Jesus’ baptism

Power Washed

Posted on by Betsy

One of the things that is different when you live in a coastal area in a southern state is the amount of moisture in the air that you have to contend with. I mean, it beats snow any day, but the long summer months of sunshine and humidity take a toll on your house. We get our house power washed at least once a year in the Outer Banks to remove and prevent that green mossy mold stuff from taking over on the light gray siding. The house looks great afterward, but what I really enjoy is the clean windows. Our bedroom is on the third floor, making routine window washing impossible. So power wash day is a day of crisp clarity and improved vision. Every window in our house has a water view, so clean windows are important.

Today’s passage is about Jesus’ baptism. It may seem curious to you that the Son of God required a baptism, but in accordance with the fulfillment of the New Covenant, he asked his cousin John to do the honors. It was the confirmation of his human righteousness, setting the example for us about the necessity of baptism. It was a moment of heaven reaching down to earth, setting the example for us about God’s desire to be actively present in our lives. It was a moment of pure joy, setting the example for us about what happens when we submit to the Holy Spirit and yield to God’s plan.

Matthew 3 (Common English Bible)

13 At that time Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan River so that John would baptize him. 14 John tried to stop him and said, “I need to be baptized by you, yet you come to me?”

15 Jesus answered, “Allow me to be baptized now. This is necessary to fulfill all righteousness.”

So John agreed to baptize Jesus. 16 When Jesus was baptized, he immediately came up out of the water. Heaven was opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God coming down like a dove and resting on him. 17 A voice from heaven said, “This is my Son whom I dearly love; I find happiness in him.”

God’s love and God’s happiness come pouring out from heaven every time someone is baptized. Unlike Jesus’ baptism, it is a time to be power washed of all sin and declared to be a child of God. God has brought forth miracles in and through water. We remember these acts in our United Methodist baptismal liturgy:

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.

(The Services of the Baptismal Covenant are found on pages 32-54 of The United Methodist Hymnal.)

United Methodists do not do baptism more than once, believing that God is the agent and God’s activity in that sacrament is good for life, even if we stumble and fall away from our commitment. But we do celebrate a reaffirmation of baptismal vows where we confess our sins and rededicate our baptisms as a way of making a new start and a fresh beginning.

Do you need a good power washing today? Spend some time in prayer, reflection, repentance, and rededication. And may the Holy Spirit wash you clean and bring you crystal clarity about your life. It’s never too late to start again.

Renewed by Michelle Robertson

Beloved

Posted on by Betsy

Yesterday I met with a woman who had asked to speak to a minister because her husband is dying in a hospital several hours away. We talked at great length about life and death, faith and fear, and along the way she mentioned that while she is a believer, she was never baptized. We talked for a moment about the meaning of baptism and she asked me to baptize her in a few months when she gets settled into a new home. I am thrilled to be able to do this for her. She is 82 years old, reminding us that it is never too late to make commitments to the Lord.

Driving home, I remembered and marveled at the fact that Jesus himself was baptized. Do you remember this story? It tells us many important things about the sacrament of baptism and reveals something about Jesus’ identity … and ours.

Luke 3 (New Revised Standard Version)

21 Now when all the people were baptized and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened,22 and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”

First, we are immediately struck by Christ’s humility. To submit to being baptized by a mere human is an expression of deep humility, and he did it for our sake. God is the agent of our baptism, God is at the center of this sacrament, God brings the cleansing of our sin and  the blessing and the new life that starts in baptism, and here is God, in the form of Jesus, being baptized by a man. He who was sinless submitted to being baptized by a man. I think Jesus’ humility was an act of courageous obedience to the will of God. He was baptized because of his obedience to his Father, and in doing so, sets the example for us. What God desires from us is humble obedience also. Jesus shows us how to submit to the Father’s authority in his baptism.

I am reminded of a story I heard about St. Francis of Assisi. St. Francis lived a life of humility and wanted to be as much like Christ as possible. In the Legend of Perugia, there is a very revealing little notation. It seemed that as St. Francis was traveling and preaching to the churches there, it was noted that “he brought along a broom to clean the churches.” I love that! He brought a broom to clean. What a beautiful example of servant leadership.

Another amazing thing about this story is that it also reveals Jesus’ divinity, and it one of the few portrayals of the Trinity in scripture. Remember that the concept of the Trinity—God in three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit-wasn’t developed by the church until a few hundred years after Jesus’ resurrection. And frankly, the Trinity is a very difficult thing to explain. How can something be one and three all at once? If I had the perfect explanation for the Trinity, I am sure I wouldn’t be here this morning, but rather I would be the Dean at Yale Divinity School or a famous Christian author. But the best analogy I can offer is that the Trinity is like water in the way that it can be flowing water, ice, and steam, but it is all water, just in different forms and functions. On the other hand, maybe we can just simply accept the Trinity the way children do…simply. Kids usually get things right. 

But for me today, the best part of this passage is that it reminds me that we are God’s beloved. In baptism, we are asked what our given name is: In other words, our first and middle names. Have you ever wondered why we don’t say our last names? Because we all share the same last name in that moment: Beloved. You are God’s beloved!

You are a beloved child of God. Go out today and act like it.

Christmas Lights by Kathy Schumacher

A Changed Life

Posted on by Betsy

The new year comes with the hope and promise of much needed change for many people. It is a ‘clean slate’ kind of opportunity … a chance for a 12-month do-over or a much needed reset. Whether it’s a decision to get in shape, be kinder, give more, drink less, or be more mindful of your spiritual life, a lot of folks are using the change of the year to trigger a change of the life. Our lectionary passage today speaks directly into that mindset as we contemplate baptism and what happens in that most sacred act.

You will find that each denomination has its own take on baptism, and people differ on whether or not it should be infants, professing adults, or anyone at any age. I don’t think God cares about our delineations. Baptism is a moment of being named and claimed by God, and the water washing symbolizes a fresh start and the cleansing of sin, whether it is personal sin (as for an adult) or original sin (as for an infant). Baptism is about life-change. We baptize in Jesus’ name and remember that he was once baptized, too.

Mark 1 (The Message)

4-6 John the Baptizer appeared in the wild, preaching a baptism of life-change that leads to forgiveness of sins. People thronged to him from Judea and Jerusalem and, as they confessed their sins, were baptized by him in the Jordan River into a changed life. John wore a camel-hair habit, tied at the waist with a leather belt. He ate locusts and wild field honey.

One thing that is unique about United Methodism is that we do not re-baptize, like some of our friends in other denominations do. For us, the fact that God is the agent in our baptisms means that it is a ‘one and done’ affair. We don’t need to re-do what God did. But surely sin can wreck our good intentions, and repentant Methodists are invited to re-dedicate their baptism, an action that says that while God didn’t fail, we did. It can be a very healing and cleansing thing to re-dedicate your baptism and know that your repentance and God’s forgiveness, sealed at the cross, can bring you to a fresh start toward a changed life.

7-8 As he preached he said, “The real action comes next: The star in this drama, to whom I’m a mere stagehand, will change your life. I’m baptizing you here in the river, turning your old life in for a kingdom life. His baptism—a holy baptism by the Holy Spirit—will change you from the inside out.”

Eugene Peterson’s portrayal of John declaring that he is a mere stagehand is so charming, isn’t it? We’re all just stagehands in this beautiful production. There are some pastors out there who would do well to remember this. Jesus is the only star in this drama.

9-11 At this time, Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. The moment he came out of the water, he saw the sky split open and God’s Spirit, looking like a dove, come down on him. Along with the Spirit, a voice: “You are my Son, chosen and marked by my love, pride of my life.”

I believe that God says the same to us. You are my child. You are chosen. You are marked by my love. I’m so proud of you!

Are you baptized? Are you in need of a re-dedication or re-baptism in order to start all over again? I encourage you to run, don’t walk, to your nearest church and find a preacher with a pitcher or a pool. If you’re resolved to change your life from the inside out in this new year, there is no better way to begin.

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Come to the Waters by Michelle Robertson

Holy Mackerel

Posted on by Betsy

Many years ago I participated in a baptismal rededication in the Jordan River while on a trip to Israel with 14 travelers. As the officiating pastor, I had to be in the cold January water for everyone’s immersion, and the last fellow to come was about 6’5, and weighed in at 280 lbs. When I dunked him over, the chill of the water and the power of the Holy Spirit combined in that moment, and he completely lost his footing. Hard as I tried, I could not pull him up. I then lost my footing and found myself under water, pushing him back up on his feet. After a bit of floundering, with both of us going downstream for a few minutes, he finally popped up and yelled, “Holy Mackerel!” I don’t know what the mackerel had to do with it, but it was a holy moment for sure. It took me about a week to warm up.

In our Luke passage today, we see Jesus at his baptism at the very same site where I almost drowned the big fellow. All four gospels record this momentous event, which signaled the beginning of Jesus’ ministry. Luke tells it in a very compact way, beginning with the people wondering if John was the messiah, to which John responds that the one more powerful than he will come and baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire. And then a few sentences later, Luke simply says this:

Luke 3:21-22 (New International Version)

“When all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized, too. And as Jesus was praying, heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended on him in boldly form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: ‘You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”

That’s kind of amazing, isn’t it? To think people were actually there at Jesus’ baptism! Christ’s baptism is important to us for several reasons.

First, we are immediately struck by Jesus’ humility. To submit to being baptized by a mere human is an expression of deep humility, and he did it for our sake. God is the agent of our baptism. God is at the center of this sacrament. God brings the cleansing of our sin and the blessing and the new life that starts in baptism. And here was God, in the form of Jesus, being baptized by a man. He who was sinless submitted to being baptized by a man. I think Jesus’ humility was an act of courageous obedience to the will of God. He was baptized because of his obedience to his Father, and in doing so, set the example for us. What God desires from us is humble obedience also. Jesus shows us how to submit to the Father’s authority in his baptism.

Another amazing thing about this story is that it reveals Jesus’ divinity, and it is one of the few portrayals of the Trinity in scripture. Remember that the concept of the Trinity—God in three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit—wasn’t developed by the church until a few hundred years after Jesus’ resurrection. And frankly, the Trinity is a very difficult thing to explain. How can something be one and three all at once? If I had the perfect explanation for the Trinity, I am sure I wouldn’t be sitting here writing this, but rather I would be the Dean at Yale Divinity School or a famous Christian author. But the best analogy I can offer is that the Trinity is like water in the way that it can be flowing water, ice, and steam. But these three things are all water, just in different forms and functions. On the other hand, maybe we can just simply accept the Trinity the way children do…simply. Kids usually get things right. 

The word Trinity does not appear anywhere in the Bible, but at Jesus’ baptism, we see all three persons of the Godhead present. Jesus is in the water, the Holy Spirit appears in the form of a dove, and God speaks. This is important, because we are taught by Jesus himself that anytime we see him, we are seeing a mirror image of God. While fully human, Jesus is also fully divine, and this gives us an accurate picture of the character of God. The picture we see is a picture of divine love … a perfect and complete love.

But for me, the best part of Jesus’ baptism is that it helps us understand our real identity. This passage brings us that “I yam what I yam” moment, to quote Pop-Eye the sailor man. Part of the baptism ritual is something we call “naming and claiming”. We say to the parents, ”What name is given this child?” Or to an adult, “What is your given name?” and the name is spoken aloud. Then we claim that person as a child of God, and in a closer context, a member of this church family. We claim them as God’s, and we claim them as their own. In doing so, we all receive our identity.

Remember that Jesus’ baptism was the beginning of his earthy ministry, like an initiation moment that sent him out to do God’s will and God’s bidding. He was about 30 years old, and to that point had probably been working as a carpenter, like his father Joseph, and probably took over that family business when Joseph died. We know that as a young boy he stayed behind in the Temple when his family went on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, that he was obedient to his parents, and he grew in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and man. But now, at his baptism, the heavens open up, the Holy Spirit descends as a dove, and God says, “You are my son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”

You, my friends, are the children of God. You are called to live a life worthy of that title. You have been named and claimed by the great and mighty King. Today is a day to remember who we are, and Whose we are. We are called to humble obedience to God’s will and purpose in our lives, so that all who see us may see our good works and give thanks to our Father.

We are Christ’s body at work in the world, reminding the world that it is loved.

Looking for Holy Mackerel by Michelle Robertson