizes that we don’t really belong to any of those things that so often
cause division and strife between us. At
our very core, we are not claimed by state or country. We don’t belong to the things that sometimes
hold us captive such as the quest for money or power, prestige or recognition. We are not owned by political parties. Our lives are not governed by capitalism or
socialism, or any other ‘ism’ for that matter.
The unity of our baptism is a unity that comes with the recognition that
we belong to God.
At the end of this morning’s gospel text we read that “as
Jesus was coming up out of the water, a voice came from heaven, saying, ‘You
are my Son, the Beloved, with you I am well pleased.’” In our own baptism, we too are named and
claimed as beloved children of God. This
seemingly simple rite of initiation clothes us with an identity that is deeper
and more powerful than anything this world could ever bestow upon us. Forget any other labels that others may have
put on you. Forget any other labels that
you may have put upon yourself. This is
the one that matter-- we are God’s beloved children, in whom God is well
pleased. We belong to God.
But that’s not the end of the story.
Through the sacrament of Christian baptism, we are not only
initiated into the Christian faith, but we are also initiated into Christian
ministry. Preacher and Christian
activist Pauli Murray writes that “we must continually remind ourselves that
every Christian who is baptized into the church is admitted to the royal
priesthood of all believers in Christ, and that each of us has a ministry,
whether we are young or old, male or female, lay member or clergy. To be a Christian is to follow Jesus Christ’s
example of ministry, to be God’s representative on earth. Each of us has been called by God to love and
serve God and our fellow human beings.
However sinful, rebellious, or inadequate we may feel, we cannot escape
God’s claim on us. If we respond to
God’s call, we are given the power of the Holy Spirit, and God uses us as
instruments of God’s Divine Will.” In
other words, the work of ministry is not just for priests and clergy. The work of spreading God’s word is not just
the work of “professional” Christians or people who have gone to seminary or
studied theology. Our baptism means that
we are not meant to be passive recipients of God’s grace. We are called— each and
every one of us— to be ministers of that grace.
Today, I encourage you to ask yourself, what is my ministry as a beloved
child named and claimed by God? How
might you begin to understand your role as God’s representative on earth? Because you are meant for that. All of us are.
Perhaps the most remarkable and mysterious thing about
baptism is the work of the Spirit that occurs during, and even after the
sacrament itself is received. In the
gospel text, John the Baptist remarks that there is a difference between the
baptism he offers and the baptism offered through Jesus. “I have baptized you with water” he says, “but
the one who comes after me will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” Jesus’ baptism is a game changer. It transforms the sacrament from a mere act
of repentance and purification to a mysterious and holy event in which the
Spirit of God infuses our lives and indeed our very beings. I say mysterious because there are so many
ways in which God’s Spirit moves in the lives of those who have been baptized. For some, it may be obvious and instantaneous—
like the woman who is baptized as an adult and then wholeheartedly devotes her
life to service to others. Or the man
whose baptism moves him to seek reconciliation with his estranged family. More often than that, however, I think the
movement of God’s spirit is less obvious, less dramatic, and more gradual. More often, it may take us a while to really
understand what it means to be named and claimed by God. It may take us a while to really believe that
we are beloved. That God is pleased with
us, and that we are in fact good in God’s eyes.
And it may take us a while to figure out exactly what to do with that
information. The road towards that
knowledge may be filled with twists and turns, with forward movement as well as
moments that set us back. The journey will
be different for each of us. But the
important thing now, is that we allow ourselves to begin.
This morning, I would encourage all of us to think about how
our own baptism might be a catalyst for new beginnings of our own. To think about how we are all uniquely
called-- as beloved sons and daughters of God-- to a life of ministry as
Christ’s body on earth. What will you do
with the grace and power of the Spirit that has been given to you? Where will it lead you?
Last week we talked about how following God’s light in our
lives can sometimes lead us away from what is familiar and out of our comfort
zones. This morning, I’m going to ask
you to do something that might just take you out of your comfort zone a little
bit. At the end of the service, instead
of rushing on to the next thing, instead of going back on auto-pilot, take a
moment, just one moment, and come up to the altar. Dip your hand in the water and remind
yourself of your own baptism. Say to
yourself, “I belong to God.” And don’t stop there. Make
that your prayer throughout the week this week-- “I belong to God.” Repeat it to yourself as you drive to work in
the morning. Meditate on it while doing
laundry or washing the dishes. If you
do, you may just find yourself less influenced by the distractions of the world
around you, and more attuned to the movement of the Spirit within you. Let us begin.
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