Charlotte Collins Reed
Christ Church Episcopal
January 8, 2023
The Baptism of Jesus
Two events stand out for me in the last weeks before Covid
hit three years ago. The first is an
in-person Prayers for Peace service that we hosted at Christ Church in the
early days of January at a moment when it looked like the world would break out
in war at any moment. We gathered with
our brothers and sisters from First Congregational and First Presbyterian to
pray, to sing, to listen to scripture, and to pray some more as the US seemed
to be on the brink of war with Iran.
What I remember about that night is the comfort and strength coming
together to pray provided, even though I did not know many of the people there.
And I remember how I longed for that
particular kind of comfort and connection in the midst of good times and hard
times once we could no longer gather.
The other event is a happy one. My husband Don thought to throw an 88th
birthday party for his father in early February that year, gathering family and
friends to celebrate. I thought it was a
little odd since we would celebrate Fred’s 90th in two short
years. But I’m always up for a
party. We had the most amazing evening
with both of Fred’s sons and their families, friends with whom we had
celebrated many of Fred’s birthdays, in a venue owned by friends who cared for
us as if we were their family. Being
with those dear friends and much of our family made for a joyous evening, and
those deep connections and wonderful memories would help carry us through the
next difficult months.
Today, we celebrate the Feast of the Baptism of Jesus. We see Jesus approach John for baptism, and
we hear John demur, saying that he should be baptized by Jesus and not vice
versa. Jesus’ response is interesting
and in some ways less than satisfying.
Jesus says “Let it be so now; for it is proper for us in this way to
fulfill all righteousness.” What on
earth does that mean? But whatever
Jesus’s words might mean, when he comes up from the water the heavens open, he
sees the Spirit of God descend like a dove and land on him, and we hear a voice
from heaven say “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well
pleased.” Unlike in Mark and Luke, God’s
announcement is public in Matthew’s gospel, words for everyone to hear.
So what does Jesus mean by “it is proper for us in this way
to fulfill all righteousness?” How do
those words explain why Jesus needs to be baptized?
Matthew’s gospel is the most Jewish of the gospels,
presenting Jesus as the new Moses. Jesus
goes up on a mountain to give his teaching, hence the moniker the Sermon on the
Mount. Jesus says things like “I have come
not to abolish the law but to fulfill it.”
And in Matthew’s gospel, when Jesus is asked which is the greatest
commandment, he answers not just with the words “Love the Lord with all your
heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind, and love your neighbor as
yourself,” but adds “on these two commandments hang all the law and the
prophets.”
In the Hebrew scriptures, righteousness is not just a moral
concept calling people to live a certain way according to a certain ethical
code. Righteousness is also a relational
concept.* We see this in the reading
from Isaiah this morning, where God calls the people in righteousness, taking
them by the hand and keeping them, giving them as a covenant to the people, to
be a light to the nations. The people
are righteous because of their relationship with God, not because they always behave
perfectly. We see this in the book of
Genesis when Abraham is made righteous because he trusted God, not because he
was perfect. We know from other stories
in Genesis that Abraham most certainly was not perfect! Abraham is righteous because of his
relationship with God.
And so, in Matthew’s gospel, Jesus’ baptism most likely has
something to do with relationship.
Clearly, Jesus’ baptism makes clear his relationship with God, as God
claims Jesus as God’s Son, the Beloved, with whom God is well pleased. But Jesus’ baptism is also about his
relationship with humankind, as he entered the same water as everyone else and
was baptized by John, a fellow human, binding Jesus in solidarity with all
humanity.
In baptism, we, too, are claimed as God’s own. We hear the words “You are sealed by the Holy
Spirit in baptism and marked as Christ’s own forever.” In baptism, we are cleansed from sin and all
that separates us from God and each other and given new life. And in baptism, we are sent into the world in
witness to God’s love. Baptism connects
us in a unique and powerful way with God and the whole human family. The promises we make in our baptismal
covenant all work to sustain those baptismal relationships. We nourish our relationship with God and humankind
when we are faithful in worship, recognize those places where we fall into sin
and repent, proclaim God’s love by word and action, seek and serve Christ in
all people, and work for justice and peace, respecting the dignity of every
human being. Baptismal relationships may
be a gift, but they also place demands on us-that we live as people who have
been marked as Christ’s own forever and who are joined with the whole human
family.
In a moment, we will renew our baptismal covenant and we
will have the opportunity to be anointed as a sign of that renewal. We know what it feels like to be separated
from one another due to circumstances beyond our control. Part of the reason that separation was so
hard is because our baptismal DNA connects with each other and with God and
that connection is nourished in community.
So we will promise once again to live as baptized people, rejoicing in
that connection, a connection which goes far deeper than our ability to gather and
to serve, but in which our gathering and our serving is grounded.
Amen.
*Thank you to Diane Chen, WorkingPreacher.com, https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/baptism-of-our-lord/commentary-on-matthew-313-17-6
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