Baptism of our Lord (B)
January 10, 2021
Mark 1:4-11
INTRODUCTION
Today we hear the story of Jesus’ baptism in the Jordan. We’ll hear about the heavens tearing open, and the Holy Spirit coming down on him like a dove, and that voice from heaven calling Jesus the beloved son with whom God is pleased. Mark, who is known for his quick-and-dirty writing style, gets us the whole story in just one sentence, but there is a lot packed into that sentence! It hearkens other moments in scripture – including today’s reading from Genesis, the beginning of the creation story, in which we’ll hear about that same Spirit, hovering over the waters just before God brought all creation into being. When that Spirit returns in Jesus’ baptism, it gives us the sense that baptism offers a new creation. Paul will also bring up that same Spirit in the story from Acts, asking the Ephesians if they have been baptized in the Holy Spirit. This Spirit is something pretty special!
It's special for us, too, in baptism and in faith. And even though we are hearing the story of Jesus’ baptism today, there is so much of it that happens also in our baptism: we, too, receive the power of the Spirit. We, too, are called beloved children of God. So as you listen, hear these promises spoken also to you, the baptized children of God. Let’s listen.
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| Baptism of Christ, by Dave Zelenka https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Baptism-of-Christ.jpg |
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ.
Well, 2021 is off to quite a start. I’m sure none of us planned this week to watch in real time as our own countrymen and women forged an attack on our Capitol, much less one that was encouraged by the sitting president. Then the flurry of resignations, the very real possibility of invoking the 25th amendment or a second impeachment trial, and strong statements from people on both sides of the aisle. And through it all, most people finding someone else to blame.
For us who love our country, of course, it is heartbreaking and terrifying. We don’t know what the future holds, and all this on top of the daily increasing deaths from the pandemic – we’re at over 4000 a day! Only 10 days into the new year, and already that darkness is making a good show of trying to overcome the Light we are celebrating in this season.
And into this, we hear the story of Jesus’ baptism, this marvelous story in which God tears open the heavens and comes down, and a bellowing voice is heard: “You are my Son, my beloved. With you I am well pleased!” This text is a real treat for a preacher, with so many points of entry.
For me, in this particular moment in history, I am drawn to the very next part of the story that we didn’t read. Mark’s very next words are, “And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan.” The water of the riven Jordan was still running down Jesus’ legs when he was driven – not escorted or invited, but driven – into the wilderness, that place of limbo and unknowing, where he is confronted with the devil’s temptations.
The reason I’m drawn to this part of the text that we didn’t even hear this morning is that it is a powerful reminder that baptism is not something that happens in the safety of some church building and then that’s that. It is something that immediately drives us out into the struggles of the world, of real life and all of its challenges and hungers and temptations. It happened to Jesus that way, and it happens for us. You see: when we are baptized, though we certainly receive personal benefits, we are not baptized for ourselves. We are baptized for the world, for our neighbor. We receive baptism’s life-giving promises – the forgiveness of sins, freedom from death, and eternal salvation – not just so that we can rest easy, but so that we can be God’s beloved children, shining the light of Christ into a broken and hurting world.
And that light is dearly needed right now, as we worry about the future of our country. What will the events of January 6th mean for us going forward? I know that many people feel that religion and politics don’t mix. “Keep politics out of the pulpit!” I sometimes hear. But here’s the thing: first, that Jesus didn’t keep politics out of it. Just being called the Son of God, a title reserved for Caesar, the king, was a radical political statement that undermined the Empire, and he was not shy about speaking out about the political issues and current events of the day. Second, there were people attacking the Capitol this week who were carrying Christian flags and symbols and allegedly doing this in the name of Christ, and as your pastor it is my duty to swiftly condemn that. While peacefully assembling to make your passions known, and even doing this out of faithful convictions, is fine and even needed, what we saw happening in the Capitol is not Christ-like, nor is some of the rhetoric we saw from the crowd.
But more important than even those reasons today, is that we are simultaneously Christians, citizens of God’s kingdom, and citizens of a worldly country. Now, those “two kingdoms,” as Luther called it, the earthly kingdom and God’s kingdom, are not the same, but they both serve a purpose we are called to serve in both, and have a duty in both. In the end, though, while we love our country, our primary allegiance is to God’s kingdom. So we must always be asking: how does my identity as a light-of-Christ-bearing baptized Christian, a citizen of God’s kingdom, call me to live out my life as a citizen also of this country?
Or more specifically, how are we, as baptized Christians, called to respond to our nation’s current turmoil?
In a moment, we will participate in an affirmation of baptism. Normally on this Baptism of our Lord Sunday, I like to include a Thanksgiving for Baptism, but this year it felt important to return to the promises we made (or were made on our behalf by our parents and godparents) at the font, and the promises God made to us. So we will hear that liturgy again, and I pray we will take all of it to heart. But I want to lift up a couple parts in particular.
First, the profession of faith. This begins by renouncing the devil, sin, and all that would rebel against God. With each question we boldly respond, “I renounce them!” This renunciation of evil is something we continually do throughout our baptized life, just as Jesus did in the wilderness after his baptism: we renounce (reject, refuse) evil, anything that is not of God. Whether that evil is inciting violence, or using symbols of hate and oppression to intimidate others, or systemic racism, or putting our own sense of entitlement or supremacy before love and service of neighbor: in our baptism, we renounce it. As Luther said, a Christian who lives by the cross “calls a thing what it is.” And these sorts of acts are sinful and wrong.
To be clear, to “call a thing what it is” and renounce it doesn’t mean we resort to name-calling and insults, and mustn’t slip into self-righteousness. Insulting other children of God is no way to build up the kingdom. Calling out and renouncing evil requires strength but also finesse. It requires humility, self-reflection, recognition of our own part in the evil (whether active, or passive acceptance), and the abiding knowledge that we are all broken and sinful, and all beggars for and recipients of God’s grace and mercy. So leave the soap box and self-righteousness out of it, yet still boldly name evil for what it is – and then work continually to renounce it, reject it, from your own life and our common life.
Next, I want to look at the affirmation of faith, and one commitment in particular. After the promises to do things like pray, study scripture, serve others, and be with God’s faithful people, there is this line at the end: “[I promise] to strive for justice and peace in all the earth.” You see, the Christian life does not end at going to church, nor even at participating in a collection or service project. Baptism takes it a step further: to seek the justice and peace that characterize God’s kingdom, in which everyone has what they need and we can live without hatred and fear. Striving for justice and peace requires learning about the issues at stake, and seeking understanding. It means, again, a lot of self-reflection and coming to God in repentance for ways we have fallen short, and asking God for help to live in ways that align with God’s vision for us. Striving for justice and peace in all the earth is a whole-life-long sort of charge, one that I think every American has (we are always seeking “a more perfect union,” after all), but especially every baptized person.
Finally, I want to make very clear the promises that God makes to us in baptism. Luther defines these in the Small Catechism, saying that baptism “brings about forgiveness of sins, redeems from death and the devil, and gives eternal salvation to all who believe it.” Those are pretty great promises! Forgiveness: the knowledge that when we fall short of the promises we made (all of them, including that one about striving for justice and peace!), God still loves us and forgives us – that promise gives us the courage to try and try again, knowing that God never gives up on us. Redemption from death and devil means that we need not be paralyzed by the fear of death, neither the end of our earthly life, nor the thousands of small deaths and losses and griefs we experience on a daily basis. It means that God will always lead us from death into life, that none of those deaths will be the end of us. And eternal salvation – well, what could be greater than the hope of entering God’s heavenly home someday and living eternally in God’s light and love?
Or perhaps even more simply, we can just look back at Jesus’s own baptism, when a voice from heaven said, “You are my Son, my beloved. I am well pleased with you.” These same assurances are offered also to us: you, sons and daughters, are God’s beloved, and always will be, regardless of your shortcomings and failures. God is pleased with you. God made you good, and is with you in the darkness and in the light. Be encouraged by this, knowing that with these baptismal gifts, we are able, once driven out into the world, to bear Christ’s light to a world in pain, and bring to it Christ’s own life.
Let us pray… Loving God, as our nation discerns the way forward after the events of this week, remind us always that we are called to be your baptized and beloved sons and daughters in this world, bearing your light and sharing your love. Embolden us to do your work, knowing every moment that your Spirit is near. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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