Charlotte Collins Reed
Christ Church Episcopal
January 7, 2018
1 Epiphany
B
Last
Wednesday morning, the office staff packed up the baby food that you brought to
church on Christmas Eve and we got the food ready to be delivered to the
Battered Women’s Shelter of Summit and Medina Counties. Hundreds of containers of baby food had been
offered at the creche at our Christmas Eve services as gifts for the baby Jesus
and hungry babies in our community. The
Battered Women’s Shelter provides emergency shelter to women and their children
who are escaping an abusive situation, often leaving behind all of their
belongings. The shelter provides
clothing, food, and all the essentials to the clients who live there. The baby food will provide nourishment to
their youngest clients, who may not have to sleep in a manger, but are having
to make home in a strange place.
What, you might ask,
does our offering of baby food have to do with the baptism of Jesus, which we
celebrate this morning? Given that
yesterday was Epiphany, the date on which the Church celebrates the visit of
the Magi to the child Jesus, and today Jesus is a grown man being baptized in
the Jordan River by his cousin John, time is certainly flying by. And I think my children grew up quickly! Mark's gospel, from which we hear this
morning, tells us so little about Jesus' baptism that we have to hear the same
story about John the Baptist that we heard during Advent in order to get a
gospel reading of a respectable length.
Mark makes three succinct points about Jesus' baptism. First, Jesus went into the wilderness and was
baptized by John the Baptist. Secondly,
the heavens were torn apart and the Spirit descended like a dove. And lastly, a
voice came from heaven and said "You are my Son, the beloved. With you I
am well pleased."
All of the gospels give us some account
of Jesus’ baptism, and we celebrate Jesus’ baptism every year on the first
Sunday after Epiphany. Mark’s version may
be the shortest, but his version is packed with meaning. First, Jesus went into the wilderness to be
baptized. Immediately after his baptism,
Jesus was driven into the wilderness to be tempted by Satan, and then he
entered the many wildernesses in which people found themselves in order to
bring healing and wholeness. Lastly,
Jesus walked into the wilderness of crucifixion. Jesus’ baptism in the wilderness was not
protection from the wilderness. Instead,
Jesus’ baptism called him to engage the wilderness.
Secondly, in Jesus'
baptism, the heavens were torn open and a dove descended as a bit of the
kingdom of heaven was made known on earth.
In the Hebrew scriptures and tradition, the dove represents a sign from
God, or the Spirit of God. For example,
in the story of the great flood, once the ark came to a stop on the mountain,
Noah sent out a dove to see if there was any dry land. The first time, the dove came back with an
empty beak. The second time, the dove
brought back an olive branch, a sign that life was returning to the devastated
land. The third time, the dove did not
return, so Noah knew that the people and animals could enter dry land. The dove was understood as a sign from God, to
let Noah know when he could safely leave the ark. In Jesus’ baptism, the heavens were split
open and this symbol of God’s presence flew through the opening. The Kingdom of God had broken through to
earth. The first words of Jesus'
ministry will be "The time is fulfilled, and the Kingdom of God has come
near. Repent and believe in the good
news." The Kingdom of God may have
come near in Jesus’ baptism, but Jesus’ work is to make that Kingdom even more
present on earth.
Lastly, Jesus hears the
voice of God say "You are my Son, the beloved. With you I am well pleased." Mark doesn't tell us, and I don't believe
Jesus knows, exactly what that means.
But Jesus trusts that God is present with him and Jesus moves throughout
his ministry living into his identity as the beloved Son of God. His work ushering in the Kingdom of God is to
assure others of their identity as God’s beloved children, whether a woman on
the margins of society due to illness, or a man possessed by many demons, or
the children Jesus took into his arms.
So, what might Jesus’
baptism have to do with gifts of baby food?
Jesus' baptism propelled him into the world to not just to proclaim the
Kingdom of God, but to make that Kingdom real and present, and not just to be
the beloved Son of God, but to tell others that they, too, are beloved of God. Baptism, whether Jesus' baptism and or own
our baptism, is not just about our own personal relationship with God. Baptism certainly connects us to God
eternally and marks us as Christ’s own forever, but baptism also sends us out from
this church into the world to make the Kingdom real and present in concrete
ways to all of humankind. Baptism sends
us into the wilderness where people do not always live in safety, have warm
homes, enough food to eat, or the resources to care for their children. Baptism sends us out to show people with our
lives that the Kingdom of God is present on earth. Baptism sends us out to tell people that they
are beloved of God, no exceptions.
This is where the baby
food comes in, along with the meals we serve at Open M, the houses we build
with Habitat for Humanity, the Christmas presents we provide through Giving
Tree, the scarves, caps, mittens, blankets and sleeping mats we make to keep
children warm, the food we provide for the Hudson Food Pantry, the hospitality
we offer at Welcome Table, and the many other ways we work to make the Kingdom
of God more present on earth. Where else
in Hudson and Summit County do people need to be shown that they are beloved
children of God? The more we use our
lives to show people that they are God’s beloved children, the more our
community and the world will resemble like the Kingdom of God. Baptism calls us to enter the wilderness,
whatever that wilderness may be, to make the Kingdom of God known with our
words and actions, and to show people that they are God’s beloved children. Just like Jesus.
Amen.
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