JESUS BAPTISM January 08, 2012, The Second Sunday in Epiphany Mark 1:4-11 Adam D. Gorman, The Brick Presbyterian Church in the City of New York

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1 JESUS BAPTISM January 08, 2012, The Second Sunday in Epiphany Mark 1:4-11 Adam D. Gorman, The Brick Presbyterian Church in the City of New York Dear Lord, please be with each of us this morning. Guide our thoughts and our hearts in a way that is pleasing to you. Help us to always remember our baptisms and know that you will never leave us. Amen In preparation for today s sermon, I first had to seek out which text I felt lead to preach from, for this given Sunday, to this particular congregation. Rebekah, Doug and I spoke about the Scripture selections suggested in our daily lectionary for Epiphany, which was this past Friday, as well as those suggested for today. When I read the suggested passages for today, I was excited to find Mark 1:4-11. The reason I was stimulated or provoked by this particular text was because I recalled it being the first text assigned to me, for my very first sermon, in my first preaching class. I knew the text would present both difficulties and energy for me as I struggled with what it had to say for us. The first time I really had the opportunity to engage and study this text I knew I would be preaching from it to a room filled with seminarians. Many of whom were children, and even grandchildren, of some of the most renowned theologians and preachers. I knew my competition, which is funny to say considering we are talking about preaching about God, but I knew my competition, my peers, would come to class with amazing sermons, presented with great stature, and deep theological foresight. I knew that when it came time for me to deliver my sermon there would be two or three students preaching just before me, and two or three preaching just after me, all from this same given text. So I wanted to come to class with something different, something I felt they might not have seen or thought to preach from. But I learned my lesson

2 In the beginning of my exegetical process I saw that this passage brought with it powerful imagery of the Trinity. So I tried to force my research to be focused on God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit as presented by it. However, I was rudely, or shall I say wonderfully, mistaken. As I wrestled with the text in its original Greek, read different modern-day translations, researched what theologians had to say, and studied the history and culture of the time it was written, I found something else that I was called to preach that day. I preached about the identification of Jesus Christ as God s Son and the fulfillment of the prophecy of Jesus as the Christ (Xristos). In a similar way, except this time without preconditions, I re-went through the entire exegetical process to listen for what I felt God was calling us to hear today. Today is a baptism Sunday and it is a time for us to celebrate these new members of our church and promise to raise them with the love of Christ, and it is also a day for us to remember our own baptisms and the significance of them. Let s re-look at the beauty of Chris s baptism, that Thomas read for us today, to help us recall what ours meant and means, and the implications for the little ones, and the big one, we baptized here today. All of the people in the Judean countryside and all of the people of Jerusalem went out to the wilderness, to the Jordan River, to a wild man who was preaching a baptism of repentance and for the forgiveness of sins. John said to them, a more powerful one than I, one whom I am not even worthy to untie his sandals, will baptize you, the people, not just with water, but also with the Holy Spirit. John considered himself lowlier than a servant in comparison with the status of Jesus the Christ. Yet, then he was the one who had the privilege of baptizing Jesus. Picture this. Jesus has traveled from Nazareth in Galilee to a river in the middle of the wilderness where thousands of people have been traveling to in order to receive baptism. My understanding is that John was submerging Jesus in the water; Jesus was being dunked with his back toward the bottom of the river with his face up looking at the sky. He laid back, held his breath, and shut his eyes in order to be submerged. Then, just as His face was coming out of the water, he drew in breath, and saw before him heaven being torn apart and the Holy Spirit descending upon him like a dove. The heavens were ripped open and the peace of a white dove - 2 -

3 came down as if a calm in the storm. And a voice coming from heaven, perhaps through the tear or rip in the sky, said, You are my Son whom I love; with you I am well pleased. In this moment God declared Jesus as his child. We, too, are God s children. We, too, have received the gift of the Holy Spirit in our own baptisms. We have been marked by God. Chosen by God, to be God s sons and daughters. Jesus was identified as our savior on that day just as today these little ones, and the big one, have been identified and claimed as God s. Baptism is permanent. It is not something anyone can ever take away from us. It is a gift we have received because Christ came to earth to save us from our sins. Today we are reminded that we have been sealed, SEALED, by the Holy Spirit. We cannot remove our baptism through sinning or turning away from God. The Holy Spirit is with us no matter what. In youth and family ministry, ministers so often hear from parents that their teenagers are turning from God, and that they have become atheists. Many times these children have been great contributors to the congregations they are from. Often these young ones are actually pushing away from their parents by saying they are pushing away from God. This is completely normal; growing up involves creating space to discover who we are. Perhaps some of these children are pushing away or have been pushing away from God, but that does not mean that the Holy Spirit is not within them. Just as they are trying to discover who they are as individuals, they are hopefully contemplating their spirituality. Discovering and building one s faith requires asking questions. Faith is a faith-seeking understanding and understanding comes from asking questions and trying things out. Seeing how different things work, and do not work, for oneself. In light of this, we are called to encourage our young ones to come to church to discover for themselves what they believe. Today, during the presentation of baptism, Michael said, In baptism, God claims us, and seals us to show that we belong to God. By the water and Holy Spirit, we are made members of the church, the body of Christ, and joined to Christ s ministry of love, peace and justice. That is a reminder to each of us of our own baptisms. Frederic then asked us during the baptismal questions, Do we as members of the church of Jesus Christ, promise to guide and nurture these - 3 -

4 children, by word and deed, by love and prayer, encouraging them to know and follow Christ, and by our fellowship, strengthen their family ties to the household of God? And we all said, We do! Well if we do, then remember that this church is the family of Christ. That by being here more often and encouraging others to be here more often, we will all grow faithfully together. If we spend more time at the church, coming to Sunday worship, Sunday school, bible studies, youth activities, deacons events, women s events, and on and on, we get to know each other more. As we encouraged younger ones of the congregation to participate, they become more comfortable and feel more welcome. Then they are being raised by all of us, just as we have promised to do so in today s vows. Doug reminded us last week that we have received an invisible grace. He said that sacraments are a visible sign of an invisible grace. In the Anglican Book of Common Prayer sacraments are defined as an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace given unto us, ordained by Christ himself, as a means whereby we receive the same, and a pledge to assure us thereof. In our own Presbyterian Book of Order, we are reminded God s faithfulness signified in Baptism is constant and sure, even when human faithfulness to God is not. Baptism is received only once. The efficacy of Baptism is not tied to the moment when it is administered, for Baptism signifies the beginning of life in Christ, not its completion. God s grace works steadily, calling to repentance and newness of life. God s faithfulness needs no renewal. Human faithfulness to God needs repeated renewal. In the Gospel of Mark, Christ is baptized and from his baptism begins the recording of his ministry. We, too, were baptized and we, too, are developing the stories of our ministry. God is with us constantly, whether we are actively seeking God or not. We are not baptized and then sent out alone; rather we are initiated into a life with Christ in our baptism. Our lives, our faith journeys, ebb and flow, creating a magnificent story in our lives with Christ. I have been constantly reminded by theologians that the power of our sacraments is not a human one, contingent upon the moral character or doctrine of the - 4 -

5 celebrant you, I, and our children but it depends instead on God, who uses sacraments to bring about God s own purposes. Our baptisms have been brought to us by divine agency, not human agency. In conclusion for today s sermon, author James White says God acts in the sacraments ex opere operato, from the work done. God acts in the sacraments in God s self-giving. Through the sacraments, God s self-giving occurs as love made visible. God s self-giving, as love, is made visible through relationships of love within the community. Friends, whether our youth are saying they are Christians or atheists, here in this community God is doing something through them that we cannot see. God loves them and we are called to love them as a community. Remember your baptism and the baptisms of those around you. Know that the Spirit has sealed us and that Christ is with us, and be in peace. In the name of the father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen - 5 -