Sunday, January 11, 2015

Baptism of Jesus
Genesis 1:1-5
Psalm 29
Acts 19:1-7
Mark 1:4-11

The voice of Jehovah is powerful; The voice of Jehovah is full of majesty.

It is interesting how sometimes a word or phrase will stand out to someone when reading the scriptures. During our Sunday class on Sunday (we look at the lectionary for the next week), Genesis 1:2 caught the attention of one member. "And the earth was waste and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep: and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters." The word was 'face,' and the though we can understand this in different ways, someone was struck by personification of the water, as if it had a face like human beings.

We looked in multiple Bible versions and found that several did not put any word there while others used the word 'surface.' That's probably the better understanding of the Hebrew word, but there's something intriguing about the word 'face' in this context. The chaos over which the Spirit hovered does have a personality: that mess was going to eventually become you and I and the world in which we live. I don't mean this in the evolutionary sense, as if we evolved out of that material. That formless void was transformed by the voice of God who spoke light and life into the nothingness. He did that in the beginning and He continues to do so today as people hear His voice and are changed into His people.

He spoke light into the darkness of that formless void bringing life and He speaks the Light into our darkness sparking the faith that brings us life. The texts for today are about birth and rebirth, creation and recreation.

It began in the beginning, but from the start God had a plan. We do have to be careful that we don't put meaning into the text that isn't there, as in calling the formless void personified, but it is an interesting thought that God was seeing our faces in that formless void. As He spoke light into the darkness, He was already planning to save us by sending the Light into our darkness.

As we discussed the texts for today, certain words stood out for us. There is power in the voice of God. The Spirit is present through the texts. There is water in both the creation and in baptism. The texts speak of life and new life, beginnings and new beginnings. God is in it through it all. If all God ever did was create the world and everything in it, we would still honor and worship a most remarkable God. Yet, the creation story is just the beginning; there is so much more to see and hear about His love and mercy and grace.

God is far more than we can even imagine. By His Word, the world exists. By His Word, we have life. His Word gives us all we need to live and serve Him in this world to His glory. The Psalmist knows that God is bigger than human reason and understanding and praises God by singing of the awesome power of His Word.

The psalmist writes, "The voice of Jehovah is upon the waters." This brings us back to the image of God at the beginning of creation, speaking order into the chaos and something out of that formless void. The psalmist describes God's voice as powerful, full of majesty. It breaks the cedars and shakes the wilderness. He has not stopped speaking into the world He has created. His voice still makes the world tremble. But, even more so, His voice, His Word, gives life to His people.

One of my favorite passages of scripture is the story of Elijah running away from Jezebel. He makes it to a cave on a mountain and waits for a word from the Lord. He hears a great and powerful wind that tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks, but God was not in the wind. Then there was an earthquake, but God was not in the earthquake. Then came a fire, but God was not in the fire. Finally, there was a gentle whisper. Then Elijah knew the Lord had come to speak with him.

Have you ever had one of those God moments when it seems like He is trying to hit you over the head with a two-by-four? It is pretty easy to hear God when He is loud and thunderous, but we should also listen for God's still small voice; God speaks often speaks subtly, such as in the creation and through the love of other believers. Sadly, we often miss the Word that comes to us in that gentle whisper because we are so busy listening to the chaos? A quiet voice does not rattle the world but a thunderous voice does. Sometimes God speaks in a way that will get our attention.

God spoke subtly when Jesus was born at Christmas. Who would have ever expected the Creator of the world to enter it in such an earthly and unnoticed manner? Only a few people were even aware of the event, and then it was all but forgotten for thirty years. We have few stories from His childhood, and much that we have is from non-biblical sources. We know very little about His life until the moment we see in today's Gospel lesson.

We meet Jesus again in today's Gospel text. John the Baptist was a voice crying out in the wilderness, calling God's people to repentance. They flocked to him: the young and old, rich and poor. What were they looking for? What do they expect? How would we judge the man described in the Gospels named John the Baptist? I'm sure he was unusual in the days of Jesus; the writers of the Gospels are so specific about his wardrobe and diet that we have to assume it was not typical. Camel's hair is not comfortable and locusts don't taste very good. Now, the poor did not wear linen and eat steak, although John was the son of a priest. He should have been living as a priest. John probably stood out in a crowd, but his odd taste in clothing and food did not keep the crowds from gathering around to hear him preach. He is portrayed as a madman, with wild unkempt hair and fearful eyes. Would today's crowds gather around him? Would we believe his words?

The story of Jesus' baptism is another new beginning. Jesus was born king. He was always the Christ, even before the creation of the World. He was sent as the Messiah, born of Mary and worshipped from the beginning of His earthbound life by those few who recognized Him. His baptism was a ceremony of anointing, a moment when God blessed Him with the power and authority to do the work He was sent to do. It was the moment when Jesus began His ministry among us. For a brief period, God spoke with a human voice, a voice that had the power and authority to make the world new.

Jesus was indeed the Messiah King from before time began, but His ministry did not begin until that moment in the River Jordan with John the Baptist. It was then He was anointed and given the power and authority of His position in God’s kingdom. From that time until today the world was changed by His love and mercy. We often wonder why Jesus needed to be baptized since He was perfect and without sin. That was His moment of inauguration, a ceremony defining the moment when He accepted that which had been ordained and the world witnessed the legitimatizing of His ministry to this world.

I wonder how many people actually heard God's voice the day Jesus was baptized. How many heard God say that Jesus was the Beloved, the one for whom they had been waiting? How many knew that God had broken through the darkness and given them Light? Some believed John and were baptized. Some believed Jesus and went on to follow Him. But many did not believe. Many ignored the reality that was before them in the desert and continued to live in the chaos and darkness of the world.

Sometimes it is hard to hear His voice, after all we are only human and the noise of this world can confuse us. We hear God's voice, but we don’t always hear everything He has said. In the story from Acts, Paul found some disciples who believed in Jesus. They had been baptized, but they had not yet received the Holy Spirit. They knew about the coming of Jesus from John the Baptist, but they didn’t have the whole story. John's ministry reached far and wide. We don't know whether these disciples had heard John at the Jordan, or if they heard the message from John's disciples that traveled to Corinth. The voice of God was heard in the far reaches of the known world, but the full message of the Gospel took time to reach those places; the people only heard part of the story.

In Ephesus, Paul met some people who knew about the new hope about which John the Baptist was preaching, but they had not yet received the whole story. They'd heard about the coming kingdom through the message of John the Baptist and were even baptized. However, they had not yet heard about Jesus and the Holy Spirit.

John's baptism was a baptism of repentance. Paul told the twelve men, "John told the people to believe in the one coming after Him." Luke writes, "And when they heard this, they were baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus." God spoke yet again through the mouth of Paul. And His Word had the power to save. Paul laid his hands on the disciples and they received the Holy Spirit and when they did they spoke in tongues and prophesied. It was the voice of God, spoken through a man, by which they heard the saving message of the Gospel. John's baptism did not save them. It was only when they heard about Jesus that they received the gift of faith and the power of the Holy Spirit.

They had a foundation for faith, but they did not have everything they needed. They were probably living decent lives, doing good things for their neighbors, but it wasn't enough. Paul gave them the rest of the story and they received the power of the Holy Spirit. At that point they became part of the ministry of God, part of the work of Christ, part of the Church that was started in the life and love of Jesus.

The voice of God continues to be heard today and when He speaks, things still happen. The Holy Spirit still hovers over that which is formless and void and brings life, light and peace. We hear God's voice and believe through the beloved Son who came into the world to be just like you and me. Though He is different, though He is the incarnate Word of God, He came to be one of us, to live as we live, and to die as we die, so that we might become like Him. His voice gives us light and peace. His voice gives us life.

In the beginning God spoke and a formless void was changed. He said just a word and the light was separated from the darkness. He continued to speak and everything came into existence. In the Old Testament, God spoke into and through the lives of His people. Despite God's powerful word, we continue to fail, attracted by the darkness instead of the light. So He sent His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ; Jesus came to change us, to make us whole, to give us the final word and faith.

With Jesus we receive a greater baptism. Just like Jesus in the River Jordan that day so long ago, the Holy Spirit comes out of Heaven and falls upon us while the voice of God speaks the assurance and encouragement of His love into our lives. At our own baptism, God says, "You are my beloved child; with you I am well pleased." This might seem very hard for us to believe. After all, we do not deserve such kindness. We aren't worthy of such amazing words. We know and we may even understand that God loves us, but these words say so much more. As a beloved child, God also likes us.

At our baptism, God speaks the words of assurance over our lives without any merit of our own. In the water and in His Word, God says, "You are my beloved; with you I am well pleased" even while we know we are not worthy to hear them. At our baptism, God says, "I like you and I want to be with you forever." God's Word brings light to our darkness, order to our chaos.

For two thousand years, men and women like Paul and the other disciples have been speaking God's Word by the power of the Holy Spirit. When the Gospel is preached and the sacraments are administered, people hear the words of assurance as if they are coming out of God's own mouth. That Word, which is Jesus, brings light into our darkness and order to our chaos. But, there is still darkness in this world and there is still chaos to contend with. We find peace in the light that shined on that first day; we find an even greater peace in our baptism. For in those words God gives us the strength to face the chaos and the trust to know that He will bring it to order.

Martin Luther said, "Remember your baptism." He was not calling us to remember the event or the day. He was reminding us to remember God's Word that came to us at that day. "You are my beloved child," He said. By those words we have the assurance we need to get through each day. We might have to face difficult times, Jesus did. The message He gave us to share is no more acceptable now than it was to His contemporaries. Yet we know, as we remember our baptism that we can live the words of the psalmist who said, "Jehovah will give strength unto his people; Jehovah will bless his people with peace."