Epiphany I (The Baptism of Our Lord) - Lynn Campbell

Gen 1:1-5, Mk 1:4-11

“You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”
In the name of the one God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.

Was any one else surprised to come into church this morning and hear a story about the adult Jesus? Didn’t we just celebrate his birth? The 12 days of Christmas only ended on Friday. Just 2 days ago we celebrated the Feast of the Epiphany. As a church we remembered the Magi, who after seeing a star rise in the heavens, follow it to Bethlehem where they meet the infant Jesus cradled in the loving arms of his mother Mary. The “wise men” as they are known, traveled a great distance, following the light of the star, because they knew the Messiah had been born. When they came upon Mary and the child, they knelt down and worshipped him. And they offered him the gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. This time with the Savior of the world changed them forever. With their visit to that lowly stable, the Christ child was revealed to them and to the world. And that is really what epiphany means, to reveal, to manifest, to make known.

But now, a mere 2 days later we encounter the adult Jesus as he is baptized. This quick leap of 30 years seems a little jarring but I find it helpful to think of the baptism as a continuation of the theme of epiphany. We continue to encounter a God who desires to be known through Jesus Christ. We continue to experience the manifestation, the revelation, of Jesus Christ to all people. This morning, Jesus is made known as God’s Son through his baptism in the river Jordan. John has prepared the way for Jesus. He has preached the confession of sins and repentance to those who followed him and he has baptized them with water. Now Jesus emerges on the scene and presents himself to be baptized. Jesus, without sin, without the need for repentance, humbles himself before God and like each of us, enters the waters of baptism. And what happens as he breaks the surface of the water is probably one of my most favorite lines in all of Scripture: “And as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”

God does not want to remain hidden behind the clouds. God does not stay in the celestial realm, separate from the earth God created. No, God breaks through that divide, God takes on human form, AND God speaks a word of love through the heavens that had been torn apart. And the words spoken at this awe inspiring moment? “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.” God is revealed as one who loves, one who willingly shares our human nature, one who finds delight in humanity.

How many of us know ourselves as the object of God’s love, of God’s delight? How many of you can hear God say: “You are my daughter, you are my son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased?” I believe with every ounce of my being that God is speaking those words to you and to me. You are God’s beloved. We might be tempted to say, no, not me. I haven’t done enough to earn this love. But, remember, at this point Jesus had done NOTHING to earn God’s love. And that is exactly what makes this passage is even more amazing. Jesus hears these words BEFORE he has entered into public ministry. BEFORE he began to heal the sick, feed the hungry, clothe the naked. God simply loves. That is what God does that is what God is. God is love.

I know God’s love can seem abstract. Hard to understand or experience. I was recently speaking with someone who told me she knows she is loved by God but that she only knows it in her head. She has never felt it in her heart. She was worried that she would never really KNOW herself as loved. We talked about ways that we experience ourselves as beloved.

Perhaps you have had someone in your life who has made you feel nothing but loved. You know you didn’t do anything to deserve the love. It was just present. The first person I think of is my grandmother who died two years ago. I knew her death would be hard but I had no idea how hard. A few days after her funeral I had to return to classes at Virginia Theological Seminary where I was taking a class on Spiritual Direction. The instructor for this class was speaking about the importance of knowing that we are loved by God before we can do anything else. He spoke about the people in our lives who show us this unconditional love and used a grandmother as the example. I realized that my grandmother had always shown me this unconditional, unearned love. Her sweet voice, her gentle hands, her encouraging words, all made God’s love real for me. My grandmother’s name was “Thelma Leome Campbell,” making her initials TLC. That seems so appropriate because she always showed be tender, loving, care.

We may not hear the voice of love breaking forth from the skies, but I hope and pray we experience that love of God through the TLC of others. I also pray we can hear it deep in our hearts in prayer or when we receive Christ in the bread and the wine.

And I hope we remember this love when we reflect on our own baptism, whether we were baptized as an infant or as an adult. Just as God’s love is made known in Jesus’ baptism, so too is God’s love for us made known in our own baptism. Today we will witness this love made known in the baptism of Michael Xavier Hitron and we have the opportunity to be reminded of our baptismal commitment. In baptism we are named and claimed. We are brought into the household of God and we are brought into an indissolvable bond of love with the Creator. God has called Michael into this relationship. Today we celebrate with an outward sign, what we already know to be true, God has named Michael as God’s beloved.

But Michael’s baptism, and our own, is not simply a one time event. It is an invitation. It is an invitation to live in relationship with God, an invitation to take seriously the baptismal covenant we will all recommit ourselves to this morning. It is an invitation that asks something of us. Jesus’ baptism wasn’t just for his own spiritual benefit. It was the start of his public ministry. From his baptism he went on to share the love of God with all those he encountered, he went on to serve the poor, to seek justice for the oppressed, and to preach the good news. In our baptism we are empowered with this same Holy Spirit to do the work that God has give us to do, using the gifts God has given to each of us. As God’s beloved, we share this love with others. We do it out of love, not out of fear, guilt, or obligation. We live out our baptismal covenant, we serve God and God’s people, because we have been filled with God’s love and empowered by the Holy Spirit for this work.

These words have become more real to me this week as I prepare for my ordination to the priesthood this coming Saturday. I have been blessed to know the love of God and have felt a call to serve God and share the love of God as a priest. I’m looking forward to standing at the altar next Sunday and celebrating the Eucharist for the first time. I am so eager to share the blessing of God in Word and in Sacrament. But at the core of this ministry is my baptism. Each of us is called to live out our baptism in different ways. There are so many ways to share the love of God and our world certainly is in need of this love.

I hope and pray that Michael and all of us will hear the voice of the God saying, you are my Beloved; in you I am well pleased. And I pray that we let this love sink in deeply so that we can share it with our sisters and brothers. Amen.