Sermon: The Baptism of our Lord, Year A RCL

Sermon for The Feast of The Baptism of Our Lord
Isaiah 43:1-7
Luke 3:15-22

The world was in turmoil When Hezekiah succeeded his father Ahaz on the throne of Judah. When Babylon rebelled against the suzerainty of Sargon and the Assyrians, Egypt took advantage of the shift in Assyrian troop deployments to offer treaties to the Assyrian vassals in the Levant, including Hezekiah’s Judah. The power of the local kings of what we now call the Palestinian Authority, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria seemed to increase and for several years they refused to pay the tribute demanded by their erstwhile overlords. The heady nationalism of those days provided fertile grounds for the re-establishment of the historic religion of Israel. Under the preaching of Isaiah and Micah, many of the people of Judah became much more serious about their faith, and even King Hezekiah took steps to purify the land of idolatry. When Sennacherib succeeded his father Sargon the Great in 705 BC, Merodach-baladan, King of Babylon, renewed his rebellion against his new overlord, and as Assyrian troops again moved east, the western vassals, inspired by Egyptian agitation, rebelled. When the eastern rebellion was crushed, Sennacherib turned his armies on the western rebels, and the devastation was terrible to behold. The events of 701 BC are recorded in II Kings 18, and the details are supplied by the Assyrian annals. Forty Six Judean fortresses were captured and destroyed, the country was devastated, and the Assyrian records boast that “Hezekiah was shut up in his capital like a bird in his cage.” II Kings 19 tells us of how the King of Judah cried out to God and how God delivered the city. Lord Byron tells the story in his poem, “The Destruction of Sennacherib.”

For the Angel of Death spread his wings on the blast,
And breathed in the face of the foe as he pass’d;
And the eyes of the sleepers wax’d deadly and chill,
And their hearts but once heaved, and forever grew still!

And the widows of Ashur are loud in their wail,
And the idols are broke in the temple of Baal;
And the might of the Gentile, unsmote by the sword,
Hath melted like snow in the glance of the Lord!

The Biblical account goes on to tell of the blessings of God in the life of King Hezekiah, and of his decisions, good and bad, which would later so impact the city and people of God. And the story is told in Isaiah 39 of how the foolishness of the generally good King Hezekiah led to that horrible prophesy of destruction and captivity “by the waters of Babylon.” But as God spoke of Judgment and retribution through his prophet Isaiah, he also spoke of deliverance and blessing, and our first lesson today is a part of that greater story. “I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Saviour.”

Today, we live in times of uncertainty. Food prices are up; unemployment and underemployment are still disturbingly high. Many wonder how new laws might impact their taxes, their medical coverage, and their retirement plans. While our foreign wars seem to be ending, as a people we seem to have turned on each other with barbaric acts of savagery which bring us sorrow and shock, anger, and fear, and distrust. The choices we have made, the decisions our leaders have made, and the responses that spring from our hearts in the face of good times and bad often take us through some new Red sea, some present day Jordan, or some wide and current filled Euphrates, and we wonder how we will ever survive and if we will ever find stability again. These baptisms in water grow so often out of our own bad choices, and they remind us all too surely of our past sins against God and against each other. We pray and hope against hope that these waters which threaten to overwhelm us will also wash away our sins and give us new life in some new promised land, where we might start anew, beyond the reach of past decisions and events that we would rather forget.

And as we seek this new start spiritually, and emotionally, and personally; we come to John’s baptism of repentance. We know why we are here, and cry out to God that this time it might be for real, and that we might start anew. In the midst of our uncertainty and our desire to repent, the Baptist’s cry is clear and strong, “You come seeking the baptism of repentance; but another is coming, and he will baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire!” And then Jesus came among us, submitting to that same baptism we have known, identifying with you and me and demonstrating that he does understand our state and that he does accept us as his own. And to confirm the reality of it all, a voice came down from heaven and said, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”

God the Father looked upon this free act of Jesus the Christ, this identification with you and me, and declared his pleasure, even his delight. Just as he declared his creation to be a good thing in Genesis chapter one, in today’s Gospel lesson, he declares this new creation that we have found in Jesus Christ through Holy Baptism to be a good thing. Because of his love, he does not expect us to go into the waters of baptism by ourselves, He joins us as we go under the water and deal with the realities of our sins, of our bad choices, and of our fear and separation from God and each other. Baptism is not just some magical act, or some ceremonial rite of passage for those who happen to be born into Christian households. It is that point in our lives when we come face to face with the realities of our separation from God. It is that time when we see ever so clearly the consequences of trying to do things our own way. It is that time when we are forced to acknowledge the pain we have known and the pain that we have brought into the lives of others. And as we face these horrible memories and results of our own behaviour, and the behaviour of our species, Jesus comes to us and takes our hand as we step into the water. We need not fear the darkness as it closes over us nor the waters as they cover us, for Jesus is by our side. “He bears our sins and our iniquities are upon him. And by his stripes we are healed.”

On this feast of the Baptism of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, I bid you all, good Christian people, to consider again what happened on the day you were buried with Christ in Baptism. Consider the burdens you carry this day, and in faith know that he dealt with them on that day when he joined us in the waters of Jordan. As you walk by this holy font on your way to the altar of God today, know that your sins are washed away, that Jesus Christ has made you a new creature, and that he is here with you to lift every burden you bear. In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. AMEN