Scripture: Matthew 3:13-17; Isaiah 42:1-4 Series: Epiphany
An Epiphany sermon on the baptism of Jesus that plays on the Hebrew kinship of ‘water’ (mayim) and ‘sky’ (shamayim) to picture creation as waters above and below. Jesus, the servant-Messiah of Isaiah 42, travels to John at the unnavigable Jordan and submits to baptism, not to be made holy but to make the water holy. People made a deliberate detour to John (illustrated by the Michelin Guide’s ‘worth the trip’ stars versus a convenient Silicon Valley stop), and the preacher calls hearers to a similar detour: baptism, church membership, and inviting others to the water of life.
Illustrations: outdoor-worship-rain-drought, hebrew-mayim-shamayim, silicon-valley-google-apple-visit, michelin-guide-stars, maximus-of-turin-baptism, early-christian-infinite-river, umc-membership-vows
January 11
Isaiah 42:1-4 Matthew 3:13-17
Waters Above, Waters Below
Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations. He will not cry out or lift up his voice or make it heard in the street; a bruised reed he will not break, and a dimly burning wick he will not quench; he will faithfully bring forth justice. He will not grow faint or be crushed until he has established justice in the earth, and the coastlands wait for his teaching. - Isaiah 42:1-4
Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan, to be baptized by him. John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, for it is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he consented. And when Jesus had been baptized, just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens were opened to him and he saw God’s Spirit descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from the heavens said, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.” - Matthew 3:13-17
Whenever you are planning an outdoor event, the rain can be an incredible nuisance. We had a weekly outdoor worship service at my former church. This made me think about the weather a lot more than I had before. It seemed like there were some weeks when the only time it would rain was Sunday morning. I wasn’t thinking about the drought that Travis County had been experiencing at the time. I was thinking about how the rain impacted me. I was thinking about the waters coming down from above ruining my event.
In Hebrew, the word for heaven or sky is nearly identical to the word for the word for water. The word for water is mayim, the word for sky is shamayim. What that literally means is waters and waters above. When you look out at the ocean and you can you see the horizon, there are many days when the distinction between the sea and the sky is minimal. In Hebrew, we are all surrounded by water. Even in the desert, the water is around us. Especially in the desert, we think about the water.
When Jesus is going to get baptized, he has not been through a desert. The Jordan River runs through a verdant valley from the sea of Galilee to the Dead Sea. There are many places that people claim as the location of the baptism of Jesus, but none are definitive. Whatever the case, the baptism took place at a wild spot, but not a desert spot.
The Jordan River is a lot like Texas rivers, in that it is not navigable most of the year. There are no historic sea battles on the Jordan River. It is not like the Mississippi or the Red River or the Nile or the Danube. The waters of the Jordan offer water to drink, to bathe, but not really transportation. This is why, historically, there aren’t any great and ancient cities on the Jordan. People have to travel to get to the Jordan. It is not a convenient location fr a revival. Jerusalem or Caesarea Philipi or even Capernaum would have been a better location for a revival. The Sea of Galilee can employ thousands of people around its banks. The Jordan cannot. You had to want to go there. You had to make a trip of it.
My family recently visited San Francisco and Silicon Valley. My mother has cousins in the city and Alina, my wife, has a cousin, Gabi, south of San Francisco in Sunnyvale. While we were staying in Sunnyvale, we visited the Google headquarters where Gabi works. Dom also wanted to go to the Apple headquarters so we did that, too. We didn’t fly across the country to go to Google and Apple. The spots were convenient and interesting so we checked them out.
Folks weren’t ‘checking out’ John the Baptist. They traveled to see him. They made a detour.
In 1889, Andre and Edouard Michelin founded a tyre company in Clermont-Ferrand, which was then a small village in France. It was moderately successful so that they could make a living, but there just weren’t enough drivers in France for them to sell a lot of tires. Thus, the brothers started sharing information about local communities to drivers informally so that they would go on more roadtrips. In 1920, they started selling the guide. But it was in 1926, when they began to award stars, that things really took off.
They went with the system of 1-3 stars. 1 Star being good cooking, 2 stars being excellent cooking, 3 stars being exceptional cooking, something worth a trip all on its own. Today, there are currently 18,801 restaurants that Michelin has reviewed, only 157 have received 3 stars. A 3 star restaurant is worth the trip on its own, like a the French Laundry in Napa Valley, or Alinea in Chicago, or Eleven Madison Park in New York. These are places worth the trip.
John the Baptist is offering something new on the banks of the Jordan River and people are coming to see him. He is preaching with strong language and people are receiving his words. He is offering a sign of a changed life in the waters of the river and people are taking him up on his offer.
John is a student of the scriptures. He sought to be faithful to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And yet, he was surprised by Jesus. Not surprised by who Jesus was, but surprised by what Jesus asked for. John, no matter how holy he was, saw the water for what it could do for him. It was a source with which he could baptize sinners for repentance, and a source in which the Messiah could baptize him. John lived with an understandable hierarchy, and he put himself under Jesus. But Isaiah 42 reminds us that the coming of the Messiah is not the coming of a soldier, but a servant.
Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations. He will not cry out or lift up his voice or make it heard in the street; a bruised reed he will not break, and a dimly burning wick he will not quench; he will faithfully bring forth justice. He will not grow faint or be crushed until he has established justice in the earth, and the coastlands wait for his teaching. - Isaiah 42:1-4
Baptism is an act of submission. When folks came to John, they were submitting to him. When Jesus came to John, in an amazing twist, the Son of God submitted to a human born of flesh. Why? As an early church pastor said,
Christ is baptized, not to be made holy by the water, but to make the water holy, and by his cleansing to purify the waters which he touched.
At Christmas he was born a man; today he is reborn sacramentally. Then he was born from the Virgin; today he is born in mystery. When he was born a man, his mother Mary held him close to her heart; when he is born in mystery, God the Father embraces him with his voice when he says: This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased: listen to him. The mother caresses the tender baby on her lap; the Father serves his Son by his loving testimony. The mother holds the child for the Magi to adore; the Father reveals that his Son is to be worshiped by all the nations. - Maximus of Turin
People came to see John by the Jordan. Jesus came, too. It was the meeting of worlds. The Waters above spoke to the waters below so that no space would be empty of his presence. So that no one would be unseen by their Lord.
Another early Christian wrote about this.
To think of the infinite river that gladdens the city of God being bathed in a poor little stream of the eternal, the unfathomable fountainhead that gives life to all men being immersed in the shallow waters of this transient world! He who fills all creation, leaving no place devoid of his presence, he who is incomprehensible to the angels and hidden from the sight of man, came to be baptized because it was his will.
Jesus came as a servant, to serve even John, showing us that serving and giving is sanctified. Baptism is always an act of submission. You can’t baptize yourself. If anyone could, it would be Jesus, but he didn’t make an exception of himself.
When waters come from above, the sky is dark. In the middle of the storm, it is hard to see, it is hard to move. Jesus offered New Wine with his life so that we could be transformed into New Wine for others. Baptism with Jesus is not simply the washing of the old, it is the putting on the new. That is why baptism is connected to joining the church. In Baptism, we receive a gift and commit to the responsibility of following Jesus.
The waters above opened up, not with a storm, but with a voice. “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased”
In this season of epiphany, may we remember that in the midst of waters all around us, God came to light up the world.
Baptism has historically been the point of entry for the church. We baptize infants because baptism is a gift from God and in the early church they baptized whole families together. There is nothing we can do to earn baptism.
If you have not been baptized, please come and talk to me about the waters sanctified by Jesus.
Baptism also gives us structure for joining a specific church. When you join covenant, the words we say come from the same words for baptism.
As members of Christ’s universal Church, will you be loyal to Christ through The United Methodist Church, and do all in your power to strengthen its ministries?
I will.
And then
As members of this congregation, will you faithfully participate in its ministries by your prayers, your presence, your gifts, your service and your witness?
I will.
Joining a church is a detour. Life can go on without it. But it is a detour that you may discover was the path you were on all along. Recommitting to a church is similar. It is a detour. It is not the standard path. But you may discover it was the path God always had for you. There is friction in being a part of the body of Christ. It means commitments to others. It means commitments of time and money and attention, but this opportunity is given to us, and we are all more because of those who commit with us.
If you haven’t joined Covenant, please pray about it and talk to Me about it. If you have been here a long time, invite someone to worship. Think of folks in your life in need of the water of life.
The waters above spoke out when Jesus came out of the waters below. All of creation sings his praise. Let us join their song. Let us offer our selves. Let us invite others.
In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.