Monday, 13 January 2014

SERMON 37 - SUNDAY 12 JANUARY 2014


Sermon at St. Mary’s Parish Church, West Dean and St. John’s Parish Church West Grimstead – Morning Praise - Sunday 12 January 2014

Isaiah 42:1-9;  Acts 10:34-43; 2:10-18; Matthew 3:13-end

May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be always acceptable to you, O God.  Amen

It is one of those quirks of the Church’s calendar that Jesus’s baptism by John in the River Jordan is placed before Candlemas when, as a child, he is presented in the Temple.  One would have thought that it ought to be the other way round – certainly chronologically.  However, as with so many things, theological, the emphasis is placed this way round for a specific reason.

We can divide Jesus’s life up into five episodes – 1. His birth which we celebrate at Christmas with the accompanying period of the Epiphany with the adoration of the Magi,  - 2. His early life with his family in Nazareth, probably learning carpentry skills as well as how to run a successful business – his later parables clearly indicate some knowledge of business acumen – the parable of the talents, lost coins, house building etc. ,  - 3. His ministry with his disciples over a fairly short period of three years – 4. The Passion – crucifixion and resurrection – and 5. The post-resurrection period leading to his final ascension into heaven.

With the exception of Christmas, we tend to concentrate heavily on number 3 – and the lessons which he taught us and which we frequently study in our house groups to try and understand what it was like to be around in Jesus’s time and understand how his ministry continues to affect our lives today.

Jews and Muslims just see Jesus as a prophet and many non-Christians as perhaps simply a good man/teacher – but as Christians it is axiomatic to our belief and faith that the readings of today form their very root.

John’s baptism of Jesus can so easily be seen as a mere starting point of the story. As we know, the first written gospel, that of Mark, starts right at the beginning with John the Baptist’s ministry and Jesus’s baptism.  No angelic visitation for Mary, no fully occupied hotels in Bethlehem, no manger, no lowing cattle – not even a baby that doesn’t cry.  No wise men, no star in the east or anywhere else for that matter.  Mark jumps straight in with Jesus’s baptism.  The significance of which becomes very clear when we look into the prophesies of the Old Testament.

Quite often I hear from Christians, often the more evangelical ones, that they “don’t ‘do’ the Old Testament”.  The God of genocide and smiting doesn’t fit in easily with the love of God and the teachings of grace and forgiveness – as though there are two Gods – a nice one and a nasty one.  Mark, in his no nonsense narrative-way wants to get straight into Jesus’s ministry with an acknowledgement that the Holy Spirit was very much part of that.

These three readings all hang together well. 

When practising law I make a very clear statement to my clients, at the beginning of any case, that it must all work together like a stick of rock.  Some people like to use the analogy of a golden thread but having been brought up in and lived most of my life in seaside towns, I prefer the stick of rock idea. 

Our statements and evidence, as presented to the court - whether prosecuting or defending, must be consistent.  If at any time there are discrepancies or inconsistencies, there is a strong chance that the case will fall apart. If we buy a stick of rock from Bournemouth, we expect that when we bite into it the word “Bournemouth” will appear right down to the last bite – we don’t expect “Brighton” to suddenly appear in the middle!  In all our readings today we see “Bournemouth” – well actually probably “Bethlehem”.  The baptism is a continuation of the message written by the author of Isaiah and continued as a message from Peter to Cornelius so that message continues right up until today – 12th January 2014.

The baptism is a strong message to the Jews which later translates for the Gentiles.  In a recent house group I attended in West Dean, we looked again and again at parallels between the stories of the Old Testament and Jesus’s ministry.  The stick of rock was strong and consistent wherever we bit into it – feeding the five thousand, walking on water and especially the baptism.  And that for us Christians, is re-assuring and comforting.

Isaiah is prophesying that the Messiah, the chosen one, will be revealed when the Holy Spirit lights upon him – “Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight. I will put my Spirit on him”.  It could almost be another translation of today’s Gospel passage.

We have to remember that in Jesus’s time they did not have the scriptures which we Christians have and use today.  The New Testament was still being formed and that the stories we have in it are written many years after the events.  The baptism of Jesus is such an important event, theologically, that it appears, unlike every story, in all four gospels – and especially in John who wrote more from a theological point of view than a biographical one.

John the Baptist is reticent about baptising Jesus – “surely”, he says “you should be baptising me” but it was necessary for John to do this otherwise we would have “Brighton” and not “Bournemouth” in our stick of rock.

I have, in the past, found it strange that the Son of God should be baptised – after all, why should that be necessary when we have the Trinity – one for all and all for one!  Yet this was a public declaration of his status, as the true Messiah, as prophesied in Isaiah.  It was also necessary for John to do this as John, it was also prophesied, would be the one who was to come first – to proclaim the way of the Lord – again to fulfil the prophesy and which John, the apostle,  at the beginning of his gospel, is at great pains to point out.  – The reading which we hear every Christmas morning.

But it doesn’t stop there. In our reading from Acts, the message is taken further – into the world of the Gentiles.  Peter is speaking to Cornelius and his household, one of the very first, Gentiles to convert to Christianity.  Cornelius, a Roman centurion, had a vision that he and his family should convert to Christianity – well ahead of any other Romans – and it was probably quite a dangerous thing to do in those days. It is because Peter has been filled with the Holy Spirit at Pentecost and had started his own ministry of healing that he is able to bestow that gift of the Holy Spirit through baptism to those whom, like Cornelius, had asked for it. 

Matthew clearly believed that Jesus’s baptism fulfilled the prophesy of Isaiah.  Peter in his act of baptising Cornelius and his household proclaims the truth about Jesus as the Messiah – bearing witness to the fact that Israel’s God has indeed “brought the people to this strange truth” – as Tom Wright puts it.

But doesn’t this also put out a challenge to us?  Those of us who have been baptised?  Matthew would expect us to go forward and teach and preach and bring others to that “strange truth” wouldn’t he?

As baptised members of the church it is our duty to profess our faith openly and enthusiastically.  To make others be like Cornelius, longing to be baptised to be filled with the Holy Spirit just as Jesus was on that day by the banks of the Jordan.

Before we re-affirm our faith in the words of the Creed, let’s take a moment’s silence to reflect upon the responsibilities and duties we, as baptised members of Christ’s Church, have and how we can each carry them out to God’s greater glory.

Amen

 

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