1 Sermon for the baptism of Christ May I speak in the name of God; Father, Son and Holy Spirit Today the Church celebrates The feast of the Baptism of Christ Two days ago we celebrated epiphany And although the church keeps the season of Christmas Until the second of January And the feast of Candlemas the Presentation of Christ in the Temple the feast of the Epiphany which we celebrated on Friday marks the end of the very familiar nativity narratives the Christmas stories the Shepherds and Kings have arrived some from a nearby hillside some from distant lands the shepherds and the kings have had very different journeys but at different times and in different places they have found the same destination they have seen the Christ child they have worshipped and they have departed and now we fast forward to Jesus first appearance as an adult in Matthew s gospel I expect that you all know by now That this year
2 Is the year of the Bible And part of the focus of this year Is to encourage all of us To read the Bible And engage with the stories And history and poetry We find there And if we do this If we read the text carefully and attentively We will find that parts are perplexing Obscure or troubling we will have questions About what we have read We will want to know more about the God Who flickers like flame Through the pages of the old testament We will want to know more about Jesus who walks towards us, Out of the pages of the New Testament, I mention being perplexed by the bible Because the event we celebrate today The feast of the baptism of Jesus Raises perplexing questions We heard today The middle part of the story Of Jesus baptism Recounted in Matthew s Gospel However at the start Of the chapter Today s gospel comes from We read In those days John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness of Judea, proclaiming, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near. It is absolutely clear That John the Baptist was demanding
3 That people turned from their sinful ways And turned back towards God Which raises the question What is the baptism of Jesus about? What does it mean for us? To think about this I read the other baptismal stories in the gospels of Mark, Luke and John And as an aside It is surprising How few stories about Jesus Feature in all four gospels Outside the passion narratives There are five stories in all four Gospels and they are: The appearance of John the Baptist and his preaching, The baptism of Christ Jesus rejection at Nazareth, The feeding of the five thousand And the cleansing of the temple in Jerusalem when we read the different gospels accounts of the baptism of Christ it becomes clear that the authors and editors of the gospels had questions too Mark, as is characteristic of Mark s Gospel recounts the events and immediately moves on with Jesus driven by the spirit into the wilderness
4 Matthew The Gospel which we just heard Has a conversation between Jesus and john Which acknowledges the difficulty Posed by Jesus receiving a baptism of repentance And comes to a solution Jesus says let it be so now Luke glosses over The actual act of baptism With the lines when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and John s gospel does not describe the baptismal event at all but John s recollection of seeing the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove and remaining on Jesus John s Gospel Suggests that what is important In all of these accounts Is not so much the baptism And the tricky questions it raises But what comes after What happens next is Jesus Moving into public ministry Hold that thought Because at this point I want consider one of my favourite images in the Bible in today s reading from Isaiah there is the line A bruised reed he will not break, and a smouldering wick he will not snuff out.
5 Now I know it is a very bad idea To push metaphors to far But the scientist Deep within me Cannot resist this one Some of you may remember Seeing an experiment When you were at school It is the sort of experiment science teachers adore there is a bell jar in which is placed a piece of cloth: the edge of the cloth has been set on fire then blown out; it is still hot with a faint glow like a smouldering wick; and then the science teacher with a flourish pipes some oxygen into the jar And with satisfying suddenness the whole thing explodes into flame the point being made is that to have fire you need three things to have fire you need Combustible material Heat and oxygen So here is my take On the faintly burning wick which God does not quench the smouldering wick is our faith
6 The combustable material is our humanity Which Christ shared The Holy spirit is the oxygen Which causes the smouldering wick Our faint faith To become a burning flame A flame which burns away our sin And the barriers that our sin builds around us A flame Which becomes the light of Christ within us A flame Which lights the path before us So back to what Jesus did Following his baptism What happens is that Jesus Begins his public ministry The Bible texts record that at Jesus baptism The Holy Spirit descended on him God declared who he was And Jesus was anointed by God For his public ministry I find the stories of Jesus Then moving into the wilderness Helpfully human That sense of trying to work out What has happened What has God anointed him to do? Of course this happens now If we turn to God in faith With the intention of receiving God s grace Through the sacraments of Baptism And the Eucharist
7 We take a real risk That the Holy Spirit Will set our hearts on fire will transform us And send us out from our normality Whatever that looks like for us into a new ministry of preaching the Gospel of Jesus a ministry of proclamation proclaiming Jesus as lord as the Judge of the living and the dead as the one who brings forgiveness through his name But like the shepherds and the kings In the Christmas stories We have very different journeys to the place Where we encounter Jesus The place where we are open to God The place where the Holy Spirit Anoints us For the work and mission of God s church The place from which we return Proclaim Jesus as Lord And in Jesus name Bring forth justice for the oppressed And healing for the broken hearted It started with Baptism for Jesus And starts with Baptism for us The point where we begin our journey of faith God s beloved children Anointed by the Holy Spirit
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