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"‘For It Is Proper’"
Some of you may have seen the Disney film, "The Lion King," a coming of age story of the little lion king-to be named Simba. In this allegory of the battle between good and evil, eventually, the adult Simba is in the proverbial struggle to find himself (like many a young and even older adult, I suppose). He needs to feel sure of himself so that he can carry on after the death of his father, the great lion king, Mufasa. The story’s religious leader, of sorts, is a monkey or baboon. The monkey’s name is Rafiki, and he tries to help Simba by taking him back to the lagoon, the place of Simba’s dedication as a cub, assuring him there he will see his father. As he is told to do, Simba looks into the waters of the lagoon and complains to Rafiki that he doesn’t see his father, only a reflection of himself. Rafiki says "Look harder, for he lives in you." When Simba looks again, he hears the voice of his father, Mufasa, saying, "Simba, you’ve forgotten who you are; you are more than you have become. Remember who you are . . . ."
Today we are going to do a bit of remembering about who we are. On this Baptism of the Lord Sunday, we are going to look into the waters of baptism and be reminded of who we are and whose we are. Last, week on Epiphany, I mentioned there were several events after Christmas that keep revealing to us more and more about that awesome gift of Jesus at Christmas. Epiphany last week, the Baptism of the Lord today and then his Transfiguration right before Ash Wednesday each teaches something about the Christmas gift of the incarnation and what that gift means to who we are. Last week on Epiphany, we were reminded through the non-Jewish Magi that we all, not just some special group of believers, are recipients of the good news of the incarnation, the good news of God’s love in Jesus. We were also reminded that this epiphany, this revelation of God through Jesus, means we have some choices: the choice to hear the good news of Jesus’ coming, the choice to pursue him; the choice personally to know and worship him; and the choice to let him dictate the path we take in living our lives. Last week we gave some meaning to the word, Epiphany, and what it means to us specifically. This week we will do the same in terms of baptism. Today, we are going to remember who we are by looking a little deeper into both the waters of Jesus’ baptism and the waters of our own baptisms. And, we can do this by, first, understanding a bit more about why Jesus was baptized and then about why we are baptized. In the reading from the gospel according to Matthew (3:13-17), we heard the most detailed description of Jesus’ baptism in the gospels. We know, from earlier verses in Matthew as well as the account in Luke (3:1-9) several of the gospels, that in the months, perhaps years before Jesus’ baptism, John the Baptizer had been preaching repentance and baptism for the forgiveness of sins. Our first question then about Jesus’ baptism may be: "Why did he need to be baptized." After all, we declare that Jesus was like us in all respects except he was without sin (Hebrews 4:15). Yet Matthew says that Jesus came to John to be baptized in John’s waters for sinners. And, in response, John also asked Jesus "why" emphatically speaking of how absurd the request seemed. In one of those "there’s something wrong with this picture" moments, John questioned Jesus, "I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?" (Matthew 3:14). Jesus didn’t really explain to John why Jesus needed to be baptized. Jesus simply, answered, "‘Let it be so now; for it is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness’" (Matthew 3;15). "‘Let it be now . . . for it is proper . . . to fulfill all righteousness.’" "[N]ow" - the time was right for Jesus to began his public ministry. Prior to his appearance at the Jordan, the gospels are silent about the adult Jesus. We know that he had been with his family for about 30 years, and possibly was just waiting for the time to be right to come forward. So, now the time was right. John had paved the way by stirring in the people a rather unprecedented hunger for God and for a new relationship with God.[1] John had Jews coming forward to his baptism when never before "had any Jew submitted to being baptized."[2] Yes, ritual cleansing prior to sacrifice was a part of the Hebrew practice, but baptism was required only of sin-laden proselytes who entered the faith of the Hebrews, not faithful, practicing Jews. Yet, "all of Judea" (Matthew 3:5; see also Luke 3:7-8), even some of the Jewish leaders (Matthew 3:7), came out to be baptized by John. The time was ripe, the time was now for Jesus’ public ministry to begin; and, so Jesus told John, "‘it is proper [or fit] for us in this way [that is, for you to baptize me] to fulfill all righteousness’" (Matthew 3:15), "‘it is proper . . . to fulfill all righteousness.’" What does this mean? We need a bit more here before we can begin to understand why Jesus was baptized. The key here is the word "righteousness." It’s gotten the same sort of bad reputation that the word "sermon" has. How often have we heard someone shout (hopefully, though, not at us personally), "Don’t preach at me." Just as a sermon doesn’t have to be an overbearing lecture, however, neither does righteousness have to be a "holier than thou" attitude – an attitude that easily slips into unrighteousness. In both Greek and Hebrew the word "righteousness" carries the connotation of justice, a justice in terms of a right relation with God and with each other. Jesus’ baptism fulfills the righteousness of justice and right relation. By submitting himself to baptism, Jesus first identified himself with us in our humanity. By submitting to this act reserved for sinners, the sinless one emptied and humbled himself (Philippians 2:5) to identify with us in our brokenness. And, as he stood in the waters of the Jordan, as he stood in relation to our brokenness, the heavens opened, a dove descended on him and a voice said, "‘This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased’" (Matthew 3:16b-17). In familiar language from the Psalms (Psalm 2) and form Isaiah (Isaiah 42) that the people would have known, Jesus was marked as the Messiah and divine one yet also the suffering servant and savior. In the manger of Christmas and now in waters of the Jordan, heaven and earth were brought together. Any questions about God’s relationship with humankind, God’s covenants through the ages with Abraham and Noah and Moses, were sealed with in this new covenant of love for all made known in Jesus Christ. In this humble servant who stood in the waters of baptism for sinners, stood God’s very self. This was God’s sense of justice, God’s sense of right relation. God, the only truly righteous one, stood in the Jordan accepting on himself our unrighteousness. The ultimate acceptance of our unrighteousness, of course, came a few years later on a cross. And, at that time, the temple curtain was torn apart (Matthew 27:51). When Jesus died, the temple curtain, marking God’s special place accessible only to a few, was opened. In Jesus’ death at the hands of the unrighteous world, God destroyed, for all times, any barriers between himself and all peoples. Heaven and earth were brought together at that moment in the river at Jordan. The veil separating these two worlds was forever pierced on the cross at Golgotha. And, all this so that God’s created humanity can be in right relation with God and with each other. This leaves us still with the other question, "Why are we baptized." Didn’t God do enough already to put us in right relations through his incarnation in Jesus? Of course, God’s love for us and adoption of us as beloved through Jesus Christ isn’t dependent on anything we do. That’s called grace. Having said that, however, we know that in the mystery of faith, there are certain practices that serve as windows, if you will, to the divine. Two of these are rites called sacraments in the Presbyterian Church (USA) – the sacraments of baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Jesus participated in both, one at the beginning of his ministry (his baptism) and one at the end (the last supper, The Lord’s Supper). And, they are the two practices that Jesus also commanded his followers to do likewise. These two sacraments, however, are more than a reenactment, and not really exact reenactments at that, of something Jesus did. They are more than religious symbols through which we learn and remember. Although we don’t believe that the simple elements used in these two sacraments change character in anyway, we do believe that there is a mystery of faith in both acts – a sign and seal of God’s covenant of grace and love made known to us in Jesus Christ (Book of Order W-2.3003). I can tell you that when I place my hand dripping of water on the head of that infant or child or adult, I know that the water isn’t holy, but that the moment sure is. It’s a holy moment because we are gathered together in Christ’s name; we are surrounded by his Spirit. It’s holy because we are taking vows, making promises. We are not becoming God’s own at the moment; we are affirming that we are already God’s own now and will be forever. We are baptized only once as Presbyterians. That doesn’t mean, however, that then it’s done and to be forgotten – far from it. The heavens closed over the Jordan, and Jesus came out of the waters just to begin his ministry of love and service. In our baptism, we, too, are asked to rise from the waters to serve. In baptism we are called God’s beloved – to be loved by him and, in turn, to love him and each other remembering that, in Jesus Christ, we stand together as brothers and sisters around the world with those we know and don’t know, those we like and don’t like, those we call friend and enemy. In baptism, we not only claim God’s love for all of us through Christ, we commit ourselves to respond to God’s love in the way we live our lives. Although we are baptized only once, we can, and I pray that we do, reaffirm those vows and promises in many ways: as when we witness another’s baptism and make our promises as Christ’s church; as we grow in our life with Christ – praying for and accepting his leadership, studying his Word, worshipping and serving in his community of faith. We can reaffirm the promises of our baptism in the choices we make in our daily lives. You may have noticed that the baptismal vows are printed on the back of the bulletin this morning. You may want to take them with you. You may even want to take a look at them, every once in a while, to read over them, pray over them, and, if I can be so bold as to suggest, that with God’s help, to live into them every day. For it is in our baptism, that we proclaim to ourselves, to each other and to the world that in Jesus Christ we are God’s beloved children. And, as we follow Jesus in our everyday, the meaning of our baptism becomes clearer and clearer until the point when, I pray, that we can each look into the waters of this baptism and remember, without doubt, who we are and whose we are now and throughout eternity. In closing, a poem entitled simply, "Baptism:" more than grandpa’s white gown yellowed by age __________________________________ |
Darla
Blatnik