Baptism of the Lord
January 12, 2020
Isaiah 42:1-9; Matthew 3:13-17
We talked last week about Spiritual Affective Disorder, a
play off of Seasonal Affective Disorder, and how, either way, what you need is
more light. This week, we’re going to take that more light and shine it on you.
You can tell your fears and insecurities to calm down; this is not a harsh
spotlight that’s going to reveal all your flaws and imperfections. Jesus is not
that kind of light. Instead, this is the kind of light that bathes you in a
warm glow, that makes you feel loved and secure and peaceful. It’s the kind of
light you see in any picture of Jesus’ baptism, where you’ve got Jesus and John
in the water, and the heavens open and the Spirit of God descends. And that
image of heaven opening and the Spirit descending is most likely visualized
with yellow light. I’m talking about that
kind of light. Now, we are not Jesus, we are not the Savior of the world, and
we are not God’s only begotten Son. However, we are God’s children. And we do experience baptism. And God’s Spirit
does descend upon us.
There was a couple at the church where I was baptized who
are artists. For my baptism, they presented my family with this painting:
I will confess I always found it strange as a kid, perhaps because I
didn’t live through much of the ‘70’s, and so the bright orange color always
seemed jarring to me. Yet you can see God’s Spirit descending as a dove on my
name. You can see the light around the dove’s head, right above my name. I
think the orange, besides being a popular color in the 1970’s, also helps add
to the feeling of light. And you can see the waters of baptism surrounding me. This
is what happens at each of our baptisms. God’s Spirit descends upon us. There
is light around us. And we are there in the middle of the waters of baptism. And,
whether you heard it or not, at your baptism, just like at Jesus’s, a voice
from heaven said, “This is my beloved child. With you I am well pleased.”
Pleased not because of anything you’ve done, but simply because of who you are:
God’s handiwork; God’s masterpiece. Whether you’re feeling it today or not, you
are perfectly and beautifully made. You are made in the image of God and you
are God’s beloved child.
Isaiah 42 is paired with Jesus’s baptism because the
words that God speaks are so similar. Listen to them again, “Here is my
servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit
on him, and he will bring justice to the nations.” Unlike last week’s Isaiah
reading, when God’s people were returning from exile, this week the people are in exile. Babylon has destroyed the
temple, plundered Israel, and taken the people away in chains. “This was utter,
complete devastation of the political, social, economic and religious life
God’s people had known for centuries.”[1]
And it caused an identity crisis. Who were they now? Were they still God’s
people? How were they going to worship if they couldn’t do it in the temple?
Had God abandoned them? Who were they without the promised land? Into that
identity crisis, Isaiah speaks this word, reminding the people of who God is,
how God works, and that they are still, always, God’s people even if the
surroundings and buildings change.
A similar theme is found in Psalm 89 as well. That psalm
is a royal psalm in that it “describes God's gracious work on behalf of and
through the person of ancient Judean kings,”[2]
in this case King David. It begins with praise for God’s steadfast love and
faithfulness and God’s covenant with David. It ends with the psalmist crying
out to God, because somehow that covenant seems to be endangered. One theory is
that this psalm was written during the time of Babylonian exile, when Jerusalem
was destroyed and there were no more kings. The middle of the psalm is the part
that speaks to me, that reminds me of baptism and the reassurance that I belong
to God, that I am important to God, that God knows my plight and is faithful to
what God has promised me. It says, “I have found David my servant; with my
sacred oil I have anointed him. My hand will sustain him; surely my arm will
strengthen him. The enemy will not get the better of him; the wicked will not
oppress him… My faithful love will be with him…
He will call out to me, ‘You
are my Father, my God, the Rock my Savior.’… I will maintain my love to him
forever, and my covenant with him will never fail.”
Baptism is a covenant. It’s a promise made to God and by
God and it involves more than just the person being baptized; it involves all
of us, the faith community. Baptism is joining God’s family, that’s why it’s
part of regular worship services and not a private service. I don’t do private
baptisms (and I’ve been asked) because it’s important for the family of God to
be present, since we have a role to play, too. We promise to nurture, to love,
to pray for, to help the person grow in their faith and in their love of God.
And, here’s the great thing about the church: even if you don’t worship in the
church where you were baptized, the congregation you’re currently a part of
takes on that responsibility. We’re all part of the household of God, each
local church. And so while another local church may have been the ones to say
out loud those promises, we here and now are still bound by those same
promises, because they were making them on behalf of the Church universal. We
are to love and nurture each other, to pray for each other, to spur each other
on in works of love and mercy, to help each other along the journey.
Sometimes, sadly, the local church doesn’t do that. And
when hurt by the church, some people choose to leave it altogether. Others
simply find a different church that will nurture and support them. The good
news is that even when we break the covenant, God still keeps it. God is
faithful. And God’s part of that covenant, to sustain you, to strengthen you,
to delight in you, to love you; that part never changes. It never gets broken.
There are times when the covenant may seem to be endangered: when you may
wonder if God isn’t pleased with you, or if God couldn’t love you. But
remember, we base those ideas off our actions and our own perceptions of
ourselves. “I’m too messed up; God couldn’t possibly love me.” Or, “I’ve made
some bad choices that God can’t be pleased with.” This is why it’s important to
shine the light on who you really are: God’s beloved child. God delights in you
because you’re you. God loves you and will always love you, no matter what,
unconditionally. You may turn away from God, but God will not turn away from
you. There are times it may seem like it, in which case I suggest reading Psalm
89 as if God’s talking about you and insert your name: “I have found [Heather]
my servant; with my sacred oil I have anointed her. My hand will sustain her;
surely my arm will strengthen her. The enemy will not get the better of her;
the wicked will not oppress her. My faithful love will be with her, I will
maintain my love to her forever, and my covenant with her will never fail.” It
makes a difference to add your own name in there, doesn’t it? But God is
speaking to you.
Now, Isaiah 42 talks a little bit more about this
covenant. “I, the Lord, have called you in righteousness; I will take hold of
your hand. I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people
and a light for the nations, to open
eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison and to release from the
dungeon those who sit in darkness.” Light isn’t shined on us just so we can sit
and look pretty. Life isn’t all about us, no matter how egotistical it’s
socially acceptable to be. We are called to walk in the light, God gives us
light so that we might share the light with others. We love because God first
loved us and God invites to go share that love with the rest of the world, to
remind others that they, too, are a beloved child of God, made in God’s image,
and God delights in them, too. We, God’s people, are to be a light for the
nations. Through us, God wants to open eyes that are blind, free captives from
prison, and release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness. We do that with
God’s help. We do that by living into our baptismal vows. In just a few
minutes, we’re going to reaffirm our baptismal covenant, so I’m not going to
repeat it now.
However, here’s what you need to know next. We didn’t
read all of Isaiah 42. After this covenant is a call for all creation to sing
to the Lord a new song. God delights in us and wants to use us to bring about
justice and liberation, and so God’s delight bursts forth through creation with
“roaring seas, lifted voices, songs of joy, and shouts of praise [as though] creation
cannot contain itself. And through the din, we glimpse the exilic community – renewed
in hope, commissioned and inspired to participate in God's reconciling work.
May we who follow in Christ's baptism remember that we are likewise.”[3]
Our faith community, our branch of God’s family, let us remember who we are and
whose we are. May we be renewed in hope. May we be reminded of God’s covenant
to us, that we are important to God and loved by God, that God delights in us,
simply because of who we are: God’s children.
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