Baptism of Our Lord C

Isaiah 43:1—7; Psalm 29; Acts 8:14—17; Luke 3:15—17, 21—22

If you want to know what kind of a God we’re dealing with here, think about the Scripture we just heard:

With the psalmist, we ascribe to the Lord glory and strength…the voice of the Lord is powerful and full of majesty. The voice of the Lord is loud and clear enough to break the cedars of Lebanon — and to break through the heavens and announce that Jesus is “God’s Son, the Beloved; with whom God is well pleased.”

And then, if you can, imagine that this is the same God that in that loud and clear and booming strength willingly submits to pain, humiliation, and death — out of love for the very people that reject him.

Imagine, if you can, that even as God brings Jesus to birth, watches him grow as a child, and presides over his baptism with an exclamation of love, that, at the same time, God knows that getting involved so intimately with our world inevitably means suffering and dying here.

Imagine, if you can, at the point that Jesus is most faithful to his mission — as he even suffers for what he believes — it’s at that point that he appears most alone and abandoned.

It’s hard — at least for me — to imagine these things at the same time. It’s hard because the way I expect God to work is in ways that appear glorious and powerful, not by suffering and sacrificing.

Maybe this is why John the Baptist says:

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. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. (Luke 3.16 NRSV)

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The people of God that we read about in the book of Isaiah learned about this the hard way. For too long, it had become easy or convenient to believe simply that when things were going well, God was on their side, and when things weren’t…it just meant they had to shape up a little bit, and God would return.

This kind of theology no longer worked though when the kingdom of Israel was utterly defeated and the temple destroyed. All outward appearances indicated that God had departed…that God was no longer there. After all, how could God be powerful and glorious and abide his people’s suffering?

Just when it seemed that God had abandoned them, the people of Israel heard this message:

“But now thus says the LORD, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.” (Isaiah 43.1–2 NRSV)

They came to know that God hadn’t abandoned them…God was with them in their struggles, in their defeat. And that God would continue with them. They would not be getting out of their ‘baptism of fire’…but they would get through it.

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Our Gospel text today reminds us about the baptism that we share with Jesus. It’s more than just something we have in common. Paul puts in bluntly in Romans, ch. 6:

“Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?” (Romans 6.3 NRSV)

Yes, baptism is more than a sign that you’re an official Christian. Baptism is joining your life and death to God who is willing to join you there.

And as hard to imagine as it may seem…this is where God is most clearly revealed to us…not in the majesty of mountains, the strength of earthquakes, or the flash of lightning…but in the willingness to take on the suffering that we go through. Not just to stand next to us, but to stand in it with us. To take on vulnerability, to take on pain. God is revealed not in strength, but in sharing our weakness.

[Story about Jonathan]

Baptism is not a get-out-of-jail card. It doesn’t save you from sorrow. It doesn’t free you from pain. But it invites God into the midst of it — as close as your own hands — and there is no depth, no distance you can go that Christ won’t follow.

It turns out there is something more powerful than glory and holy splendor. More powerful than thunder and crashing waves, earthquake and fire.

There is only one thing more powerful than the forces of nature and inevitability of suffering and death — God’s self-giving love for the world.

It’s a love that frees us to turn and do the same. When we hear, and through faith, believe, the promise that God has claimed us by name, we are set free to also be bold, self-giving, courageous. We are set free to get some skin in the game, to care, to share without having to fear that we may lose our place, lose our safety, lose our identity…

What would you do with that kind of freedom?

What would your neighbors say about you if you began to live your life totally unafraid to risk giving of yourself so that those around you might have what they need?

This is the kind of life that is possible for those who have been baptized in God’s family. It’s possible not because of your great strength or your perfect track record, but because you belong to God.

Our identity comes from God who created us, who calls us by name, and who loves us enough to risk suffering and death so that we might have breath as we pass through the waters and peace as we walk through fire.