Baptism of our Lord or First Sunday after the Epiphany
Genesis 1:1-5
Psalm 29
Romans 6:1-11
Mark 1:4-11
Thus consider yourselves also to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
I was going through old videos a few months ago and found my son’s baptism. The pastor took advantage of the event by making it a teaching moment. He invited all the children to gather around the font with us and he talked to them about what it means to be baptized.
The baptism liturgy differs from church to church, but here are the words that we hear in mine. “Holy God, mighty Lord, gracious Father: We give you thanks, for in the beginning your Spirit moved over the waters and you created heaven and earth. By the gift of water you nourish and sustain us and all living things. By the waters of the flood you condemned the wicked and saved those whom you had chosen, Noah and his family. You led Israel by the pillar of cloud and fire through the sea, out of slavery into the freedom of the Promised Land. In the waters of the Jordan your Son was baptized by John and anointed with the Spirit. By the baptism of his own death and resurrection your beloved Son has set us free from the bondage to sin and death, and has opened the way to the joy and freedom of everlasting life. He made water a sign of the kingdom and of cleansing and rebirth. In obedience to his command, we make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Pour out your Holy Spirit, so that those who are here baptized may be given new life. Wash away the sin of all those who are cleansed by this water and bring them forth as inheritors of your glorious kingdom. To you be given praise and honor and worship through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, now and forever.” (Prayer at Baptism from the Lutheran Book of Worship.)
I love the way the pastor proclaims God’s use of water in this prayer so that we see the connection of our baptism to the creation, to our sinfulness, to see God’s grace. “He made water a sign of the kingdom and of cleansing and rebirth.” We are called to be instruments of His grace by using water and His Word to make disciples of all nations. This is an act of worship; it is an act of trust and obedience. We believe that God’s voice can put order to the chaos of our world; it can free us from the bondage of sin and death and grants us new life.
There is an Italian artist who has lived in the United States since 1965, developing his style in Florida and Arkansas until he landed in Texas. Like all artists, Benini’s style has changed over the decades, but I love his more recent work. He uses an application process that combines hand blended backgrounds and selectively dropped acrylics in controlled patterns. These paintings are very geometric and often monochrome, with clean lines while still being almost chaotic. One series is called “The Face of God.” He used large canvases, 4ft x 6ft, and acrylic paints to create seventeen paintings that are all similar and yet very different. Each painting has an irregular oval in the center of the canvas and is surrounded by splotches of color; each canvas has a different color focus.
Benini said about this series, “The God I was portraying had nothing to do with religious icons or established beliefs - identities man has created from the beginning of man time. It was more a quest for an abstract essence: universal in spirit. I used color, my lifetime ally, with all its powers and varieties.” While I might not agree with Benini’s understanding of God, the paintings are incredibly beautiful, and they draw you into the light at the heart of the painting which his surrounded by a frame of colorful chaos. Many artists have tried to portray those first moments of order in the midst of the chaos at the creation of everything. One artist named Kathryn Davis did a series of paintings called “The Seven Days of Creation.” She represented each day with color, shape and texture using watercolor, pastel, metallic paint, and collage medium.
As I look at these visions of the creation, I wonder how I might represent the seven days with my own point of view and gifts. It isn’t easy, especially the day when God spoke light into the darkness and order into the chaos. How do you capture a formless void and day and night on canvas? How do you take common earthly elements to portray the incredible thing God did on that first day?
I am creative. I have piles of canvas, paints, and brushes around my studio just waiting for images of something. I have piles of craft supplies for other projects. I have paper, pencil, and a computer for creating something in writing. I have lots of ideas in my head, but those ideas are invisible to the world until I reveal them; the only way the world will experience my creativity is to make them tangible. I speak with paint and canvas or with other supplies. I speak with words on the computer. When I speak in words, arts and crafts, my ideas are made concrete and are shared with others. The same is true with God. He had a plan, but He had to put voice to the plan for everything to come into being.
We have new life because God had a plan. In the beginning, the earth was formless and empty. Darkness was on the surface of the deep. We often think of the world before creation as being nothing, and yet the formless void which the scriptures talk about was not empty but filled with dark, deep waters. The wind, or Spirit, of God blew over the face of those waters. This was chaos, a world without light or order. The world was not empty, but it was overwhelmed by darkness, out of control, and hopeless.
The image of that chaos is as frightening as a churning, dark, and stormy sea might be, because there is no order and no light. But God had a vision for the formless void: earth. The text from Genesis says, “God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.” It took only a word and everything changed. The chaotic formless void now had light. Even with nothing else, there is peace in knowing that something, or someone, has dominion over the chaos.
The first day of the is probably one of the hardest things about the creation story for us to wrap our minds around. In the beginning there was nothing. The scriptures call the earth a formless void. What is that? If there was an “earth”, how could it be formless? How could it be void? And how can you recreate something so outside our limited earthly experience? I’ve tried to imagine what my painting would look like and I’m not sure I can even ‘see’ this with my creative eye. A black canvas would not even do well, because it isn’t formless, and it isn’t void.
Yet, as I think about the story of the first day of creation, it seems to me that the formless void is much like an empty canvas. The point of these words is not that God had nothing to work with, but that God had a vision; that vision came to life when He spoke. It took only a word from the mouth of God for the formless void to become light and dark. By His word the light and the dark were divided, and He gave them names. We should not be confused at this point by the use of these names. The celestial bodies have not yet been created. The light and dark, Day and Night, are not as we know them. This aspect of the first day is as difficult to put to canvas as the formless void. The light, the Day, is Christ: love, mercy, hope, grace, joy, generosity, justice, and all things good. The dark, the Night, is the absence of those good things.
The formless void in the creation story is like an empty canvas to God the master painter. His vision of what would be is not limited as ours. We may not be able to find a truly fitting way to put it on canvas, but God spoke all of creation into existence, beginning with the spiritual foundation of all that there is. We don’t hear about Jesus until later, much later, in the history of mankind. Yet, Christ was there, at that moment, and it is through Him all things were created. On the first day God brought to life His imagination, everything He desired for that formless void was started with just a word, His Word.
Art is one way to communicate, music is another, but we all rely on words on a daily basis. We talk to one another, tell stories, share ideas, speak good and bad. I tend to smile at people I’m passing during the day, which is another form of communication. But sometimes a smile is not enough. I was walking into a busy building this morning, smiling at those who were leaving. It was a medical facility, and at least a few of those who passed were dealing with hard news. I don’t know if my smile was appreciated by all, but some responded with words. “Good morning.” “Hello.” “Have a nice day.” I responded kindly. These may seem insignificant, but those small words made each person, including myself, feel seen and valued. Words make a difference, and in the case of God’s Word, it gave life in so many ways.
When someone in my church wants to get the attention of the crowd, they will loudly speak the words, “Peace be with you.” They usually aren’t heard the first time, so they say it again a little louder. A few people hear and mumble, “And also with you.” The person says “Peace be with you” again, and by now most of the crowd is paying attention. They will say “And also with you” a little louder. Finally, the person will say it one last time and everyone will join in the response. These words bring us together.
There’s a comedic scene that is often used in television shows or movies. The scene shows two people trying to talk in the middle of a noisy crowd. One wants to tell the other something important and very personal, but it is nearly impossible for the other person to hear. The person speaks close to the other person’s ear, but it is still unheard. Finally, the person gets so frustrated that he or she screams the words. The scene makes us laugh because a split second before the words leave the person’s mouth, something happens to stop the noise and everyone in the silent room hears. The shout is much louder than anyone might expect, making it doubly humorous to those of us watching. It is usually followed by the comment, “You don’t have to shout.”
Public speakers learn how to talk so that they will be heard, especially if they are facing a room that has uncontrollable noise. In most cases, it is best to speak with a normal voice: not too loud or too soft. Sometimes it is helpful to use a soft voice, making it necessary for the listeners to focus on hearing the words. This is especially true in groups with young children. Teachers learn quickly that raising their voice only raises the noise level in the room. It is sometimes better to talk in a whisper because the children realize that the words being said might be important and the only way to hear them is to be quiet.
One of my favorite passages of scripture is the story of Elijah in 1 Kings 19 when he was running away from Jezebel. He made it to a cave on a mountain to wait for a word from the Lord. He heard 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.
We hear God in the still small voice, the gentle whisper. There are other ways that God speaks to us that are quiet and subtle like through the creation and the love of other believers. How often do we miss that small voice because we are so busy listening to the chaos in our lives? The psalmist reminds us, however, that God also talks with a powerful voice, fully of majesty. His voice breaks the cedars and shakes the wilderness. A quiet voice does not rattle the world, a thunderous voice does. Sometimes God speaks in a way that will get our attention. As I have dealt with my health issues over the past few months, I’ve realized that God used His powerful voice to get my attention. He spoke and I’ve responded.
The psalmist wrote, “Yahweh’s voice is on 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. He has not stopped speaking into the world He has created. His voice still makes the world tremble. But, even more so, He gives strength to His people. We have nothing about which to be afraid. God is King and He will bless us with peace. It is His voice we hear during the baptismal liturgy.
It begins with the Spirit moving over the waters when God created heaven and earth. Water nourishes and sustains us. The liturgy tells of the flood that condemned the world and the grace that saved Noah and his family. It goes on to talk about the Red Sea that parted to allow Israel to escape slavery. It reminds us that Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist in the Jordan. In baptism we join Jesus in His death and resurrection, saved from sin and death by Jesus who set us free. Water is a sign of the kingdom and of cleansing and rebirth. We join the church historic in obedience to His command to make disciples of all nations by baptizing, asking God to pour out His Spirit so that by baptism we will have new life. We ask God to wash away our sin so that we can be brought forth as inheritors of your glorious kingdom. We praise God for His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom all this is possible.
In the conversation at the font, the pastor asks the person being baptized or those who were presenting that person, whether they renounce the devil and all the forces that defy God, the powers of this world that rebel against God, and the ways of sin that draw each person from God. It is sad that this has to be a part of such a life-changing moment in that person’s life, but the reality is that evil exists. We know this to be true. The Bible tells us that evil is in the world, and we’ve seen it with our own eyes. We have suffered from the sins of others, and we have suffered the consequences of our own sin. We die because of sin, even though that was not God’s intent.
Evil exists because some of God’s creation rejected the light. Evil exists outside the Light; it is the lack of God. Some of God’s creation rejected God, and thus we are left with evil. It did not take very long for the evil ways of those who reject God to draw others away from the light. Even in the Garden of Eden, Paradise, Adam and Eve were swayed to turn from God and to leave the Light. Since that moment, sin has been a part of our world. We can’t fix it. We can’t defeat it. We can’t overcome sin by our own power because it has overpowered us. It was human sin that brought chaos back into the perfect world God created. And yet, in the beginning, God spoke and our salvation was revealed.
With a word, God made the chaos orderly, the darkness light. With just a Word, He changed a formless void into the beginning of His vision for the world. Though it seems like darkness and evil still rule and that the world is still chaotic and void, today’s scriptures remind us in a very real, tangible way that God did not stop speaking. God had a plan to bring order to this world that was filled with sin. The voice of God ripped through the fabric of creation and God incarnate was born.
The Word He spoke on Christmas Day was His Son, Jesus Christ. In today’s Gospel lesson, we meet that Son as He enters fully into the lives of His people through the ministry of John the Baptist. John is the voice crying out in the wilderness, calling God’s people to repentance, making the way for the Lord. The people flock to John no matter who they are: young and old, rich and poor. Those who believed John’s message were baptized in the river Jordan, but even as he did this baptism, he told them that another would come. The one to come would be greater than John, so great that John would not even be worthy of being His slave.
Then Jesus came to the River Jordan and was baptized by John. At that moment, God spoke again; with His voice He divided light and dark. He spoke hope into the world. Mark writes, “Immediately coming up from the water, he saw the heavens parting, and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. A voice came out of the sky, ‘You are my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.’” The plan came to fruition when God named Jesus His beloved Son.
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.
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.
We have eternal life through our baptisms, but we still face the temptations of the world. Our Father knows how difficult it is for us to walk away from those things that are harmful to our spiritual life. Jesus Christ came in flesh and was tempted so that He could truly identify with the failures of our flesh. However, Jesus did not fall to temptation; He remained perfect and true to the Word of God no matter what Satan offered Him. His understanding of the grace and mercy of God was so perfect, that He was able to keep from sin. By His death and resurrection, we are forgiven our failures and given the freedom to live in His grace and mercy.
We join in His death and resurrection through our baptism. Cleansed by the waters and the Word, we are made new creatures, no longer under the hold of sin and death, but embraced by the God who knew what we needed long before we needed it. We still dwell in a world filled with chaos and darkness, and we still need God’s grace because we continue to fall. Paul tells us that faith changes things. We walk in newness of life, and though forgiveness continues to be ours, we are reminded not to live as if we have never been baptized. We are no longer lost in the chaos and darkness; we dwell in the Light. We are dead to sin, called to trust and obey His Word as inheritors of His glorious Kingdom.
Though we are not Jesus the Beloved, we are beloved children of God. The Light shines in, with and through our lives when God speaks our name. On this Sunday as we remember the baptism of Jesus, we are called to remember our own baptisms. And yet, we should not simply recall the experience of getting wet in church one day.
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. In the words “You are my beloved child,” we have the assurance of God’s grace we need to get through each day. We will struggle because we live in a fallen world. We will face difficult times. The Gospel is no more acceptable now than it was to Jesus’ contemporaries. Yet we know, as we remember our baptism that we can live the words of the psalmist who said, “Yahweh will give strength to his people. Yahweh will bless his people with peace.” In that peace we can go out and make disciples of all nations, sharing His grace so that others will see the Light that overcomes the chaos and darkness of this world.
When Martin Luther said the simple statement, “Remember your baptism,” he was telling us to daily remember God’s voice and the Word that came to us at the font. At your baptism God said, “You are my beloved child.” He named you His own and sealed our life with His Holy Spirit. He spoke and your world was changed. The Light from the first day of creation has entered into your life and though the chaos continues, you can dwell in His peace because by His grace you are made dead to sin and darkness forever through the forgiveness and reconciliation that was part of His plan from the beginning.
A WORD FOR TODAY
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