Baptism Calls us to Ministry

Sermon for the First Sunday after EpiphanySt. Paul’s Sacramento The Baptism of our Lord

January 12, 2020

Isaiah 42:1-9

Psalm 29

Acts 10:34-43

Matthew 3:13-17

Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan, to be baptized by him. John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” 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. And when Jesus had been baptized, just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens were opened to him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”

Today we are celebrating the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist.  We have jumped forward from Jesus as a baby and a small child to Jesus as an adult – scholars say he was likely in his late 20’s.  In our Gospel narrative, during the Christmas season, Jesus birth was announced to the Shepherds, the wise men and women from “the east”, likely Persia, have presented kingly gifts. After that Joseph, Mary and Jesus flee from the wrath of King Herod to Egypt where they live in exile until the death of King Herod.  And now we are at the River Jordon.  This is a turning point in our Gospel.  Jesus will leave the River Jordon and start his earthly ministry.  A ministry that will ultimately get the attention of the ruling elite.  A ministry that is about brining God’s Love to the Loveless.  But I don’t want to get ahead of myself.  We have several months to recall Jesus work in the world before we get to Lent and Easter.

John is a little surprised that Jesus has come to him.  He recognizes that Jesus is the one foretold by the prophets that has come to transform our world into God’s world.  Jesus as God incarnate certainly does not need to be baptized.  John has been preaching about forgiveness of sins and the coming of the one who is greater than he is.  Jesus comes to recognize John and to have John do what he was called to do.  To Baptize.  Jesus said it was “proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness.”  Jesus is letting the story of the Prophets, the story of John’s calling to play out.  Jesus, who we say was without sin, is baptized by John, a baptism of repentance.  

This baptism is different than all the others that John has performed at the River Jordon.  As Jesus comes out of the River a strange thing happens.  The heavens open and the Spirit of God – looking like a dove – descends on Jesus.  And then the voice of heavens confirms that Jesus is different.  That Jesus is the one foretold.  “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”  God the father is well pleased with Jesus, who up to this point has not done much – well at least that was recorded in the Gospel. God is pleased.  Jesus has lived with the people and learned what humanity was like.  The good and the bad.  Jesus has seen and experienced it and God is pleased.  Jesus will go from here to do things that are miraculous.  It is important, however, to notice that it did not take a miracle for God to be please.  God is pleased because Jesus showed up.  God is pleased because Jesus is following what the prophets said. 

This is not all for Jesus sake.  He did not need baptism to forgive sins. He did not need the dove.  He did not the voice from heaven.  These things where all done for us.  To show us that Jesus is different.  To show us that God was indeed speaking through the prophets. 

Today is also a day that we can, and should, remember our own baptisms.  Because through our baptisms we have been called to continue the work that Jesus started.  Through our baptisms we are called to ministry.  Through our baptisms we are called into forgiveness so that we can be God’s change agents in our world.

David Lose, a preacher I follow said, “Baptism is about forgiveness. But forgiveness is not a mechanism but rather is a gift. We aren’t forgiven in Baptism in order that God can call us God’s children, but rather we are forgiven because we already are God’s children. So, yes, baptism is about forgiveness. But it’s also about so much more! It’s about love, identify, affirmation, commitment, promise, and still more. In fact, I’d argue that Baptism is first about all these other things and then, as by-product and gift, about forgiveness. That is, in Baptism God proclaims God’s great love for us; calls, names, and claims us as God’s beloved children; gives us the gift of the Holy Spirit;…and then, because of God’s love for us, God also promises to forgive, renew, and restore us at all times.

Which is why I think that what ought to surprise us […] is not that Jesus is baptized like we are, but rather that we get to be baptized – and therefore named as beloved child – just like Jesus is.”^[1]

We are children of God.  Whether you saw it or not that spirit of God came upon you at your baptism.  Whether you heard it or not the heavens opened up and God said that God was well pleased.  In our baptisms we are called out to continue Jesus ministry.

In our baptism we are called to see the world through the eyes of justice and love.  Through our baptisms we are called to be prophets that call out the iniquities in our world – iniquities that cause people to be seen as less than human.  We are called to welcome all of God’s beloved children into our world – and to change the world into one that brings God’s dream of love into our world. 

I know that this all sounds a bit too simplistic.  Just look at the world around us.  We have ever increasing homelessness in our communities.  We have greater income disparity in this nation than we have ever had.  We have increased international tensions that this past week looked like they could have led to all out war.  What can we do to change that. 

I sometimes despair about being an agent of God.  An agent that is supposed to change the world and usher is a world of peace and love.  It is all too much.  The endless hate that we read about in the news and in social media.  The increased ethnic tension in our world.  Climate change and environmental destruction.  But God continually reaches into my soul and pulls me through the despair into joy. Pulls be from inaction to action. 

I am not delusional that I will be able to make an immediate worldwide change by myself.  But I am able to make changes to my world.  I can be in relationship with those that society treats as outcasts.  I can open up the church during the week for prayer, fellowship, and sanctuary.  I can treat all people as God’s beloved children.  I can support, through my giving, both in money and in my time, organizations that are making a difference.  And I can pray. 

Pray that the holy spirit that moves in my life and calls me will be able to enter into the hearts of those who are perpetuating the policies that tear down.  Enter into their hearts so that we can transform the world into that world of Love that God dreams about.  That dream of God that our world will finally get it and turn around – repent – and welcome all of God’s children into relationship.This is not magical thinking.  Jesus’ baptism by John marked the beginning of Jesus earthly ministry that called society to change.  Our baptism also calls us into the same ministry. 

Several years ago I was at the River Jordon.  It is still a powerful place of ministry.  It is a thin spot where God’s presence is palpable.  It is palpable in the diversity of people who are drawn to that place.  There is an amazing cross section from all over the world that come to be baptized in the River Jordon, or to renew their baptisms.  It is a place where we can witness God calling the diversity that is creation into relationship.

Joy Moore, a professor at Luther Seminary said “Baptism signals a journey that begins at a fork in the road where one path is chosen and another is rejected. It is our surrender to God’s righteousness that is not merely individual moral conduct but a focus on relationships restored.

Treating one another rightly restores relationships. God’s intention remains to draw from every nation, tribe, and tongue a people who demonstrate the righteousness of God’s reign.”^[2]

Today, a day set aside to remember Jesus’ baptism in the River Jordon, is also a day to remember our baptisms.  A day to remember that through our baptisms we are called to restore relationships. To restore our relationship with God.  To restore our relationships with all of God’s beloved children. 

We are called to change the world.  To show through our actions that we love God and love all of God’s creation.  It is not easy.  Some of God’s children make it difficult to love them.  It is hard to love those we see as creating a world that is the opposite of what God dreams we could create.  In those cases we need to call out the actions that separate our world from God – and to pray.  Pray for us and those who we see are making choices that do not bring about God’s dream.  Pray that their hearts will be changed.  Changed by the letting the holy spirit into their hearts.

It is not all bad news.  There is good in this world.  Unfortunately, the bad news seems to get the headlines.  But I see the good all the time.  I see it in the relationship that are built in this place.  I see it in the people who come in here during the weak for a little sanctuary and to worship god.  I see it at St. Matthew’s where they are, once again, dismantling their worship space to welcome our brothers and sisters into a warm place of sanctuary for a week.  To provide a hot dinner and a safe place to sleep out of the winter weather.  I see it in the work of Sister Libby and the Mercy Pedalers who ride through town and offer God’s love to the homeless on our streets.

We are called in our baptisms into ministry.  It is not ordination as a deacon or priest that calls us into our primary ministry.  It is our baptism.  A baptism that calls us, as Joy Moore said, to choose that fork in the road.  To choose the path that brings God’s dream into our world.  To choose the path that creates relationship.  To choose the path that sees that Dove descending upon our souls and hear God say to us “You are my beloved child, the beloved, with whom I am well pleased.

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^[1] http://www.davidlose.net/2019/01/the-baptism-of-our-lord-c-forgiveness-and-so-much-more/  Accessed 1/11/2020

^[2] https://www.workingpreacher.org/craft.aspx?post=5405 Accessed 1/11/2020

The Crazy Farmer

Sermon for July 16, 2017

Proper 10A – RCL Track 1

Genesis 25:19-34
Psalm 119:105-112
Romans 8:1-11
Matthew 13:1-9,18-23

Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea. Such great crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat there, while the whole crowd stood on the beach. And he told them many things in parables, saying: “Listen! A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seeds fell on the path, and the birds came and ate them up. Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and they sprang up quickly, since they had no depth of soil. But when the sun rose, they were scorched; and since they had no root, they withered away. Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. Let anyone with ears listen!”

“Hear then the parable of the sower. When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what is sown in the heart; this is what was sown on the path. As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; yet such a person has no root, but endures only for a while, and when trouble or persecution arises on account of the word, that person immediately falls away. As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the lure of wealth choke the word, and it yields nothing. But as for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.”

Today is the first of three Sundays where we will hear parables from Jesus.  This Sunday is the parable of the crazy farmer – as I like to call it, and the next two weeks we will hear parables that describe the Kingdom of God.  The kingdom of God is like.... Parables are a form of story that sets two things alongside each other and in many cases have at least a little absurdity.  They are not at all obvious and if we try too hard to explain them we will get it wrong.  It is best to let them speak to us fresh each time we read them.

Which brings me to today’s absurdity!  What kind of crazy farmer is our God!  Just read this parable again.   A sower goes out to sow… and he wildly throws seed everywhere.  Seed scattered onto what any one could tell you was not good soil.  The rocky soil, the hard pathway and so forth.  It is an absurdity!  No one in their right mind would plant a field like this. 

Then and now we plant our fields and our gardens with as much precision as we can imagine.  The planting equipment today is optimized to get the seed planted in just the right place.  The soil is prepared to make sure that it is receptive to the seed.  The seeds are prepared and hybridized to make sure that they have the best yields and are best for any given growing climate.  Nothing is wasted.  We consult the sunset garden book and look at our ecological climate and see if the plants we want will grow in our areas.  We may consult the old Farmers Almanac to see when we should plant and if we can expect a cold or hot year, a wet or dry year, and make our decisions with care.

In Jesus day seed was not cheap so they too took great care in making sure it was planted in the best soil possible and tended with care to get the best crop.  They, like us, took all the precautions that they could to ensure a good crop.

And we do the same thing at church!  We plan carefully.  We look at our resources and figure out what programs we can sustain.  We look at our finances to see what we can afford.  We are good stewards of the gifts we have been given.  To do anything less would not be wise.  But we should not ration God’s love in our planning! 

It is hard to imaging an abundance like that described in the parable.  Or perhaps we can only imagine it.  In our society there is a huge income inequality between those in the top 1% and the rest of us.  We have to be careful and manage our recourses and we imagine what it would be like if we had seemingly unlimited resources.  We dream about what we would do if we won a large lottery prize! 

But God’s economy is different.  God is not in a limited supply!  God wants his love spread recklessly into our hurting world.  God asks us as his disciples not to worry about how and where we spread God’s message of love of creation.  We are told not to worry about where with whom we sow God’s good news.

Which gets us to the second part of our Gospel where Jesus tries to explain to the disciples what he just told the people.  And here we don’t hear about the seed anymore but the soil.  Jesus says that there are people who will be supper receptive to the good news and those that will not be.  That there are people who have shallow roots and will hear and be receptive but will not be ones that will go out and act to help spread God’s love in our hurting world.

But God does not care the condition of our soil!  In this parable we are told not to worry about how we think someone will or will not receive the word of God.  It is not our job to judge.  It is our job to sow.  And even if we were to judge the receptivity of the people we interact with we are just as likely as not to get it wrong.  To misunderstand how that person will receive and how God’s love will grow within that person.

This Wednesday I am performing a baptism at St. Paul’s.  It is for one of our un-homed parishioners.  I am sure that many people would judge that soil as a rocky place for God’s love to be sown.  Many people would look at a small family and their small dog that camp by the river as perhaps in need of help but not as fertile ground that will yield fruit.  But I am not going to judge.  Already his request to be baptized has spread to another young man who attends regularly and now also wants to be baptized later this summer.  The yield may be limited by circumstances but God is telling me not to worry about that.  The Holy Spirit opens the heart in ways that we cannot imagine.  And with the Holy Spirit that seed that will be planted on Wednesday may have a larger yield than we can imagine.  

That is the way God’s economy works.  God takes all kinds of people and grows the kingdom.  Jesus gathered fisherman and tax collectors, women and all sorts and conditions of people to start and to continue building God’s kingdom on earth.  And we are to do the same.

As we continue to reimagine what the ministry of St. Matthew’s will be in the years going forward we should remember to sow God’s love with wild recklessness.  While money may be in short supply and our membership currently small God’s love is limitless.  And the return may end up being bigger than we can imagine!