Scripture: Mark 1:4-11; Genesis 1:1-5; Luke 1:26-37; Zechariah 12:10; Zechariah 13:1; Matthew 28:16-20
Preached on the Baptism of the Lord, this sermon reads Mark 1:4-11 alongside Genesis 1 and the annunciation to argue that the natural human response to God’s beauty and power is a sense of unworthiness, like John feeling unfit to untie Jesus’ sandal. Pruitt distinguishes humility (which positions us rightly and allows growth) from self-pity (the envious twin of pride that freezes us). He explains metanoia as both repentance and conversion — a turning that begins our part only because God’s prevenient grace turned to us first in Christ. The decisive gift John could not give is the baptism of the Spirit, by which Jesus is anointed Messiah and empowers the baptism his disciples carry to the world. The sermon closes on a Methodist theology of baptism as God’s unrepeatable gift (hence infant baptism and no rebaptism), leading into a baptismal remembrance ceremony.
Illustrations: waynes-world-not-worthy, groucho-marx-club, mary-annunciation-fear, sandal-untying-servant, beauty-that-humbles, baptism-not-paint-job
January 14
The Baptism of the Lord
When God began to create the heavens and the earth, the earth was complete chaos, 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. - Genesis 1:1-5
so John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And the whole Judean region 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 strap 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 upon him. And a voice came from the heavens, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.” - Mark 1:4-11
When we are confronted by what is beautiful, one of the most natural reactions that we can have is a sense of unworthiness. A beautiful sunset, a beautiful painting, a beautiful piece of music, a beautiful person. It is like in the classic movie from over 30 years ago, Wayne’s World, when Wayne and Garth meet the heavy metal musician, Alice Cooper. They are inspired to idolatry in bowing down to him and saying over and over again, “We’re not worthy! We’re not worthy!”.
They are inspired not by his physical beauty but by the beauty of his music. Not everyone finds Alice Cooper’a music beautiful, but they do and beauty is in the eye of the beholder. They find themselves inadequate next to what they see as beautiful. Before we can know if something is good or true, we see it to be beautiful. We sense that something special is going on, even if we do not know what that is.
When John the Baptist meets Jesus, he feels unworthy to untie the man’s sandal. Now, Sandal untying would be a servant’s job. You don’t take off the shoes of your friends but the shoes of your masters. It already admits a giant gap but John doesn’t feel he even qualifies for servant hood.
There is a deep symmetry here between John the Baptist and Mary when the angel Gabriel comes to her and she is frightened. Fear and unworthiness are very similar emotions that manifest in comparable ways by freezing us in place. We don’t know what to do next. We see that when we go back to Luke 1 when the Angel comes to Mary
Mary and the angel. Luke 1:26-34
”In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. And he came to her and said, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.” But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” The angel said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God. And now, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month for her who was said to be barren. For nothing will be impossible with God.”“ Luke 1:26-37 NRSV https://bible.com/bible/2016/luk.1.26-37.NRSV
Both John and Mary are able to admit their insufficiency next to the beauty and glory of God. It is the insufficiency we all face when confronted with the reality of God.
A deceptively powerful argument against the existence of God works as follows, if God is so great and powerful, why would God care about me? Since I am so weak and insignificant. I call this the Groucho Marx argument, I would never be a part of a club that would have me as a member.
We must admit a certain lack of proportion between God’s power and ours. Who are we compared to who God is?
We see with both John and Mary, as well, the difference between humility and self-pity. Were John and Mary filled with self-pity, no argument from Jesus or Gabriel would have made them agree to the request. Self-pity closes us off from others. Humility positions us properly next to God and others. Humility allows for conversation. Humility allows for growth.
Nevertheless, no matter who we are, when confronted by the power of God, we can deny it, we can ignore, or we can begin to let God change us.
You see, in the journey of life, if we begin with who we are and what we do, we get into trouble pretty quickly. In those moments, we try to fill the God-sized hole in our life with all sorts of fleeting things, with money, with power, with goals, with friends, with family, with many things that may have good in them but which in themselves cannot save us.
Metanoiete, says John. Metanoia is Greek for conversion. It is also Greek for repentance. Repentance and conversion are the same word. Repentance and conversion are the same thing.
We walk along the path one way. This is life. We are going somewhere. It may not be straight, but it is going somewhere. Then we turn around and go in a different direction. This turning is called conversion.
The journey is not finished at the turning, but we must start there. God doesn’t start there. God is already working in us from before we even know it. We call this prevenient grace. The grace which comes before. God is working on us and God is working on the ones we love: By working, I mean loving, for the work of God is love.
Metanoia, repentance, conversion is when our part begins. When we turn, we can be easily frightened by the chasm between us and God, by the stunning beauty of God’s love which reveals the depth of our own inadequacy.
If Mary let fear consume her, we would not have Christmas. If John let fear consume him we would not have Christ’s baptism. The story does not end at fear, it does not end at feeling inadequate, it does not end at saying sorry, because conversion is never about feeling sorry for yourself. Self-pity is the other half of pride. Self-pity is the other half of narcissism. Repentance is not self-pity. Repentance only happens because of humility. It is looking out at the Matterhorn. It is looking at the Pietà or the David or St Peter’s or the Grand Canyon. Self-pity is the response that does not move. It is the response of envy.
God does not let us wallow for before we turned to God, God turned to us in Jesus Christ.
Today we celebrate the baptism of the Lord. We celebrate John the Baptist saying yes to Jesus. John was the forerunner, the friend of Jesus. He was confronted by the beauty and power of the Messiah and he said yes not only to receive, but to give.
The baptism which John gave was not identical to the baptism we offer today. Before he met Jesus, John was proclaiming a baptism of repentance and the forgiveness of sins. One of my teachers even connected it to Zechariah 12:10 and 13:1.
”And I will pour out a spirit of compassion and supplication on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that, when they look on the one whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn.“ Zechariah 12:10 NRSV https://bible.com/bible/2016/zec.12.10.NRSV
”On that day a fountain shall be opened for the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and impurity.“ Zechariah 13:1 NRSV https://bible.com/bible/2016/zec.13.1.NRSV
This all sounds good and beautiful. The baptism of repentance and forgiveness is a major part of our theology of baptism, but it misses an integral notion that only Jesus brings: the baptism of the Spirit.
This is why John is intimidated by Jesus. This is why he feels that he is not worthy. This is why there is a prophecy of one who is stronger. John isn’t super impressed by Jesus’s squat or bench press personal record, it is because Jesus baptizes with the Spirit, which shows his power over the evil spirits of the world. We’ll talk more about evil spirits on January 28 if you are interested.
The baptism of Jesus also marks the point when Jesus becomes the Messiah, which means anointed one. Jesus is anointed by the father through the Spirit at this moment. Jesus receives the anointing of the Father and he blesses the water of forgiveness that he will command his disciples to give to all the world in Matthew 28.
Baptism is a gift to be shared and work of God. It is not a work of humans. God includes us in this work, but we are not the prime movers.
Baptism is a gift. As Methodists, we Baptize children because we believe baptism is a gift of God. This is also why we don’t rebaptize people because God does not make a mistake. You can be baptized and sin again. Baptism isn’t like a new paint job that needs a touch up from time to time. Baptism is a new person. You are buried in Christ’s death and rise in Christ’s life. You are made new and this new you does not go bad.
In a few minutes, we are going to have a baptismal remembrance ceremony. If you wish, during this time, you can come forward and I will mark you with the water to remember your baptism. If you were baptized as an infant, you may not have a memory of that day, but you remember the people who were with you. You at least remember your parents. Remember that day by remembering them. As well, your memory does not save you. God saves you. God was with you then. The same God is with you today.
Let us pray,
Add baptismal remembrance prayer.