January 9: The First Sunday after the Epiphany — The Baptism of Jesus

The Rev. Joseph Peters-Mathews is the vicar of St. Hilda St. Patrick. The sermon for January 9, 2022 was preached using the manuscript below as a response to Luke 3:15-17, 21-22.

As we look at our text from Luke today,
Luke’s version of Jesus’ baptism,
we’re looking at and seeing who Jesus is,
how Jesus is God’s son and how Jesus is God’s revelation.
When we pay close attention to this text,
even if we include the verses that the lectionary skips,
Jesus’ baptism here is almost a footnote or an afterthought.
We’re expected to know that John the Baptizers baptized JEsus in the Jordan,
but Luke doesn’t explicitly say that.

Rather than focusing on Jesus’ baptism
Luke focuses on God’s revelation:
The heavens open
a dove alights on Jesus
and a voice addresses Jesus,
“You are my Son, the Beloved;
with you I am well pleased.”
Representations of all three persons of the trinity
are present in this short text.
While there are times that we need to hear
that we are God’s beloved with whom God is well pleased,
that is not the focus of any of the evangelists.
As my friend Ryan recently remarked,
“I think that part of the problem
is that we want to come to scripture
asking who we are and where we’ve come from
when scripture more often wants to talk about who God is
and what [God has] done.”

In baptism we remember not only
being joined to Jesus’ death and resurrection,
but the ways that God has made Godself known
with or near water.
At Baptism, United Methodists give thanks for water by saying:
Eternal Father:
When nothing existed but chaos,
you swept across the dark waters
and brought forth light.
In the days of Noah
you saved those on the ark through water.
After the flood you set in the clouds a rainbow.
When you saw your people as slaves in Egypt,
you led them to freedom through the sea.
Their children you brought through the Jordan
to the land which you promised.

You are probably more familiar with ours,
which we said last on All Saints:
We thank you, Almighty God, for the gift of water.
Over it the Holy Spirit moved in the beginning of creation.
Through it you led the children of Israel out of their bondage
in Egypt into the land of promise.
In it your Son Jesus received the baptism of John
and was anointed by the Holy Spirit as the Messiah, the Christ,
to lead us, through his death and resurrection,
from the bondage of sin into everlasting life.

We’re on San Juan Island today
after the need for a weekend getaway
after a particularly rough week with a two year old.
As we crossed on the ferry on Friday
whitecaps kicked up, and the middle level of the ferry
was rocking like I’ve never seen before.
By yesterday when Topher and I drove around the island to induce a nap,
the water was much calmer,
as it is behind me right now
between Mosquito Bay and Mitchell Bay.
Even without a two year old,
I know how much chaos is around us all day every day.
I see your lamentations
I hear your cries of “How long?”

While there are times that we need to hear
that we are God’s beloved with whom God is well pleased,
that is not the focus of any of the evangelists.
I understand the urge to come to the texts
asking who we are and where we’ve come from
and that we often do so at the detriment of noticing
when scripture wants to talk about who God is
and what [God has] done.
Just as Jesus became human
that we might become divine,
he went into the water
that it all might be sanctified.
Jesus didn’t need a sin washing.
But the whole creation
needed the Word to become flesh
and dwell among us.

When we forget scripture screaming to us
who God is and what God has done
we’re often left even more unfilled
because of all the ways that we individually and collectively
fail to measure up
and just quite can’t seem to save ourselves.
As an order muppet who is friends with chaos muppets,
saving ourselves to me would include a lot less chaos
even without a Topher Tornado just in the periphery.
Even chaos muppets can’t handle this level of chaos
for this length of time.

So we look back at water,
water Jesus went into and came out of
when God split the heavens, landed on Jesus as a dove,
and affirmed Jesus’ call to sovereignty and service:
“You are my Son, God’s son, my beloved.
With you I am well pleased.”
Jesus took on flesh to live among us
and to be with us in order and in chaos.
God in Jesus came into creation
to, yet again, bring order from chaos.
I don’t know when this will end,
but I know that we’re not going through it alone.
I don’t know when this will end,
but if we keep forgetting that we’re not working on our own,
we will be even more tired and burnt out and running on fumes
than we are now.

Eternal Father:
When nothing existed but chaos,
you swept across the dark waters
and brought forth light.
Sweep across the water of our chaos
and let the light of your presence shine
calm into our lives. Amen.

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