Sermon of Christ Lutheran Church, Staunton VA
The Festival of the Baptism of Our Lord
January 12, 2020
January 12, 2020
Pastor Robert McCarty
John would have prevented him, saying, "I need to be baptized by you,
and do you come to me?" But Jesus answered him, "Let it be so now;
for it is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness."
Matthew 3: 14-15
As pastor, I get to give out generously the gifts of God. The church understands baptism as giving the recipient everything they need for salvation. Baptism conveys these gifts where God:
- administers the blessings of grace and mercy,
- pours out the activity of the Holy Spirit,
- brings the recipient into a community of faith,
- instills into them the Holy Word of God, the scripture,
- opens up the table of the bread and cup of the holy meal.
A person’s baptism, whether a child or an adult, provides this generous moment of God’s love with gifts to unwrap and rediscover over ones lifetime.
Baptism gives another gift, besides what I mentioned above, and this gift stands out in Matthew’s gospel. I will get to that in a few minutes. But first, Matthew’s gospel has this strange little twist that we need to talk about, because it sort of goes against a spirit of generosity. Perhaps John the Baptist’s generosity stays intact, but some congregations sometimes (sometimes) twist out this awkwardness in their ministry.
Baptism Makes All Better
John the Baptist stands at the River Jordan living out his ministry. Here comes Jesus, and John struggles with what to do when someone better comes to the waters. John gets use to baptizing soldiers and tax collectors and ordinary people. Here comes Jesus, and that causes John to stutter. As if John thinks baptism does not work when someone better comes to these waters. Not many people greater, better, than John the Baptist at the time, but Jesus definitely matches that criteria. John says, “I should get baptized by you.”
John the Baptist falls into a trap and thinks that status matters. The status between the one baptizing and the one receiving baptism does not matter, but John all of the sudden thinks it does. Sometimes the church falls into a similar trap, where we apply language of status to baptism. Some churches and some people start believing that they have better standing than the one who does not have baptism. It is a failing in the humility of the church if we think ourselves better than the unbaptized.
I have a story about Sean Connery that might give us some perspective. For those who do not follow movies, Sean Connery, as an actor, played the classic Bond—James Bond, 007—for several movies. He also won an Oscar for the movie The Untouchables along with several other awards over the course of his career: tall, handsome, dashing, actor. He continued to be tall handsome and dashing even as an older actor. An interviewer once asked him, “why, at age sixty-two, he continued to act?” He gave this reply: “Because I get the opportunity to be somebody better and more interesting than I am.” [Larsen, “750 Engaging Illustrations,” Baker Books: 2007, p 9.]
The church can learn something from this—from Sean Connery’s answer. Why does the church baptize? We baptize because God commands us to baptize the faithful. (Baptism is a part of us like acting is a part of Sean Connery.) Also—and this is the learning—the church is better because of the people we baptize along with those who we welcome through the affirmation of baptism. The people we welcome through baptism strengthen our faith. Just as important, we truly believe that baptism also makes the recipients better through the gifts of God: administration of grace and mercy, the activity of the Holy Spirit, the gathering of a community of faith, as well as the Holy Word of God and the Holy Meal.
I have several friends—family members as well—who do good every day without really believing in Christ. Some who are skeptical about Jesus as the Christ, Messiah, Son of God, and Savior. You probably have friends and family members like this as well. I wish they were present today to hear this passage from Matthew about Jesus coming for baptism. I am glad though, you have come to hear it.
Baptism gives us the chance to welcome ordinary people, and be better because of them. But also, we know and believe by giving them the gifts of God and everything necessary for salvation we make their lives better as well. Stephen Covey, who wrote 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, would call this a “win-win” situation. Baptism is a “win-win” for the church and for the baptized. We are all better because of baptism.
Baptism Gives Us Orientation
Now, I want to return to another gift that baptism conveys. It gets back to that awkwardness of John the Baptist when Jesus comes. The awkwardness when John seems to ask “Why does Jesus need baptism?” Jesus responds, “To fulfill all righteousness.”
You may have noticed this morning that worship began with “Thanksgiving for Baptism” rather than”A Word of Absolution.” I did that because Matthew steps away from the emphasis of baptism on forgiveness and instead emphasizes the orientation of righteousness. Both relate to John’s ministry of repentance. In Jesus’ ministry, his baptism gives us the moment where he turns towards the ministry that God the Father always intended for his life.
Jesus journey of righteousness truly begins with his baptism. When baptized, we estimate that Jesus was about thirty years old. We only have two stories about Jesus' life before this moment: the long detailed story of his birth and one short story about a Passover when Jesus was a boy. Everything of meaning in Jesus’ holy journey of righteousness begins now. Jesus from this point orients his life towards the will of the Father.
I mention having some friends and family who I wish could hear this message, because one of the gifts of faith is that good people get lost too, and the gifts of grace help us to get our lives on track even when we get lost.
Another story offers another example. A news station in California wanted to do a segment on what to do when you get lost. So they found two volunteers from the community—a young man and a young woman who did not know each other. They covered their eyes and took them into the middle of a national forest. With just a few basic supplies, they set the couple off on their own, except for a cameraman to record what they would do. They said the cameraman was just there to videotape these two as they tried to figure out what to do when lost in the wilderness. Then they would work clips from the video into the news segment.
The cameraman recorded this man and woman start to get to know each other. He recorded how they walked a bit around to get some bearings as to their surroundings. A clip showed them gathering some firewood. They used some matches they had to make a fire and settled down for the night close to one another, huddled together.
Now the cameraman was actually a wilderness survival expert and medic. The lost volunteers did not know this. Overnight, when the temperature dipped and the situation became a bit more risky, the cameraman called off the experiment. He called in the news van and the newscaster who was producing the segment. The cameraman who witnessed the couple now stood in front of the camera lens and explained to the couple, as well as the audience, the things that he saw that had happened.
The wilderness expert/cameraman had a long list of things the couple did right: they stayed together rather than separating, they got their bearings, they stayed in one place. Staying in one place was hugely important. So many people go wandering. By staying close to where they were dropped off, it made them easy to find. Two things they did well for warmth: they made a fire for in the evening and they huddled together even though they did not really know each other. The cameraman mentioned two things they could have done. They could have made some sort of lean-too shelter above their heads with sticks and branches to capture some of their body heat and heat from the fire. Also, they could have gone searching for water. I remember how many things they did right, and yet they still got in trouble.
Even when we do good and our lives are working out you can still get lost, and yet God can reorient you; He can redirect our lives towards the good He would have us do and the good He would have us be. Also, of course, God often calls in help, and that help often surrounds us in prayers and worship.
Wrapping up, I want to go back to this story from Sean Connery. I received this story from a preaching journal written by Craig Larson. I like how he sums up his story which relates to both of our points. He writes:
“Many people feel like Connery. Their lives aren’t all that they could be. They aren’t as good as they should be. Something is missing that even glamorous acting roles cannot fulfill. Only Christ makes a person’s life what it can be, should be and [will] be.” [Larsen, “750 Engaging Illustrations,” Baker Books: 2007, p 9.]
Amen.
