Sermon for January 8th

The reading

Luke 3:1-22

In the fifteenth year of the reign of Emperor Tiberius, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was ruler of Galilee, and his brother Philip ruler of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias ruler of Abilene, during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness. He went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, as it is written in the book of the words of the prophet Isaiah,

“The voice of one crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord,
    make his paths straight. Every valley shall be filled,
    and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight,
    and the rough ways made smooth;  and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’”

John said to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruits worthy of repentance. Do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our ancestor’; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”

And the crowds asked him, “What then should we do?” In reply he said to them, “Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none; and whoever has food must do likewise.” Even tax collectors came to be baptized, and they asked him, “Teacher, what should we do?” He said to them, “Collect no more than the amount prescribed for you.”Soldiers also asked him, “And we, what should we do?” He said to them, “Do not extort money from anyone by threats or false accusation, and be satisfied with your wages.”

As the people were filled with expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah. John answered all of them by saying, “I baptize you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”

So, with many other exhortations, he proclaimed the good news to the people. But Herod the ruler, who had been rebuked by him because of Herodias, his brother’s wife, and because of all the evil things that Herod had done, added to them all by shutting up John in prison.

Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.

The message

A preacher was finishing a sermon on temperance and the evils of alcohol.  He ended his sermon by declaring with great emphasis “if I had all the beer in the world, I would take it down and pour it into the river and if I had all the wine in the world, I would take it down and pour it into the river and if I had all the whiskey in the world, I would take it down and pour it into the river”.  At this time, the pastor sat down, satisfied that he got his point across and the worship leader stood up, smiled and announced “please join us as we sing hymn 423, shall we gather at the River”.

On a more serious note, rivers have always been a significant part of human civilization and social and religious life. Many of the great ancient societies thrived along rivers, the Mesopotamians along the Tigris and Euphrates, the Egyptians along the Nile as well as various cultures and great societies along the Amazon. India and Hinduism had the Ganges and the Israelites had the Jordan. Even here in New York, our city was built on trade along the Hudson River.  Rivers provided a source of water, transportation, trade, irrigation for crops and good soil to develop life sustaining agriculture on.   

This morning, about 30 years after the first Christmas, we find John the Baptist at the river.  He is preaching repentance.  John does not simply mean performing the external rituals and sacrifices for the atonement of sins, but he is talking about a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, John is demanding changes in how people think, see the world, and act towards others.  John is also proclaiming the fulfillment of prophesy, that Christ our savior is born, the long awaited Messiah is here, the kingdom of God has arrived.   John develops a large following, Many people come to the river to be baptized, to experience relevant faith and actual  joy in their relationship with God.  To put it mildly, John is anti-establishment, anti-the ways things are and anti- religious people just going through the motions and thinking they are holy.      John is regarded as a prophet, as a powerful and holy man but this bothers other powerful and holy men.  Eventually John is arrested and shut up through the removal of his head.

Before John’s arrest and death, he baptizes Jesus. This is Epiphany; this is one of those moments when the world starts to figure out just who exactly it was born on Christmas, that this child is God with us.  In Matthew’s Gospel, we see Epiphany in the 3 kings or Magi and the gifts they bring, here we see it in the Holy Spirit descending on Jesus and God declaring “You are my son, the beloved, with you I am well pleased”. 

John’s baptism and the baptism we receive are similar; both are for the forgiveness of sins.  For John, it was a work, a decision inspired by God, a symbol of change and call to reform. For us, baptism is even greater, it is God’s gift, a moment when we are killed to sin and given new life, we are joined to Christ’s death and resurrection (an event still about 3 years away during John’s life).   Immediately after Jesus' Baptism, he goes to face temptation in the wilderness where he endures extreme attempts  by Satan to draw him away from God.  His baptism is the source of strength to endure 

This act of Baptism, done by John at the river and done for many of us at the start of our lives is in many ways is a just like a river.  Baptism flows and follows us through our lives. To come back to my opening joke, we can pour our sins, grief, doubts and anxieties into baptism, and they will be washed away, they will not bother us anymore.  Like the role of rivers in ancient and developing civilizations, Baptism is the center of our faith, the foundation it’s built around and its source of energy and strength.   Luther had the spiritual practice of facing doubts, struggles and trials with the simple words “remember you are Baptized”.