This is my child, the Beloved

Baptism of Our Lord Sunday

Readings: Isaiah 42:1-9 & Matthew 3:13-17

Grace and peace to you in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while the Spirit of God hovered over the face of the waters. Then God spoke all things into being and saw that it was good (Gen. 1). By the Word of God all things came to be and it was good. Then the Word of God became flesh and blood, the Creator became the creation, and in his baptism the Spirit hovers above his face alighting him and God says, ‘This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased’ (Matt. 3:17). Both in the beginning and in the incarnation, the Word of God brought order out of chaos. When God first began creating there were infinite possibilities present, those possibilities for creation were renewed in Christ, as God entered our world to redeem it.

From the story of the incarnation we have come to Jesus’ baptism because this is the moment Christ is catapulted into his years of ministry. This is the beginning, for Christ and for the entire created world. The possibilities are endless, for what is impossible for humanity is possible for God (Matt. 19:26). So how did Jesus understand his identity, his mission and ministry to the world? We’re unsure of all the details, but we are sure he saw himself and his work in the words of the prophet Isaiah. In Luke 4, Jesus goes to the synagogue, reads Isaiah 61 and says the scripture has been fulfilled. That reading was not unlike the words from Isaiah we read today.

Isaiah 61, which Jesus saw himself fulfilling, says that God and the Spirit appointed him to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up broken hearts, to proclaim liberty to the captives and to release the prisoners! Isaiah 42, which we heard today, is part of what has been called a Servant Song. It prophesies a servant: upheld and chosen by God, in whom God is well pleased and has given the Spirit, and who will bring justice the nations. In fact, three times in the passage we read this morning does it say that this servant will bring God’s justice. So what is God’s justice? Well.. God says here that God has taken us by the hand, held us, made covenants with us, and gave us light SO THAT we, as covenanted people of God, might share that light, open the eyes of the blind, free prisoners from captivity, and free those prisoner to darkness (Isaiah 42:1-9).

Jesus sees himself as bearer of this justice, as servant of God, as servant of the people whom he is covenanted with – us. For he says himself that he came not to be served, but to serve and give his life for the world (Matt. 20:28). We don’t know much about Jesus’ life between his birth and his baptism, but it is clear as day that the Baptism of our Lord officially started his ministry. Jesus tells John that his baptism is necessary to ‘fulfill all righteousness’ (Matt. 3:15). It is hard to know what that means.. but what we do know is that the word Matthew uses here for ‘righteousness’ means ‘the fulfillment of God’s justice.’ While that is also full of ambiguity, based on context, we can possibly conclude that perhaps the fulfillment of God’s justice is the very act being filled with the Holy Spirit and called God’s child, claimed beloved by our Creator.

We also know that God’s justice is always full of grace and mercy and signified by right relationship. The fulfillment of God’s justice would be for the entire world to be in right relationship. This makes sense with the picture Jesus spends his life trying to paint, of a day where there will be no more weeping, no more war, no more death.. for if we were all in right relationship and God’s justice reigned, we would indeed have no other use for our weapons than to beat them down into plowshares, making instruments of life rather than death (Isaiah 2:4).

God became flesh and blood, just like us. God came to earth and became truly human. Christ not only was born like us and died like us, but Christ too was baptized as we are baptized. To be baptized into a life and death like Christ’s is to be filled with the Spirit, called, and claimed Beloved by God. Christ knew he was God’s Son, he knew he was filled with the Spirit and loved by God. We also know that we were created by God who loves us and calls us by name. But that doesn’t mean we don’t need to hear it. Think about children today.. we know the effects parenting has on them, have you ever known a child whose parents never told them they loved them? Have you ever known someone whose entire life could have been different if their parents just spoke the words ‘I love you’ or ‘I’m proud of you’ out loud every once in awhile? Perhaps you know this all too well yourself. Words matter. Words are powerful. Words are so powerful that every created thing came to being through the Word of God.

Baptism is a sacrament because it is a physical, tangible, ordinary thing that witnesses to the love of God. Water is so common, so ordinary that almost anywhere, anytime you can see it, hear it, touch it, taste it, immerse yourself in it and hear the voice of God proclaim, ‘This is MY child, whom I love, and in whom I am well pleased.’ YOU my friend are claimed. You are not lost, you are not alone, YOU. ARE. GOD’S. You belong here. You are right where you are supposed to be and you are exactly who you are supposed to be.

This baptismal claim on our life is our identity and our mission. Isaiah’s vision that Christ takes on in his ministry after rising from the waters of baptism is our mission too.. may we respond as steadfastly as Jesus did. May we hear Isaiah as Jesus did and let those words sink into our bones and lead us forward, hungry for the fulfillment of God’s justice, which is always graceful, merciful, and peaceful. This may seem naïve to a world of fear, greed, and violence, but we know that God is love and perfect love casts our fear (1 John 4:18). God alone, who gives us our identity, is the Savior of the world. The One who calls us Beloved and claims our lives is the only one whom we can trust and in whom we do not need to fear. Whatever may be impossible for us, is possible for God.

Baptized children of God, would you stand with me this morning amidst the chaos of this world and proclaim hope into the brokenness all around us? Would you affirm your baptism, your call, into the life of Christ which transforms our lives into a new way of being? (I invite you to follow along this adapted affirmation of baptism:)

Beloved child of God, on your journey, is it your intent to be faithful by refusing to use fear, cruelty, addiction, greed, seduction, lies and other principalities and powers to manipulate other people and avoid honesty with yourself and God? Do you renounce such powers?

I Do.

Will you seek to place your deepest trust in the love of the Creator?

We trust in God.

Do you trust that love shown in Jesus Christ?

We trust Jesus Christ.

Are you open to new possibilities through the power of the Holy Spirit?

We trust the power of the Holy Spirit.

May God’s love grow in you and may the Creator strengthen you to care for yourself and for those around you. May you be a witness to peace, and to the unity of all creation. May Jesus Christ remind you that you are loved and strengthen you to find forgiveness and peace when you hurt others or damage the earth. May the Holy Spirit give you hope and joy all the days of your life.

Amen

In the waters of baptism, you are sealed with the Holy Spirit and marked with the cross of Christ forever. Go forth and bear the light of Christ to all the ends of the earth, proclaiming God’s justice with grace, mercy, and peace – until Christ comes again. When you find yourself hopeless, doubtful, or full of fear, remember your baptism.

Remember who you are and to whom you belong.

You are claimed.

You are not lost,

you are not alone;

YOU. ARE. GOD’S beloved, with whom God is well pleased.

This is most certainly true: Amen.

*Taken at the World Council of Churches Ecumenical Chapel - floor tiles = waters of the Jordan; picture on wall depicts Jesus' baptism