This
homily was preached at Christ Episcopal Church, Yankton, South Dakota on
January 13, 2019
“He
will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.
His winnowing-fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing-floor and to
gather the wheat into his granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable
fire.” Luke 3:16b-17
After Christmas and Epiphany, a Sunday commemorating
the Baptism of Jesus may strike us as a bit ho-hum – nothing too much to celebrate
that’s new. Jesus being declared God’s
Son has been the topic for the past three weeks. In order for us to think differently about
Jesus’ baptism, let’s consider this rather atypical description of Jesus as a
spiritual arsonist and someone who is going to beat the chaff out of us.
The implied question being asked is “Are we ready
for a workout?”
As we ponder that question, we have an opportunity
to examine our own baptismal covenants in the light of Jesus’ baptism and what
it means when we say that sacraments are a means of grace. Beginning with the word, “covenant,” a word
used throughout the Bible, we know that a covenant is a binding agreement
between two or more parties. Where covenants are concerned in the Hebrew
Scriptures, we observe that it is God who initiates them.
In Genesis, God says to Noah, after the flood, “I am
establishing my covenant with you and your descendants”[1]
(everyone since that time). After which,
a rainbow appears. If you know this
story, you cannot help but think about God and this covenant every time a
rainbow appears.
Then there is the covenant that God made with
Abraham, “This shall be my covenant with you: You shall be the ancestor of a multitude of
nations.”[2] Most notably, there is the covenant that God
made with the people of Israel in the wilderness of which Moses says, “He (God)
declared to you his covenant, which he charged you to observe; that is,
the Ten Commandments…” [3]
In essence, God’s covenants are about keeping God in
mind; that by keeping God in mind is also God’s way of keeping us in line,
saving us from ourselves. What becomes evident is that what God is after, what
God wants from these covenantal relationship is foremost an identified
relationship, to be recognized as the faithful God of love.
Prophets like Jeremiah saw a time when God would
make a new covenant with the House of Israel in which God would implant he law
into people and write it upon their hears.
Jeremiah writes, “No longer shall each man teach his neighbor and each
his brother saying, ‘Know the Lord’ for they shall all know me, from the least
of them to the greatest, says the Lord, for I will forgive their iniquity, and
I will remember their sin no more.”[4]
We Christians recognize that as grace, which brings
us to the baptism of Jesus.
John the Baptizer used baptism as a way to reorient
his audience to God’s covenantal relationship with them by washing their sinful
desires away in the waters of the Jordan and sending them downstream to the
Dead Sea – an apt destination. Jesus’ approach to John’s baptism was a much
deeper undertaking and John knew it:
“I baptize you with water; but one who is more powerful
than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals.”[5]
When Jesus entered the troubled waters of John’s
baptism, Jesus does so as a child of Abraham, as one who embodied the law of
God’s love and held it in his heart.
When Jesus waded into the waters of baptism, he was offering himself up
to a process of formation called kenosis (the complete emptying of self). He did so not to turn away from sin, but
rather to take it on, to drench himself in the frailty of humanity that had
pooled in those waters; to initiate our side of the covenant, to fulfill the
covenant of God’s love for this world, to say yes to God.
When Jesus emerged from his baptism, drenched in the
waters of our shared humanity, John sees the Holy Spirit descend on him like a
dove and Jesus gets lit up with zeal for all of God’s people, for us. Jesus becomes a living sacrifice to God and
God accepts the condition Jesus presents, the fullness of human love for God and
God says YES – “You are my Son, My Beloved.
In you I am well-pleased.” [6]
That was the BEGINNING. The baptism of Jesus became the means to begin
his ministry, not the end. Jesus did not
sit back and say, “It’s all good now – DONE!”
As the Gospel of Mark points out, “The Spirit immediately drove him out
into the wilderness”[7] –
that great metaphor for life’s challenges.
Throughout Jesus’ ministry, he lived into being both the Son of Man and
the Son of God in his total love for God and in his total love for that which God
loves. His faithfulness drew the faith
of the others. Jesus was often surprised
by the faith he encountered in people; especially, when it came from unexpected
places like a Roman Centurion, a Syrophonecian woman, and a Samaritan Leper.[8]
Jesus gave shape to this new covenant of Love
throughout his ministry which came to full form on the cross and affirmed in his
resurrection. Jesus’ ministry was a
workout of faith from the moment he emerged from the waters of his
baptism. Jesus did not take being identified
as God’s Son for granted.[9] He
lived into it, worked through it, became it every step of his earthly journey
and this is why listening to the stories of his ministry is important because they
apply to what we experience today – they show us the way.
As the ministry of Jesus began at his baptism, so
does ours. Unfortunately, Baptism has
been subjected to placing the emphasis on the wrong theological syllable. For instance, there is a belief that Baptism
makes one a child of God. Scripture
points out that every living human is a child of God; that every person is made in the image of God, carries the kernel of that image in them, but not every
person knows that or is told that. If
people don’t know that or aren’t told that or aren't told it frequently, they don’t
know or they forget and are deprived of the means of grace that we have access
to.
Like Jesus’ baptism, our baptism is about
recognition. It’s starting a process
that rids us of the chaff hiding the kernel of our true being as a daughter or
a son of God; as co-heirs with Christ.
Baptism is about being lit with the fire of the Holy Spirit that will
keep the chaff away.
Baptism is our entry into the faith of Christ and
into our formation as members of Christ’s body.
Baptism is a means of grace, a way for faith to grow; a way for grace to
become manifest in our lives.
As defined by our catechism, “Grace is God’s favor
towards us, unearned and undeserved, by grace God forgives our sins, enlightens
our minds, stirs our hearts, and strengthens our wills.” [10]
When we talk about the means of grace, we’re talking about something that keeps
the love of God in the forefront of our hearts and minds. It is an abuse of this sacrament to think of
Baptism as a “Get out of Hell” card or a passport into Heaven. Baptism is the starting point, not the
finishing point of our relationship with God in this life’s journey, and it
needs to be exercised and nourished through word and sacrament along the way.
The sad fact is that some who have been baptized see
Baptism as the end game; as if there is nothing more to do – Saved by
Grace! That’s true, that’s the endgame,
but a means is never an end. The
sacraments are a means, a way, to keep the end in sight throughout life’s
journey.
As far as I can tell, God never called anyone to
become a spiritual couch potato when it comes to faith. Yes, God redeems the whole world, but sitting
around waiting for that to happen won’t make life’s challenges any easier and
it runs the risk of becoming more chaff than kernel. As the Letter of James
point out, faith that is not put to work; faith that is not developing will
die.[11]
Engaging the world we live in is a workout. Without faith, it will wear us down and wear
us out. With faith it will build us up
and restore us to life.
Jesus is our path of faith, our spiritual guide, and
our trainer for living deeply into our covenantal relationship with God, and
this place (our church) is our spiritual gym, the place where we start each
week stretching our hearts and minds.
May God’s grace strengthen our faith and build us in
love through Christ our Lord. Amen.
* * * * * * * * * *
Until next time, stay faithful.
[1]
Genesis 9:9
[2]
Genesis 17:4
[3] Deuteronomy
4:13
[4] Jeremiah
31:31-34
[5]
Luke 3:16a
[6]
Luke 3:22b.
[7] Mark
1:12
[8]
See Luke 7:1-10; Mark 7:24-30; Luke 17:11-19
[9]
See Philippians 2:5-8
[10] “The
Book of common Prayer,” The Hymnal Corporation, New York, New York, Page 858
[11]
James 2:26
