You Are God’s Beloved
Rev. Charles Lewis Luke 3:15-17, 21-23
January 7, 2007 Isaiah 42:1-9
Snohomish P.C.
When the New Testament gospel writers read Isaiah 42 - about a beloved servant upon whom the Spirit of God would rest and through whom justice will be established in all the earth. Is it any wonder that they saw Jesus perfectly fulfilling the role? The similarities between Isaiah’s suffering servant and the life of Jesus could not be clearer. The humble posture of a servant described by Isaiah is the same posture Jesus takes in his baptism and throughout his ministry.
I wonder if you’ve heard the story about the little girl who sat on her Grandfather’s lap as he read her a bedtime story. From time to time she would take her eyes off the book and reach up to touch his wrinkled cheek. Then she would touch her own cheek, then once again reach up and touch her grandfather’s.
Finally she asked him, “Grandpa, did God make you?”
“Yes, Sweetheart,” he answered, “God made me a long time ago.”
“Oh” she paused, “Grandpa, did God make me too?”
“Yes indeed, honey,” he said, “God made you just a while ago.”
Feeling her grandfather’s face again and then her own, she commented, “God is getting better at it, isn’t he?”
For hundreds of years God tried to show us through the prophets what he was like and what he desired of us - from Moses to Malachi, from Jeremiah to John. But in the coming of Jesus, God got even better. This past Christmas season we have celebrated the fact that when the Word became flesh and lived among us, God put on a human face and drew our hearts to his through love.
“Christmas tells of one who entered the world incognito, who snuck inconspicuously down the back stairs at Bethlehem and was given shelter in the stable, whose face was seen by only a handful of shepherds and a few wise men, and who disappeared from view soon afterward.” After thirty years of near obscurity - save a brief episode at age twelve in the Temple - Jesus finally emerges from what seems like the dark ages into the public spotlight, and for the first time since his birth, the light begins to shine on who this stable-born child has grown up to be (Dr. Eugene Bay).
The place that Jesus emerges from thirty year in the shadows and comes out into the light - the place of his Epiphany - is right smack dab in the middle of the Jordon River, waist deep in water.
One day Jesus is in his carpentry shop in Nazareth and the next he’s swept up the wood chips, folded up his carpenter’s apron, put it on the bench, said goodbye to his family, and headed down to the Jordan to be baptized by John (Fred Carraddock). Maybe you’ve wondered a question that I have: What prompted Jesus to gone since, as one without sin, he presumably didn’t need to be baptized? Why then did he do it? Was it that he finally felt something stirring deep within him and knew that it was his time to assume his calling? Had there been something tugging at his heart for years while he stood at his carpenter's bench, compelling him to say “yes” to going? Had he heard something in a synagogue service - maybe a reading from Isaiah (the 42nd chapter) - that convinced him God was speaking directly to him and he had to obey? Was it the suffering he had seen so much of and could no longer ignore: the grinding poverty, the widows and orphans left to fend for themselves, the misery of the last and the least who were left out and let down and longed to be included (Dr. Eugene Bay)? It could have been any of these things or all of them. Luke doesn't say for certain.
But what Luke does say, and what he wants us to know more than anything else as Jesus stands out in the middle of the Jordan and hears God’s voice, is that something has been revealed the public for the first time since Jesus’ infancy. What ahs been revealed is the face of God.
At his baptism – equivalent to his ordination - we learn that Jesus is not just Mary's child, not simply the son of a carpenter named Joseph. While Jesus is still dripping wet, we hear God’s voice calling down from heaven: "This is my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased."
In this ordination and installation of our Lord for his public ministry, God is saying, “Dear world, this is it! This is the one, my priceless Son with whom I am well pleased.” If we know this, we know everything God wants to reveal about himself. The heart of God beats here. The face of God is seen here.
And what does that face reveal about God? It shows that God’s direction in life is downward, down into the world in which we live. The first thing Jesus does after nearly thirty years of obscurity is to go down with us in baptism, demonstrating from the very beginning the direction his entire ministry would take. “What took him down to the Jordan was the same thing that took him down to a stable to be born, the same thing that took him into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil, that took him to down the road to eat and drink with outcasts and lowly sinners, that took him down to his knees at the Garden of Gethsemane. Think of it: What took Jesus down to the river to be baptized with sinners at the beginning of his ministry was the very same thing that took him all the way down to the depths of human sin and suffering on the cross (Dr. Eugene Bay). Jesus begins his ministry down in the water among sinners and ends his ministry on a cross between thieves.
From his downward descent at his baptism to his last dying breath on the cross, Jesus came down to our level, down to where he would identify with us at every point, becoming as completely one with us our humanity as he is one with God in his divinity (Dale Bruner).” He did it, then, to stand in solidarity with us. He did it out of love.
I read recently of a young man from a small farming community in Eastern Washington town whose picture was featured on the front cover of a newspaper. He was sitting the on steps of his high school. He was bald, and all around him were his classmates, about 25 of them, some wearing school jackets, others in T-Shirts and regular jackets, their heads bowed towards the camera - and they too were bald.
The Headline read: TRUE BLUE PALS and the caption said:
Mark Busse, 16, of Reardon, Washington, poses with
classmates from his high school in this eastern
Washington state town. His friends shaved their heads
to show support for Busse after his hair fell out
following chemotherapy for inoperable lung cancer.
His buddies said that they didn't want him to stand out
in the 180 student high school.
(“Why did you do it?” they were asked. “He’s our friend,” one responded. “We gotta stand with him. We love the guy.”)
Mark Busse despite his troubles, is a very blessed young man - he has the best kind of friends anyone can have. Although they are not sick, although they have no reason in the world to shave their heads and experience some of what young Mark experiences – they decided to do so anyway. They identified with him. They walked in his shoes. They showed him that he is not alone. They gave him a sign that they stood in solidarity with him. They did it for love.
How much this is like what God has done in Christ Jesus, coming among us, identifying with us, going down waist deep in the mire of the river of our struggles along side us. All this so we can know that we are beloved by God.
Today as we celebrate the Baptism of Jesus, it is fitting that we celebrate the ordination and installation of our Elders and Deacons. The Spirit that descended upon Jesus at his baptism, after all, is the same Spirit that is present with us here today. The Spirit that moved in and through the life and ministry of Jesus Christ is the same Spirit that is moving in and through our lives here. The same Spirit that gave Jesus the strength to walk in solidarity with his people is the same Spirit that gives us the strength to walk compassionately with people now. And the same Sprit that named Jesus “beloved of God,” names us “God’s beloved” as well, empowering us out of love to reveal the face of God in our life and ministry. All of us today are being claimed by God, named as his disciples, and comissioned to do his work.
A couple days ago Ann ran across a column in the newspaper she shared with me. It’s from an advise columnist named Amy. “Dear Amy,” it read, “I was driving home from work the other day when my car got a flat tire. Just as I was about to call the auto club, a nice man showed up and offered to change the tire for me.” She accepted the offer. “When I go home,” she went on, “I got a call from one of my girlfriends who saw me on the side of the road. She siad it was rude of me to be sitting down relaxing while this guy changed the tire. She thought that wouold have been more apporpriate for me to show at least a façade of looking gratefully helpless. While it is true that I tool a beach chair out of the trunk and sat in it while the guy changed the tire, and yes, I was drinking a soa, which for the record I offerered to him first (he declined), I still don’t think that this behavior rises to the level of rudeness.”
Life inspired by the Spirit does not allow us to take out our lawn chair and sip on a soda while others do the work. Whether we are being called today as elders or deacons, we are all being called. It may be that your gifts are needed to teach our children, work on a mission project, be a Stephen Minister, assist with Logos, or do odd jobs. No matter what God is calling you to do in the life of the church you are needed and God is calling us all to serve.
No matter what our gift is to offer, it is my prayer that you will hear today one thing: “You are beloved by God, claimed by him and commissioned through his Spirit to live a life of humble service, and to do it for love. May you hear your name called today: Shellie Starr, priceless child of God. Bob Richter claimed as God’s own. Marian Cummings named as God’s beloved. Pat Bond, commissioned to carry out God’s purposes with a servant’s heart. Tammy, Jean, Nancy, Teresa – all of you who will step forward today to help lead this congregation and all who are serving in other capacities – fulfill your calling not because you feel obligated or have a strong sense of duty. No do it for this one reason…do it for love.
Jesus came out of the shadows after thirty years and stepped into the light of history waist deep in water, his first steps and every step afterward being down into the depths of our lives to identify with us, to love us immensely, immeasurably, all the way to the cross. He is calling us to go down too, down to those who’ve lost out on opportunities, who’ve been left out of blessings, and who need to be lifted up in hope. Every one of us has gifts to offer, each of us called to come out of the shadows, to step down into the baptismal waters where we stand together with others, helping them see the face of God.
Today, remember this: God has claimed you; God has named you; God has commissioned you to a life of service. It’s the direction the Spirit drew Jesus. It’s the direction it leads us. The Spirit is calling. Out of love, are we ready to follow?
PRAYER
We give you our thanks, O God, for the baptism of Jesus where he was made one with us, and we were made one with him. Help us, as we go forward into this New Year, to remember that we have been claimed as your own and named as priceless, beloved servants. And more so, may we remember that we have been not only claimed and named but called and commissioned to “go down” into the lives of a hurting world to do your work and will. So may we, using the gifts we have been given, make his face known in the acts of service your Spirit works through us. By Christ’ power we pray. Amen.