Preacher: Pastor Betsy Hoium
Date: January 8, 2017
Sermon Title - Reset: Begin Here
Text: Luke 3:2-22
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Baby Jesus with a Beard
I have a good friend who served as a pastor at a new start Spanish-speaking congregation. For some of the kids that she worked with, the story of Jesus was completely new. Like us, they celebrated the birth of Jesus at Christmas and the kids got to participate as Mary, Joseph, angels, shepherds, wise men and animals. It’s one of my favorite bible stories because it is so easy to teach kids. They get animals and babies and moms and dads. It teaches all of us, no matter what age we are, how Jesus came to earth as a human baby, just as we did. The kids in her congregation got into the story too. But then, just a couple weeks later, they were talking about the story of Jesus and one of the kids said, “Why does Baby Jesus now have a beard?” And the follow up question was, “Do we still call him Baby Jesus?”
Where Have We Been?
It was a great question! Just two weeks ago we celebrated the birth of Jesus and last week – New Year’s Day – we heard the story of Jesus when he was 8 days old and the story of when Jesus was 12 and got lost. Boy were his parents mad!
We then have a gap of 18 years because in today’s reading, Jesus is now 30 years old. We don’t know too much about what happened in the intervening years, because Luke and the other Gospel writers didn’t find it significant enough to record here.
At this point John the Baptist had gone into ministry before Jesus has and John has developed quite a following! John is the cousin of Jesus who comes to prepare the way of the Lord. He first did this in his mother’s womb when he leaps as Mary comes to visit Elizabeth, telling her that Mary was carrying God’s Son.
Today’s Story: John the Baptist Prepares the Way
Preparing the way is John’s calling and he continues it into adulthood. John has gone out into the wilderness –a place away from towns and settlements. A dry dusty empty place. A place where there are no people. Yet even in the desert, people follow him! It sounds like John is quite a character – much like the prophets of the Old Testament. John is pretty rough around the edges, calling it as he sees it. He calls the people a brood of vipers. (I’m not sure how many of us would stick around if we were being called a bunch of snakes). He warns them not to rely simply on their heritage. In essence, he tells people they are not good enough.
But the people did stick around and one group after another asks the question, “What then should we do?” You have the crowd – who are the insiders – and the tax collectors who in that time were very corrupt and the soldiers who were foreigners brought in to “keep the peace.”
And the answers that John gives are things that we as humans can do. If you have two coats, share one. Do likewise with food. Take only your due share. Do your job fairly and justly.
Just like with the 10 commandments, God gives us a set of rules to live by – to love our neighbors – so that things go well between people.
But even if we do all of those things, that is not enough. We’re human, just like the people were in Jesus time. Luke says, the people were filled with expectation wondering if this character John the Baptist could possibly be the Messiah.
We then get John’s most profound words. Verse 16: “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.”
John has fulfilled his role of proclaiming the way for Jesus and in fact, as Luke tells the story, John’s outspokenness gets him arrested. That sets the stage for the beginning of Jesus’ ministry.
Jesus’ Baptism
One of the most profound moments in the Gospel – Jesus baptism – gets only 2 verses! It is almost an afterthought. After Jesus had been baptized and while he is praying, the Holy Spirit descends as a dove. And a voice from heaven says, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.” Today is called Baptism of our Lord Sunday where we remember Jesus’ baptism and that reminds us of our own baptisms.
All of the rules that John lays out are not enough for us as humans. We need God in our lives – both God’s love for us and God’s forgiveness. God’s voice said to Jesus, “You are my Son, the Beloved, with you I am well pleased.”
God is saying the same words to each and every person in their own baptism – listen: You are my child, my Beloved, with you I am well pleased.”
New Sermon Series – Reset: Begin Here
As we begin a new year, today we are beginning a new sermon series. It is called “Reset.” Think of how frustrated you get when your computer or your phone or your electronic games freeze up. Or go bizerk, not doing what they’re supposed to. I don’t know about you, but I’ve even been known to yell at my computer. I don’t think it does any good (except maybe to make me feel better!) Sometimes it is as simple as turning the device off and then on again. We all love when it is that simple. But other times we need to call in an expert to help us out with it. We need a reset. Sometimes it isn’t just our electronic devices. Sometimes our lives need a reset too.
January is also a time when many people make New Year’s resolutions. Raise your hand if you have ever made a New Year’s resolution (this year or previously). Most of us have. It’s now the 8th of January. I won’t ask you to tell me how those resolutions are going. We have great intentions, but sometimes we are not able to accomplish these things.
Today’s topic is Reset: Begin Here. Where we begin in faith is with God, through our own baptism. That is why we started the service with a thanksgiving for baptism and we talked with the kids about baptism. Many of us don’t remember our baptism because we were too young. We may have seen pictures or heard stories about our baptism – especially if we cried all the way through church or did something else memorable. When my niece was quite young we were at church together one day and a baby was being baptized. She was absolutely fascinated with babies so she watched the baptism very closely. And then as kids often do, she went home that day and played baptism. She wrapped a doll in a white blanket and we pretended there was water. She put it on the baby’s head and I said, “I’ll help you with the words.” So I said, “I baptize you in the name of the Father” and she chimed in saying “And the mother…”
She didn’t quite get the idea of God as Father but she understood the important roles of fathers and mothers in loving their children! So she probably understood much more than I gave her credit for.
How Can Water Do All of This?
Parts of baptism, like faith, is a mystery. In the Small Catechism Martin Luther asks the question “How can water do all this?” The answer is that it is not water alone but water with the word of God and faith, trusting in that God.
God knows us inside and outside. Just as John the Baptist says to the people, sometimes we are not the nicest people, sometimes we don’t make the best choices, sometimes we do things that hurt others. God knows that and still he claims us as his child. With all of our faults and idiosyncrasies. God loves us. God claims us. God forgives us. In the Lutheran church we most often baptize infants. And the reason we do that is that baptism is a gift given to us by God. It is 100%--totally and completely—God’s doing. Not something that we do. We don’t have to choose or accept God. We don’t have to live a certain way or be good enough. There is no test. By virtual of being human, being created by God, we are his children and baptism is a gift to us. We are adopted into God’s family. This is what we call pure grace. Grace is the undeserved love of God. God says to Jesus, “You are my Son, my Beloved. With you I am well pleased.” God says to each of us, “You are my child, my Beloved, with you I am well pleased.”
On days when you have a big fight with someone you love and care about. On days that everything goes wrong. On bad days at work or school. On days you get terrible news. On days where you feel really down on yourself. On days you wish you had not even gotten out of bed. Even on those days – and most importantly on those days, God is saying, “You are my child, my Beloved, with you I am well pleased.”
Amen.