St. Thomas’ Episcopal Church, Owings Mills MD
January 8, 2023
Year A: The First Sunday after the Epiphany – The Baptism of Our Lord
Isaiah 42:1-9
Psalm 29
Acts 10:34-43
Matthew 3:13-17
“Real Life” Begins at Baptism
Well, here at St. Thomas’, the Christmas Season ended very quietly.
Last week, Ricky and Chris and a couple of parishioners took down the trees and all the other beautiful decorations, doing that work with their usual dedication, but also with some sadness that the holiday had come to an end.
And on Friday it was a quiet Feast of the Epiphany here – the day we remember the arrival of the mysterious visitors from the East who had made a long and sometimes treacherous journey to pay homage to the newborn King, presenting him with gold, frankincense, and myrrh – items never included on any baby registry, but symbolically appropriate for a King, for a God, and for One who will lose his life.
Having been warned in a dream to avoid the murderous Herod, the Magi took a different way home, and, also having been warned in a dream, Joseph fled with Mary and Jesus to Egypt.
The Holy Family became refugees on the run from an oppressive government, just like so many people in the world today, including our friends Hizbullah and Abdul.
Later, when the coast was clear, Joseph and Mary and Jesus returned to Nazareth and began that long stretch of time we know almost nothing about.
I always wonder about those years.
No doubt, Joseph and Mary and later Jesus had to endure the whispers and eye-rolling and subtle and not so subtle judgments of their neighbors.
Maybe Jesus exhibited some special qualities that made people wonder about this young man with questionable paternity – what was it about him?
Or maybe – and this is what I think – maybe nothing special seemed to happen – maybe those long years in Nazareth were kind of like the seemingly ordinary time after we take down the Christmas decorations.
Maybe Joseph the craftsman just continued his work, and, since in the gospels we don't hear much more about him, perhaps he died before Jesus began his saving work.
And maybe Mary, who pondered in her heart all that had happened – the angel, the shepherds, the manger – maybe even Mary sometimes wondered if it had all been a dream.
And what about Jesus?
During those long Nazareth years, did Jesus know who he was, and what he was called to do?
I’m sure that Jesus heard the stories of his birth, was intrigued and maybe embarrassed by them, but did he know and understand his life’s purpose?
Did Jesus know what his “real life” would look like and when it would begin?
We can’t be sure, but my guess is that Jesus did not fully know what his “real life” was until the day he was dunked in the water and baptized by John.
You know, there’s some awkwardness to the fact that John baptized Jesus.
After all, John preached and offered a baptism of repentance. And Jesus, alone among us, did not need to change his ways, to turn his heart.
We hear some of that discomfort today in Matthew’s account of the Baptism.
John – who does not seem to have lacked self-confidence – hesitates when Jesus presents himself for Baptism.
John says to Jesus, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?”
To which Jesus offers an interesting reply:
“Let it be so now; for it is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness.”
Which seems to mean, “We have to do this because God wants us to do it.”
And so John consents and we’re told that as Jesus came up out of the water, the heavens opened and the Spirit descended from heaven and a voice said, “This my Son, the Beloved, with whom I well pleased.”
So maybe God wanted John to baptize Jesus because this was the opportunity to tell Jesus who he really is – maybe this was the moment for his “real life” to begin.
For Jesus, this isn’t a Baptism of repentance.
It’s a Baptism of revelation – an epiphany, you might say.
It’s right after his Baptism that Jesus heads to the wilderness and the temptations that await him there.
It’s after his Baptism that Jesus begins his holy work.
And, if Jesus’ true identity was revealed in Baptism – if Jesus’ “real life” began at Baptism – that’s a sign that we also discover our true identity, and begin our “real life,” in the water of Baptism.
When I was young man, I often thought that I was living in a kind of prelude to my own life, convinced that somehow my “real life” would begin once I finished school, or when I got “that” job, or when I began “that” relationship, or when, whatever happened and then, then, then, finally my “real life” would begin.
Back when I was in my early 20’s, I sensed a call to the priesthood, in fact, I felt pretty sure that God was calling me to be a Franciscan friar.
I loved St. Francis and his radical commitment to giving away all that he had and following Jesus as faithfully as anyone ever has.
So, eventually I worked up the courage to sign up for an inquirer’s weekend at a Franciscan friary up in Boston.
I remember sitting on the plane, nervous and excited, convinced that “the” moment was finally at hand, that now I was beginning my “real life.”
Well…it was a perfectly pleasant weekend with some nice and friars, but with a sickening thud in my heart, I somehow knew that this was not the life for me.
On the flight back to Newark Airport, I wasn’t sure who I was meant to be. And I resigned myself to the idea that my “real life” would start… some other time in the future.
I got into teaching thinking that would be a good way to spend the rest of my “prelude,” until I figured out what my “real life” was going to be.
(I taught for 17 years.)
I hope I was a good teacher, but the truth is that I spent a lot of time looking to the horizon or maybe just staring at the exit, waiting for my “real life” to begin, wondering what it would look like, but sure that I would know it when I saw it.
It wasn’t until Sue and I landed in the Episcopal Church and participated in many wonderful Baptisms on Sunday mornings that I came to both love and begin to understand this beautiful sacrament that you’ve heard me talk about many times.
Because just like for Jesus, it’s in Baptism that we discover who we really are: – that we – you and me – are beloved by God – and there’s nothing that we could ever do or not do that would cause God to cancel our Baptism, to cut us off forever.
Just like for Jesus, our Baptism is a Baptism of revelation.
Just like for Jesus, it’s at our Baptism that our “real life” begins.
And our “real life” isn’t about what job we have, or where we live, or even our particular vocations.
No, our “real life” is about gathering together here for prayer and Communion.
Our “real life” is about asking forgiveness when we mess up and, with God’s help, trying our best to not slip again.
Our “real life” is about trying to see Christ in everybody, especially the people we don’t like, the people we don’t trust, the people who make us cringe and want to turn away.
With God’s help, that’s our “real life” – a “real life” that begins in Baptism – the “Real life” we get reminded of each time someone else takes the plunge – or, in our case, has some water poured on them.
So, Christmas has ended.
The Magi have gone home.
The trees have been taken down and the decorations put away.
But the celebration continues, because just like for Jesus, in Baptism our “real life” has been revealed.
Our “real life” has begun.
Amen.
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