Every year, just weeks after we rejoice at the Christmas story and how our Savior Jesus was born in Bethlehem, and days after we celebrate the magi’s gifts at Epiphany, we fast forward to this story and hear how our Lord Jesus - now a thirty-something year old man - was baptized in the waters of the river Jordan by his cousin John. The story is the hinge on the door through which we enter Jesus’ earthly ministry.
His ministry is christened with his Father’s words, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well
pleased.” (Luke 3:22) These words are an affirmation of who God knows Jesus to
be;
confirmation that he
belongs to God;
and a declaration God loves
him.
God’s words to Jesus in Luke’s gospel echo those in Isaiah 43 when God tells God’s people, “I have called you by name, you are mine…you are precious in my sight, and honored, and I love you.”
Affirmation. Confirmation. Declaration.
With these saving and redeeming words, God draws us into life with God.
In Isaiah, God is addressing an exiled Israel, a sinful and defeated community. And we hear God’s judgment in Isaiah 42 before these verses. God doesn’t pretend that the people haven’t sinned or turned away from God and God doesn’t give them license to ignore God’s commands and be self-indulgent.
But as the Psalmist recalls, God is the one who formed our inward parts and knit us together (Psalm 139), so God already knows us from the inside out.
And the same God who created us and witnesses our sinfulness and defiance says, “You are mine.”
God says, “You are my child and that is your identity – not your occupation, education or your income, not your politics or your neighborhood.” Our identity is only found in the Lord our God who created us and rescues us from bondage to sin.
And the Good News is that this same God – the One who created us and names us “children of God” - loves us despite our sin and brokenness.
That is grace.
Grace says, “You are enough.”
Grace says, “You made a mistake, but you are not a mistake.”
Grace says, “I love you still.”
More than thirty years ago now, in college, I hit a low point in my life where I could not hear those words. But through the people God put in my life like Lori, a classmate who later became my roommate, and Tim, a high school friend who was at JMU with us, God gave me ears to hear of God’s amazing grace and finally understand that grace was for me, too.
God’s promised and unconditional grace is at the heart of my ministry
because as a pastor I get to tell you each how much God loves you even when you
can’t hear it or believe it:
You, yes, you, are precious, honored and loved by God because you belong to God.
As we celebrate the Baptism of our Lord, we celebrate God’s words of affirmation, confirmation and declaration for Jesus and for us.
In the Lutheran tradition, we recognize baptism as God’s action for us. God is saving. God is redeeming. “In the waters of baptism, we understand that God marks us and claims us as God’s children. In the waters of baptism, God seals God’s love for us, no matter what we might have done and what might happen.”[i]
So today, and every day, we are encouraged to remember our own baptisms – not necessarily the event of them, but the meaning of them. Wherever you find water, whether it’s at a bathroom sink or in the rain falling from the sky outside, when you feel the splash of water upon your face, thank God for claiming you, naming you and saving you.
Let us pray….
Good and gracious God,
Thank you for loving us so much that you sent your Son Jesus to live
among your people that we would know how much you love us.
Thank you for knitting us together and forming us as your children and
your people.
And thank you for your grace – abundant and bountiful, forgiving and
loving – especially when we do not deserve it.
Show us how to love others with the love you have given us that they
would know they too are precious, honored and loved.
We pray in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Amen.
[i] David L. Bartlett;
Barbara Brown Taylor. Feasting on the Word: Year C, Volume 1: Advent through
Transfiguration . Presbyterian Publishing Corporation. Kindle Edition.
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