The Baptism of Jesus: “But Jesus answered him, ‘Let it be so now; for it is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness.’ Then he consented.” Matthew 3:15

Recently a newspaper article told the story of

a young girl in Afghanistan,

who was expressing her frustration and sadness

because now that she was 14 years old

her schooling would have to stop.

In that country ruled by the Taliban,

women were not expected to need education,

it was illegal for women to attend school beyond age 14

The girl had loved school, had longed to become a teacher

to do something important for her community and her country.

• Another story, better known to us perhaps,

is that of the young woman from Pakistan,

Malala Yousafzai, who was shot on a school bus

because she was a champion for education

for young women

in a culture that was deeply antagonistic to that idea.

Malala recovered from her injuries – eventually –

went on to dedicate her life to women’s education

and became the youngest person ever to win

the Nobel Peace prize.

In both these cases young women

refused to be confined to repressive standards

and took courageous action

to become more than what their culture decreed for them.

• John the Baptist called people to come out

from their homes to the wilderness,

where Israel as a people had originally been shaped,

to be washed in the waters of the Jordan,

as a sign of repentance of sin,

a changing of the direction of their lives,

and a start to a new life.

When Jesus was baptized

he was identifying with the people,

with all of them – and with us.

Because he joins us in our humanity.

With all its strengths – and failings –

he now is truly with us in our journeys

as we seek to become what we were meant to be.

As Barbara Brown Taylor puts it:

“He who was without sin

was baptized in the river Jordan

to avoid the sin of standing apart from us.”[i]

“Nothing was more disturbing to Jesus

than the sight of a human being who,

in one form or another, was shackled from becoming

what God created them to be.”

• Do you see the connection to the stories of young women

breaking free from their oppressive systems?

This is an indication that Jesus stands with them – and us –

in whatever our circumstances are

and helps us become what we are meant to be.

The baptism of Jesus is a sign that we are joined

in our quest of becoming fully human.

• What does it take

for us to become what we are meant to be?

We all need affirmation,

a sense that one is good

and valuable and worthy and important.

Well, there is a small industry developing

around this need these days.

There are countless books

that either try to show that we are all good,

or that give us advice on self-improvement

so that we can surely become “good”.

There are any number of programs and courses

designed to shore up our egos

or to develop our skills and abilities

so that whatever failings we have

may be overcome.

We can get so wrapped up in this

that our goal becomes achieving progress, development,

as if life were a kind of Olympic contest

to see who gets the gold medal among us.

I should not be too cynical about that.

There is a lot to be gained from self-improvement

and if the techniques and courses help,

then, more power to them.

Affirmation is important.

• But it does not come from being told

that we are better than we are,

or even from striving to become better than we are.

It comes from knowing we are loved and accepted as we are.

And that has a lot to do

with what God does for us in Jesus Christ

who became one with us

that we might become what we were meant to be.

• Almost every Sunday when we begin our worship

we have a prayer of confession.

This is not because we are miserable people,

full of evil thoughts and deeds

who have done terrible things in the preceding week.

Rather, confession is intended to acknowledge the reality

that any life that is lived with vigour

will have in it mistakes, failures ,

actions that can be hurtful

to others and to oneself.

More than that, our very participation in society

makes us a part of the evil

that is built into our institutions:

– businesses that overcharge,

– personnel policies that encourage short-cuts

or outright cheating,

– legal systems that favour the fortunate or better-educated,

– immigration policies that favour those

who can be a help to us,

rather than those who need our help.

– any number of systems that we are a part of

– like it or not –

that give advantage to some over others

or are unjust in any way.

The prayer of confession is not meant to make us feel bad,

it is to take us and our society seriously.

As Marilynne Robinson writes,

“ The belief that we are all sinners

gives us excellent grounds for forgiveness

and self-forgiveness,

and is kindlier than any expectation

that we might all be saints.”[ii]

• The affirmation that we really need

comes from the awareness

that Jesus stands among us,

that God’s understanding and love

are strong enough to break through all that is wrong

and set us free.

• Now, in this season of Epiphany

we have passed from the warm, cozy love

of the Christmas babe in the manger

to the strong, walk-beside-you love of incarnation.

Jesus is now truly, Emmanuel, God with us.

We are never alone again.

He walks with us through life

even along its darkest and most difficult paths.

And this happens so that we might

become more than we are;

become the people of God we are meant to be.

• Jesus deliberately takes his turn in the river,

not because he needed

to receive a word of heavenly affirmation

but because we needed it.

We needed to realize that we are so loved by God

that God’s own Son became a part of our world,

joining us in the waters of baptism,

in order to guide us through the sometimes muddy waters

of life and death into life eternal.

 

• A reporter was interviewing the elderly

about their earliest experiences.

One of the people he spoke with

was a man named Bernum Ledford.

Bernum was over a hundred years old.

He lived in Kentucky

and he told of how as a young child

he was taken to meet his great grand-mother.

“I’ll never forget that day,” he said.

“It was a hot, humid Sunday afternoon

and it was a long trip to her home.

I had never met her before

and to be honest, I didn’t really want to go all that way

just to see some old woman.

To make matters worse,

when we finally got to her house and went inside,

I saw that she was not only old, but blind,

and not only blind, but mean looking.

And so, at first, I was afraid of her!

‘We brought Bernum along to see you,’

my father said.

And she turned in my direction

with outstretched arms and long, bony fingers,

and said:

‘Bring him here!’

Well, they practically had to push me across the room,”

said Bernum.

“But when I eventually got over to her

I found that those same hands

of which I had been so frightened

were surprisingly gentle.

She carefully traced the outline of my face

and slowly ran her fingers through my hair

and down across my shoulders.

And then, in a voice so filled with love and acceptance,

I heard her whisper:

‘This boy’s one of ours.

This boy’s part of our family,

This one belongs to us!”[iii]

 

• At Jesus’ baptism a heavenly voice

declares who he is.

But because Christ joined with us

in the waters of baptism,

that same heavenly voice

also tells us who we are.

We are God’s children.

We are part of God’s family.

We belong to God.

What a powerful, life-giving affirmation that is!

 

[i] Taylor, Barbara Brown, Mixed Blessings, p.37

[ii] Robinson, Marilynne, “The Death of Adam: Essays on Modern Thought,” quoted by Kathleen Norris in The Christian Century, Nov 18-25/98, p. 276

[iii] Crilley, p. 276