January 10, 2016

Linda Murphy 

Baptism of Jesus     Luke 3:15-17, 21-22

Video available on YouTube, Facebook

For many of us today is the end of our holiday time and we return to work tomorrow. I have had a wonderful holiday we stayed at home and I just enjoyed being in the moment. I enjoyed the sun shine and loved the rain at New Year. Our water tank was rather low! We have a full tank which is wonderful at this time of year. For many our El Nino summer has not been great especially for those camping. Nevertheless most farmers are happy and our harvest should be plentiful.

While I didn’t make a New Year’s resolution I had made a decision to spend more time being rather than rushing which can be a challenge when you work at the City Mission. As I write this sermon watching the rain gently water the garden I realise how easy it is to be still and to listen to God in our midst. However for most of us during our working day this is a challenge.

Today we are celebrating the Baptism of Jesus according to Luke, and Luke’s version is similar to the other Gospels with the exception that we are not entirely sure that John the Baptist is present. The verses omitted from our Gospel state that Herod had arrested John. Jesus is with many others who have come to the Jordan River to be baptised as a token of repentance to hasten the coming of the Kingdom that God would establish to displace the tyrannical rulers of the time. John was offering baptism to both the elite and the common people hence words of burning the chaff. According to the late Marcus Borg, John the Baptist’s movement was anti-temple replacing the temple’s mediation of the forgiveness of sins with the mediation of forgiveness through baptism. Hence Herod was not very keen to have John around challenging his comfortable world.

In 28CE huge crowds had flocked from Judea, Jerusalem and the surrounding countryside to listen to the fiery preaching of John the Baptist beside the River Jordan. In Israel, ritual immersion had long signified not only a moral purification but also a social commitment to justice. The sectarians at Qumran performed frequent ablutions both as a rite of purification and as a political commitment “to observe justice to men” and “to hate the unjust and fight the battle of the righteous ones”. These are words of the historian Josephus from the 1st Century.

For most of us in the Anglican and Roman Catholic traditions we are baptized as babies so few of us will remember our own baptisms. I certainly don’t as I was three months old however I know it was Labour weekend 1951 and I was baptised at All Saints Ponsonby where my parents had been married. For many who bring their babies to us to be baptised here at St Matthew’s they are non-church goers who feel that a baptism or christening is a necessary ritual.

Why do we baptise our babies if we are not part of a church community?

Since being ordinated I have baptised four babies. Three of these baptisms were preceded with discussion with the parents as to what this sacrament meant and I was very happy to proceed with the service. However the fourth one was not as successful as the parents were not interested in having a conversation about the meaning of this sacrament. For them it was a service to have at St Matthew’s where they had been married and they felt part of, but attending church services and being part of this community was not part of their vision.

We as a clergy team have had numerous discussions about how we manage this and we have shared lots of ideas. I have had many conversations with friends as to why their grandchildren are being baptised when the parents don’t attend church and I receive looks of astonishment that I should even ask such a question. It is just a celebration families have. The family christening gown is brought out of storage, photos are taking and family and friends celebrate the arrival of this lovely new baby.

Jesus’ baptism marked the beginning of his ministry. He was immersed in the Jordan and a dove appeared signifying the Holy Spirit and a voice came out of the heavens, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.” The Holy Spirit would be crucial to this early movement; it was not a separate divine being of course, but a term used by Jews to denote the presence and power of God in human life.

In the Book of Acts, 3,000 were baptised in one day on Pentecost and there are many other baptisms listed. Always with water, with the words “in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit” and we continue to do this in our baptismal liturgy today. In the early church the Catechumens (those to be baptised), were instructed over many weeks and were baptised at the Easter Vigil service. This was an act of commitment to the church and church community that has slipped way in our present secular world.

As we begin this New Year we face many issues such as child poverty and the associated health issues in New Zealand. We have a housing shortage in Auckland especially, that means many families are being separated, children don’t attend school and the cost of rent is placing many families in penury. Foodbanks are expanding in Auckland for these needy families many of them employed in more than one job just to keep a roof over their families.

 Worldwide we have refugees needing food and shelter in such enormous numbers that the world seems unable to find a solution to their plight. Terrorism is active all over the world causing fear, discrimination and destruction. It is a year since the Charlie Hebdo attacks in Paris and this city experienced further terrorist attacks during this last year. The debate continues over global warming and while the powers talk we experience horrific storms, flooding and drought, with no solution in sight.

The Primates of the Anglican Communion meet in Canterbury over the coming weeks to discuss the many differences of interpretation of our faith. Let’s us hope that these primates remember their baptismal vows and remember why Jesus challenged the establishment of his time and their injustice and inhumane practices.

This may be the time for all of us to remember our baptismal vows and why Jesus was baptised. Why Jesus commenced a ministry that was so enormously challenging, changing his world order for justice to be available to everyone regardless of race, gender, social status or sexual orientation.

 As Bishop John Spong wrote reflecting on baptism, “Baptism introduces us to a Christian life that frees us to live fully, empowers us to love wastefully and gives us the courage to be all that we were meant to be.”

Amen.