Answering the Call: Part I
Matthew 3:13-17
January 12, 2014 at Eastminster Presbyterian Church
“Open the eyes of our hearts Lord so that we might see
the hope to which you have called us.”[1] Let us your Word now through these
words. Amen.
In
our scripture Jesus showed up at the Jordan River to begin his ministry when he
was thirty years old.[2] In Matthew’s Gospel we have not seen or heard
from Jesus since he was a toddler exiled to Egypt because Herod had tried to
end his life before it had even begun.[3]
So,
there is a frustrating gap of almost thirty years about which we know nothing.
Later writers tried to fill this silence.[4] Some of them made up childhood stories that
were designed to answer the questions, “What did Jesus know and when did he
know it?” These were important questions
for these early Christians because they spoke to the identity of Jesus. Was he a man or was he God?
If Jesus were God then he would have known who
he was and what he was to do from birth. His hard drive would have been
pre-loaded with all the programs and files he would ever need. He would have
had no need for pre-school and Sabbath school or even advice from his mother
because he was, after all, God who is all knowing and all-powerful.
We
do read stories in the gospels that reflect this view. Even Satan seemed to recognize Jesus’
abilities in the next chapter when he called him to turn rocks into bread and
fly through the air with angels. Indeed in the gospels, Jesus often seemed to
know what only God could know. He made
predictions none of us could make, most notably, the when and where and why of
his own death.
If
Jesus were human though, he would have come into this world as we all do, as a
blank slate. He would have had to figure
out who is and what he should be doing the same way we do, gradually, by
degrees, over time. We get a hint of
that in the Gospel of Luke after Jesus’ Bar Mitzvah in the Temple. At the end
of this story, Luke wrote, “The child grew and became strong in spirit, and he
was in the wilderness until the day he appeared publicly to Israel.”[5] Growth and becoming is a very human
trait. It is something we all do.
In
other words, Jesus in those growing up years went through the same wilderness
wandering all adolescents go through as they try to figure out “who am I?” and
“what am I are supposed to be doing?”
All
that growing up work appears to be done when Jesus showed up at the river. He
had come to some conclusions about who he is and what he is to do. The Bible says, “Then Jesus came from Galilee
to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him.
John would have prevented this and said, “I need to be baptized by you…”[6]
Why
did John protest? I told this story last year, but it bears repeating. When my five year old son understood when we
watched the movie “Jesus of Nazareth” years ago. When Jesus walked in the water, my son said,
“Daddy, isn’t that Jesus?”
I said, “Yes”.
“Isn’t the other the
baptism guy?”
I said, “Yes”.
“I thought the baptism guy
put water on the people to clean up their sins.”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“I thought Jesus didn’t do
anything wrong. Why does he need to get clean?”
Five years old and he understood the problem better than
his father understood the answer, so I said, “Would you like some Pizza? Jesus said to John, “Let’s do this so that we
can fulfill all righteousness.”[7] What does that mean?
The meaning is determined by what you think righteousness
is and how you go about living righteously and this is where John and Jesus
part company. John’s Baptism was
different from Christian Baptism.
When people came to John they felt bad about the bad they
did and wanted that feeling to go away.
So they came to John and hoped that when he poured that water over their
heads he could wash their sins and that guilty feeling away.
For
many that worked - for a little while.
Then they sinned again and so they had to come back to be baptized again
and again. It was up to them to get themselves to the river.
John’s
religion was pretty simple, “Prepare the way of the Lord. Make his paths straight.”[8] This is something you can do. This is something we can understand, because
he was really saying, “You have to try harder because it’s all up to you.” John’s religion fits in very well with the
American dream. It’s what we tell our
children when they go to school and ourselves when we go to work. Study hard, work long, and keep your nose
clean and you will be successful.
That’s
why John was so bewildered when Jesus showed up at the river. Jesus had not failed, fallen, or sinned in
any way. John saw him as already
completely successful in the thing that mattered most to him and that was his
relationship with the Father in heaven.
No one was closer to the Father than Christ, and Jesus said as much, “If
you have seen me, you have seen the Father.”[9] “I
and the Father are one.”[10] John saw Jesus as the standard we should all
strive to meet, so it made no sense to him that he should baptize Jesus so that
Jesus might get better. Jesus was
already where we’d all like to be – resting in the arms of God.
Jesus’
view of righteousness was different than John’s because he recognized our
futility in trying to do everything right all of the time. He knew we are all
where Agnes Rogers Allen was when she said:
I should be better and brighter and
thinner,
and more intelligent at dinner.
I should reform and take some pains,
improve my person and my brains.
There’s a lot I could do about it,
But will I?....
Honestly, she said, I doubt it.[11]
No
one does, so obviously no one can do it.
We all make mistakes and worse yet we all sin which is not so much a
mistake as it is a deliberate decision to do what we know we should not do or
refrain from doing what we should. That
was the view of the Apostle Paul anyway, and that quite rightly prompted his
question, “Who will deliver me?”[12]
Jesus began to answer that question in his
reformation of the meaning of baptism.
We are not made right with God by trying harder to reach up. Rather, we are made right by recognizing that
God has already reached down to help us up.
That’s
why we need a Savior. We need someone to
lift us up. It is as simple as the arms
of a child reaching up to a parent, which may be why Jesus said, “whoever does
not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it.”[13] That is the first step to answering the call
of God. You will never hear the voice of
God if you spend all of your time telling God how well you’ve done or at least
how hard you’ve tried. You will only hear
if you listen and lift your arms.
That’s
what Jesus did. What did he hear? The Bible says, “When Jesus was baptized,
just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heaven were opened to him and
he saw the “Spirit of God descending like a dove and voice from heaven said,
“This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”[14]
Some
years back, I had the opportunity to visit the place, the exact place where
many scholars today believe this happened.
It is a very pastoral setting unchanged since Jesus’ day because it
occupies a demilitarized zone between Israel and Jordan. No one goes through the barbwire gate to the
baptismal site without permission, so there are not religious knick-knack shops
or shouting tour guides. Demilitarized zones are very peaceful places because
if you make a big noise someone may shoot at you.
When
our group sat in a circle for worship, this passage was read and then we went
into a time of prayer. It was during
this quiet time I noticed for the first time the cooing of doves all around us. They seemed to be everywhere. Now I’m sure they were there as we walked in
and I’m sure they were there when we sang our hymns and the scripture was read,
but it was only in that quiet time I heard the murmur of the dove’s song.
The
second step to answer the call of God is to listen for the call of God. You might be surprised what you hear.
What
did Jesus hear? “You are my beloved in
whom I am well pleased.”[15] I want you to notice something here and this
is very important. Up until this point,
all that Jesus has done in Matthew’s Gospel was to be born. Not a single sermon
has been preached. No one has been
healed and no miracles have been performed.
There is no record of God saying, “Because you have received straight
“A’s” in school, I am pleased. Or, because you became the starting quarterback
on the football team, I am proud. Or because you memorized the Ten Commandments
and all the books in the Bible, or helped a little old lady across the street,
I am satisfied with you.”
No! What Jesus and John hear is, “You are my son
and I am pleased with you for no other reason than you are.” Hear that!
Believe that! It will take your
breath away.
There’s
an old preacher’s ditty that says, “God loves you just as you are. God loves you too much to leave you where you
are.” There will always be more growing
and more becoming. The Bible says,
“Beloved, we are God’s children; it does not yet appear what we shall be.”[16]
That
is God’s call to each and every one of us.
Our Presbyterian Book of Order puts it this way.
God calls a people to
believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior;
to follow Jesus Christ in obedient
discipleship;
to use the gifts and abilities God has given,
honoring and serving God
in
personal life,
in
household and families,
in daily occupations,
in
community, nation, and the world.
A person responds to God’s
call to faith in Jesus Christ
through Baptism and
through life and worship in the community of
faith.
Persons respond to God’s
call to discipleship
through
the ministries of God’s people in and for the world.[17]
We do this together.
In scripture we learn God does call people like Abraham and Moses individually,
but the ministry is always for the people.
This
is something we do together. That’s the
third thing I’d like you to remember.
Discerning God’s call is often done best in groups, because each of us
may hear a little bit. That’s why we
have Bible Studies and small group ministries.
It’s why churches link together into denominations. When we join together and add up those little
bits we may often end up with something greater.
That’s
what is before us. Let us pray for God’s
vision and power.
God
you have called in the past those we honor today, Abraham, Moses, Peter and
Paul; but we believe your Spirit still moves today and that you are calling
each of us to follow and serve in particular ways. Some of these ways are quite public and
others as quiet as a prayer. Help each
of us to hear and see so that we may know what to do. Through Christ, in whom you were and are well
pleased. Amen.
[1]
Ephesians 1:18
[2] Luke
3:23
[3] Matthew
2:20
[4] Gospel
of Thomas is an apocryphal writing, which contains a lengthy childhood
narrative.
[5] Luke
1:80
[6] Luke
3:13-14
[7] Matthew
3:15
[8] Matthew
3:3 Isaiah 40:3
[9] John
14:9
[10] John
10:30
[11]
Preaching Values in the Epistles of Paul “Romans and 1 Corinthians”. Harper. N.Y. 1959 1:44
[12] Romans
7:20-24
[13] Mark
10:15
[14] Matthew
3:16-17
[15] Matthew
3:17
[16] 1 John
3:2
[17] PCUSA
Book of Order W.5.600
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