January 14
Texts for Baptism of Jesus Sunday (which actually was last week, but we used the Epiphany texts then) are Isaiah 43:1-7 and Luke 3:15-22
Three themes pull these two readings closely together: God's call, the Holy Spirit, and the community. Isaiah begins with the powerful claim that we need not fear because God calls us by name and we belong to God, the same affirmation we make each time we baptize. The name God calls Jesus in Luke's version of his baptism is "Beloved." One of the wonderful aspects of this Isaiah reading is verse 4 where we get the very rare formulation in the Bible of God saying to the people "I love you." We read about God's love in lots of places in the Bible, but this particular phrase occurs almost never. God calls us; we are loved by God. In Jesus' baptism, he is clearly called and then called Beloved.
A second theme is that of the presence of the Holy Spirit. The word is not used specifically in the Isaiah, but water and fire run throughout the Bible as symbols of the Holy Spirit. In Luke, the Spirit is seen in a body, that of a dove, resting on Jesus' body. The last time we saw the Spirit in Luke, Gabriel told Mary the spirit of God would come upon her and she would conceive a child. This generative Spirit now becomes visible to others at Jesus' baptism, and then immediately sends him into the wilderness for a time of testing (we'll get the continuation of this story on the first Sunday in Lent). Of all the ways we have of experiencing and understanding God, the Spirit is often the most perplexing, mysterious and varied in form, and therefore worth spending time considering and meditating upon.
The third theme reminds us of the importance of Community. In Isaiah, God did not just call individuals out of exile, but a whole nation, and the coming together of the sons and daughters is critical to discerning the presence of God in that activity. The people survived exile by holding to each other in community and they will rebuild their nation the same way. In Luke, Jesus comes together with other people to be baptized. This is not a private event, but part of a crowd, Jesus becoming one with the people in this act. God's proclamation was not just for Jesus' benefit, or for John's, but a voice heard by others, a dove seen by others, a public action. Many have asked why Jesus needed to be baptized, since he had not sinned and need not repent. One answer to that is that he did so to be in solidarity with those seeking to renew their relationship with God, and also to show John's authority as a reformer of Judaism. Jesus standing with John and those who followed him immediately made him controversial in the larger community (Luke makes sure we get that point by inserting his historical note about what later happened to John).
Three themes pull these two readings closely together: God's call, the Holy Spirit, and the community. Isaiah begins with the powerful claim that we need not fear because God calls us by name and we belong to God, the same affirmation we make each time we baptize. The name God calls Jesus in Luke's version of his baptism is "Beloved." One of the wonderful aspects of this Isaiah reading is verse 4 where we get the very rare formulation in the Bible of God saying to the people "I love you." We read about God's love in lots of places in the Bible, but this particular phrase occurs almost never. God calls us; we are loved by God. In Jesus' baptism, he is clearly called and then called Beloved.
A second theme is that of the presence of the Holy Spirit. The word is not used specifically in the Isaiah, but water and fire run throughout the Bible as symbols of the Holy Spirit. In Luke, the Spirit is seen in a body, that of a dove, resting on Jesus' body. The last time we saw the Spirit in Luke, Gabriel told Mary the spirit of God would come upon her and she would conceive a child. This generative Spirit now becomes visible to others at Jesus' baptism, and then immediately sends him into the wilderness for a time of testing (we'll get the continuation of this story on the first Sunday in Lent). Of all the ways we have of experiencing and understanding God, the Spirit is often the most perplexing, mysterious and varied in form, and therefore worth spending time considering and meditating upon.
The third theme reminds us of the importance of Community. In Isaiah, God did not just call individuals out of exile, but a whole nation, and the coming together of the sons and daughters is critical to discerning the presence of God in that activity. The people survived exile by holding to each other in community and they will rebuild their nation the same way. In Luke, Jesus comes together with other people to be baptized. This is not a private event, but part of a crowd, Jesus becoming one with the people in this act. God's proclamation was not just for Jesus' benefit, or for John's, but a voice heard by others, a dove seen by others, a public action. Many have asked why Jesus needed to be baptized, since he had not sinned and need not repent. One answer to that is that he did so to be in solidarity with those seeking to renew their relationship with God, and also to show John's authority as a reformer of Judaism. Jesus standing with John and those who followed him immediately made him controversial in the larger community (Luke makes sure we get that point by inserting his historical note about what later happened to John).
Labels: Baptism of Jesus
posted by shelly @ 9:32 AM
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