Luke 3:15-16, 21-22
This morning, we transition from the beautiful Advent/Christmas Season to the Gospel stories of Jesus as he begins his public ministry as a young adult. We set the scene for this by listening to the words of Isaiah, the wonderful prophet and poet of the Jewish people. He describes the conditions of his time…naming what they have been waiting for, what they need as a people who have been waiting so long for the Messiah to come among them. And then we hear of this special moment of Jesus’ baptism. We have other accounts of his baptism in the Gospels, and this morning we hear from the words of Luke. Let us pray, O Holy One, we know that in baptism, we draw closer to you. Remind us again of the ways in which you guide us to live lives of faith and compassion through the model of your Son, your beloved.
I imagine we have a few NPR fans here who are faithful listeners of All Things Considered. I recall some time ago hearing one of the correspondents, Mary Louise Kelly speak about a book she had written entitled, It. Goes. So. Fast. where she speaks about how quickly her sons have grown and the challenges she faced trying to balance her home life with her work as a news correspondent while she traveled and reported from around the world. The book is her personal story about the things she missed out on in their lives, how quickly time passes and before you know it, it’s time for our kids suddenly to leave home. When our children are young, they say that the days are long but the years are fast, and I certainly can attest to that. Given what we have in the Gospels about Jesus’ life, we know very little about his childhood and all too quickly, he is an adult asking John the Baptizer to include him in the baptism ritual.
I wonder how Jesus pondered his life as he was growing up. Did he believe from an early age that he would join his father as a carpenter and when did he come to realize that he would be called to something much greater than that. All parents have great expectations for their children, but as much as his parents had been told early on that God had special plans for their son, I’m guessing that neither of them could have foreseen how his story would unfold. How did his parents guide him on his life journey? Did Jesus ponder the big questions of life and dream about what he wanted to be? Did his mission come to him all at once or did it emerge as he became more immersed in the journey? The Scriptures tell us only that he grew in grace, wisdom and age, but we are not privy to his personal reflections.
At a certain point, he clearly decides that it is time for him to leave home and go out into the world. Rev. Bill Kinnealy writes that, “Like others in the Jewish tradition reaching that age, he would have asked for what’s called a mikva or blessing. They would ask for this blessing, this pouring of water on them to show that they had reached a new stage in their life. If they were going to live in another town, they might ask the rabbi for this blessing. Perhaps Jesus had this in mind when he asks John the Baptist for a mikva or special blessing.”
Most of us have been baptized and yet we wonder, how this ritual began. Where did it come from? As we saw a few weeks ago during Advent, John appears in the wilderness preaching a gospel of repentance (Luke 3:3) — and the Greek word for “repentance” here is metanoia (from meta, “change,” and noia, “mind”). Today we would say, having a “change of heart” . As a sign of this change, John invites people to come forward and be baptized, an immersion-in-water rite in those days which was typically reserved for Gentile converts to Judaism, signifying the idea of a fresh start with such conversion. But John calls on the children of Abraham, too, to undergo baptism. It’s as if he’s saying, It’s not just outsiders that require conversion — we all do, because a new day, a new era is at hand! Change your minds and hearts and lives! Come and be baptized for the sake of the forgiveness of sins, for God is coming near!
“The Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form as a dove, and a voice came from heaven, “Thou art my beloved Son; with thee I am well pleased.” In newer translations, which are thought to be more accurate, the adjective “beloved” is made a separate phrase to emphasize the intensity of the personal nature of this experience. “You are my Son. My beloved. In thee I am well pleased.”
That is Luke’s version. All four gospels include this story, but Luke’s version is a little different than the others. In each version the Spirit comes “like a dove.” Luke and the other apostles use the dove as a metaphor for the Spirit’s coming into our lives, a beautiful metaphor. If you’ve ever seen a dove descend and land, it is graceful, gentle, and quiet which is the way the Holy Spirit enters into our lives. The Holy Spirit came to Jesus gently, quietly, and in Luke’s version, privately.
The other Gospel writers suggest that the Spirit descended upon Jesus at his baptism, apparently when he was still in the water.
Luke’s version is slightly different. He says, “Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the Holy Spirit descended upon him.” The special presence of God in this moment came to Jesus when he was by himself, praying; it wasn’t a public event. It was a personal and private experience. No one else saw it. No one else heard that voice from heaven. He came out of the water, went off by himself, and prayed and that is when this sacred moment takes place.
At this point in his life, Jesus seems to have embraced a sense of who he will be in the world and for the world. He will become a public healer and share a vision of what he often calls the “Kingdom.” He wants to teach others about this vision of a community, a world in which we treat one another with respect and compassion, where God’s vision becomes our mission. He chooses a few others whom he will teach in a special way about this Kingdom and he understands that he will visit towns with his companions to speak and teach, inspire and heal. He will remind them of the important traditions from Hebrew Scriptures and he will embody a new vision as well, one that at times contradicts what people have understood in the past. Love your enemy, forgive those who’ve harmed you, do not judge others, welcome everyone…It’s built on old and familiar understandings and, at the same time, it’s altogether new and revolutionary.
Luke’s Gospel describes the ways in which he reaches out to others and shares his vision; he tells us about how Jesus attends to those who seek him out for healing and hope. Sadly, we know that this important work goes by all too quickly exactly because it is revolutionary and threatening to those who hold power and want to keep it, who seek to conserve the status quo at all costs. Yet, at his core, he is sustained by this important foundation of love that grounds him, certainly the gifts of love and commitment which his parents have imparted to him, as well as this encounter with John the Baptist and the words of God saying, “You are my Son, the beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”
I hope that the love with which we were surrounded at our own birth and baptisms has served as our foundation over the course of our lives. And too, I trust that God speaks to us, maybe when we step away to pray in quiet, gently landing on our hearts through the Spirit and reminding us too…You are my beloved with whom I am well pleased.
Resources:
SALT Commentary
Rev. Bill Kinnealy, Commentary