8th January 2023 Baptism of our Lord

The fact that Christmas was on a Sunday this year has meant that our observance of that which comes next, has been a little cramped.  Even though we all heard the birth story on Christmas Day, we repeated it, with a few extra verses, last week, and today we jump to the Baptism of Jesus, but Epiphany, the visitation by the magi, has been lost in the middle of the week and unless we observed it last week as a ‘speedy journey’, which some parishes no doubt did, then we are left with either missing it altogether or observing Epiphany today and missing Jesus’ baptism, because we cannot do both, as we do not have a mid-week service at which we could have observed Epiphany.

So, please be assured, the magi did come; and Jesus and his parents escaped the infanticide of Herod by going to pagan Egypt, sworn enemy of Israel, where they found refuge and safety.  Herod died and the family return to an obscure town in the district of Galilee – Nazareth –and, by a vacuum of any other stories, we impute he lived a very ordinary and uneventful life.  And now, 30 years after his birth, Jesus is a follower of his cousin, John the Baptiser, and is moved by the Spirit to present himself for baptism by John as he prepares to commence his public ministry.

But this leads us to ask some awkward questions, which are difficult to answer.  John’s baptism is a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, so are we to imply that Jesus needs to be forgiven for sins?  This is God’s Son, surely he has not sinned.  And even John questions Jesus’ actions when he tries to dissuade him: “Why do you come to me?  I need to be baptised by you!”.  But, Jesus insists on being baptised and his baptism inaugurates his public ministry by identifying with ‘the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem’.  By identifying himself with the failures and faults, the problems and pains, of all the troubled people who were flocking to the Jordan, Jesus wades into the waters and takes his place beside them, beside us.

And this baptismal solidarity with the broken people was confirmed by God’s affirmation and empowerment.  While he is still wet with water, Jesus, and those around him, heard a voice and saw a vision – the declaration of God the Father that Jesus is his beloved son; and the descent of God the Spirit, in the form of a dove.  This vision and voice, heard and seen in this baptismal event, signalled the meaning, and message, and mission, of Jesus as he moved from invisibility into the public sphere.  And that meaning and message and mission was that by the power of the Spirit, the Son of God embodied his Father’s unconditional love of all people everywhere.

And that love is not restricted to those who are ‘like us’.  As we see in our Acts reading, God’s grace is poured out to Jew and Gentile alike.  Cornelius’ household received God’s grace in the same way as all the orthodox followers of Judaism.  We see in this assurance that there are no exceptions to those who received divine mercy and love.  And in today’s society where we are, unfortunately, very quick to ‘judge’ and ‘ostracise’ people racially, sexually, culturally, ethnically, and politically, we sometimes fall into the assumption that God’s grace is missing, or unavailable, from our opponents who hold different viewpoints and attitudes to us.  But God does not see those differences, God’s love and grace is for all humankind.

In baptism we are named – ‘child of God’, ‘beloved’.  Baptism tells us ‘who’ we are, and ‘whose’ we are: God’s beloved.  And it is important for us to continue to remember that, to remember that ‘God has named us’.  When I am speaking with parents to discuss their desire to have their child baptised, one of the things I talk about is the candle we light in the baptism service – “God has brought you out of darkness into his marvellous light, Shine as a light in the world to the glory of God the Father”.  And I encourage the parents to keep the candle message going – to light the candle on the anniversary of the child’s baptism, or on their birthday, and in that way they, and the child, remember that they are ‘God’s beloved’, and as the child grows, they may well ask about this funny candle, and that gives the parents another opportunity to have those ‘God’ conversations.  Where we tell the child who God is for us, and gradually, through these conversations, the child will grow into an understanding of who God is for them.  They will grow into an understanding of ‘who’ they are and ‘whose’ they are. They, we, are God’s beloved, so let us continue to live into that calling, continue to shine as a light in the world to the glory of God the Father.