"Look to Jesus" Sermon for 10 January 2016: Baptism of Our Lord.
Sermon for
Sunday, 10 January 2016
The Rev.
Carrie Ballenger Smith
Baptism of
Our Lord
Preacher's Note:
This was an interesting Sunday worship service, as we had 2 surprise groups visiting us. One was a group of 38 seminarians and pastors from South Carolina.
The other was an interfaith group of 22 Muslims, Jews, and Christians.
It was interesting first of all to celebrate Thanksgiving for Baptism in an interfaith context....
and it was even more interesting to preach "Look to Jesus" in the same context!
As I stood to preach, I thought to myself: "If I had known they were coming, would I have changed my sermon? Why? And would it have mattered?"
I give thanks for such an opportunity to be unashamedly ourselves -- Christian, Muslim, and Jew -- and yet of one mind and spirit, respecting our differences, and praying together for peace with justice for all peoples. What a gift.
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Grace and
peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Not long ago there was a video floating around the internet of a
basketball game. The video began with instructions to the viewer: “Count how
many times the players wearing white pass the basketball.”
And so I watched, and I counted: One, two, three, four, five, six,
seven, eight…the basketball was passed fifteen times, I was certain.
And then on the screen it said, “The correct answer is fifteen passes.”
Perfect! I knew it!
But then on the screen appeared these words: “But did you see the gorilla?!”
Did I see the gorilla?! Seriously, there was no gorilla. I was certain –
after all, I was watching so carefully to count those basketball passes! So I
watched it again.
One, two, three, four, five…and oh my goodness, there it was. The
Gorilla.
While I was busy watching the white shirts and counting the basketball
passes, a man in a gorilla suit walked right across the screen, looked directly
at the camera, beat his chest with his hands, and walked off.
But I never saw the gorilla.
It turns out, that’s the case with most others who watch this video, too.
Most of us are paying so much attention to other things, we miss the
gorilla right in front of us.
This may seem like a strange opening to a sermon, but I ask you to think
again about the Gospel lesson you just heard a few moments ago.
John is in the
river Jordan, baptizing a group of believers. And they’re all looking at him. Scripture
tells us “the people were filled with expectation, and all were questioning in
their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah.” After all, he fit
the profile of a prophet of God:
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| from www.everydaycitizen.com |
#1: Funny clothes (camel’s hair)
#2: Funny parentage (his mother was old and his father fell mute until
he was born)
And #3: Funny diet (locusts and wild honey).
And now, he was standing in the water with them, preaching repentance
and baptizing all who turned back to God.
So why would they not look to John? He was an attention-grabber!
Little did they know, however, that already walking among the sinners,
tax collectors, mothers, fathers, priests and scribes, shopkeepers, and
ordinary folks of the world, was Jesus.
Jesus, born in Bethlehem.
Jesus, laid in a manger.
Jesus, raised in a carpenter’s family.
Jesus, the Son of God, the beloved.
The one the world was waiting for, the one who had been prophesied, the
one the people thought might possibly be John, had already come into the world,
but the world did not yet know him.
Like the man in the gorilla suit walking through the basketball game,
the Messiah went unnoticed because the people were looking elsewhere. Their attention
was focused on John.
John tried to tell them:
“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. He will baptize you
with the Holy Spirit and fire.” In other words: No, not me! It’s not me – look at
Jesus!
But of course, the world would not begin to see Jesus for who he was until
all the people had been baptized,
Until Jesus himself had been baptized,
And until the heavens opened up, and the Holy Spirit descended upon Jesus
like a dove, and a voice from the heavens said,
“You are my Son, the beloved. With you I am well pleased.”
Indeed, the world would not finally see Jesus for who he was until he was
nailed to a cross,
And when the stone was rolled back and he walked out of the tomb.
Of course, the world still struggles to see Jesus for who he is today,
but on this Feast of the Baptism of Our Lord we celebrate that it was at his
baptism when Jesus’ identity as the Messiah, the Son of God, was first revealed
to us.
Dear sisters and brothers in Christ, at the beginning of this New Year
2016, God is grabbing our attention. This story of Jesus’ baptism draws our
attention away from the bouncing basketballs of life and back to what matters –
not a man in a gorilla suit, but God incarnate as our brother, Jesus Christ.
To be honest, this is about the time in the year when we need a good
attention-grabbing Scripture lesson. After all, it was easy to focus on Jesus
during the Christmas season. It’s easy to focus on Jesus when the tree is in
the living room, and the nativity scene is on display, and the world’s eyes are
on the manger.
It’s much harder to keep our eyes on Jesus when the dazzle of Christmas
is behind us, and the baby Jesus has left the manger.
And of course it’s always harder to focus on the Good News when there’s so
much terrible news demanding our attention.
Friday afternoon was a perfect example of this. Sitting with a clergy
colleague at lunch, we both received a security alert on our phones. “Imminent
terror attack in Tel Aviv” it said. Imminent! Any moment! Be afraid! Instantly our conversation stopped. We put our forks
down. It was as if a dark cloud had floated into the restaurant and hovered
over our table. It only made matters worse when, a little while later, the
second alert came saying, “No imminent threat in Tel Aviv.” Oops. Pay no
attention to that last bit of adrenaline and fear. Go on with your lives.
Nothing to see here.
Those of us who are living here know that this almost daily occurrence
is more than just a distraction. It’s more than an annoying lunch interruption.
The reality of what we simply call “the situation” can become for us the lord
of our lives, defining where we walk and how we speak. Fear and anxiety can
start to rule our friendships and change our behaviors. Soon, we may find that
we’ve crowned terror and violence as king and messiah.
For this reason, we must really consider where our eyes and hearts and
minds will be focused in this New Year. Will we spend 2016 counting the
bouncing basketball from terror attack to terror attack, from one mass shooting
to another, from one incident of racially motivated violence to another?
Will we keep our ears tuned to the voices of extremism, racism, and
division, which seem louder than ever?
Will we keep our eyes only on our neighbor’s hands, wondering if he has
a knife?
Or on our neighbor’s gun, judging if it will be pointed at us next?
Or will we look to Jesus, the Prince of Peace, the healer of nations, the
reconciler of peoples, the one who has already broken down the dividing wall that separates us?
We must really ask ourselves if we will allow 2016 to be defined by noisy
prophets of destruction, and our lives to be shaped only in response to hatred
and violence.
Dear sisters and brothers in Christ, as we celebrate this day when the
heavens opened up to reveal Jesus as the Son of God, the beloved, our Messiah
and Lord,
I invite you to recommit yourselves to your own true identity.
We began this worship service at the font, remembering our baptisms. But
this is not just something we can do in church. This is a spiritual practice for
the New Year.
Every day, at home, at work, on the streets, with friends, among strangers,
Remember who you are.
Remember that you have been washed in the waters.
Remember that in baptism you have died with Jesus and will therefore
rise again with him.
Remember that you have been called by name, and you belong to him. You
are beloved. You are a Child of God.
In these increasingly uncertain times, take hold of this sure and
certain identity.
And if the prophets of doom, the powers of darkness, or the priorities
of the empire become your focus or demand your allegiance, attempting to tell you who you are...
...look to Jesus.
Look to Jesus, baptized by John.
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| Jesus of the People, by Janet McKenzie http://www.janetmckenzie.com/joppage1.html |
Look to Jesus, the Prince of Peace.
Look to Jesus, who welcomes the stranger.
Look to Jesus, who shows mercy to the sinner.
Look to Jesus, who on the cross opens his arms to all.
Look to Jesus, who walks out of the tomb and gives us the promise of
eternal life.
Look to Jesus, whose radical love defines our lives not only in the
manger, and not only at Christmas,
But in the conflict,
In the mess,
In the occupation,
And in the waters of daily life!
In this New Year, let us keep our eyes on Jesus, the beloved of God, who
has called us by name, that by his grace our lives may more closely resemble
his. Amen!
(after this sermon, we sang together this song..."Woke Up This Morning with my Mind Stayed on Jesus" ....and on Freedom...and on Justice....)
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