Baptism of Our Lord

Grace be to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

Sometimes there are verses from scripture that I have known a long time, but that suddenly gain new meaning when they get connected to a certain event or story. That’s what happened to me in regard to our reading from the Prophet Isaiah this morning.

The words of God as proclaimed by the prophet are amazing, filled with divine comfort and affirmation. “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name; you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you, and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you. When you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy one of Israel, your savior.” Ah, beautiful words.

These words gained deeper meaning for me when I heard them being said in the movie “Dead Man Walking”. The movie is based on a book by the same name, written by Sister Helen Prejean, a nun who accompanied prisoners on death row. The movie shows her ministry to a man on death row, as well as to his family and the victims’ families.

The title “Dead Man Walking” is taken directly from prison life. When a death row inmate is taken out of his cell to be marched to the execution chamber, a guard shouts loudly for everyone to hear, “Dead man walking!” It’s a warning to get out of the way as the group of guards walks the prisoner down the hallways.

That scene in the movie is hard to watch. The prisoner is scared. There is no family present. He is surrounded by officers doing their job. He is announced to all as a “dead man walking”. Not a person, not an individual, not anyone’s beloved, just a “dead man walking”.

But Sister Helen is there. She reaches across the guards and puts her hand on the prisoner’s shoulder and recites these words from Isaiah: “I am the Lord who made you. I have called you by name. You are mine. When you walk through the waters, I will be with you, and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you. When you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. For I am the Lord you God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.”

When to everyone else he is the condemned man about to die, God’s word comes to him and tells him: I see you. I care about you. I am with you. You are not walking this terrible walk alone.

Among the fear and anonymity of that final walk, God says to him: I know your name. You are mine.

That scene deeply touched me. To this day, every time I read these verses, I have to think of that movie scene.

We are reading it in the second COVID winter in a row, when we are all exhausted and frustrated, overwhelmed with this new wave of infections and anxious about the future. And we are reading it paired with the story of Jesus’ baptism. Let’s explore this a bit.

Jesus’ baptism is one of the stories that is included in all four gospels. As often happens in such cases, each gospel writer tells the story in his own way with slightly different emphases. What I find interesting in the version before us today is that Luke doesn’t actually describe Jesus’ baptism. Luke tells us about John the Baptist and his ministry. Then comes verse 21: Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized,…

I want to go “What? What just happened?” Luke mentions Jesus’ baptism in a side clause, almost like an afterthought. All the people got baptized – oh, and Jesus, too – and on we go. Curious, isn’t it?

It makes me wonder just how many people there that day noticed anything special happening. How many of them saw Jesus and recognized the messiah John had been announcing? How many of them saw the spirit descending like a dove and heard God’s voice from heaven?

One gets the feeling that Jesus was just part of the crowd; just mixed in with all the other people. Last week, we heard the Gospel of John proclaim that in Jesus the Word of God became flesh. Here we get a glimpse of what this incarnation looked like: God in Jesus became human to such a degree that he could be in a crowd of other humans and they didn’t have a clue God was among them.

God is acting, talking, affirming, consecrating Jesus, and most people don’t see or recognize it. God’s love incarnate blends in so well that most people are oblivious to it.

Many people back then were anxious, struggling with daily life, concerned about the political situation, burdened by many worries. There is a reason they come out to hear John preach: They are hungry for guidance and for comfort and for hope.

I am sure they all would have loved a great, big baptism of Jesus, an event that made an impact, a splash, if you will. A loud and glorious happening that left no doubt about God being active right there in front of their eyes.

But that’s not what they get. They get Jesus quietly mingling with the crowd and being baptized as one of many.

We today, exhausted and anxious from COVID, concerned about the political situation, burdened by many worries, we, too, would love a big splashy demonstration of God’s active presence among us.  

But that’s not what we get. Instead, we get Jesus quietly entering our lives and touching us with grace.

The order in which Luke lists the events of that day of Jesus’ Baptism is interesting. “When Jesus had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, ‘You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.’”

According to Luke, Jesus had been baptized. Now he is praying. And as he is praying, the heavens open and the Holy Spirit comes upon him and God’s voice announces him as God’s beloved Son. It is during prayer that all this divine inspiration and affirmation takes place.

This is interesting. This is comforting.

I have often heard people say they wish they could remember their own baptism. Most of us were baptized as children and have no memories of the event. We imagine it must have been special and momentous, and that it would be a blessing to remember it.

          This is just like Jesus’ baptism: Luke doesn’t remember it. The people there that day don’t remember it. The baptism event was God quietly entering Jesus’ life through water and the spirit. It is during prayer that the gifts of baptism come fully alive for him.

Same with us: When we were baptized, God quietly adopted us as God’s children through water and word. It is during prayer that we discover the heavens are opened for us. It is during prayer that we experience the gifts of the Holy Spirit. It is during prayer that God blesses us with affirmation and encouragement. It is during prayer that God calls us ‘beloved’.

In baptism, God quietly slips into our lives and promises to never, ever leave us. When we meet with God in prayer, God’s Holy Spirit will help us see where God is quietly at work to help us, comfort us, strengthen us, support us, bless us.

We need that quiet presence of God because life is hard. I find it revealing that the words in Isaiah say, “When you pass through the waters; when you walk through fire”. Not ‘if’, but ‘when’. That life can be hard is a given. That life will contain times when we feel like we are drowning is a given. That life can feel as if a blaze is turning everything we have taken for granted to soot and ashes is a given.

God promises to be there with us when those times hit. We will not endure calamities alone, but accompanied by our Good Shepherd. In our prayer conversations with our savior, God will affirm and encourage, comfort and strengthen, challenge and guide, inspire and bless us.

When the prisoner is led to the execution chamber, coldly referred to as a “dead man walking”, God’s voice comes to him through Sister Helen, who is the only one touching him with care and who proclaims to him: “Do not fear. I have called you by name. You are mine. I will go this walk with you.”

God’s word comes to us and reaches out to us when we are drowning, when we are at the end of our rope, when we are too exhausted to make one more pivot. God touches us with his love. God proclaims to us: “Do not fear. I have called you by name. You are mine. I will be with you. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.”

In these challenging days, may the voice of God reach you, affirm you, and uplift you. Amen.