Father Gary’s Sermon

Inspired from Luke 3:15-16, 21-22

Proclaimed on January 11, 2004

Stephen Crotts, in his writing “Wanted: Dead or Alive” tells this story. There were two farmers putting up a fence. One of them suddenly dropped a heavy fence post right in the middle of a mud puddle. Both men were splashed with mud. Later, an eyewitness asked the farmer, “Jim, did you drop that post in the puddle on purpose?” “Yes, I sure did.” responded Jim. Puzzled, the man asked him why he did a thing like that. The farmer grinned and said, “Why, Willy, the boy I was working with had on a pair of brand new overalls. We weren’t getting any work done because he was so worried about getting dirty. So I dropped the post in the mud hole and got him dirty. Did you notice how much faster the work went after the baptism?”

The same can be said about Jesus regarding his baptism in our Gospel reading for today. Until his baptism Jesus apparently lived a very quiet life on top of a hill in a community called Nazareth. Few knew that he was important. Few knew that he was special. To most he was just the illegitimate son of Mary. To those closest to him, however, he was a really good guy who seemed too good to be true.

Then there was that fateful day when he went to visit his cousin John who was creating quite a stir down by the river Jordan. He was calling for the coming of a new kingdom, a call for people to prepare their hearts; prepare for the coming of a new messiah. When Jesus appeared before John, this loud and obnoxious prophet, who was so quick to condemn the highest of Israel’s religious authorities, became suddenly mute; for in Jesus he saw perfect goodness. There was no reason for Jesus to be baptized. John’s baptism, which was intended to be a cleansing agent for people dirty with sin, was not meant for one as pure as Jesus. In another Gospel account John attempts to talk Jesus out of this action, but Jesus insists. The question is “why?” Why would one so clean accept a baptism of cleansing? The answer is simple, as simple as the farmer intentionally splashing mud on his co-worker; it was time to get some work done. What was that work? It was the work of being the Messiah--the work of bringing in the new kingdom of God.

In ancient days Messiahs beginning with the leadership of Moses ruled the people of Israel. A messiah was one who stood between the people of Israel and God. The role of the messiah was to mediate God’s covenant demands to the people of God on the one hand; but then on the other hand, the messiah was also to bring the sin of the people before God that they may receive grace, be restored to fellowship, and be healed of their infirmities. In essence, it was a muddy job.

Historically, a messiah was initially one of the people, who was called out from among the people, to mediate God’s Kingdom on earth. After Moses came other messiahs in the form of judges, prophets, and then kings. Each was specially anointed, and in this anointing each became known as the Son of God. This anointing seemed to come in different ways: one in front of a burning bush, another by laying out a fleece. By the time of David, this anointing was done in a ceremony in which oil was poured over their heads. What was common in each of these anointings, however, was that each became formally identified as the Son of God, and that it was not until after the anointing that any real work seemed to get done. When Jesus knelt down in the muddy waters of Jordan he was a carpenter; but when he came out of the waters he was a King. He was a king confirmed by God with a voice from heaven which stated, “You are my Son; with you I am well pleased.” Then you all know what happened. It is aptly described in farmer Jim’s words to his inquiring friend Willy, “Did you notice how much faster the work went after the baptism?” It was as though in the baptism this man who was so clean and pure had the mud of human reality splattered upon him. Now he could identify with the people, now he could change his focus from keeping clean to getting some real work done.

But what might this have to do with us? It has to do with our own baptisms. It has to do with our work. A story told by the late Dean Urban T. Holmes in his work Praying with the Family of God illustrates this new reality. It begins when Jimmy raced out of the front door and slammed it behind him. BLAM! He ran down the walk toward the park. It was Saturday morning, the sky was blue--no sign of rain. He ran faster. He was off to play baseball and he couldn’t wait to get started! His parents had given him a new bat for his tenth birthday. Here was his first chance to try it out. Coming to the corner, Jimmy swirled the bat around his head. It was a great day! He could almost feel himself hitting the first ball as he held his bat tightly in his hands. Then, suddenly, the bat slipped and CRASH! The bat sailed out of his hands, through the air, and right into the plate glass window of Herman’s Drug Store. Disaster! Jimmy stared at the awful hole in the window. He wished he were somewhere else. Everyone on the block came running. Jimmy couldn’t move. He just stood there staring at the drug store window display with its boxes and thousands of tiny pieces of glass. Lying in the middle of it all-- his brand new bat. He knew that people were all around him, but he could not look up. Then he heard one gruff voice above the others. Somebody was standing right next to him. “Hey, kid,” the voice said. “Who’s going to pay for this?” Jimmy didn’t know what to say. He kept staring at the ground. “Did you hear me, kid!?” This time the voice was even more harsh, “Who’s going to take care of this? Answer me that!” Jimmy opened his month to speak, but nothing came out. Then, just when all the sounds around him were getting jumbled up together, Jimmy heard a voice he knew. “Jimmy is mine,” the firm voice said. It was his dad. Jimmy looked up to see his father standing there next to him. “I’ll pay for it,” his dad said, putting his hand on Jimmy’s shoulder.

The role of the messiah was like that of Jimmy’s father, to mediate God’s covenant demands which means to teach right and wrong, on the one hand, but then on the other hand, to stand with his child when things go wrong, that his child may receive grace, be restored to fellowship, and be healed of the infirmities that life deals out. In essence, it is a muddy job.

When we are baptized we become part of the Lord, we become his adopted children. In this baptism God stands by us as our Father, while we stand with God as God’s children. So the baptism of Jesus was like the farmer splashing mud on his partner, it was a way of getting on with the work. The work is the kingdom of God, a kingdom to which we are joined when we are splashed--a kingdom wherein, we are joined to God and God is joined to us. It all was started with a simple little splash, a splash that moves all of us to get on with the work!