Beloved Son (Baptism of Jesus)

Scripture:  Isaiah 43:1-7; Acts 8:14-17;  Luke 3:15-22

I don’t know if any of you have ever spent time peering at one of those “Where’s Waldo” cartoons – it’s usually some enormous crowd scene – at a beach, or an amusement park, or some other large gathering – and you’re supposed to find Waldo, a guy with round glasses and a distinctive red and white striped shirt and a matching red and white striped hat, almost like a santa cap, usually cocked at an angle.  It definitely takes keen vision and a good eye for detail, as well as a bit of patience - and it usually helps if you've got some extra time on your hands.

 

I would imagine that, for John, the search for the “one more powerful than John”, of whom John spoke, was a bit like an exercise of “Where’s Waldo” – only more difficult, because in this case he didn’t know beforehand what Waldo looked like.  When we think of baptism, we think of one person – usually a baby – along with parents and godparents or sponsors – not that many people involved - but the Gospel writers describe crowds coming to John, day after day, with Jesus in their midst, one among many preparing to go under the water.  The spirit coming down like a dove and the voice from heaven are what help John, and help us - pick out Waldo – or rather Jesus – amid the mass of humanity converging on John.

 

What was Jesus doing in the midst of the crowd at the Jordan River that day, listening to John haranguing them about the need to repent of their sins, going down into the cold, muddy water of the Jordan?  It’s not hard to imagine why the crowds were there.  Those coming to John had a deep sense of dissatisfaction with the way things were – with the world, and with themselves – especially themselves.  The political order of the day was about as corrupt as one could imagine, and the people felt a deep need for God to touch them, to lay a renewing finger on them in a deep place that the rituals of the Temple couldn’t touch.  The crowds that came to the Jordan knew that there was a whole lot wrong with the world, and a whole lot wrong with themselves – and somehow knew that any healing and renewal of the world would have to begin with renewal within.  Harsh as John’s preaching was, it only put into words the sense of sinfulness and internal chaos within the people who came to be baptized. 

 

Normally, in Jewish practice, baptism, or ceremonial washing, was used for spiritual cleansing.  Baptism was also a ritual by which Gentiles signified their conversion to Judaism.  But of these crowds who came to John, most were already Jewish.  But they came – yes, to signify their desire for spiritual cleansing, but also to become part of the religious renewal that John was leading. 

 

So that explains the crowds….but what does it say about why Jesus was in the midst of the crowds?  Jesus, after all, was sinless; he had no need for spiritual cleansing.  Rather, Jesus was there to identify radically with John’s renewal movement, with the crowds, with sinful humankind.  In great humility, Jesus waded in the water with everyone else, felt John’s hand pushing him under the surface of the cold, muddy water of the Jordan. And, like the crowds who came to John for a new direction in their lives, baptism was a transformative moment for Jesus – it has been said that he went into the water a carpenter, and came out of the water a Messiah newly empowered for his earthly ministry as the beloved of God, as witnessed by the voice from heaven, with a new understanding of the calling to which God had called him. The Spirit coming in the form of a dove reminds us of the dove that was released from Noah’s ark at the end of the flood, reminding us of new life. 

 

By his baptism, Jesus identified radically with the human need for repentance, and the baptism of Jesus was a moment of transformation and empowerment for ministry.  And therefore the voice from heaven heard by Jesus continues to echo in our ears.  And it’s very personal – You – you individually – are my beloved Son or Daughter.

 

Just as, in Jewish practice, circumcision was a mark of inclusion in the covenant, and just as, through the waters of baptism, John’s followers were brought into John’s renewal movement, in the same way, through the water of baptism, we are brought into a much larger family, the church.  This may not initially seem to be of much importance.  The way baptism was often explained in the past put the emphasis on the individual salvation of the one being baptized – my baptism, my soul, my salvation, my, my, my.  And certainly, baptism is a very individual, very personal experience.  But it’s an individual experience by which we are drawn beyond ourselves as individuals, a personal experience by which we are connected to other persons.  We are welcomed into the larger family of faith, and in that welcome are commissioned to serve the Lord.  This is why, in UCC practice, at the end of the baptism, the newly-baptized is called “child of God, disciple of Christ, and member of Christ’s church.”

 

In our baptism, God claims each of us as beloved sons and daughters.  While that promise is for us, it’s not only for us.   What would the church be like – what would the world be like – if we could remember that those with whom we come in contact are likewise created in God’s image, likewise beloved sons and daughters of God?  Might that change our behavior toward one another, and toward our neighbors?   Might we speak or act differently if we remember that the person to whom we speak or act is, like us, a child of the king, a child of God?

 

For us, baptism is a moment of sweet sentimentality, a moment marked by baptismal certificates and photos and such.   But it’s more than that.  It’s the moment in which we, as a child or as an adult, are brought into the care of the church, and a moment of preparation to take part in the church’s ministry of bringing the good news of Jesus to the world.  Of course, we don’t expect an infant to toddle right out the front door of the church and start preaching the gospel.  That’s why those promises that parents and godparents or sponsors make to raise children in the Christian faith are so important – ultimately baptism is preparation and authorization for ministry, preparation and authorization to be messengers of the good news wherever our lives take us.

 

Which doesn’t mean that our lives will be easy.  Like Jesus, we may experience grief, anger, frustration, loneliness.  Like Jesus on the cross, there are those moments when we feel so overwhelmed that we say, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me.”  In those moments, our baptism reminds us that God will never abandon us.  In the words of the old Heidelberg Catechism that our older members grew up with, we’re told that “our only comfort, in life and in death, is that we belong, body and soul, in life and in death, not to ourselves, but to our faithful Savior, Jesus Christ” - who through the waters of baptism has claimed us for his very own.  Amen.