Sermon - 2019-01-13

Within the Lutheran tradition and the Christian faith, we talk a lot about Baptism.  It is such an important event and moment that we recognize as the beginning of our faith journey and relationship with God.  Today as we celebrate the Baptism of our Lord. I am reminded of what this day means for us. Yet, i first want to remind you, just a few weeks ago, we celebrated the birth of Jesus at Christmas.  Last week, we celebrated the beginning of Epiphany with the bestowal of the gifts from the Magi of the East. These are important events in the life of Jesus and also marked who he was in the world.  However, these events were not done on a grand scale or for the whole world to bear witness to.

For much of the world, they did not realize who Jesus was and perhaps many of us are still wrestling with how Jesus is at work in our own life.  However, today, I was struck by the question that many people raise: “Is John the Messiah?” Many of the people were longing for a connection to God.  Not simply to hear about God from a book or what happened to others years ago. They wanted to feel and experience God in their life. They wanted to not simply believe but to experience God.  The people were longing that the Messiah would come to them and that they would be the lucky ones to be with him.

This highlights something very profound with many of us.  We long to be apart of something much larger than ourselves.  We long to be apart of something that will live longer than we will.  We seek out God within our life. Now all of us seek God, but only some have truly found Him.  For many of us, we settle for other aspects of life that satisfy only a portion of what it is we are desiring. This is a lower case g, god. This can come in many forms and for each one of us, it is different.  If you want to know what your lower case g, god is: take a look at your calendar and your money.

Now we come to the next great event, the Baptism of Jesus. Jesus comes to the waters of the Jordan River where John the Baptist is doing what he does best.  John does not want to baptize Jesus, John does not feel worthy but Jesus knows that it must happen this way. The people present bear witness to something that perhaps many of us long for.  They hear a voice from heaven declare that this is the Messiah.

This baptism is seen as the beginning of Jesus’ ministry in the world.  When Jesus does come to the waters of Baptism, we know that he is about 27-30 years old.  From here, he goes out into the wilderness to be tempted by the Devil and then returns to call the 12 Disciples.  For about three years, Jesus teaches, preaches and wanders throughout the land to let people know that he is here.  

However, we hear stories like that and some of us wonder, why doesn’t that happen to me?  Why don’t I experience a moment where the heavens open and I know what God wants me to do?  Why can’t I have a moment like that? Yet why can't you? Here in the church, in the community of God, let us gather in God's Name to be what God is calling us to be.