Sermon: The Baptism of Christ
From Wellington Cathedral of St Paul
Christ is Baptised: 10 January 2010: am: The Very Revd Frank Nelson
- Isaiah 43: 1 - 7
- Psalm 29
- Acts 8: 14 - 17
- Luke 3: 15 – 17, 21 – 22
Today is the second Sunday in the Epiphany Season. Traditionally there are three incidents associated with the Epiphany – the manifestation of Christ to the world. The first, which we heard last week, is the visit by the wise men to the baby Jesus. The second, today’s Gospel reading, is the Baptism of Jesus. The third is the first recorded miracle in John’s Gospel, the turning of water into wine.
Baptism is one of those holy moments when God and man come together, recognizing a special relationship in covenant terms. It’s about belonging and commitment. It’s about choosing and assurance. It’s about turning away from, and turning towards. Each of today’s readings adds something more to the whole, inviting us to think about the sacrament of baptism.
For a very long time we were short-changed in the church when it comes to baptism. It became something that was done, almost cloak and dagger – on a Sunday afternoon, involving just the family of the baby concerned. We forgot to include the wider church in this very special celebration of relationship. In the Anglican Church we nearly forgot that adults also need and want to be baptized. Thankfully, in recent decades we have recaptured the importance of baptism, and encouraged people to enjoy playing their full part in this great sacrament.
The words of Isaiah in chapter 43 remind us of the unique relationship between God and the people of God. Isaiah, despite his sweeping universalism which sought to draw all people into God’s ambit, never forgot that the Jews were special to God. After years of living in exile, far from their beloved homeland and temple, the call goes out to return. These chapters in the forties of Isaiah are among the best loved – with good reason. To a dispirited down-trodden people the voice of the herald rings out. “Comfort, O comfort my people … speak tenderly to Jerusalem and cry that she has served her time.” “Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights.” “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.” Read through today’s passage from Isaiah and be struck at how active God is: I have redeemed, I have called, I will be, I will bring, I will say, I am the Lord, I am with you. And, says God, I will do this for those I have created for my glory, whom I formed and made. This is more than a comforting voice; this is a voice to rally a dispirited people once more into a great nation with a real vision.
In our service this morning Psalm 29 followed the reading from Isaiah. In this context the Lord (and notice just how many times the phrase is used), the Lord invites the heavenly powers to ‘ascribe to the Lord all glory and might’. Commentators suggest the psalm is a deliberate piece of liturgical writing reminding the worshippers that their God is mightier by far than the Syrian storm-god known as Baal-hadad. I have preached before on this psalm, inviting you to revel in the vivid description of a storm sweeping on to the land from the sea, lashing all before it. The metaphor of the storm invites people to worship God, crying ‘Glory’! It seems odd to use the violence of a thunderstorm as an invitation to ‘worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness’. Yet such is the holiness of God, such is the awe with which we need to approach God, that the metaphor works.
Our Lectionary does a hatchet job with the Gospel reading, cutting out the juicier verses of Luke 3 in order to focus us on the baptism of Jesus. But the preaching of John the Baptist must have come upon the people rather like the storm of Psalm 29. “You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee?” Words followed shortly by talk of winnowing, clearing the threshing floor, and the chaff being burnt with unquenchable fire. And then, along with all the other people flocking to John the Baptist, Jesus too is baptized. St Luke makes little of the actual baptism, doesn’t even say it was the Baptist who did the deed. As Jesus prays following his baptism, the Holy Spirit descended upon him, and a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, the Beloved: with you I am well pleased.” We will hear similar words later in the Gospel, at the Transfiguration. But right now, the focus is on Jesus and the gift of the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is also the focus in the short reading from Acts 8. Whatever form of baptism the Samaritans had already experienced, it was lacking in one thing. So Peter and John pray for them – specifically that they will receive the Holy Spirit. Which they do. What is not told in today’s extract from Acts is the rest of the story. Philip the Deacon had come to a city in Samaria and caused quite a stir there with his teaching and the signs and wonders that followed. Among the crowds that flocked to Philip was a certain Simon, himself something of a wonder-worker. Simon recognized someone or something greater than his own power, especially after Peter and John had prayed for the Samaritans. Simon tried to buy this power. Perhaps he saw his own influence, not to mention source of income, disappearing in the face of this new power called Holy Spirit. Read on in Acts 8 and you will see that Peter really laid into him. To his credit Simon appears to have been converted and perhaps became one of the early followers of Christ in Samaria. Our English word, simony – the buying and selling of ecclesiastical favours – comes from this incident.
Step back a moment and consider all four readings now. In the words of Isaiah, the psalm and the passage from Acts, God is seen as greater than anyone or anything else. Remember Isaiah? It was God who formed and created those soon to be rescued by God. The psalmist reminds us, through his use of the storm metaphor, that God is the power behind the storm. Simon the magician must bow to a power greater than any he has known before. It is this power, this Holy Spirit, that descends upon Jesus following his baptism. Like the other Synoptic Gospel writers St Luke suggests the use of the dove image. This is not the peace dove with olive twig in its beak – following the great flood. Nor is it the Spirit hovering over the waters of chaos in the story of creation. This is the descending dove of Christian art depicting the gift of the Holy Spirit – at baptism and Pentecost.
In later years we will read the Trinity into the baptism of Jesus – the voice of the Father, the dove representing the Spirit, the man Jesus is the Son. But in today’s Gospel it is not quite there yet. Rather, there is a sense of rightness, assurance, and willingness on the part of Jesus. Knowing that, of all those who were baptized by John, he alone is called to a particular work. He is the chosen one. The knowledge and the Spirit comes to him in a moment of prayer. It is a holy moment.
It will be a few weeks before we read the words that come immediately following the baptism story – but when we do, we will begin to see the true cost of being the Chosen one, the Messiah, the Christ. The temptation in the wilderness is just a precursor of what is still to come. With the hindsight we have, we know that Jesus’ baptism will lead him to the cross, and on to the glory of resurrection and ascension. But not yet.
Meditating on Christ and the Holy Spirit in the 3rd century Origen wrote the words printed on the front page of the leaflet.
Christ is born; the Spirit is his forerunner. Christ is baptised; the Spirit bears him witness. Christ is tempted; the Spirit leads him up. Christ ascends; the Spirit fills his place.
