C Cyle – Baptism of the Lord 25

Is. 42:1+4, 6-7

In the scriptures, Jesus tells us, “…unless you change and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven” (Mt.18:23).  We know children have complete trust, freely express their desires, are honest about their emotions and have the freedom to abandon decorum.  Yet, there are other attributes that can surface if their needs are not satisfied.  They can be strong willed and unyielding. They need to be constantly affirmed. Parents are aware of those needs and do all they can to build a child’s self-esteem to prepare them to overcome the setbacks they will experience in life. 

By now you are wondering what does self-image have to do with the Baptism of Christ?  The first words of Isaiah’s prophesy answer that question by telling us “…here is my servant whom I uphold, my chosen one with whom I am pleased, upon whom I have put my spirit.” The same words are repeated by God as Jesus is baptized by John.  We understand those words of God were intended to prepare the Israelites for the day when Jesus would come as the Messiah.  They also affirmed Jesus who would have known Isiah’s prophesy and as He heard them knew the reason for His baptism.

There have been other prophesies that point to us and who we were created to become.  Prophesies that tell us we too would be given to the Holy Spirit who would guide us, teach us, and change our hearts so we would fulfill our destiny as sons and daughters.  We would understand the mission of Jesus and how His sacrifice removed the barrier between us and God.  His action is all the affirmation we need to grasp how much God desires us to know He delights in us.   That God sees us not our sins and loves us and rejoices in who we are and how we respond to Jesus’s sacrifice. 

We want to be pleasing to God, and our actions are directed at seeking His affirmation and to know we are loved.  Yet, there is a force at work in the world that is in opposition to God, and it is trying to tell us we have failed to live up to God’s standard of holiness. 

Our human nature compels us to seek to be pleasing to God.  Thus, the moment we failed to live up to a perceived standard of holiness we feel disappointed God.  That moment is etched in our memories, and it haunts us.  That memory remains and tells us we will never live up to God’s standard. We have failed and are unworthy.  We begin to beat ourselves up and to cope we hide from God.  Remember after Adam and Eve’s sin their first act was to hide from God. It is in our DNA to cover up our sin because we have been disobedient. We believe all the goodwill we have gained is lost because of one moment of disobedience, once again reminding us we are unworthy.  We will never be capable of changing our sinful nature.  We deserve to be rejected and expelled from the garden. 

Those panful memories of past wounds are often caused by others.  The rape, abuse, addiction, isolation, and rejection tell us God will never embrace us.  We do not fit in with the “holy” people.  The wounds of our failures, that abortion, our divorce, our unfaithfulness and unforgiveness become barriers preventing us from feeling loved. The serpents voice tells us we cannot be loved by God.  We have become lepers on the outside, looking in and nothing can change our condition. We are unclean. 

That is the lie and that is why this celebration of the Baptism of Christ is important to us. Jesus never sinned so why would He enter the waters of the Jordan to be baptized by John.  His baptism has nothing to do with repentance but instead it is an indication of His willingness to join us in this sinful world as a human.  It is a promise of what we can become by God’s grace.  His baptism shows us how the waters of Baptism are an empowering joining us to the body of Christ.  The outpouring of the Holy Spirit coming down upon us enables us to hear the voice of God speaking to us, telling us how pleasing we are to God.   

Yes, God is please with us, for He has done something about our sin.  God’s grace makes it possible for us to be totally transformed by the action of the Holy spirit. We are offered a transformation into the image of Jesus Christ by the action of the Holy Spirit (2 Cor.3:18).   It is impossible for us to be holy by our own acts of piety. We fail to understand God has provided us the means to be holy by the gift of new life by water and the spirit.  The Baptism of Christ points the way to our redemption.    

Jesus is showing us what is possible if we embrace what God has begun in us the moment we were baptized.  Before the sins of others against us created a wound so deep it keeps us from believing we are worthy of God’s love.  The moment we are baptized we are equipped for holiness.  The moment we are conceived in our mother’s womb, God has prepared us for a life living in His kingdom (Ps, 139:16).  Instead of embracing what God has done, we, like children, strive to earn approval and seek to be praised by our Father.   Instead of embracing the spiritual truth we are worthy of every drop of blood Jesus shed for us we struggle with guilt.  Let us remind ourselves of the new life God gives us through the waters of baptism.  Let us stop listening to the lies and hear the voice of God telling the cleansing waters of the Spirit are always pouring upon us. We only need to place ourselves under the glory spout.