Introduction: In his commentary, Matthew for Everyone, Tom Wright uses an excellent analogy to explain the baptism of Jesus. He writes:
Imagine we are going to a huge concert hall, packed to the doors with eager and excited music-lovers. We all have our programs in hand, waiting for the thunderous music to begin. We know what it ought to sound like. This will be music for a battle, for a victory, thunder and lightning and explosions of wonderful noise. The concert manager comes on the stage and declares in ringing tones that the famous musician has arrived. He gets us all on our feet, to welcome with an ovation the man who is going to fulfill all our expectations.
As we stand there eagerly, a small figure comes on the stage. He doesn’t look at all like what we expected. He is carrying, not a conductor’s baton, to bring the orchestra to life, but a small flute. As we watch, shocked into silence, he plays, gently and softly, a tune quite different to what we had imagined. But, as we listen, we start to hear familiar themes played in a new way. The music is haunting and fragile, winging its way into our imaginations and hopes and transforming them. And, as it reaches its close, as though at a signal, the orchestra responds with a new version of the music we had been expecting all along.
Now listen to John as the concert manager, whipping us into excitement at the soloist who is going to appear. ‘He’s coming! He’s more powerful than me! He will give you God’s wind and God’s fire, not just water! He’ll sort you out – he’ll clear out the mess – he’ll clean up God’s farm so that only the good wheat is left!’ We are on our feet, expecting a great leader, perhaps the living God Himself, sweeping into the hall with a great explosion, a blaze of light and color, transforming everything in a single blow.
And instead we get Jesus. The Jesus we have only met so far, in Matthew’s Gospel, as a baby with a price on his head. A Jesus who comes and stands humbly before John, asking for baptism, sharing the penitential mood of the rest of Judea, Jerusalem, and Galilee. [Tom Wright, Matthew for Everyone, (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2004) 20-21]
Matthew 3:13-17
Then 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 John 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.”
Prayer: Gracious God, open the heavens to us that we might experience the Spirit of the Lord opening us to the Word of the Lord and calling us to Your service. Amen.
Frederick Dale Bruner in his commentary on the first 12 chapters of Matthew called The Christbook, says that Jesus’ first miracle was not at Cana. His first miracle was His humility. Jesus joins us in all our humanity. He has chosen sides and the side he chose was our side. Although He was the Son of God, He did not choose the powerful. He chose us. He didn’t choose the wealthy. He chose us. He didn’t choose the brilliant. He chose us. Actually, you may be brilliant and He still chooses you.
The world encourages us to choose those things that look good on the outside, but Jesus chooses based on the inside. He chooses the humble. When I was at Marble Collegiate Church in New York, we went on many retreats. It was the best way for people living in New York to explore their faith. We would go to the Warwick Retreat Center in Warwick, New York.
I wasn’t too worried about being in trouble with the authorities. Jesus was always in trouble with the authorities, so I figured I was in good company! We’re all in good company because Jesus chose us.
There is another important thing to notice about the baptism of Jesus. He was open to the gifts of others. We need to do that, too. We need to be open to the gifts of everyone here. There are some great talents here.
On Friday when I visited my Mother, I asked her if she remembered anything about my baptism or my sisters’ baptism. She immediate said, “Yes! At your baptism, your sister, Maisie, sang ‘Happy Birthday to You.’ We couldn’t get her to stop. That was her talent—singing and what better to sing at a baptism than ‘Happy Birthday.’ Isn’t there something about baptism being your new birthday—your birthday in the church?”
I’ve done a lot of baptisms over the years. Even though we talk about baptism as a new birthday, I don’t think we’ve ever sung “Happy Birthday.” Maybe we should. Maisie, who was 2-1/2 at the time, wasn’t too inhibited to share her talents—not just the singing, but also an ability to make an important connection.
Here’s the amazing thing: Jesus chooses us and then He shows us what to do. He recognizes John’s gift—the gift of bringing the people to an awareness of their sins. Jesus chooses to stand with the guilty people John has called together.
Without Jesus, we would stand alone and we would stand afraid, not sure what to do. Pastor Clifford S. Stewart of Louisville, Kentucky, sent his parents a microwave oven one Christmas. He says,
They were excited that now they, too, could be a part of the instant generation. When Dad unpacked the microwave and plugged it in, literally within seconds, the microwave transformed two smiles into frowns! Even after reading the directions, they couldn’t make it work. Two days later, my mother was playing bridge with a friend and confessed her inability to get that microwave oven to even boil water. ‘To get this darn thing to work,’ she exclaimed, ‘I really don’t need better directions; I just needed my son to come along with the gift!”
When God sent the gift of salvation, He didn’t send a booklet of complicated instruction for us to figure out; He sent His Son. [Clifford S. Steward, Leadership, Vol. 10, no.4, as retrieved from PreachingToday.com, 1/8/08]
There is one more thing I want you to understand about baptism. In baptism, we, too, are given the gift of the Spirit. In that Spirit, we are called to service.
The past few weeks, I’ve spent quite a bit of time with LeAnn, our Director on Christian Education. You now know that LeAnn is leaving to accept a full-time position as an ordained pastor. Her struggle with the call to leave Geneva has been hard on her. She has been wrestling with an angel or two about this call. That is often the way it works when the Spirit calls.
When the Spirit calls it is almost always difficult. The call is disturbing. The call is confusing. The call is outside our comfort zone.
We have given LeAnn a remarkable gift, but accepting the gift is no easy thing. When LeAnn came to Geneva, she wasn’t sure what her role in the church was meant to be. She is married and has a three-year-old son, Alex. Her call to Geneva would allow her more freedom to be with her husband and son, true, but as she worked at Geneva, she found herself called into ministry and ministry beyond being the Director of Christian Education.
Not long ago, I asked LeAnn to help me serve communion by intinction. As she shared the Bread of Heaven and the Cup of Salvation, she felt a deep affirmation that she was being called back into ministry fulltime.
LeAnn isn’t the only one around here who is called to ministry. Everyone here is called to ministry. Do you remember your call? It may have happened when you were just a baby or it may have happened when you were a youth or it may have happened when you became an adult. Do you remember?
It was the day you were baptized. That is when the Lord anointed you to join Him in ministry. You are called just as surely as LeAnn is called and just as surely as I am called. We may be called to different ministries, but called we are.
It’s always a little disturbing to accept the call. Do you remember what happened to Jesus? The Spirit whisked Him off into the desert. We may not be taken into the desert, but it is likely that our call will take us into some difficult situations.
So remember: Jesus never sends us anywhere He hasn’t gone Himself. Look at the talents you have been given. How can they be a part of Geneva’s ministry. Let’s pray about it.
Gracious God, open our eyes to Your Spirit that we might see where You are calling us to be Your servants spreading the love of Jesus Christ. We know that we have been chosen for ministry by Jesus. We know that He has given us our gifts to be used to His glory. And we know that He goes on ahead of us, knowing that His call is difficult, but He will not ask us to do anything He has not done. In His name we pray. Amen.
