A Sermon preached by the Rev. Michael Anderson Bullock
[Isaiah 43:1-7; Acts 8:14-17; Luke 3:15-17, 21-22]
I want to begin this sermon by guiding you in a little library work. So, please reach for the red Prayer Books in front of you and turn to page 312.
This page marks the end of the Baptismal liturgy, which begins on page 299; but on page 312 we find “Additional Directions” about Baptism and how we conduct it. Allow me to read the first paragraph to you, but do, please, follow along with me.
Holy Baptism is especially appropriate at the Easter Vigil, on the Day of Pentecost, on All Saints’ Day or the Sunday after All Saints’ Day, and on the Feast of the Baptism of our Lord (the first Sunday after the Epiphany). It is recommended that, as far as possible, Baptisms be reserved for these occasions or when a bishop is present.
Two significant points hide in this first “Additional Direction”. One is historical and cultural. The other is theological and liturgical. The first point speaks to what was a big and at times a painful change in the life and experience of the church. The second has to do with today’s worship and our focus on Jesus’ Baptism.
In terms of history and culture, changing the familiarity of the way we pray and worship is always challenging. Although memories tend to fade -- if not soften -- in the fifty years since, those of us who were present then can still recall the turmoil the “new” Prayer Book caused in a rapidly changing and often perplexing society and culture. The turmoil even rose to the level that some members left the church rather than use the “new” book. Sadly, that separation still exists to an extent. Looking back at this time and experience, the 1979 Book of Common Prayer stands as one marker among many of the changes and chances of the last half century.
I personally was weaned and formed in the church and prepared for ordained leadership and service amidst this liturgical turmoil; but what the ’79 Prayer Book did for the church was to rediscover the ancient and abiding roots of the Christian faith, providing old and new ways to express this organic tradition. One of the primary examples of this rediscovery and reordering of the familiar was to reclaim the centrality of Baptism in the church’s life and mission. I find it telling that the Baptismal liturgy is found in the middle of the Prayer Book, a silent sign of its reclaimed role in the life of faith.
Nonetheless, from this rediscovery of Baptism’s centrality, a painful shock wave swept over many of us because as the first “directional” paragraph indicates, Baptism was clarified as a worshipping event that was meant to reflect and strengthen our life in Christ: something, therefore, that was to be corporately shared – not privately and individually done. This is to say that the promises made in Baptism were not private but involving all followers of Jesus to witness and demonstrate what it means and what it looks like to be members of Christ’s Body. As I am wont to say, the life that Baptism offers is (by definition) not a “do-it-yourself” venture.
And, oh the reaction was palpably painful at not being able to gather a few select individuals around the baptismal font, on a Saturday at 4:30 p.m., for a “private”, “members only” baptism. Nonetheless, the point that was retrieved was that Baptism belongs to all of us as followers of Jesus and is, therefore, not a private service to be secluded with the dusty, family photos.
Even now, our culture, which still is so “next-day-delivery”oriented, can tend to want Baptism as a personal, convenient appointment. For instance, just this past month a young colleague of mine made herself available to a family who wanted their child baptized. Not being members of any church, my colleague made arrangements to prepare them for the promises they would make – in December, no less! – only to be asked twice to reschedule the meetings and the baptism. There evidently were more important things that needed tending to.
And if you have a sense that this paragraph and what I am alluding to sound too strict and uncaring, read the rest of the directions that do their best to be humane without ignoring the significance of God. First things first.
The place of the Prayer Book in our spiritual and worldly lives is a topic I would love to discuss with you at some near point in time; but now I need to get to that second point that paragraph makes.
So, the second thing that this paragraph directly points to involves this day and our worship because our worshipping attention today is directed specifically to Jesus’ baptism, which the “Additional Directions” identify as one of the “appropriate” occasions and contexts for Holy Baptism. And here (at last) is the point for today.
It should be fairly easy to understand the reason Baptism is most appropriately marked on the occasion of the Easter Vigil: new life and all that. Yet, interestingly, at the time of the Prayer Book’s adoption, not many congregations even knew what the Easter Vigil was, much less the reasoning that holds the Easter Vigil as the central act of Christian worship.
We can also easily understand the meaning and context of Baptism on the Day of Pentecost (when the Holy Spirit was gifted to Christ’s followers) and on the occasion of All Saints (the celebration of our eventual identity in Christ). But why? Why focus on Jesus’ Baptism? To make a finer point, if the Baptism John the Baptist was offering was for repentance and for the forgiveness of sin (which is what Matthew, Mark, and Luke all say it was), then why did Jesus participate in such an event, when the entire New Testament universally attests to the fact that Jesus never alienated himself from the Father, never violated the primacy of that relationship? That is, Jesus was fully human and tempted as we are but did not sin. So, why did Jesus submit to John’s baptism?
And (now that we are finally at ground zero) one more question: What does this event have to do with us? In a word, the answer is “Christmas”. (Wouldn’t you know it?!)
I trust that today’s gospel reading contains echoes for you. It should because this scene with the Baptizer was the gospel for Advent 3. Three weeks ago it was read from Luke’s rendition and focused on John the Baptist and his message of repentance. But today, rather than focusing on the incident of Jesus’ baptism, another, directional focus is provided.
In the Advent passage, Luke makes clear that the people were in high expectation about what John was saying and what he was doing. According to Luke, the key point was that Jesus was baptized with “all the people” (3:21). In Luke’s view, when Jesus had been baptized [my emphasis], the real and telling action then occurred. Luke reports that as Jesus was praying, ostensibly in response to his baptism, “the heaven was opened, 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.” [3:21-22].
Do note that to this point, Jesus has done nothing in terms of his life’s purpose or mission. In fact, his baptism is his first public appearance in the gospels. His demonstrations and teachings are about to begin; but they are about to begin as a result of what this voice from heaven says to him and about him. “You are my Son, my Beloved; with you I am well-pleased.”
These words, spoken by the Father to the Son, stem from the seventh verse of Psalm 2; and Psalm 2 is a coronation psalm, sung at the designation of Israel’s king – King David, in particular. Jesus is baptized, as Luke tells us, “with all the people”, not because he needed to confess his sins. No! The reason the sinless Jesus was baptized is precisely because (using the words of the Christmas hymn), “love came down at Christmas” [Hymnal 1982. #84]. Emmanuel: God with us – God fully with us; all the way with us -- in the rushing waters of our life, even unto death. Jesus entered the very same waters as you and I know, yet without abandoning his loving, life-giving connection with the Father. Christmas is the God-life on our terms; and now Jesus emerges from the shadows of history as a grown up to manifest to us what life with God is like, what it looks like, what it takes. Jesus was baptized “with all the people”.
And what Luke rather quietly portrays is that the voice from heaven confirms what is implicitly Jesus’ coronation by God. Out of “all the people”, all who came to John the Baptizer for a new start, Jesus is “coronated” as the “King” who will lead “all the people” into being the New Israel, into being God’s “beloved”.
In the Baptismal liturgy, there are three elements that we consciously claim. First, there is the water, which is not so much for our cleansing as it is for our drowning: drowning to the old life and rising from the depths to the new life we see in Jesus. Then there is the invocation of the Holy Spirit: that in the dying and rising of Baptism, we may live in the same love and life that the Father and the Son share. Finally, there is the chrismation, the anointing with holy oil upon the baptizand’s forehead with the sign of the cross, proclaiming, “You are sealed by the Holy Spirit in Baptism and marked as Christ’s own forever.” [BCP. p. 308]
The kings of Israel were designated, consecrated, and coronated by their anointing with holy oil. In Baptism, we are anointed with Christ. And with King Jesus, we are proclaimed as God’s royalty and therefore as God’s “Beloved”. So, let’s act like it!
You are my Son [You are my daughter], the Beloved; with you I am well-pleased.
One last question: To what extent do you believe that you are God’s Beloved?
That’s the question we need to keep our minds and hearts focused on. God has acted. Now, it’s about our response to what God-in-Christ has done. This surely is not a “do-it-yourself” project. Amen.
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