Baptism of Jesus

            I’ve been a minister for almost 17 years now. There are many things I love about the work I do but there is one thing that is always a joy for me – baptism. I enjoy meeting with the families and hearing about their little miracle and hearing about the challenges and blessings of being parents. But perhaps the part that I love the most is standing with person being baptised, placing water on their heads and reminding them that they are God’s beloved child. Every time I do baptism, I have the privilege of offering blessing in God’s name. It is a reminder to us that each one of us is special in God’s circle of love. We all are beloved children of God. The beautiful thing about baptism whether it is a baby, an older child, a teenager or a senior – is that it pure gift. You don’t have to earn the promise of God’s love. It is yours. It is mine. It is ours. No need to strive, or earn or be a certain way. God’s love is pure gift. And in our world where there is a price attached to everything or people have do or be a certain way to be accepted this is priceless.

            I think this is why Mark in his gospel gets straight to what is important. In Mark’s gospel there is no Christmas story. There are no angels or shepherds or dreams or genealogies because none of that matters to Mark. He says it in the first line of the gospel. “The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” (Mark 1:1) Then we meet John, clothed in camel hair and eating nothing but locusts and honey. He is a teacher and prophet called to prepare the way for Jesus. In this morning’s reading John is preaching about a “baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.” (Mark 1:4)

            It sounds daunting doesn’t it? Repentance and sins are words with baggage. But repentance is about turning in a new direction and living in a new way. Sins are all those things that separate us from the love of God. Different perhaps for each one of us. They are the things that prevent us from remembering that we are God’s beloved. John is teaching and preaching to all who will listen about a new way living and a new of drawing closer to God. One day as the crowds are gathered, John says “The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. I have baptised you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”(Mark 1:7 – 8)

            The very next words of the gospel are, “In those days Jesus of Nazareth of Galilee was baptised by John in the Jordan. And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. And a voice came from haven, “You are my son, the beloved, with you I am well pleased.” (Mark 1:9 – 11) With that, Jesus begins his public ministry of teaching and healing.

            That is the starting place for all of us to. We are God’s beloved children and God is well pleased with us. This past year, we started hearing the hopes and prayers of parents as they bring their children for baptism. Each family offers something different but they are all grounded in a deep love for their children. One family wrote, “Our hopes and prayers for our daughter are that she is healthy in mind, body and spirit. We hope to raise her in a supportive community of family, friends and neighbors - where she feels protected and supported, encouraged and challenged, and treated with respect. We pray that she learns and reflects Christian values in her everyday life: that she has optimistic faith, patience and peace; that she is thoughtful, confident and brave; lives with intention and purpose; gives thanks and finds happiness from within and shares that happiness with the world.”

            David Lose writes, “In Holy Baptism God just chooses us. …God says that we are enough. Already. That we are pleasing to God and deserve to be loved. And that identity of being God’s beloved child – precisely because it is established by God – cannot be taken away from us or, for that matter, lost by us. Rather, God continues to come into our lives to call us beloved and blessed and promise once again to be always both with us and for us. That promise and blessing, in turn, helps us face all the challenges we mentioned earlier. Problems at home or in the community, concerns about the world or our personal lives. We can face whatever might be plaguing us with greater confidence knowing that God is on our side.” (http://www.davidlose.net/2018/01/epiphany-1-b-powerful-words-for-a-new-year/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+davidlose%2FIsqE+%28...In+the+Meantime%29)

            As each one of us meets the challenges of this day, this week, this month we are reminded that faith is not a magical cure all but the constant reminder that God is with us lightening the burden and providing hope. Any challenges we face we do so with God’s help and the support with support from our community of faith. With the words beloved ringing in our ears each and every new day, we are called to be about God’s work in the world. And there are so many ways to respond but they are all grounded in a new way of living that is rooted in God’s grace. This makes all things possible. Rooted God’s love, Jesus showed us what that new way of living looked like. It was the face of compassion. It was mercy. It was grace. It was life giving. It was healing. It was hope.

We are invited to be about that work of compassion, mercy, grace, living-giving, healing, and hope. When we feed those who are hungry we proclaim the good news that God is with us. When we walk in the shadows with those who are lost and hurting we offer the light of new life. When we support our brothers and sisters in Christ. Our lives proclaim the good news that we are all God’s beloved children. It is the promise that comes with baptism and that has called us and claimed us as Christ’s own everyday since. 

            Baptism is a new way of living. Mark knew that. He knew that there could be no better way to start the story of Jesus’ life than on the day of his baptism. Today, we are God’s beloved and with us God is well pleased. Amen 

Home by Another Road

            Depending on where you live in the world, it depends on what yesterday gets called. Here we call it Old Christmas Day – one last chance to celebrate the joy of the Christmas Season. For Orthodox and Eastern Christians, yesterday was Christmas Eve and today is Christmas Day. It was also the Feast of the Epiphany – the day the Magi from the east arrive bearing gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. I always love this day – maybe because it is like one last chance to delve into the Christmas Story but I think mostly because I admire those travelers from the east. They came not knowing what would happen or who they would meet along the way.

            Think about what they did. These wise ones who study the stars noticed something in the sky that made them curious. They’d never seen this particular star before. It wasn’t in any of their charts. Their curiosity led to follow a star to parts of the world perhaps they’d only imagined. As they travelled following that star, perhaps they talked among themselves about the meaning of the star. What is the universe saying to us? They landed on royalty.

So much so that they when they arrive in Jerusalem they start asking, “Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage.” (Matthew 2:2) In the palace King Herod hears about the visitors from the East looking for the one born to be king of the Jews and Herod and all Jerusalem are frightened.

King Herod was not someone to be trifled with. He was about power and he was politically savvy. He built an empire and somehow, he kept the peace with religious establishment and the engagement of those who were not Jewish. Herod was shrewd and cunning. In her commentary on this passage Jan Schnell Rippentrop writes, “This man, who had spent his whole life climbing to the political height he had achieved, is unlikely to favorably receive news that a baby is to be born with a right to Herod’s rule. Furthermore, Herod is used to getting rid of people who don’t serve his ambition. He:

had ten wives,

ordered multiple assassinations, including assassinations of some of his own sons, and,

changed succession plans multiple times as he decided who would take his throne when he died.

When Herod heard that a baby could get in the way of his plans, he defaulted to his regular pattern of figuring out how to execute the problem child.” (https://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=3523)

So you can understand why all Jerusalem was frightened by the news that the Magi were bringing. For Herod this was a threat to his power and when Herod felt threatened so did everyone. What is important to note is the difference between Herod’s kingship which brings terror and God’s kingship which comes as a baby filled with love. When the chief priest and the scribes quote form the book of Micah telling Herod that the king is born in Bethlehem, he says to the Magi, “Go and search diligently for the child; and when you have found him, bring me word so that I may also go and pay him homage.” (Matthew 2:8)

The Magi, undaunted by their search to find the ones whose star they say at its rising, go to Bethlehem. There they find Jesus with his mother. The kneel and pay him homage and offer gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.

The Magi, attuned to every sign, are warned in a dream not to return to Herod so, as it says in Matthew, “They left for their own country by another road.” (Matthew 2:12) And they were right to do so. What happens next is what happens when those in power feel threatened. He searched out all those who might supplant him as king and killed them. Joseph was also warned in dreamed not to return to his home. He took Mary and Jesus and they flee to Egypt.

            It scary and terrifying part of the Christmas story in Matthew. One we don’t often tell or read about. We talk about the arrival of the Magi, but we don’t often talk about the courage that it took for the to defy Herod and take that unknown road back to their home. Like most endings, it is also a beginning. The beginning of journey for the Magi as they travel home by that new road. Herod did not have the last word. The Magi, trusting their dreams, head home by different road and just maybe they got the courage to defy Herod because they met Jesus who changes everything.

As we contemplate how we live in light of the good news of Jesus’ birth, we too can take a page out of the Magi’s book, and travel home by a different road. It is the road that calls us to be bold in caring, to stand up against injustice and to be a voice for those who need it. It is an uncertain road, but it is the one that will take us home.

Jan Richard writes this poem called Blessing of the Magi

There is no reversing
this road.
The path that bore you here
goes in one direction only,
every step drawing you
down a way
by which you will not
return.

You thought arrival
was everything,
that your entire journey
ended with kneeling
in the place
you had spent all
to find.

When you laid down
your gift,
release came with such ease,
your treasure tumbling
from your hands
in awe and
benediction.

Now the knowledge
of your leaving
comes like a stone laid
over your heart,
the familiar path closed
and not even the solace
of a star
to guide your way.

You will set out in fear
you will set out in dream

but you will set out

by that other road
that lies in shadow
and in dark.

We cannot show you
the route that will
take you home;
that way is yours
and will be found
in the walking.

But we tell you
you will wonder
at how the light you thought
you had left behind
goes with you,
spilling from
your empty hands,
shimmering beneath
your homeward feet,
illuminating the road
with every step
you take.

            The Magi come from East, from the direction of the rising sun, bearing gifts for the one who is the light of the world. At the dawn of this new year, let us remember, that no matter the challenges we face, that Jesus who brings light and life to this world, is strength and courage and grace for all the roads we travel. May the light that shines from the stable illuminate every path your travel. Amen.