Year C First Sunday After The Epiphany/The Baptism of Jesus Isaiah 43:1-7 Luke 3:15-17, 21-

Today is the first Sunday after the Epiphany. The Epiphany is the day when the Christmas season ends and when the Light of Christ shines forth. It is our tradition in the Church that on this First Sunday after the Epiphany we celebrate the Baptism of our Lord. What do we know about baptism?

Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.

When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;

when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.

This pronouncement spoken by the prophet Isaiah fits with our feelings and ideas about Baptism. Most, if not all of us, probably don’t remember our baptism, because we were baptized as infants, brought to church by happy, smiling parents and Godparents, eager to have us included among the faithful, included in the warmth of a spiritual community, with those who enjoy the love and protection of our Lord. Baptisms are family affairs often followed by parties, celebrations of the occasion. Baptisms for us are all about joy.

Yet, interestingly, in the early church, only adults were baptized – never children. And there was a dual reason for this. First was the persecution that Christians often underwent during that time, and second there was the firm belief by adults that no one should make baptismal vows, enter into that closer relationship with Jesus, without a full understanding of what they were getting into. In case anyone wondered just what that might be – in today’s Gospel John the Baptist explains.

His winnowing fork is in His hand, to clear His threshing floor and to gather the wheat into His granary; but the chaff He will burn with unquenchable fire."

All of a sudden, baptism looks different. Baptism – that event with white baby gowns and parties? Perhaps we don’t understand it as well as we thought we did.

The possibility of a Messiah with a winnowing fork in his hand and the possibility of unquenchable fire aren’t exactly what the Jews are expecting, and if we’re honest, that’s not what we’re expecting either when we take our baby forward to be baptized, but John’s words shake us awake, reminding us that judgement is part of salvation, that we, who accept Jesus as our Savior and are baptized in His name, will be held accountable for the decision we make, for the lives we lead. Baptism is a serious business.

On the day spoken of in our Gospel, a crowd has gathered on the banks of the Jordan River. The people were filled with expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah…

This is a scene that reminds us of crowds that form today. But while we line up for new technology, or entertainment, these people have come because it is a time of oppression. The Jews are under Roman rule, and they don’t like it. They long for the freedom and strength they feel is theirs by right as God’s chosen people, and now, after waiting so long for relief, there is a rumbling among the faithful that a Messiah will come to free them and restore to them what is theirs. These people have gathered at the Jordan, to see if the Messiah has arrived.

John has come to prominence in part because of these rumors, and also because in a religious community a prophet is something of a celebrity. His fame has spread, and now people are whispering and wondering if he might be this promised Messiah. We can empathize with them, because we understand that feeling of reverence and awe one sometimes gets when in the presence of a celebrity or religious leader, and we know the anticipation of waiting for something marvelous we have been told is about to happen.

John answered all of them by saying, "I baptize you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals.

We might wonder how many times John has had to give this information to the crowds, and whether or not, having done so, people have believed him. People are hard to dissuade, and dislike being disappointed, so despite what he’s just said, and perhaps has said often, there are probably many who still continue to wonder if John is the One for whom they are waiting. Though he denies this, He assures the crowd that someone else will soon baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. This prophecy fits with the hopes of the Jewish people.

In our Gospel reading, after John has spoken to the crowd, our lectionary skips several verses in the chapter. This is because those verses tell us that John the baptizer, the wild prophet, the man who speaks the truth, has been arrested by the Roman authorities. While this may not seem like pertinent information when we’re discussing Jesus’ baptism, it does clearly show what can happen to someone who stands up for the Truth, as we are called to do. .

And then, in our very short Gospel reading today, we assume that Jesus steps forward to be baptized. Considering the mystery and majesty of Jesus baptism, why is it that in Luke, the reading we heard today, coverage of Jesus’ baptism is limited to before and after the actual event? The baptism as it is happening isn’t recounted. Why is this so?

To repeat an earlier question, what do we know about baptism? Something many of us may not know is that the early Church had a real problem with the reality of Jesus baptism. And we know He was baptized, because the story appears in all four Gospels. But why did this trouble the early Church?

Baptism is an action that definitely in Jesus’ day was undertaken for repentance – repentance from sin. So the early Church was, quite simply, embarrassed by the story of Jesus being baptized. Anyone with any knowledge would see immediately the contradiction. Why would He who was without sin need baptism? And why would Jesus go to John for this, because those who were baptized by John became John’s disciples. Was Jesus a disciple of John?

To better understand why Jesus’ was baptized, we must think about the mindset of the Jews of His time, and about the people who flocked to John. God, as understood by the devout Jewish community into which Jesus was born, is represented for us in the Old Testament. God is all powerful, all knowing, omnipotent. God leads with a pillar of cloud and a pillar of fire, and is present in the whirlwind. God is a warrior, a counsellor, King of Kings, Lord of Lords. And God rules His people through power, majesty and might, giving them, in the form of Commandments, laws to live by, and when they stray, inflicting the most terrible of punishments.

But there is something God is not in the Old Testament – not yet – human. All the Laws, all the victories won, have not helped God’s people to become what He wants them to be, and this is in part because God does not fully understand the weak creatures He has created. So out of love, God does something to remedy this. God comes down and takes human form. How better, how else, could God come to fully understand human joy, human pain and suffering, but to live and walk among us, and to experience without sin everything that we experience?

God comes down and steps onto the human stage. God as a human being comes to John and is baptized – but not to be forgiven for sin. Jesus rises from the water and goes to face everything this ungrateful world can throw at Him. This is the turning point for God, the moment when Jesus’ ministry begins. As a human being, a Jewish Rabbi, God will walk among us, teaching, healing, embodying Love as it is meant to be expressed, lived, and shared. He will live among the poor, walk from town to town, and, for us, in three short years He will turn His face toward Jerusalem, there to suffer and die a most horrible death. This is the unconditional Love of God. Jesus baptism is for Him the beginning, God among us, God giving us the example by which we are to mold out lives, God dying to redeem us.

The first Sunday after the Epiphany we always remember Jesus baptism – and we are not ashamed. As Jesus came up from the water, His Life became our light to follow. His Spirit became the driving force of our spirit as His goals for human kind became ours as possibility. It is now up to us to make them ours in fact.

From the moment of Incarnation through the Living and the Dying and the Rising – all of Jesus’ life was about remaking our lives to be better than the images of failure recorded in the story of the Garden of Eden. Jesus came from the water. The Voice came from Heaven and life as relationship with God stood and stands confirmed. God understands us, weak and human as we are. Listen to the voice of the Prophet Isaiah: Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.

Let us pray:

Lord God, we are not ashamed of the Gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes. We thank you, Father, for the water of Baptism. In it we are buried with Christ in His death. By it we share in His resurrection. Through it we are reborn by the Holy Spirit. Therefore in joyful obedience to your Son, we offer You all that we are and all that we have, asking your help to serve you all our days, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen