Psalm 119:105-112; Genesis 25:19-34

Psalm 119: 105-112

¹⁰⁵ Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.
¹⁰⁶ I have taken an oath and confirmed it, that I will follow your righteous laws.
¹⁰⁷ I have suffered much; preserve my life, LORD, according to your word.
¹⁰⁸ Accept, LORD, the willing praise of my mouth, and teach me your laws.
¹⁰⁹ Though I constantly take my life in my hands, I will not forget your law.
¹¹⁰ The wicked have set a snare for me, but I have not strayed from your precepts.
¹¹¹ Your statutes are my heritage forever; they are the joy of my heart.
¹¹² My heart is set on keeping your decrees to the very end.

During my first semester of seminary, I took Ellen Davis’ class on Hebrew prose. It was one of the most difficult classes I would take there. It had been two and a half years since my Hebrew classes at Westmont, and I was pretty rusty in a language which had never really felt comfortable. It was Dr. Davis who first taught me to love Psalm 119. At the beginning of each Hebrew prose class, she would read a couple of verses in Hebrew for us to translate together and meditate on briefly. Several times she had us read from Psalm 119.

Psalm 119 is filled with images of the person who has committed their whole life to the Word of God and has found life in the commands of the Lord. The psalmist is a shining example of what it looks like to follow God faithfully. As I read his words, I too long to know God’s Word in such an intimate way.

This section of the Psalm begins with a beautiful image: “Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.” I grew up camping with my family. At night, it quickly grows too dark to see what is around you. We would gather around the campfire to talk and light the lantern on the table, but outside the sphere of the light, it was dark, and the path was impossible to see and our footing was hard to find. A trip to the water spigot required a lantern or flashlight. So did a trip to the tent. We quite literally needed a light for our path in the dark of night.

We live in a world that is often dark from sin and confusion. Which choice is the correct one? How do we hear God’s voice? When we go to work, how do we live out God’s commands in a secular marketplace? What will our friends say if we live the commands of God? We swim in an ocean of uncertainty and the way before us often seems dark. We need a light to see our path.

The Psalmist knows what we often forget. God’s Word is a light to our path. Only by knowing God’s decrees can we see clearly the path he has set beneath our feet. Without his light, we often wander from the path. We get caught in briers, unable to untangle ourselves from the mess in our lives. We find ourselves looking at the edge of a cliff, with one more step leading to emotional injury, brokenness, or even physical death. We like to go our own way. We like to think that we can navigate life on our own and that we know better than God how to travel this modern world. We are proud. But the truth is that on our own, we are wandering lost in the darkness.

We need God’s word to light our way. When decisions have to be made, when opportunities arise, when our friends ask us to do something, how do we know what is right? Only God’s Word can lead us to what is true and steadfast. That is why the Psalmist asks repeatedly, eight times in this psalm, for God to teach him God’s commands. He knows that unless God teaches him, he will not have a light for his journey. He will be lost in the world and not know what decisions to make or where he is going.

But life has not been easy for the Psalmist. In verse 107 he says that he has suffered much. In verse 110 the wicked have set a snare for him. More than ten times already, he has mentioned that the wicked are trying to trap him and destroy him. How can he see the snares they have laid in his path? Only by the light of the World of God. By dedicating his life to God, he is able to know God’s truth and ways, and he can avoid their traps. He is like Daniel, whose enemies sought to trap him in evil because he followed God, but they couldn’t find him doing anything wrong. The Word of the Lord illuminated his path.

But sometimes we find the darkness mysterious and alluring. Sometimes it seems easier to do what the wicked want so they will leave us alone. What do we do then, when we don’t want to know the will of God? The Psalmist says that he has “taken an oath and confirmed it, that [he] will follow [God’s] righteous laws.” He has bound himself to follow the commands of God, even when he doesn’t feel like it, even when it is difficult. Without his oath, without his commitment to the Word of the Lord, it would be easy at times to walk away from God’s path, especially because his enemies are making it difficult for him to keep walking at all. So he takes an oath that he will follow the commands of the Lord. His oath is binding. He doesn’t get to opt out of it because he doesn’t feel like keeping it today. He keeps it regardless. We often need his perspective. We need to bind ourselves to the Word of God, conforming our lives to his Word instead of trying to conform his Word to our lives.

Living a life dedicated to the Word of the Lord, like the Psalmist is doing, is not easy. It takes time to learn the commands of God. It takes perseverance when we don’t understand and prayer that God would teach us his ways. It takes patience to learn the new language of God, and we are all at different stages on that journey. For some of us, this language of God is strange and foreign. We don’t understand the terms being used. We could use a good dictionary, not an application to our lives. What is God talking about? For others of us, the language of God is familiar. We have been hearing it for years, and we have let it illumine our path more or less over the years, depending on who we are and our circumstances. No matter where we are on this journey, learning the Word of God and letting it light our way shapes our lives. In a vastly different direction, ignoring the Word of God just as dramatically also shapes our lives.

I mentioned earlier that Dr. Davis was the person who taught me to love Psalm 119. She taught me many other things in her classes. I remember some of the things she worked so hard to teach, and I have already forgotten some of the others. But what struck me most during her class, and what still stands out in my mind, is Dr. Davis herself. She is a woman who embodies the words of Psalm 119. She has dedicated her life to studying the Scriptures, and it shows. When she picks up her Hebrew Old Testament to read the Word of God to her students, her passion and love for the Word pour through. She reads Hebrew better than anyone else I have met, even still, translating for her classes as she reads. And she respects the Scriptures, paying close attention to the words through which God has chosen to communicate. She has bound herself to the text, even when she doesn’t understand or wishes it would say something else. She listens to Scripture, seeing the ways the whole story connects, but refusing to disregard the words of the text instead of obeying it. Her insight and dedication to the Word of the Lord provided more insight into the book of Job in a one hour lecture than I had gained in a whole class with another professor. Dr. Davis’ willingness to allow the Word of God to shape her and her desire to know what God is saying have shaped her life in a way that illuminates God’s Word for the rest of us. She is a living, breathing example of what life looks like when you live the prayer of the Psalmist.

The story from Genesis printed in your bulletin this morning provides a drastically different set of examples for us. Isaac is the son of Abraham, the child of the promise which God gave to Abraham to make his descendants like the stars in the sky. He is the child that was rescued by the hand of God when he was bound to the altar of sacrifice. Yet here, as an adult, Isaac is an unremarkable man. We read very little about him in the scriptures. The most significant thing in his life that is recounted in the Scriptures is his father’s obedience to God to sacrifice Isaac. We read little of Isaac speaking with God or of God directing his paths.

Eventually, Isaac married Rebekah, who is childless. Isaac knows God well enough to pray for God to provide a child to fulfill his promise, and God provides twin boys, who jostle each other inside of her to the point where she goes to ask God why it is happening. So far, so good. Isaac and Rebekah are seeking the Lord, trusting him to fulfill his promises, and coming to him when they don’t understand.

God answers Rebekah’s prayer with the proclamation that there are two nations inside of her. One people will be stronger than the other, and one will serve the other. The Hebrew is ambiguous. God answers either, “The older, the younger will serve” or “The older will serve the younger.” We tend to translate it the second way, because that is what happens, but God’s answer is ambiguous.

The rest of the story recounts Isaac and Esau against Rebekah and Jacob, both parents seeking to secure a greater future for their favorite son. This is a family, just one of many in the story of God, who could use some serious counseling! Esau is born first, but Jacob is born holding onto Esau’s heel, living out a Hebrew idiom meaning “he deceives.” When the boys grow up, Esau becomes a hunter in the open country while Jacob stays home among the tents.

One day, Esau has been hunting and comes back to the tents, “faint and weary from fatigue and hunger.” Jacob is cooking stew, and Esau, unable even to come up with the word for stew, asks Jacob for “some of that red red stuff.” Jacob, taking advantage of his brother’s weakness and hunger, responds, “first sell me your birthright.” The birthright is the right of the oldest born son to a double portion of the inheritance and the right to serve as the priest for the family. Esau says that he is about to die, so what good is his birthright? He swears an oath that Jacob can have his birthright, willing to give up his place as firstborn for this particular meal. Jacob gives Esau some stew, which he eats and then leaves.

Not one of the characters in the story is to be emulated. Not one is allowing God’s Word to shape their actions. Esau lets his physical appetites rule his decisions. Jacob takes advantage of his brother’s weariness and hunger. Isaac and Rebekah both choose one son to love over the other, with Isaac choosing Esau because he has an appetite for the wild game that Esau hunts.

Their story will get worse before Jacob and Esau learn to listen to God’s Word. Rebekah will help Jacob deceive Isaac into giving Esau’s blessing to Jacob, resulting in Esau serving Jacob. Esau will desire to kill Jacob for stealing his blessing, and Isaac will be oblivious to the tricks happening around him until it is too late.

Eventually, both boys will learn something different. Jacob will be out-tricked by his father-in-law Laban. He will have to flee Laban and fear for his life in his meeting with Esau, but he will encounter God, wrestle with God, and be changed from a deceiver into a man possessing integrity. Esau will be transformed from a man seeking to take his brother’s life into a man offering forgiveness and living alongside his brother in peace. Together, they will eventually bury their father Isaac.

For Isaac and Rebekah, Jacob and Esau, their lack of attention to God’s ways results in pain, brokenness, deception, lies, and anger. They are examples to us of what life looks like when we go our own way. But their later transformation reveals the power of God’s Word and immensity of God’s grace to transform our lives.

In a powerful description of the role of the pastor in the church, Eugene Peterson writes:

We need help in keeping our beliefs sharp and accurate and intact. We don’t trust ourselves; our emotions seduce us into infidelities. We know we are launched on a difficult and dangerous act of faith, and there are strong influences intent on diluting or destroying it. We want you to give us help. Be our pastor, a minister of Word and sacrament in the middle of this world’s life….

One more thing: We are going to ordain you to this ministry, and we want your vow that you will stick to it. This is not a temporary job assignment but a way of life that we need lived out in our community. We know you are launched on the same difficult belief venture in the same dangerous world as we are. We know your emotions are as fickle as ours, and your mind is as tricky as ours. That is why we are going to ordain you and why we are going to exact a vow from you. We know there will be days and months, maybe even years, when we won’t feel like believing anything and won’t want to hear it from you. And we know there will be days and weeks and maybe even years when you won’t feel like saying it. It doesn’t matter. Do it. You are ordained to this ministry, vowed to it. |

There may be times when we come to you as a committee or delegation and demand that you tell us something else than what we are telling you now. Promise right now that you won’t give in to what we demand of you. You are not the minister of our changing desires, or our time-conditioned understanding of our needs, or our secularized hopes for something better. With these vows of ordination we are lashing you fast to the mast of Word and sacrament so you will be unable to respond to the siren voices. - Eugene Peterson, The Contemplative Pastor

This is Peterson’s description of what it means to be a pastor, to be called to proclaim the Word of God to God’s people. But his description, that pastors are taking a vow to stick to the Word of God whether we feel like it or not, that pastors are “[lashed] fast to the mast of Word and sacrament so [they] will be unable to respond to the siren voices” is not true of pastors alone. True, we are ordained to Word and sacrament, but all of us, and members of the church, take vows that lash us fast to the Word of God to keep us from responding to the siren voices of the world that will dash us upon the rocks. In our membership vows, we proclaim that we believe that the Bible is the Word of God, and that we accept its authority for our lives, and we resolve to be cleansed and empowered by the guidance of the Scriptures.

As you take time in prayer this morning, ask yourself whether you will let the Word of God shape you and illumine your path, or whether, in pride, you will seek to go your own way. Examine your life this morning. Ask God to show you if you are honestly seeking to follow his Word, to learn from Him his commands, and to let his Word light your path. Then ask yourself if you are willing to bind yourself to God’s Word, even when it is difficult or doesn’t make sense, to wait patiently to learn from God what his decrees are.

Time for Prayer

If you are willing to bind yourself to God’s Word, to let God’s commands illuminate your path and to follow them even when they are difficult or confusing, reaffirm with me your membership vows this morning:

“Do you believe the Bible is God’s written Word, uniquely inspired by the Holy Spirit, and do you accept its authority for what you must believe and how you must life?

We do.

“Do you here resolve, by God’s grace, to be Christlike in heart and life, opening yourself fully to the cleansing and empowering ministry of the Holy Spirit, the guidance of the Scriptures, and the nurture and fellowship of the church?

We do.

Amen. Let it be so.

Eugene Peterson on the Commercialization of the Church

"Worship is also continuously at risk, but with worship the danger is commodification, being debased into a commodity for consumers who are shopping for the best buy in God or the latest in spiritual fashions. But the moment that God or the things of God are packaged and then advertised as programs or principles or satisfaction, we are depersonalized, diminishing our capacity to love. There is not much chance of growing to the measure of the stature of Christ in a place of worship that markets goods and services stamped with a God logo. The very place and time given us to cultivate conditions congenial for acquiring an understanding of and companionship in the practice of love is no longer available.
"The extensive commodification of worship in America has marginalized far too many churches as orienting centers for how to live a more effective life for God. What the secular culture has done to love by romanticizing it into fornication and the practice of adultery, the ecclesial culture has done by promoting ways of worship calculated to appeal to consumer tastes in which love is redefined as 'Oh, I like that,' or 'I have to have that,' or negatively as 'I don't get anything out of that.'"
-Eugene Peterson, Practice Resurrection, pg 219-20

John 21:1-25; Romans 8:31-39

I was a gymnast when I was growing up. I spent a considerable amount of time each week with a group of other girls and coaches in a gym practicing routines, learning new skills, and drilling basics. Other than school, gymnastics was my life. By the time I left the sport, I had been competing for years, spending 16-20 hours a week in the gym. Then, when I was 16, I was done, and I had to figure out what my life looked like now. What should I do with my time now? The life that I had known, the familiar routines, were gone, and I had to figure out how my time and energy would be spent now.

This week is the first Sunday after Easter, and we find the disciples in much the same place. Last Friday, we mourned. Friday brought grief and fear. Then, on Easter morning, the grief was wiped away. Jesus wasn’t dead, like we thought. He is risen; he’s alive. But he is no longer present in our midst, and we aren’t quite sure what life looks like now for us. What do we do now that we aren’t following Jesus throughout the countryside, watching him perform miracles and listening to his teaching? A week after Easter, we are in the place of the first disciples. What does life look like with a risen Jesus?

Read with me John 21:1-14.

¹ Después de esto Jesús se apareció de nuevo a sus discípulos, junto al lago de Tiberíades.^[a] Sucedió de esta manera:² Estaban juntos Simón Pedro, Tomás (al que apodaban el Gemelo^[b]), Natanael, el de Caná de Galilea, los hijos de Zebedeo, y otros dos discípulos.
³ —Me voy a pescar —dijo Simón Pedro.

—Nos vamos contigo —contestaron ellos.

Salieron, pues, de allí y se embarcaron, pero esa noche no pescaron nada.
⁴ Al despuntar el alba Jesús se hizo presente en la orilla, pero los discípulos no se dieron cuenta de que era él.
⁵ —Muchachos, ¿no tienen algo de comer? —les preguntó Jesús.

—No —respondieron ellos.
⁶ —Tiren la red a la derecha de la barca, y pescarán algo.

Así lo hicieron, y era tal la cantidad de pescados que ya no podían sacar la red.
⁷ —¡Es el Señor! —dijo a Pedro el discípulo a quien Jesús amaba.

Tan pronto como Simón Pedro le oyó decir: «Es el Señor», se puso la ropa, pues estaba semidesnudo, y se tiró al agua.⁸ Los otros discípulos lo siguieron en la barca, arrastrando la red llena de pescados, pues estaban a escasos cien metros^[c] de la orilla.⁹ Al desembarcar, vieron unas brasas con un pescado encima, y un pan.
¹⁰ —Traigan algunos de los pescados que acaban de sacar —les dijo Jesús.
¹¹ Simón Pedro subió a bordo y arrastró hasta la orilla la red, la cual estaba llena de pescados de buen tamaño. Eran ciento cincuenta y tres, pero a pesar de ser tantos la red no se rompió.
¹² —Vengan a desayunar —les dijo Jesús.

Ninguno de los discípulos se atrevía a preguntarle: «¿Quién eres tú?», porque sabían que era el Señor.¹³ Jesús se acercó, tomó el pan y se lo dio a ellos, e hizo lo mismo con el pescado.¹⁴ Ésta fue la tercera vez que Jesús se apareció a sus discípulos después de haber *resucitado.

The disciples are gathered, knowing that Jesus has risen, but probably still a little lost as to what his resurrection means for them. They had left everything to follow Jesus, and now the disciples don’t have a teacher to follow throughout Palestine. They are a little aimless, but it is in their aimlessness that Jesus reveals himself to them. They are waiting in Galilee, and Peter decides to go fishing.

And it is at the end of a long and disappointing night that Jesus chooses to reveal himself. The disciples have toiled all night to catch fish, and they have gained nothing. At daybreak, “Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus. He called out to them, ‘Lads, haven’t you any fish?’ ‘No.’ They replied. He said, throw your net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some. The disciples get more than they bargained for when they drop that net. They have a net bursting with fish. And the Beloved Disciple gets it. He exclaims, “It is the Lord!” The Beloved Disciple has the eyes to see Jesus even through his loss, toil, and disappointment. He offers a testimony to what he sees, telling the others that Jesus is standing on the shore, and as a result, leading them to Jesus.

It is here, in the midst of the disciples’ uncertainty, that Jesus shows them what it means for them to live after the resurrection. Jesus promises the disciples that he will reveal himself to others. Peter hauls in a net full of fish, is asked if he loves Jesus more than he loves fishing, and he gets told to care for God’s sheep instead of those fish. Jesus has called Peter to be a fisher of people, and the catch is large. That morning Jesus brought fish up to the boat, but the disciples had to follow his instructions to cast in their net and then work to bring the fish to Jesus on the shore. Jesus works through the disciples, and the disciples follow Jesus. And they see a huge blessing, a huge harvest coming out of a night of disappointment.

Living in the resurrection means following the instructions of Jesus. The disciples didn’t recognize Jesus standing on the shore, but they followed his instructions anyway. When Jesus told them to throw their nets back into the water, they obeyed, and their obedience allowed them to see Jesus perform a miracle and reveal his presence on the shore. Sometimes we don’t recognize Jesus around us. Life is chaotic, difficult, busy, and sometimes discouraging. We can lose sight of Jesus and not realize that he’s standing right before us. But, he has given us his teachings, and we are to obey them, even when we can’t see God. We love God with our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and we love our neighbors as ourselves. We care for the broken and discouraged. Then, we see Jesus work miracles in our day too, in the lives of those around us and in our own lives. For the disciples, Resurrection life is a life of obedience and seeing Jesus revealed to us.

Resurrection life is also a life of proclaiming Jesus’ presence when our eyes are opened to him standing before us. For the Beloved Disciple, resurrection life means exclaiming, “It is the Lord!” when the nets fill with fish. Not all of the disciples had the eyes to see Jesus standing on the shore. They were astounded by the catch of fish, but the miracle wasn’t enough for them to catch on. For the Beloved Disciple it was, and his job was to proclaim to others what had been revealed to him. That’s our job too, in the resurrection life. It is our job to proclaim God’s presence when he shows himself to us, so we can help others recognize God in their midst as well.

Finally, Resurrection Life is inviting outsiders into our midst. The disciples gather on the shore for the third “communion” meal in John’s gospel. But this isn’t the communion meal from the upper room, enclosed from the community by walls and locked doors. This communion meal is out in the open, surrounded by outsiders, and it includes an expectation that the disciples will serve those outside, drawing in that huge catch of fish. They have food enough for everyone present, and Peter is told just after this to feed Jesus’ lambs. The disciples are to go to others.

We see here the communion meal of a church that is continually going outside its own walls because they realize that Jesus cannot be kept inside those walls. They have seen Jesus walk right through the walls to meet them inside, and now they have seen Jesus leave those walls behind to meet them on the Sea of Galilee. Jesus is already out in the community, and just as he drew the fish to the boat, he draws people to himself so that Peter (and the other disciples too) can feed his sheep.

Resurrection Life means that we are to take the communion meal out into the world, surrounded by people who are not normally part of our community, and we are expected to serve out in the open. We are seeing, again, that Jesus can’t be kept locked inside walls, either the literal walls of our churches and homes, or the invisible walls of our communities and hearts. Jesus is going out into the neighborhoods, calling people to himself, and waiting for us to proclaim that “It is the Lord” to those who cannot recognize him.

Let us take communion here this morning, as a community that lives the Resurrection Life, obeying Jesus’ teachings, proclaiming his presence, and then taking his communion and his love out into all the world, loving those Jesus already loves. Amen.

Baptized into the Work of Christ

Jesus, as we remember your baptism this morning and reflect on your work in this world, guide us into our place in your redemption of the world. Amen.

This morning is the day in the church calendar when we remember the baptism of Jesus. We began the liturgical year of the church back in November, with the first Sunday of Advent being the first Sunday of the new Christian year. And it is appropriate that we begin the Christian year with the birth of Christ and the beginning of his life. Without the incarnation, without God taking the first steps to come down to earth and meet us in our stubbornness, our brokenness, and our restlessness, we wouldn’t have a Christian year to begin. The birth God in our world changed everything.

But there are other days and events in the Christian calendar that changed everything as well. This morning, we celebrate the baptism of Jesus and the beginning of his public ministry, the day when he is first revealed to those around him as the Son of God. Another day that changed everything. The first act of Jesus was to leave Galilee, travel to the Jordan River where John was baptizing people, and be baptized himself.

Let’s read together Matthew 3, beginning in verse 13.

The Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. But John tried to deter him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” Answering, Jesus said, “Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteous action.” Then John consented.

Having been baptized, Jesus immediately came up out of the water, and behold, the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming upon him. And a voice from the heavens said, “This is my son, the beloved one, with him I am well pleased.”

This is an interesting first act of Jesus. He could have done anything, gone over to the temple to talk with the leaders of his day, begin teaching in the desert himself, or challenge the political rulers. He did none of those things. Instead, Jesus leaves Nazareth, walks south past the sea of Galilee out to meet John, who is making quite a stir of his own in the desert, baptizing people for the repentance of their sins and challenging them to live holy lives in anticipation of Christ’s coming into their lives.

And John has more than a few hesitations about baptizing Christ. Just before this, John has promised that one will come after him “who is more powerful than [John], whose sandals [he is] not worthy to carry.” This one “will baptize…with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” The moment Jesus arrives at the river, John seems to know that Jesus is this one who comes to bring justice on the earth. Who is he to baptize the chosen one of God?

I can only imagine what John felt like, but I remember back to a time in seminary when I was in a class, studying the book of John. It’s a memory that normally comes up in Lent, around the time of Easter, but as I thought of John’s reaction to Jesus’ request for baptism, I couldn’t help but think of this story here too. It was close to the end of the semester, and we had been studying the gospel of John together for several months. The professor was very deliberate in his teaching, bringing a candle to class and turning off the lights as we read the Scripture, so that we would have a better understanding of the first readers of John, hiding because of persecution. We left the classroom to read in locations that would evoke images of the events in the gospel. But the day that really stands out in my mind is the day we studied Jesus washing the disciple’s feet. Our professor removed his suit jacket, poured water into a basin, gathered a towel, and one by one, knelt at each student’s feet, washing them carefully and then praying over each student. I vividly remember understanding how Peter felt that day, as I thought that this tenured Duke professor, at the top of his field of study, had very little place kneeling on the floor to wash my feet. I should be washing his instead.

This morning, I imagine that John felt very similar as Jesus came to him for baptism. Here was God’s anointed, standing before him, submitting himself to John for baptism, because it was necessary for the righteous action of God to be fulfilled. John knew that he was called to live in submission to Jesus, to glorify and prepare the way for this man standing in front of him. How could he possibly be the one to baptize Jesus?

Yet, Jesus convinces John that this baptism is necessary. Can you imagine his response when Jesus comes up from the water? If he had ANY doubts that Jesus was the one he was proclaiming, they would have been instantly squashed upon seeing the heavens open up and the Holy Spirit descend upon Jesus in the form of a dove, and upon hearing the voice from the heavens proclaim that Jesus is God’s Son. He must have wondered how in the world he had been chosen to baptize Jesus.

As I think of John, and consider his hesitation, I am struck by Jesus’ steadfast knowledge of what was necessary. When John hesitates, Jesus reassures him that it is right for Jesus to be baptized by John. Jesus says, “It is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteous action.” John consents, and we are left with a puzzle and a clue. Why is it that Jesus needs to be baptized? If John is baptizing for repentance, and Jesus is sinless, why does he need to repent? Jesus comes to fulfill the law, but the law doesn’t require baptism. What righteous action needs to be fulfilled?

As I pondered over this question, wondering why Jesus came to be baptized in the first place, I suddenly realized that Jesus’ response to John also raises an answer to the question that it provokes. Jesus doesn’t tell John that he needs to repent, that he had sins to confess, or that he is worried he will be cut off from the Father. His answer is not about himself. Instead, his answer is about what is necessary, about what it is right for God himself to do. He is fulfilling the right action of God, the action of taking upon himself the history of humanity and redeeming it all in himself. The right action of defeating the powers that have bound his children since the fall. Jesus is fulfilling the redemption of his people, accomplishing the task set before him by the Father.

As we read the prophets, we can’t help but see Jesus written across the pages of their words. In chapter 42, Isaiah declares:

Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him, and he will bring justice to the nations. He will not shout or cry out, or raise his voice in the streets. A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out. In faithfulness he will bring forth justice; he will not falter or be discouraged till he establishes justice on earth. In his teaching the islands will put their hope.

This is what God the LORD says – he who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth with all that springs from it, who gives breath to its people, and life to those who walk on it: “I the LORD have called you in righteousness; I will take hold of your hand. I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people and a light for the Gentiles, to open eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness.

“I am the LORD; that is my name! I will not yield my glory to another or my praise to idols. See, the former things have taken place, and new things I declare; before they spring into being I announce them to you.

If there is any doubt that the prophet is speaking of Christ, we need only turn to Jesus’ own words for affirmation. In the synagogue, Jesus took the scroll of Isaiah, and read, “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight to the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” When John’s followers come to Jesus asking, “Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?” Jesus tells them, “Go back and report to John what you hear and see: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor.”

Jesus is called by the Father and sent out into the world for a specific purpose. Repeatedly, God shows Isaiah that Jesus, the one on whom God’s Spirit rests, will establish justice on the earth. And when Jesus has been sent out, the Lord promises that he will make Jesus a covenant for the people and a light for the Gentiles, to (and this should sound familiar) “open eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness.” For a people who understand captivity, for a people who are bound in sin, and who so often fail to see that there is bright light shining all around us, this is truly Good News. God has come, and taken it upon himself to deliver and redeem creation.

But this morning, as we remember the baptism of Christ, let us not think for a moment that the work of God in the world lets us off the hook and frees us of any responsibility. We have been called by the Father in the name of the Son and the power of the Spirit, to be sent out by the Father for the work of God. Paul reminds us that “Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body” (1 Cor). Christ is “the head of the body, the church” (Col 1:18) and our lives “are now hidden with Christ in God” (Col 3:3) because “all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death[.] We were…buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life...” and we will “be united with him in a resurrection like his” (Rom 6: 3-5).

Because we live in Christ, because we are part of his body, we are called and sent to continue the work that Christ began, as we live and act in the power of the Holy Spirit. That can be a frightening prospect, considering that Jesus is sent to establish justice on earth, be a covenant for the people, a light for the Gentiles, and to open the eyes of the blind and release the captives. No small tasks for those of us who now live in Christ, yet, our participation in the body of Christ means that the Father’s charge to the Son is now also the Trinity’s charge to us.

Where are there people around you who live in darkness, who are unable to see the light of the glory of Christ and live without hope? What injustices surround you and require that you take a stand for justice? What people around you live in literal or figurative captivity? A friend of mine, Rachel, has been meeting weekly with a young man in prison for a year and a half now. This young man is incarcerated for murdering his parents and siblings. While there is some measure of mental disease, he is certainly coherent in their conversations, but he is a man without hope or knowledge of God who has spent many long days in solitary confinement. At times, his cell is searched and everything, letters or photos from the outside world, any personal object, including any object which brings hope, is taken from him never to be returned. There is often little reason given for the various punishments this man endures at the hands of his guards, except for their ability to use their position of power to remind him that he is nothing. Into this place, Rachel has steadfastly prayed with and cried with this young man, proclaiming the light, forgiveness, and transformation of Jesus Christ. She is quite literally taking a stand against injustice and proclaiming the release of God from the internal captivities which bind this young man, even as he lives out his days in physical confinement.

Rachel is living out the call of God to live in the power of the Holy Spirit and continue the work of Christ. Where are you faithfully living out the call of God to establish justice, be a light in darkness, open the eyes of the blind, and release the captives? Where in your life are you acting like the statues of the four people – one with hands over his eyes, one with hands over his ears, one with hands over his mouth, and one sitting on his hands – pretending you don’t see or hear the call of God and trying to ignore his call to speak or act the hope of God?

It is no accident that the baptism of Jesus comes at the beginning of the year. This is a time when we evaluate our lives and determine if there are things that need to be changed in the coming year. People everywhere are making New Year’s resolutions to change the way they look or the way they act. The baptism of Jesus offers us an opportunity to do something different, to remember his baptism and remember or anticipate our own, knowing that as we participate in the life of Christ we participate in his baptism which draws us into his body and connects us with his plans and purposes for the world. As we live in Christ, we are drawn into his ministry, establishing justice, caring for the broken, living as a light for those around us who walk in darkness, opening the eyes of the blind, and proclaiming release for the captives. As we live in Christ as part of his body, we too are sent by the Father in the name of Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit.

This morning, we are going to close with a special service to either remember or anticipate your own baptism as we remember the baptism of Christ. This service is a time to affirm the covenant of baptism and seek the ways in which God is sending you into the world to continue the ministry of Christ in the world through the power of the Spirit. After the liturgy, please come forward to either station as you are ready. The altar is also open if you would like to kneel with the Lord. You don’t have to be baptized to participate in this act of worship, nor do you have to be a member of this church or any church. If you are open to how God might call and empower you to continue his work, you are welcome.

We Live in Noah's Ark

Some food for thought for tonight from Telford Work:

In spite of all of their failings, "Our theological tradition is like Noah's ark: leaky, dark, smelly, confining, sometimes even oppressive. The alternative is free, light, fresh, open, - and fatal.
"What do we do on the ark? We muck out the stalls. We bail out the water. We fix leaks and try not to cause bigger ones in the process. We go up on deck to search for the land we've been promised - the back down to do the jobs on which our lives, all of our lives, depend. And we thank God for every new breath we take, even if every new breath carries a stench that 'could knock a yak flat.'"

For all of you who despair about the church, who think that Christians make Christianity unworthwhile, or who want to determine their own definition of what we should be doing because what they see God demanding of them is not good enough, perhaps there is some hope and encouragement in Telford's words. While the church is an imperfect glimpse of God's kingdom, it is a glimpse nonetheless, and it is the only one God has chosen to give to us.

Reaching the iGen/Millennial/Next Generation

I am blessed to pastor at a church that is aware of life cycles in churches and as a result is fully engaged in raising up younger leaders to continue to guide and participate in the church and God’s work in the next generation. Every aspect of our strategic plan seeks to identify and empower the leaders God brings to the church in these ways.

As we think about and empower young leaders, we share articles and research among the staff. This week, one of the articles was titled, “Storming the Castle: Reaching ‘iGens’ Means Breaking through Inflated Self-Esteems” by Scot McKnight. McKnight identifies two aspects of today’s young adult culture and two ways in which he believes we can break through these new challenges. Challenges: 1) Young adults possess inflated self-esteems and high levels of self-acceptance that are nothing short of castle walls protecting them from a need for God’s grace. 2) iGens are pre-moral, in the sense that they don’t really have a sense of sin or feel guilt. Solutions: A) Start with Jesus instead of the person’s sin and alienation from God. B) Create a community marked by justice, peace, love, and holiness to connect with iGens.

As an “iGen” (whatever that actually means) myself and as a pastor who works with them on a daily basis, I want to question some of McKnight’s reasoning and assumptions, without actually challenging his conclusions. Perhaps this deeper understanding can help us reach this generation in more fruitful ways.

Yes, we grew up in a culture of affirmation. Sports teams celebrated participation more than winning. Elementary schools resisted giving letter grades or teaching games where a person or team lost. We were told that we can do anything we set our minds to do. We believe that differences are acceptable, or perhaps even good, and we are less likely to believe that the way we do something is the right way to do it.

In addition, many of us grew up largely unchurched. Our parents are children of the 60’s and 70’s, and their attempt to encourage creativity or “allow us to make our own choices” meant that we often grew up in homes where rules were absent and beliefs were allowed but not formed. While not all of our parents raised us without rules and beliefs, and our parents’ generation is no more monolithic than our own, these are true characterizations of many of our parents. As a result, you may have a difficult time convincing us of our sin. We don’t even know what that word would actually mean, so we certainly don’t feel guilty about it.

In both of his characterizations of iGens, McKnight is absolutely correct. However, I object to his assumption that that previous methods of evangelism were the correct ones. Since the Reformation, preachers have often preached a gospel that proceeds something like this: God loves you, but you are a sinner [this assumes that you understand enough of Christianity to know what sin is]. You cannot please God, and your sin (and therefore you) angers God deeply. You deserve God’s wrath, and he is angry. You can never do any good to get to God (or heaven), and you are trapped in hopelessness and despair [or you are stupid if you don’t recognize this fact]. But there is good news. Jesus came to earth, lived a sinless life, and then died on a cross where God (specifically the Father, although often unnamed) put all of his punishment and anger for your sin on Jesus. So believe that Jesus died for you and rose again from the dead, and God will accept you into heaven.

Laying aside for a moment the NUMEROUS problems with this conception of the “gospel,” we need to understand that for 500 years we have been preaching this message largely to Westerners who are churched/Christianized. We only have a conception of original sin, human depravity, right and wrong, and our sin because God has revealed to us what I means to be holy. When Luther struggled with his sinfulness, he was firmly planted in the Catholic Church. When Jonathan Edwards preached “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” he was preaching revival in the Christian communities of New England.

This message was incredibly effective. It brought people to their knees in repentance. You can remind people who understand what God desires that they are guilty. Convincing non-Christians who do not understand sin that they are guilty might be the wrong way to approach them – this message had been far less effective in unChristianized areas. There, the gospel spreads through life lived together, as God reveals himself to the people by bringing his Kingdom into their midst. We do not travel to Asia and assume that they already know that they are sinners and are looking for a way to be reconciled to God (or if we do, we are incredibly ineffective and most likely quite damaging!). Instead, we approach these people in relationship, love them, and life in God’s Kingdom in their midst. Over time, they encounter God and learn what it means to be holy.

I want to suggest that we approach this generation more like the peoples in our mission fields and less like our Christian grandparents. While our parents’ generation often walked away from the church in which they had been raised, they often chose not to raise this generation in the church. If today’s young adults don’t believe “anything” or understand their own sin, perhaps we need to remember that it was their parents’ generation which taught them to believe that no beliefs are necessary and there are no limits on their actions. We are reaping the fruit of our own actions. We have created the first unChristianized generation in American history.

This is where McKnight has everything right. We should be starting with Jesus when we reach out to young adults, not because they believe that they are perfect like Jesus (they don’t by the way), but because we should ALWAYS start with Jesus. Our attempts to tell a gospel message that make Jesus tangential to God’s work are perhaps more unfaithful than we realize. We just didn’t understand that in the midst of another paradigm that we called the gospel because it was effective in bringing those who knew the story to repentance. The Father reveals himself to us through the Son by the power of the Holy Spirit. Without Jesus, we have NOTHING to preach. We also present a compelling vision of the Kingdom of God, a kingdom of justice, love, peace, and holiness. The Kingdom is not an evangelistic tool to reach this generation; it is our reality as the people of God. The Spirit has drawn us into this new community. When we live this new life, it will always be compelling. When our communities do not look this way, we need to be reminded (like Israel of old) that we are saying formless words which God does not honor because our lives are not lived in obedience to him. When we live in God’s Kingdom and share the news of Jesus, we will find that this generation is transformed by the power of God.