I Recognize You
1-13-08
How many of you have seen the movie "Oh Brother Where Art
Thou?" There is a great scene where three escaped convicts are roasting a
gopher on the fire when a congregation of people dressed in white robes are
singing as they head toward a muddy river. The men are captivated as a minister
baptizes the congregants one by one. One of the convicts is so overcome that he
runs into the water, swims right up to the minister, and is dunked underneath
the water. He walks back toward his buddies and says, "come on in boys, the
water is fine. I’ve done had all my sins washed away." He has such
inexplicable joy on his face, as his experience in the water and the words of
the pastor have obviously had a great impact on him.
For John the Baptist, baptism had everything to do with repentance. He was
preaching redemption and baptizing to wash away sin. He was baptizing people who
were experiencing God’s message for the first time. He was symbolically
releasing them from an old way of thinking and an old way of life into a new
life. It has always been a bit curious to me, why Jesus would feel the need to
be baptized. Has that ever struck anyone else as curious? Why would the son of
God, a man that is portrayed as righteous, need a ritual to cleanse him? Why
would he need to enter a new life?
In the United Methodist church, we don’t often talk about baptism in terms of a cleansing of sin or repentance from sin. I for one would find it impossible to hold a baby in my arms and talk about that baby as a sinful creature. Although for many of us a fresh start is an important part of our experience and understanding.
How many of you were baptized as children? How many as adults? How many are still pondering baptism? In the United Methodist church, we see baptism as an initiation into Christ’s Holy church; a public acknowledgement in our journey with God, and/or a public commitment on the behalf of a caregiver to nurture a child in the community of God. You could see the modern day ritual as a commitment to a new way of life. It is, in a sense, when our identity as children of God is publicly revealed in the community.
See then, here lies the connection between Jesus’ baptism and ours. Baptism reveals our identity as children of God. And Jesus’ baptism marks the moment in which by all accounts Jesus began his radical ministry. This morning we find Jesus on the banks of the Jordan River, and Jesus steps into the muddy waters, and John baptizes him with water. John is reluctant at first, because he knows that Jesus does not need the ritual cleansing of his other followers. Yet, Jesus convinces him that baptism is about so much more. A hidden truth is confirmed in this story’s opening episode. When Jesus, coming up out of the waters of baptism, sees the Holy Spirit descending upon him like a dove from the heavens, which have been torn open like a piece of cloth, he hears the very voice of God telling the secret, "You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased." (Matthew 3:17).1 Only Jesus sees the Sprit, only Jesus hears the voice. This is, in the words of one commentator a "secret epiphany." In the baptism of Jesus the secret of his identity is revealed, he is a beloved child of God, and nothing that appears thereafter, not even in the jeers and insults on the road to Calvary, or the spit and nails of Golgotha, can take that reality away. The one who seemed helpless in death, is the one in whose power all shall live; that is the real secret revealed in the baptism of Jesus, and it is the message that all Christians share through baptism.
In our own baptism the secret of our identity is revealed; "You are a child of God. You won’t be the same again. And nothing that appears thereafter can take that reality away."
What takes place for us at Baptism? As an infant we coo, perhaps we cried or grunted into the microphone as our family’s and congregations publicly identified us as a Christian to be nurtured within the body of Christ. As an adult, that claim is ours to make, and with the commitment of a congregation we participate in a wonderful new beginning of discipleship. Baptism raises our level of consciousness: a new awareness, a new appreciation, a new power. Any time our consciousness is raised to the next level, it is a born-again experience, and we become like children once more. Through baptism we enter into a new covenant with God, it is a time when God reveals to us that, "You are a beloved child of God." It is a moment when life changes for us…or so it should be. It is a moment when we see life anew.
Baptism is a moment of discovery, a moment in which our true identity is revealed to all. It provides new opportunity, new vision. It is supposed to stir within us a newborn curiosity, everything becomes a new experience and we become as fascinated with the box as with what's inside.
My friends, at his baptism, Jesus claimed his great inheritance. He was filled with the Holy Spirit and claimed the power given to him in God, his Creator. We are each given a great inheritance. It is up to us to claim it. Fred Craddock is a famous preacher and also teaches preaching. He and his wife were on vacation in Tennessee and they decided to find a quiet little restaurant where they looked forward to a private meal jus the two of them. While they were waiting for their meal they noticed a white-haired gentlemen moving from table to table, visiting guests. Craddock groaned inwardly when the gentlemen pulled up a chair and sat down at the table with he and his wife to tell a story.
The man stuck out his hand…"I’m Ben Hooper. I was born not far from here across the mountains. My mother wasn’t married when I was born so I had a hard time. When I started school my classmates had a not-so-nice name for me. I used to go off by myself at recess because the teasing hurt me so deeply. I would go through downtown and I could feel every eye burning a whole through me as they wondered who my father was. When I was about 12 years old a new preacher came to our church. Now my mama had had me baptized, but I was the only one who went to church. I would always go in late and slip out early. But one day the preacher said the benediction so fast I got caught and had to walk out with the crowd. I could feel every eye in church on me. Just when I reached the door I felt a hand on my shoulder and I looked up into face of the preacher. He asked, ‘who are you son?’ Whose boy are you?’ I thought even the preacher was putting me down. But as he looked down at me he began to smile a big smile of recognition. ‘Wait a minute,’ he said. ‘I know who you are. I see the family resemblance. You are a son of God. Boy you got a great inheritance, go and claim it.’"
You got a great inheritance…each of us do. It is up to us to claim it. It is up to us to act as a child in which God is well pleased. In Baptism, we enter into a covenant. For those of us who have been baptized, it is important for us remember the covenant made at our baptism. Remember your baptism and be thankful. If it is a covenant made by our parents, is it a covenant that we are living up to? And how many of us have made a covenant to a person to help nurture them in their baptism covenant? This story reminds us that Jesus made a commitment to walk with us by experiencing the very public commitment of baptism. When we are baptized by the Holy Spirit and receive a new awareness, appreciation, and comprehension of creation. We have a power that has always been there since the beginning of our existence as human beings. And that is the power to change tomorrow, to change reality from what it is to what it should be. The creation story is not over. It is not finished. God is still creating and has declared us as co-creators, co-authors of the next chapter. Tomorrow is up to us. What are you going to make of it? Have you or will you continue to claim your inheritance? Will there be a voice from heaven saying, "You are my child, my beloved. With you I am well pleased." That is my hope for us all. Amen
1 Thomas Long, in Something Is About to happen: Sermons for Advent and Christmas (Lima, Ohio: C.S.S. Publishing Co., 1987).