"Living Our Baptism"

First Presbyterian Church
Peter S. Buehler
January 13, 2008
Matthew 3:13-17

And a voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, the Beloved,
with whom I am well pleased."

Today we come to Jesus' baptism. It seems to have happened all of a sudden -- last week he was twelve days old, today he's an adult. There is so much we're curious about; we wish we knew more about his early life. If it were today, of course, we'd have hours of home videos, countless interviews with former teachers and childhood friends. We wonder if we could ever hear enough or see enough to satisfy our curiosity about this man, this Savior. Maybe we're better off with the silence and the not-knowing.

So we go from the glow of Bethlehem -- the small assembly of Wise Men, shepherds, parents, camels, donkeys, a few sheep -- to this chaotic scene at the Jordan River, crowds of people from Jerusalem and all Judea coming to John to be baptized.

Imagine the noise and the dust and the commotion! John had no assistant baptizers -- there is no record of that -- everyone was waiting for him alone, so it must have taken forever to get to the front of the line, if there even was a line!
Somehow John knew someone special was coming, someone whose sandals he was not worthy to carry. That he picked one man out of the crowd -- a man who did not stand out, at least his physical appearance -- is amazing.

And while following the Gospel story from last week to today we fast-forwarded from Jesus' infancy to his adulthood, in this scene from Matthew chapter 3, the inauguration of his adult ministry, we slow down and freeze each frame. Jesus standing in the crowd, like everyone else. Jesus waiting his turn in line. Hours go by, maybe days. Finally he is at the river's edge. Then John's eyes meet his.
If all around there was the commotion and clamor and crowds, between these two men in this moment there was silence and stillness. Like Christmas in reverse, it was as if John the Baptist had come to Bethlehem with the Wise Men and the shepherds to worship the baby Jesus. He had been waiting a long time for this moment.

I believe that when John finally spoke, he spoke quietly. The Baptist was known for bellowing, but here he was soft-spoken. Only Matthew's Gospel records his words, his objection: I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?

New Testament scholar Dale Bruner considers this incident Jesus' first miracle: the miracle of his humility. That the first thing Jesus does for the human race is to "go down with it into the deep waters of repentance and baptism. As Bruner puts it, his whole life will be like this.

Humility, the real thing, is miraculous when you witness it. We all have. The meeting between Jesus and John the Baptist at the Jordan, and John's objection to what Jesus wanted him to do, reminds me of a face to face encounter I had.
It was a number of years ago, it happened at a presbytery meeting -- presbytery is the regional governing body in our church, ministers and elders from Presbyterian churches meeting deal with various aspects of church business.
If you've been to Presbytery meetings, you know that they are not known for displays of humility; often the members just want people to hear what they have to say and vote the way they want. I find myself getting in this same mindset.

But at this particular meeting we had a guest speaker, Francis Quinn, the Roman Catholic Bishop of Sacramento. A wonderful man, soft-spoken, with a true ecumenical spirit. Mutual respect and understanding among churches and faiths was the topic of his sermon -- it was a straight-forward, simple message. The fact that it was a bishop who was speaking, of course, added weight to his words.
Some of us had bishop-envy that day, I think. Presbyterians tend to be suspicious of individuals with a lot of power, especially in the church, but that Saturday at presbytery we liked Francis Quinn a lot and we liked him in his fine robes!

After the worship service we had communion; I had been asked to assist. We had three stations at the front of the sanctuary where people could come forward to be served. I could hardly believe it when I saw Bishop Quinn in my line. I started wondering if Catholics could even receive communion from lowly Protestants. Was this something they were allowed to do? I supposed that he could do as he wanted; he was the Bishop, after all. But here Francis Quinn was in line coming forward like everyone else. Should I say something different to him? Should I ask him to serve me? Would he change his mind at the last moment? He didn't. He wanted the sacrament like everyone else. He was one of us.

Jesus is one of us. Jesus chose to be baptized, which for John was confusing.
We're no different, really. We think being Christian means being worthy of Jesus.
We think being Christian means always being judged, always having to do better.
We expect progress from ourselves, which is why we're so disturbed by our failures. It's no wonder religious people can be defensive -- we have a lot at stake, so we hate it when we mess up. We feel we've failed at faith; we've failed to please the One whose opinion of us counts the most.

Yet here comes Jesus to be baptized! Wait, he's not supposed to come down to our level, we're supposed to work our way up to his level. Stop, Jesus, we don't deserve you! Stop, Jesus, we want to deserve you! If you just let us, we think we can make it on our own; we'll call on you as a last resort.

We love Christmas, everybody does, it's the celebration of our Lord's birth -- but I wonder if what we don't need every bit as much is the gospel that is proclaimed in Jesus' decision to be baptized, to come down to our level, to immerse himself in our humanity. That he is present with us, he gets his hands dirty with human life, he doesn't want to be put on a pedestal above us. Christianity is not putting Jesus on a pedestal, Christianity is sharing in Jesus' baptism.

There is a difference. One way of viewing this faith will produce the feeling that you're not doing enough, that you can't do enough, that you're failing. We may block out our doubt during the day, but it wakes us up at night. We feel as though we're climbing the side of a sand dune, the harder we try the more we slide down backwards, the sand just keeps giving way. This is one way of viewing Christianity.

The other way has to do with our baptism, with hanging on to it, trusting it, knowing what it means, that before we are even capable of making promises to God, God has made a promise to us. In baptism we lean that God's direction is downward; God comes down to us in the person of Jesus. No talk of the "upward way" without knowing that Jesus was baptized, that he came to us first in our sinfulness and pride, our stubborn self-reliance and self-centeredness, in order to show us that God's love is the main thing, God's love is powerful, it is trustworthy -- we need it to live. Baptism is about living. It's also about dying -- dying to our old selves, our illusions of what makes us who we are -- in order that Christ, by grace, might be born in us, making us authentic, who God created us to be.

Baptism is about the power that is available to us in the Holy Spirit. The New Testament constantly talks of baptism. We tend to see it as a tame thing, a ritual that happens every so often in the church -- usually with babies, sometimes crying babies. Sometimes we baptize adults; when they're crying we get a sense of the power of baptism.

It's interesting that some today are saying that babies understand grace at a far deeper level than we adults can imagine -- that they recognize grace's voice, God's kindness and love, the way at birth they notice and recognize their mother's and father's voices. Talk about the power of this sacrament! We're only beginning to discover it.

The New Testament is all about the power of baptism. Read the end of Acts chapter 2 to hear what happens after one of the apostle Peter's sermons.
Thousands are baptized! Immediately people want to learn more about the scriptures and their new faith; immediately there's an intimate and joyous fellowship; immediately people devote themselves to prayer, because they want to stay connected to the power of the Spirit!

This is the power that God gives to the church. It's what makes the church exciting -- granted that's not what a lot of people think about when they think of church -- yet the potential is always for a community that is so alive, and engaged, and kind-hearted, and generous, and courageous because the Holy Spirit is making all kinds of wonderful things happen.

I need to say a word here about one of our members, Julie Guzman. We were shocked and saddened to hear of Julie's death last week, she was always so full of life. Julie had her challenges, her special needs, but she also showed the love of Jesus in the most perfect way. So many Sunday mornings I'd be coming into worship or headed somewhere between services and Julie would call out my name and give me the best hug. She had a beautiful smile and the sweetest, most sincere voice. In so many ways she showed us the welcome of Jesus himself, coming over to us, showing us more love than we thought we deserved.
Julie showed us who we are, what the church is, what powerful things the Spirit can do through our sisters and brothers. We thank God for her life.

God's direction is downward; God comes down to us; God comes to us, even "the least of these," and makes us real, makes us who we were created to be.
It starts in a special way at our baptism, when our parents make a public promise, or we make a promise, that we will live our lives differently, putting our trust in the One who loves us first and promises us true life.

I believe something mysterious and powerful and true happens at our baptism.
But I also believe that our baptism is proven when we decide each day to practice the same love toward others that God shows us in Jesus Christ, the One who immersed himself in the world, in the lives of human beings. Baptized people don't stand on pedestals, they get involved -- they care. Baptized people forgive. Baptized people are not proud. Baptized people practice gentleness and humility, because that is the way Jesus lived, and he changed the world.

God expects that of us. Baptism is the beginning of a life of extraordinary effort and faith. Every day we have is an opportunity to show in some way that there is a better way to be human; it is the Spirit that gives us the power we need to do it.
The power is love, the power of God's heart.

It is worth noting -- and I find it so interesting -- that while at Christmas, at Jesus' birth, God is very much in the background and not so obvious, working instead through angels, and dreams, and visions, and stars -- here at the baptism of Jesus God is obvious. God speaks! God speaks words of pure affection: This is my priceless Son; I am deeply pleased with him.

There is not one of us here who does not know the difference it makes when a parent expresses that message from his heart, from her heart. Pure affirmation. Unqualified. I love you. I am deeply pleased wit you. I think these words are especially important coming from fathers -- they are important coming from mothers, but fathers tend to hold back and wait for results. We can wait too long.
We need to speak up.

God didn't wait long to express himself. He did not wait for his Son to prove himself. Jesus began his ministry with his Father's words in his ears: This is my priceless Son; I am deeply pleased with him. No wonder our Lord was so humble -- his Father's love set him free!

Yet notice that God's words are for another audience, not Jesus: This is my priceless Son; I am deeply pleased with him. Jesus heard what his Father said, but so did others -- in fact, the message wasn't meant for his ears. Who was it for? The disciples hadn't yet been chosen -- was the message for John the Baptist? For the crowds?

Matthew's Gospel doesn't say. He leaves it open. Maybe because the audience he has in mind is us. Do we know how much God loves Jesus Christ, his Son?
Do we know how delighted he was that Jesus chose to be baptized, to be so human that we could always trust him?

And do we know, in our own baptism, how much God loves us -- that we are priceless to him?

It is in this love that we grow to the full measure of our humanity. It is in this love that we have power to do the good work God has set before us.