conjectural navel gazing; jesus in lint form

sermon: get wet

Follow the extended link for the sermon. I was also going to share my thoughts on Sweeny Todd with you...at length. But I cannot. Suffice it to say that it is a well made, well performed movie that I hope never to see the likes of again. I am still angry, disturbed and generally put out. Ah well. Depp and the gang are genius...but I'm still totally flummoxed.

Here's the sermon. I used a lot of outline in the composition of the manuscript this time. So, it may not be properly called a manuscript, but, well, you'll figure it out.

Sermon: The Baptism of the Lord, Year A 2008
Community Church of Wilmette
January 13, 2008

Getting Wet

Last week we spoke of journeys. We spoke of the nature of the Christian journey…It is like being set afloat at sea with nothing but the current to guide you. To the world we will seem lost and unmoored. But what guides us in our journey is the love of God's own Spirit. We heard the story of the Magi and how their journey serves as a paradigm for our journey. Sometimes we simply cannot return by the way we came. And a Christian Spiritual journey brings about an end to tyranny, oppression, violence and cruelty.

This morning I want us to look to Christ as our paradigm. That should be a pretty straightforward concept for most of us. Right? Well, we'll see.

Matthew 3:13-17

There is a history of using the passage from Matthew to inform us about our own baptismal practice. We get baptized because Jesus was baptized, some of us say. But really, there is a two-fold meaning at work. And to jump straight to our own baptismal practice is perhaps a mistake. Why? Well, the first thing that we need to realize, the first thing that we need to know is that Matthew is trying to tell us something about Jesus first and foremost. This passage is not about us.

1. What this tells us about Jesus

   1. This is the primary focus

      1. All four gospels have the story

      2. This is an essential identifier of "The Anointed One."

      3. "Scandal of baptism"

         1. John baptized Jesus. Why does Jesus need baptizing?

            1. He's "perfect"

            2. He's the Messiah

         2. This question assumes some kind of pre-existing meaning to John's baptism.

         3. no clear historical precedent for "John's Baptism"

            1. perhaps Essene?

               1. Qumran community

               2. Dead Sea Scrolls

            2. Perhaps simply a purification rite

            3. Perhaps an initiation rite for Jewish converts

               1. Very rare

            4. NO ONE KNOWS for certain

   2. Jesus' relationship with John the Baptist

      1. What do we know about John?

         1. Locusts, honey, camel's hair, lives in the wilderness

         2. Jesus' cousin, the child of Elizabeth

         3. Jesus' mentor?

      2. A topic of great interest in the first century

         1. Family? This is National Inquirer stuff!

            1. The Spears Family

         2. "Embarrassment?"

         3. Who comes first? Who is greater?

            1. Matthew tackles this head-on.

            2. The dialogue between Jesus and John

               1. John would have prevented him, saying, "I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?" But Jesus answered him, "Let it be so now; for it is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness." Then he consented.

         4. What separates them?

            1. John – ministry of proclamation

               1. He's a dangerous man

               2. He's imprisoned because he gets people riled up.

               3. "Prepare ye the way of the Lord is not a politically safe message."

      3. For Matthew Jesus' ministry changes course from proclamation to acts of healing, compassion, and teaching

         1. John's question from the prison cell

            1. "Are people being healed?"

            2. Are the poor being cared for?

            3. Are the prisoners being set free?

         2. Proof of messiah-ship

   3. Jesus' relationship with prophesy

      1. Isaiah

         1. Servant Song

         2. Gentleness always and for all

            1. Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations. He will not cry or lift up his voice, or make it heard in the street; a bruised reed he will not break, and a dimly burning wick he will not quench; he will faithfully bring forth justice.

         3. This is echoed in Matthew's narrative

            1. "This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased."

   4. Jesus' relationship with God

      1. God's own Spirit

      2. God's own voice

      3. Parallel with God speaking out over chaos

         1. Historical/Cosmological Sea Change

            1. A change in trajectory for Jesus and his ministry

            2. A change in trajectory for all of creation

Jesus' journey takes a turn. This is a road-marker on the way. At his Baptism something has changed. He has chosen obedience to God. He has fulfilled all righteousness. And God announces that Jesus is the Anointed one, the Christ, God's own Son.

Matthew wants us to know all these things about Jesus. This is why he shares the story. This is his input to the discussion about John and Jesus and Baptism in the Jordan.

But what about us? Now we have to ask that question. If everything is changed, then what about us?

2. What this tells us about our baptism

   1. This is the secondary focus

   2. Matthew may or may not have intended that this Baptism should be a paradigm of our own. But it's not a hard stretch to make.

      1. The first followers of Jesus baptized.

      2. Christ's own followers baptized and were baptized.

      3. Thousands are baptized on Pentecost.

         1. Baptism in the Spirit

         2. Baptism in water

      4. The Book of Acts includes several stories about baptism…but there are always two elements at work

         1. A mark of conversion

         2. A mark of inclusion in the community

         3. Always both.

   3. Our Own Historical/Cosmological Sea Change

      1. If we are set adrift at sea to follow the currents of God's Holy Spirit, then baptism is the great sea change…

Baptism is the beginning to a journey. It is the fork in the road. It is the equivalent to the Magi's "returning home by another road." We choose to go about life differently, to be in relationship with one another and all of creation differently. Through our baptism, become instruments of gentleness, compassion, and healing. We become teachers. We are to teach people by word and action of the work of God in the world…of God's intention for all…We are to teach people about hope, love, joy and peace.

Part of a community? Yes? But a community of the compassionate, of the gentle, of healers…of those who are called upon to teach all the world about the God of Love. When we invite people to church, that is what we invite them into. As we teach our children, as we pray, and gather, and sing, as we fellowship with one another, as we stand in solidarity with the poor…We are inviting people into Baptism.

Baptism is the front door to the Church. Our baptismal pool is the front door to the life of this community. It is here that God moves…where God moves over the water….

This is the God who breathed out over the deep at the beginning of all things. And this same God breathes out over the water of our baptisms, over the chaos of each one of our lives…

Behold, he says. This is my son…this is my daughter… with whom I am well pleased.

I come to bring compassion.
I come in to bring gentleness and mercy.
I come to bring peace.
I come to teach these ways to the world…to all who would listen.
And in the waters of Baptism I make you like Jesus of Nazareth.

Behold.
Amen.

Posted by tripp at January 13, 2008 06:24 AM