Luke 3:7-17, 21-22
In every moment in time there are people who are satisfied with the way the world is working and those who aren’t. That’s true in our time. It was true in our parents’ and grandparents’ time. It was true in the first century when John was preaching at the Jordan, outside of Jerusalem. Today’s Bible story is about what some people did to express their longing for a better way for the world to work.
John was a preacher. In the day before streaming services and social media, preachers were good entertainment. When I worked for the Presbyterians, I’d hear stories about Harvey Ambrose, their pastor in the 1920’s, who was a member of the Klan and preached controversial sermons. Folks from all the churches in town would go to his Sunday evening services to hear what he was up to. He was entertainment. John also preached controversial sermons, although not in alignment with the Klan. He was preaching in opposition to Roman occupiers and those who were getting rich from supporting the occupation. The Empire made life difficult for the peasants who did the work that made others wealthy. Some people wanted to stage a revolution and get rid of Rome. John advocated a different kind of revolution – one of kindness and watching out for each other, which made life better in spite of occupation.
John stood in contrast to the religious leaders of the day, who advocated going along to get along. He called out people who used position or power to make their own lives easier at the expense of others. He asked people to change. Share your extra cloak, feed those without enough food, don’t use your work to extort bribes from people who can’t afford to pay. John was preaching about a religious movement that manifested in social behavior – taking care of one another in community and living by the values religion once stood for: compassion, honesty, peace. He drew crowds not just because he was interesting to see and hear but because his message gave people hope that life could be better.
John used a common custom of the day as an initiation rite into his new way of living. Baptism/washing. The Jewish people had many religious rites which involved washing – washing hands, washing your whole body, washing to convert to Judaism. The society also had many customs that revolved around washing – public baths, bathing together to celebrate new beginnings (a new business, a new child). Their land was dry and dusty and people walked everywhere they went. Hospitality involved washing guests’ feet to welcome them. The Westar Institute scholars have suggested that John’s baptism in the Jordan River was a direct affront to the beautiful Roman baths of the cities. In this slow, dirty river, people claimed their heritage (it was their river) and spurned what the Empire had built. They came out from Jerusalem, a seat of power, to meet John in the countryside and sign on to his peasants’ movement, rejecting the power and violence of Empire and pledging to live in a new way that lifted up those Rome was pushing down.
People wanted to know if John was the Messiah, the One God would send to overthrow Rome. No, he said, that’s not me. It will take someone greater than I am to accomplish that. Then the story tells us that Jesus came to be baptized. He was coming because he was drawn to John’s preaching and his emerging movement. He shared John’s vision for a better way for people to live. He too believed that God was doing something quite different than the empty rituals and power grabs of the religious leaders. He’s baptized as a sign that he’s turning his life over to this new way of being. He’s signing on to what John is doing, and not long after, John is arrested and Jesus becomes the leader of the movement. He becomes the preacher everyone comes to see.
Our heritage is in this baptism John started in the first century and also in millions of baptisms performed by the church in two millennia since. We come to this story in both ways. This story falls every year on the first Sunday after Epiphany, which puts it at the beginning of a new year. New Year’s is our time for resolutions, for evaluating what’s worked in the past and what hasn’t, and setting intentions for new directions. It helps us resonate with the folks drawn to John because they wanted a better way to live. We’re reminded that baptism represents a turning point, a commitment to new directions. It focuses our attention on values we receive from God, that can be put into practice in our daily living. With those who came to the Jordan, we commit ourselves to being the community of God’s people and living in a way that lifts up those the world pushes down. Thinking in terms of the Epiphany theme of light, we become the light of God in the world and commit to shining that light so that those who need it most can see it.
The second strand of this story highlights God’s word to Jesus as he comes up out of the water. He receives the Spirit of God and is told, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.” He not only accepts a new way of living from his own initiative, he’s empowered by God to live out that new life. He gets energy and inspiration and help to put this new life into practice. All that begins with being loved.
Over the years baptism became the sign of God’s love and the initiation into God’s community, the Church. The theology of centuries shifted it from being a commitment to live in a new way to being forgiven and accepted by God. Sometimes that shift looks like forgiveness no matter what you do which guarantees a heavenly future. Most of us come from traditions that baptize infants, so we have no memory of baptism and we certainly didn’t choose it as a sign of how we would live. It’s far removed from what John and his followers were up to; and it’s not. Here is the connection: God says, “You are my beloved.” Those are words not just spoken by a Hollywood voice to Jesus, but to each and everyone. You are God’s beloved!
The Presbyterian baptismal service in its current rendition includes these words near the end: See what love God has for us that we should be called children of God, for that is who we are! That is the reality I want every one of you to hear and remember. You are the beloved child of God. God is pouring love into you and all over you and over everything you do. The true challenge to the power of Empire is the power of love – and that love-power is God. You are forgiven, not because you are baptized, but because you are loved. You are connected to God, not because you get everything in life right, but because God is love. This world can change, not because of revolution, but because at its very core it is made of love, God love.
Love is the essence of life. Love is who we are. Because there are a lot of things that happen that aren’t loving, it can be hard to remember this core truth. Anger and frustration and politics and fires and lots of distractions make it hard, but it is always possible to love. You are able to love this world and its people because at your very core lives a God who is love. This story, and the stories of our own baptisms, invite us to claim that reality of our being – love.
And then it connects us in community, gives us the teachings of Jesus, which we’re going to read every week. Gives us the love and forgiveness we extend to each other. Gives us God-power and God-hope when it’s hard. Each day is a new beginning in which we can commit to doing the most loving things we can. To sharing what we can. To standing beside each other in support of God’s values and God’s way of living. To bringing the reign of God into reality in our moment. You are invited to be the light and the love of God in this time and this place. Let’s do it, let’s be it, together.