Isaiah 43: 1 – 7 / Psalm 29 / Acts 8: 14 – 17 / Luke 3: 15 – 17, 21 – 22
This is the homily given at Flohr’s Evangelical Lutheran Church (ELCA) in McKnightstown, Pennsylvania on Sunday, January 12, 2025 by Fr. Gene Tucker
“FAITH: THE KEY
TO RELATIONSHIP”
(Homily
text: Luke 3: 15 – 17, 21 – 22)
Perhaps
without realizing it, we put our faith in things we use every day. We do this,
based on our past experience with these objects.
For
example, the common chair (just a chair as we might use at a kitchen table will
do) can illustrate this reality quite well: When we prepare to sit in a chair,
we look at it prior to doing so. For one thing, we’d want to be sure that there
isn’t anything in the chair already. (A cat would be a good example, taking a
nap.) We’d also want to be sure that the seat of the chair isn’t broken,
cracked, or damaged in some way. As we pulled the chair away from the table, or
moved it so as to sit in it, our attention would be alerted if the chair seemed
to be loose, wobbly or if its structural integrity was impaired in some way. Then,
as we prepare to sit in the chair, we would be careful to observe how well it
manages to support our weight.
Our
past experience with a particular chair, say one that we use daily to eat our
meals, will serve to enlighten us about that particular chair’s value as a
device upon which to sit. Or, if we’re using a chair we’re not familiar with on
a regular basis, we’d rely on what we already know about the design of chairs,
the materials used to make chairs, and the ways in which the component of
chairs are assembled and fastened together. (We’d do this for a chair with
which we are familiar, as well.)
Maybe
it’s a safe bet to say that most of us haven’t given much thought to the
business of making use of chairs.
Returning
to our illustration, our present experience with sitting in a chair, being
based on our past experience with chairs, serves as the connecting point
between the past and the future. To clarify, as we put our trust in a chair,
that it will hold our weight, not wobble and give us concern about its
usefulness, and not deposit us on the floor, we are able to step forward into
our future use of a chair we are familiar with (or with chairs in general).
Essentially, the process is one in which we make use of what we know (our past
experience) in order to move into the unknown future.
Now, keep this discussion in mind as we turn our attention to the theme for this Sunday, which is the baptism of our Lord Jesus Christ in the River Jordan by John the Baptist.[1] Each of the first three Gospel accounts (Matthew, Mark and Luke) narrate Jesus’ baptism.[2]
A key consideration of our assessment of this event, and of its importance to us as Christian believers, has to do with the nature of John’s baptism and Jesus’ willingness to undergo it. Recall that John’s baptism was one of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. If our Lord was/is without sin, then why did He consent to being baptized?[3]
Perhaps
only a partial answer is possible to this question.
We
know from the witness of Holy Scripture that our Lord came and immersed Himself
totally and fully in our human condition. Part of that experience meant our
Lord was willing to undergo and experience everything that we human beings are
likely to face. (One blessing from this understanding of Jesus, being “God with
us”,[4] is that it makes holy all of human life and experience.)
Now,
we return to the essence of our observations about chairs and their use.
Recall
that we said that our current experience with chairs depends on our past use,
enabling us to make future use. Faith is a key component of the bridge from the
past to the future. Without faith in a chair’s reliability and usefulness, we cannot
move into any future with chairs.
If
the witness of Holy Scripture is reliable, then its recounting of our Lord’s
baptism can serve as a reliable basis for belief that our Lord Jesus Christ,
who made holy our human experience, continues to make holy our current and
future experience.
The
conclusion has to be that we love and serve a God who does not stand outside of
our human life and experience. On the contrary, we love and serve a God who entered
that experience, even to the point of a horrible death on a cross.[5] Put another way, God sent His Son into the trenches of human life.
Our
Lord Jesus Christ came as Emmanuel, and he remains Emmanuel, God with us. We
are not alone. By faith we receive this truth. By faith, we are able to enter
into relationship with God, and to fold God’s love, faithfulness and presence
into our lives.
Thanks
be to God.
AMEN.
[1] This is the theme, each year, of the First
Sunday after the Epiphany.
[2] John does not narrate the baptism. He does,
however, mention the descent of the Holy Spirit at the time when Jesus was
baptized.. See John 1:32.
[3] Matthew seems to demonstrate this aspect to
the interchange between Jesus and John, for John objects to baptizing Jesus,
perhaps sensing Jesus’ holiness. In response, Jesus says that it is right for
Him to be baptized. Doing so, He said, would “fulfill all righteousness”.
[4] The Hebrew word is Emmanuel. See Matthew 1:23.
[5] See Philippians 2:5 -11 for St. Paul’s reflection on Jesus’ death.
