Matthew 3:13-17
Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. But John tried to deter him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” Jesus replied, “Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.” Then John consented.
As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”
“One in Baptism”
As conversations on airplanes go… this one was going amazingly well. It wasn’t like the time when this one lady showed me all the pictures of her 80 children… and by children I mean cats. To make the event even more fulfilling… I got to learn all of their names. I will remember Mr. Snugglepaws most fondly of them all!
It wasn’t like the time I sat next to the ExactoPump Salesman. The ExactoPump!… the fastest and most accurate transfer pump you can buy for your gas station’s fuel pumps. Able to operate at both 12 and 24 volts! Top speed of over 40 gallons per minute… or an exact time of One Gallon every 1.42 seconds! Built in tracking systems monitor both flow and speed and transfer that information into a printable report. You get only one guess as to how I know all of this.
No… this conversation was going amazingly well compared to most I’ve had. We had gotten past the most dreadful part of the typical conversation… they get to the part where they ask me what I do… and I tell them that I am Pastor. And there is usually this flair of shock and horror… it is the same reaction I would expect if I told them I had a highly contagious disease and was expecting to die in… oh… say… 20 seconds. Their demeanor changes, the conversation suddenly takes on a grocery list format as they begin to list all their excuses for not going to church. It’s quite funny actually.
I have often debated whether or not I should start telling complete strangers I will never see again that I have a different profession. I could tell them I’m an ExactoPump salesman and they would leave me alone to read a book or take a nap. But after it all, I continue to remain honest when the dreadful question comes along.
Well this particular conversation I was having… did not have the stereotypical dread associated with. When I told him I was a pastor… he didn’t turn green! We actually started having a wonderful conversation about religion. (The following is taken from Max Lucado “A Gentle Thunder”)
“Are you a believer?” I asked.
“Oh yes,” he said excitedly.
“Do you believe in the Virgin birth?” I asked.
“I do.”
“The Deity of Jesus?”
“No doubt!”
“Death of Christ on the cross?”
“He died for all people.”
I was quite shocked at the prospect that I might be face to face with a real Christian! I continued my questioning to find out for sure.
“What is the status of man?”
“Sinner in need of grace.”
“Definition of grace.”
“God doing for man what man can not do.”
I started getting excited.
“What about the bible.”
He was getting interested too.
“Inspired.”
My heart began to beat faster.
“The church?”
“The body of Christ.”
My eyes misted. I had only one other question.
“What denomination are you?”
“I’m a Methodist!”
“Heretic!” I exclaimed.
Seem far fetched? If so, only a little. Just look at all the different denominations we have. Within the denominations are factions themselves. Take us Presbyterians for example. There is the PC(USA), the EPC, the PCA, the R.E.S.P.E.C.T. PC. We all gather around God’s table as siblings… squabbling away about meaningless points, and the Father sighs.
The Father sighs because there is only one flock, but somehow we missed that point. Religious division was not his idea. Franchises and sectarianism are not a part of God’s plan. Those of us who believe that there is only one TRUE church are actually right… but if we believe that the only TRUE church is our church… we are not so right.
You see, we are all children of God through the central act of today’s scripture. Our text today is only four verses long, but they are some of the most powerful verses in all of scripture. Our lesson today is the baptism of our Lord Jesus Christ. While it might seem like a straightforward event in the life of Christ, a story we all know, are all familiar with, could all probably tell with a good measure of accuracy… it is still an event with a huge problem associated with it. It’s a problem we never really think about… a problem that for the most part goes entirely unnoticed. The problem is this… “Why did Jesus have to be baptized?”
Let’s look at what we commonly believe about baptism. We believe baptism is a cleansing from sin… but Jesus didn’t need any cleansing. We believe baptism is a joining with God… but Jesus was already joined to God in ways so closely we can’t even imagine. We believe baptism is the way we join the church… but Jesus was already the Head of the Church! “Why did Jesus have to be baptized?”
The answer comes in examining the entire life of Jesus. You see… Jesus ministry is marked not by what he did for himself… but what he did for other people. His baptism is no different. Jesus was not baptized for the benefit of himself… he was baptized for us!
You see… the same Holy Spirit that descended upon Jesus during his baptism descends upon us when we are baptized, and in that moment we are joined once and forever to Jesus. And this means everything to us… for what is Jesus’ becomes ours… and what is ours becomes Jesus’.
A dying judge said to his pastor; "Do you know enough about law to understand what is meant by "joint tenancy?"
"No," was the reply, "I know nothing about law; I know a little about grace, and that satisfies me."
"Well", said the judge, "if you and I were joint tenants on a farm, I could not say to you, that is your hill of corn and this is mine, that is your blade of grass and this is mine; but we would share and share alike in everything on the place. I have been just lying here and thinking with joy that Jesus Christ has nothing apart from me, and that everything He has is mine and we will share alike through all eternity."
Jesus takes on all of our sin and all of our depravity as if it were his very own, and we receive his holiness and purity… as if it was us who had never done anything wrong… and as the prophet Isaiah wrote, “through his blood we are healed.”
This is something very special that every single Christian can claim. Every single one of us is a joint tenant with Jesus, and every single one of us through this partnership becomes a child of God. If we are all children of God we have the same Father, and if we all have the same Father… than every single one of us are brothers and sisters to one another.
Through my mother and father, God chose to give me one sister and one brother. A family of 5, that’s a nice number isn’t it. As family we stick with each other through thick and thin, despite what my brother or sister may do… they will always my family, and I would do anything for my family.
For a very long time… I really believed I only had a family of 5. But then something happened to me at seminary… as we studied the scriptures… as we learned about the Doctrine of the church, I began to see things differently. It didn’t help matters that I had this strange Methodist roommate named Craig Ferguson who called everybody and their dog brother and sister. But then it dawned on me... my family is much bigger than a family of 5… it is much more a family of close to 24 Billion!
And when you begin to REALLY look at each other as true brothers and sisters… you begin to look at things differently… you begin to look at each other differently. When you see another Christian suffering as a person… you may be moved… may even help out… but you yourself will not be terribly changed or affected. But if you see that same person as your brother or sister suffering… well… then it becomes so much more personal doesn’t it?
And it doesn’t stop there… I KNOW that every single one of us knows a Christian brother or sister who you wish would be adopted into a differently family! But it doesn’t work that way when you really and truly look at them as a brother or sister in Christ. When we see them as true family… we begin to have a little more patience… we treat them more kindly… because despite their faults… they are family. Think about that… THEY ARE FAMILY.
In this huge family of ours… there are a lot of things that make us different… different beliefs… different kinds of worship services… different ways of explaining things. But the things that we have in common far outweigh the things that keep us apart. So as one big family… we need to remember this lesson… no matter what denomination we are a part of, we are part of the same family… and should treat each other as such. Through love and patience… serving one another as family… as Christ would have us serve. With forgiveness and understanding… embracing each other despite our differences… truly treating each other as family should.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
