Epiphany 1B

The Rev. Patricia Templeton
Epiphany 1B
January 11, 2009
St. Dunstan's

Into the Mud

How quickly he has grown!

Just over two weeks ago we were celebrating the birth of the infant Jesus, basking in the glow of the star that shone so brightly over that stable in Bethlehem, illuminating the humble birthplace of the Savior.

Just five days ago was Epiphany, the day that marks the arrival of the three wise men who followed that star to find the infant Messiah, bringing him gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.

And now here Jesus is, waiting to be baptized – not a cute infant in a frilly white baptismal gown, held by proud, beaming parents, but a grown man of 30, standing on the banks of the Jordan River, listening to his cousin John, a wild man whose preaching style makes today’s televangelists look tame.

We assume that the adult Jesus was a carpenter, following in the footsteps of his father, Joseph. But we really don’t know much more than that about the years between his birth and the time he reaches 30.

We don’t know what made him go to the banks of the Jordan this day to hear his cousin preach his special brand of hellfire and brimstone, urging people to repent and be baptized.

Jesus’ cousin has earned quite a reputation and gathered a strong following. On this day people from the whole Judean countryside and all of Jerusalem have come to hear the man known as John the Baptist. Some are actually beginning to wonder if he might be the long-promised Messiah.

But John assures the crowd this day that he is not the one for whom they are waiting.

“The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me,” he tells them. “I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

Unbeknownst to the crowd, this one who is more powerful than even John is standing in the midst of them.

No one notices him; no one calls attention to him. No one turns around while John is speaking and says, “Look, there he is!”

But when John finishes preaching, steps down into the river and begins to baptize his followers, there Jesus is, waiting quietly in line for his turn to be baptized.

What a powerful image. Hordes of humanity, heeding John’s call to repent and confess, waiting to be dunked in the river, washed clean of their sins.

And in the middle of them is the Messiah, patiently waiting his turn.

The one whose feet John says he is not worthy to touch presents himself to John to be baptized.

John is taken aback when he realized who is next in line. In Matthew’s telling of this story, John looks at Jesus and says, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?”

We, like John, might wonder what Jesus is doing there that day. Why does he need to be baptized? Why is the one without sin allowing himself to be immersed in a river that is filthy with the sins of the people who have been baptized before him?

Or as poet Joseph Donders says in his poem “Stepping in the Mud,”:

The mud of human evil

is very deep,

it stinks forcefully,

it is full of dangerous gases,

and there was Jesus,

in front of John,

asking to be allowed

to bend down in that mud.

And John,

no wonder,

hesitated.

But he, Jesus,

he went down,

and when he came up,

the mud still streaming …

HEAVEN OPENED,

and a voice was heard…

and a new Spirit

a new life

and a new heart

were announced,

glory, glory, alleluia.

He was bathed in light…

drowned in God’s voice…

full of spirit;

but what about the mud,

was he going to forget it?

No!

Because once he got the spirit,

that Spirit drove him

to do his work

in this world,

to struggle with evil in us,

in this world

in order to overcome it.

When Jesus comes up out of the Jordan, everything has changed. He knows it is time to put away his carpentry tools and old life, and begin his work as the Messiah.

In fact, in some gospel accounts the story of Jesus’ baptism is immediately followed by these words, “Now Jesus was about 30 years old when he began his work.”

In some ways, Jesus’ work is to stay in the mud, to as poet Donders says, ‘to struggle with evil in order to overcome it.”

Writer Nora Gallagher describes Jesus’ work this way: “He walked among the people; welcomed children, ate with anyone: he treated everyone as if they were a human being.

“He refused to obey the purity code. He healed and preached among the poor and outcast, among women, Canaanites and Samaritans. He shared in our common life, ate our food and drink, healed the sick, the blind and the lame.”

Jesus does not begin this work until he is baptized, until he willingly goes down into the mud. That is the moment when he receives the empowerment of the Holy Spirit and the assurance of God’s pleasure in him; that is the moment when he takes on the work of a Savior.

It is important that God’s anointing and favor does not come to Jesus while he is alone on some mountaintop or in a private gathering of family and a few close friend.

Jesus’ baptism is a public event. It happens in community with the people whom Jesus has come to save.

That is one reason why the church now makes baptism a public event, an act that takes place when the entire community is gathered. Baptism is our initiation into the community of God’s people, the people who Jesus has come to save.

And like, Jesus, we who are baptized have work to do.

Gallagher says that work is to help create the kingdom of God, “right here, right now.”

The baptismal covenant we will renew in a few moments gives us guidance on the work of those who have been baptized.

We are reminded to be faithful in prayer and the study of God’s word, to seek and serve Christ in all people, to respect the dignity of every human being, to renounce evil and everything that turns us away from God.

Again today, we promise to strive to do these things.

Notice that the baptismal covenant is filled with action verbs – seek, serve, persevere, resist, proclaim, strive.

We, like Jesus, are called to do something. Baptism calls us live, not just exist; to act in the world, not separate ourselves from it; to be willing to go down into the mud and muck of life.

Baptism is no guarantee that our lives will be without struggle or conflict, or that things will be easy. The life into which Jesus entered after his baptism was one of struggle, conflict, temptation, and death.

But we, like Jesus, have been baptized with the power of the Holy Spirit. That is a promise that God and Christ himself will be with us as we struggle to do God’s work in the world.

Jesus is baptized and goes forth to begin his work.

May those of us who this day renew our own baptismal vows leave this church strengthened in the power of the Holy Spirit to do our work – God’s work – wherever we go in the world, so that God may look at us and be well pleased.

Amen.

Readings

Genesis 1:1-5

In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.

Acts 19:1-7

While Apollos was in Corinth, Paul passed through the interior regions and came to Ephesus, where he found some disciples. He said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you became believers?” They replied, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” Then he said, “Into what then were you baptized?” They answered, “Into John’s baptism.” Paul said, “John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, in Jesus.” On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. When Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied—altogether there were about twelve of them.

Mark 1:4-11

John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. Now John was clothed with camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. He proclaimed, “The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”