Sermon 1 Epiphany A - January 13, 2008

1 Epiphany A - The Baptism of our Lord - 13 January 2008
Isaiah 42:1-9; Acts 10:34-43; Matthew 3:13-17
James V. Stockton

“I must speak to you, newborn infants, little children in Christ, new offspring of the Church, the gift of the Father, the fruitfulness of the Mother, God-fearing offshoots, the new colony, flower of our parenthood, fruit of our labor, my joy and my crown, all who stand fast in the Lord.” So, spoke the great fourth-century priest and bishop Augustine of Hippo. It is from a sermon he preached at the baptism of a group of new Christians. Quoting the Apostle Paul, Augustine tells them to ‘put on the Lord Jesus Christ,’ and then says, “Thus may you be clothed with the Life put on by you in the sacrament.” ‘For you are all one in Christ Jesus,’ he says, again quoting Paul. Then he tells them, “Such is the power of the sacrament....”

The rite and ceremony of baptism is undoubtedly familiar enough to many people in the Episcopal Church and other Churches as well. And when they are as familiar with in its inward and invisible reality as they are with its outward and visible form, people are all the more aware of the grace that the sacrament conveys, and thus are all the more able to know the incomparable blessing it brings. Baptism is a rite and ceremony of initiation. Part of its blessing, then, is that baptism is full admission into the fellowship of the wider Church. This fellowship is manifested locally in the parish or congregation. It is manifested regionally in the diocese. It is manifested provincially or nationally in the autonomous national Church. It is manifested globally through the fellowship of the autonomous national Churches of other countries in what is known as the Anglican Communion. And finally, it is manifested both temporally and eternally in the fellowship of all who know Christ as their Lord, and all whom Christ knows as his own. Part of he mystery of this fellowship then, is that it is both massive and yet intimate; it is timeless and yet existing always in the moment.

And so, Augustine reminds people in his sermon that the very nature of the fellowship itself is evidence of its own godly origin. In the reading we hear this morning from the Book of the Acts of the Apostles, the Apostle Peter is discovering this very thing. Peter is at the home of a Roman soldier and his family. They want to become followers of Jesus, Peter is trying to explain that Jesus came to the Hebrew people, and so they may well be required to convert to Judaism in order to follow Jesus. And in the midst of his sermon, God pours out the Holy Spirit on this Gentile family just the way God poured out the Spirit on the Apostles themselves. “I get it now,” Peter says. ‘God really doesn’t show any partiality. God really makes no distinction like the rest of us do. God doesn’t ask about race, age, gender, culture, job, status, income, education, lineage, family, friends, loved ones…’ Can anyone finish the list? “Instead,” Peter says, “anyone who fears God, anyone who is rightly humbled by God, who is duly in awe of God, anyone affected in heart and soul by their realization of God: God welcomes them.”

So he says, “Anyone who does what is right is acceptable to God.” And this seems a reasonable assumption, does it not? Surely, there is a basic standard of behavior whose measure people need to meet in order to be acceptable to God, and so to the fellowship of the Church? What can the Church expect of those seeking to be those “newborn infants” as Augustine refers to them; people wanting become “little children in Christ,” the “new offspring of the Church”? What can you and I require of those “gift[s] of the Father of those who are “the fruitfulness of the Mother,” those “God-fearing offshoots”? Is there not some requirement for good and kind behavior in people’s relationships toward others, and for holy and pious behavior in people’s behavior toward God? Since God shows no partiality, what then is the measure that someone must meet in order to join “all who stand fast in the Lord”? Then, maybe Peter thinks back to the stories he’s heard about the time when Jesus came to be baptized. Maybe we do well to do the same.

John has been preaching to the people. In the Gospel readings for the season of Advent just a few weeks ago you and I heard some of what he’s been saying. John tells the people to turn away from error and bad behavior; and he says, as a sign of their desire to be cleansed of these sins, they should be immersed in the waters of the river. Then, Jesus comes. And being a prophet and more, John recognizes in Jesus someone uniquely not lost in error, uniquely not indulging in bad behavior, someone uniquely without sin. And so John wonders, “Why do you come to me?” “I am the one who needs to be baptized,” he says, “and you are the one who should be baptizing me.” For John, Jesus measures up. For John, Jesus is the one from God who will come and will not so much as raise his voice in the streets for attention; who will be so gentle as not to break even a flimsy bruised reed or snuff out a smoldering candle wick. And yet, as John perceives, this is the one from God who will bring about justice, who will set free the prisoners, who will open hearts and minds to that inward Light of God. For John, Jesus measures up. And from our vantage from these nearly 2000 years later, you and I and all the Church, around the world and throughout time and eternity, would agree.

‘I get what you mean,’ says Jesus to John, “but it’s the right thing for us to do this.” John baptizes Jesus, and the Holy Spirit appears and lights upon Jesus, and the Father in heaven declares Jesus as the Son of God. And, as Jesus puts it, “all righteousness is fulfilled.”

And this is the clue that there is one more essential characteristic of baptism that makes it the unparalleled blessing that it is. Our formulary for baptism reads that one is “baptized in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” In one sense, it means what it sounds like to our modern ear. One is baptized, you and I were and are baptized, on behalf of the same Holy Trinity that is present at Jesus’ own baptism. At the same time, the more ancient and original meaning is also at work. To ‘baptized in the Name of…’ is to be baptized into that which is named. In Christ Jesus, God enters into the massive life of the world, and intimately into your life, my life, into our life together as the parish of ECR, and into the lives of the people around us. And in Christ, God brings to us each and all the invitation to be welcomed into the life of God. This is the mystery of the sacrament of baptism.

This is the mystery that binds together into one, people far and near, people wealthy and poor, people Left, and Right, and somewhere in the center, people of the past with people in the present with people of futures yet to come. This is the power that enables you and me and all God’s Church to strive for justice against the odds, to offer gentle mercy in the face of opposing might, to nurture the light of Christ especially where it is but a burning ember, and to bring into the freedom that we know in Christ those imprisoned by ignorance, hatred, and fear. This is the grace and the blessing that enables us to meet that standard that requires nothing more than that we do the best we can to trust Jesus. By no greater standard than the gift of our life in God, and by no lesser gift than our life together, you and I are, in this world today, ‘the fruitfulness of the Church our Mother, and the joy and crown of God.’

And now at the bottom of page 304 in the Prayer Book: “Will you continue in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in the prayers? I will, with God’s help. Will you persevere in resisting evil, and, whenever you fall into sin, repent and return to the Lord? I will, with God’s help. Will you proclaim by word and example the Good News of God in Christ? I will, with God’s help. Will you seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbor as yourself? I will, with God’s help. Will you strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being? I will, with God’s help.”

And now may we dare to listen with our heart, to look with our soul, to sense the heavens opened around us and to hear God’s voice from above and within: “You are my people, you are my beloved, you are my Life in the world today; and with you I am well pleased.” Amen.

© 2008, James V. Stockton