Isaiah 42:1 – 9
Psalm 29
Acts 10:34 – 43
Matthew 3:13 – 17
This is the homily given at St. John’s, Huntingdon, Pennsylvania on Sunday, January 8, 2023 by Fr. Gene Tucker.
“GOD’S SELF-REVELATION”
(Homily text: Matthew
3:13 - 17)
There are a number of ways that we learn something about God, about God’s nature, about God’s power, about God’s ability to love, about God’s care for each one of us, and about the wonderful creation He’s placed in our care.
One
of the ways we learn about God is through our experiences with the world He
created. Specifically, it’s beauty, and – if we think about it – the wonderful
ways in which His work interacts in its various aspects. The more we learn
about the ways in which God’s creation is interwoven in its various aspects,
the more wondrous His work is.
Another
way we learn about God’s nature is by watching God at work in the lives of
others. God’s work and God’s power are most easily seen in dramatic turnarounds
or conversions of persons whose lives were a mess, though – if we are willing
to look more closely – each one of us bears the evidence of God’s working in
our lives.
The
main way we learn about God’s nature is through the Bible. One way to view the
Bible is to see it as an unfolding of God’s activity with human beings down
through time, revealing God’s character as events unfold and are recorded in
the sacred pages of Holy Scripture. Chief among God’s interacting with
humankind is in the record of Jesus Christ’s ministry, His healings, His
teachings, His care for the poor and the outcast, and in His willingness to
empty Himself to take up our human condition, even to the point of an awful and
shameful death on the cross. And, of course, His rising to new life on Easter
Sunday morning, which demonstrates His power to create and to recreate.
All
of these observations bring us to today’s topic, which is our Lord’s baptism in
the River Jordan by John the Baptist. This is an event we remember and
celebrate each year on the First Sunday after the Feast of the Epiphany.
John’s
baptism, let’s remind ourselves, was a baptism for the forgiveness of sins. But
John seems to be aware of something that is radically different about Jesus, as
he says to the Lord, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?”
Jesus’ sinless condition doesn’t make Him a candidate for John’s baptism, and
apparently John is aware – at least to some degree – of this aspect of Jesus’
character.
Then
why did the Lord come and undergo this baptism? He says, in response to John’s
objection of his request to be baptized, “Let it be so now, for thus it is
fitting to fulfill all righteousness.”
What
sort of righteousness?
We
can only guess at what the Lord had in mind with this statement, but perhaps
what His intent was is to tell all of us who learn about this event, and who follow
the Lord into the waters of baptism ourselves, that we are to fulfill all
righteousness by doing what the Lord, Himself, did.
Which
brings us back to the comments with which we began: We are learning something
about God’s nature in this event. What
we learn is that God intends to demonstrate for us by His deeds what He wants
us to do, as well. Put another way, God says, “Do what I do, not just what I
say to do.”
Baptism,
for our Lord, meant the end of the first chapters of His life, and the
beginning of a new one, His ministry. Baptism, for us, represents the end of
something (our old, selfish, sinful ways), and the beginning of something new
(a new life which is oriented toward God).
Some
churches renew their baptismal covenants on this day. That’s not a bad idea to renew
and reinforce the vows that we made ourselves, or which were made on our behalf
at some point in our lives, for our commitment to be God-oriented is an ongoing
commitment, which requires us to be reminded of this critical need we all have.
AMEN.
