Epiphany 1 (The Baptism of our Lord Jesus Christ), Year C (2025)

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.

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[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. 

Christmas 2, Year C (2025)

Jeremiah 31:7 – 14 / Psalm 147:13 – 21 / Ephesians 1:3 – 14 / John 1:1 – 18

This is the homily given at Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church (ELCA) in Glen Rock, Pennsylvania on Sunday, January 5, 2025 by Fr. Gene Tucker.

 

“ONLY”

(Homily text: John 1:1 – 18)

A friend of mine has assumed, for himself, the persona of Language Man. Language Man takes it upon himself to comment on what he perceives to be misuse of words, bad grammar, and other offenses against the dignity of the English language. (Language Man’s postings can usually be found on Facebook.)

It we might be permitted to follow in Language Man’s quest, we could apply some of his observations to the use of the word “Only”, as we look at today’s wonderful Gospel text, the Prologue to John’s Gospel account (John 1:1 – 18).

We begin by looking at the word “Only”, in order to assess when and why it used, and in what contexts.

“Only”, it seems to be, generally is connected to the idea of assigning the cost, the importance or the value of something or someone.

For example, “Only’ can be used to minimize – or overlook - the cost of something, usually something for sale. An example would be its use in advertising, as in “Only four easy payments of $29.95/each”. Here, the idea is to heighten the perceived value of whatever is being sold, often far beyond its real value and worth. Or, it can be used to minimize the steps that must be taken to achieve something, as in “You only have to do these exercises daily for one hundred days…” (Ugh!)

You get the idea.

“Only” can also be used to remind ourselves of something we might/should have known at some point in the past, something that places our current knowledge and information against a time in the past. For example, “If I’d only known what fun my grandchildren would be, I would have had them first!” (A certifiably true statement, by the way.) Another example would be, “If only I’d known what I know now, I would have done things differently”.

The third way that “Only” is used (it seems to me) is to declare the highest value we place in someone or something. Used this way, “Only” has the sense that the properties being held in mind are ones that no other thing (or person) can have. An example might be “Dove dark chocolate drops are the only kind of dark chocolate I like”. (OK, not true…I’m a chocoholic, and enjoy chocolate in any and all its various forms!) One other example will illustrate this use of the word: When we meet someone and fall in love, we often say something like, “You are the only one for me!”.

Let’s turn now to our appointed Gospel text, the beginning of the Fourth Gospel, the one whose author is John.

The first thing of importance (I think anyway) is to remind ourselves that John is concerned to concentrate on our Lord Jesus Christ’s divine nature, His Oneness with the Father.[1] So it is, in this context that Jesus Christ says, “I and the Father are One. (John 10:30) Similarly, in dealing with the disciple Philip’s doubts, He says, “If you have seen me, you have seen the Father”. (John 14:9b) One more example will emphasize John’s focus: The Lord says, “Before Abraham was, I am”. Those who heard that statement knew immediately that He was claiming His divine being, eternal as His Father. (John 8:58)

In the fulness of time, God decides to intervene in human affairs and in human history. He decides to do so directly, by sending His emissary.

Let’s reflect on God’s decision, and begin by imagining that God might ask one (or more) of us what form of the use of the word “Only” He would have to use to encourage us to leave God’s presence and enter history.

God might well have had to say something like, “You only have to go down and become a helpless baby. As you grow up and begin to deliver my message, many will reject it, although some will hear, understand and accept what you have to say. Some will oppose you so much that they will conspire to kill you”. In order to persuade one or more of us to take up this work, God would have to minimize the difficulties that would lie ahead, or to get us to overlook how hard that assignment would be.

Of course, the truth is that none of us is at all qualified for such a work and such a mission. However lacking we are to fulfill this mission, it is helpful (I think) to cast some light on God’s decision to send Jesus, the Christ, to take up our humanity, in order to show us the way to God.

The truth is that the Father didn’t have to minimize the difficulties and the challenges that would lie in Jesus Christ’s path as He left His Father’s presence, and as He set aside the glory He has with the Father for His earthly sojourn. Instead, perhaps the appropriate use of the word “Only” that applies here is the Son’s unique nature for this work and this mission. Indeed, we can safely say that “Jesus Christ is the only one who could fulfill the Father’s desire and work”.

And so, God the Son came, and dwelt among us. (John 1:14) His sojourn is a temporary one, for the Greek word which is usually translated as “dwelt” has the sense of “pitching his tent” among us. As God dwelt with His people in the wilderness in the Tabernacle, a tent which went wherever God’s people went, so our Lord Jesus Christ manifests God’s presence among us, and goes wherever we go in our life’s walk and journey.

Our response to God’s wonderful work in sending the very best, Himself, in the person of Jesus Christ, can fall into one of two categories, both of which make use of the word “Only”. We could fail to appreciate God’s gift by saying, “If only I’d known, valued and accepted the blessings of God’s work in Jesus Christ….” Or, we could say, “You, only, O Lord, are to be praised, glorified and believed on in our lives, for you have come to us, bringing God’s very self to dwell in our hearts”.

AMEN.

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[1]   The emphasis and the focus of the first three Gospel accounts, Matthew, Mark and Luke, is on Jesus Christ’s humanity. All of the Gospels affirm Jesus Christ’s dual nature, His humanity and His divine nature. It is the emphasis, the focus, that differentiates John’s account from the other three.