“And He Was Baptized”
The Reverend Thomas G. Steffen
10 January 2010
Luke 3:15-17, 21, 22
The Gospel reading assigned to this Sunday reminds us of a fateful moment early in the life of Jesus when He takes a step that would reveal the purpose and calling that would define the rest of His days on earth. We don’t know all that much about what happened that day. We are told that He steps toward a man named John, a wild social reformer who was baptizing people who wanted to change their lives. And in taking this step into the water, Jesus experiences His own kind of rite of passage, a passage into a unique life of service and trust. Karl Barth said that in Jesus’ baptism we see “His free subjection to the will of God; His free association with humanity; and His free entry upon the service of God and humanity.”
Within the next few months, the Gospel readings will review how Jesus’ submission puts Him in contradiction to the world in a way that will lead, eventually, to His execution. His solidarity with humanity will define His ministry among the poor and the disabled, all those who wait for the gift of God’s rule that will override the way the world has been. And from that day on, after He emerges from the waters, nothing would be the same, not for Jesus nor His friends nor our world.
We read this story of Jesus’ mysterious baptism every year soon after Christmas Day, not merely to affirm that He was a very special man who was filled and intoxicated, like no other, with the divine Breath of God. We read it to affirm that we, too, are invited to take a step toward all that God is calling us to become. It is difficult to read of Jesus’ baptism without thinking about the baptism of the church in Acts, Chapter 8. There we read that those baptized were convinced of the good news of God in Christ, and they received the Spirit at the hands of the apostles. What happens to the church in baptism is what happens to Christ in baptism: submission to God’s intent and solidarity with the human community.
And it continues to this day. Followers of the Christ, the baptized and recipients of the Spirit, submit to God’s intent, to God’s will and solidarity with all humanity…or at least we are supposed to. And even though those two phrases, “submitting to God’s intent” and “solidarity with all humanity,” sound very abstract, the experience is not.
Have you ever heard the story about the doll of salt? It is a story that begins in the abstract but finishes for real. Once upon a time a doll of salt, after a long pilgrimage on dry land, came to the sea and discovered something she had never seen and didn’t understand. She stood on the firm ground, a solid little doll of salt, and saw that there was another ground that was mobile, insecure, noisy, and strange. She asked the sea, “What are you?” and the sea replied, “I am the sea.” And the doll said, “What is the sea?” to which the answer was “It is me.” The doll said, “I cannot understand, but I want to: How can I understand?” The sea answered “Touch me.” So the doll slowly put forward a foot and touched the water. She withdrew her leg only to discover that her toes had disappeared. Alarmed, she protested “Oh, but where are my toes; what have you done to me?” And the sea responded, “You have given something in order to understand.” Gradually the water took away small bits of the doll’s salt and the doll went farther and farther into the sea and at every moment had a sense that she was understanding more and more. At last a wave dissolved the rest of her and the doll said, “Ah…The sea, the sea, it is I.”
Today is a day of stepping forward in the hopes of making new discoveries. For those of you who are baptized, you have stepped forward to say “yes” to God’s intent, for you and your world. And in submitting to God’s intent, you have not moved ahead of others but have moved into full solidarity with others. You and I are to live as servants and agents of God’s love and reconciliation. Our initiation with water incorporates us into the intent and flow of God’s grace.
After we share in the Prayers of the People, we will reaffirm our promises to serve in the name of the Christ by using specific words and practical intent, so that our promises will have real purchase and power. It is mysterious, in a way, that this day of rededication falls the day after we gathered here to remember Peg Dyer, a member of our church, who was very practical. Her love was infectious and her inner joy transforming. May it be true of us as well.
May we, like the little doll of salt, be willing to risk something in the process of being transformed by God’s love. For it is only in giving that we will receive. Thanks be to God.
I am grateful to Reva Allington, friend and member of St. Peter’s UMC, who edits my sermons.