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Holy Week resources and reflections

Baptism of the Lord  — January 8, 2017

Isaiah 42:1-9; Acts 10:34-43; Matthew 3:13-17

On this Baptism of the Lord Sunday, all three appointed texts present us with accounts of God’s identity, character and purpose, and, therefore, direct us toward our own God-willed identity, character and purpose.

Jill Duffield’s lectionary reflections are sent to the Outlook’s email list every Monday.

Let’s take each text in turn, looking explicitly at the three concepts of identity, character and purpose – God’s and ours.

The Isaiah reading for this Sunday is one of my favorites. The phrase I cling to every time I have the joy of re-discovering it is in verse 3, just a sentence fragment, but one I long to see replicated in the world, “a bruised reed he will not break, and a dimly burning wick he will not quench.” The gentleness described in these few words reveals the character of our God with a certainty and specificity that run counter to the prevailing attitudes and actions of humanity. Reading these words from Isaiah and then reading about barrel bombs dropped in residential neighborhoods in Syria and internet memes being created from the images of children afflicted with genetic disorders and landfills being built near impoverished neighborhoods reminds me of how vastly different God’s thoughts are from our own.

A bruised reed the servant Savior will not break. A dimly burning wick that the Lord’s chosen will protect and fan, not extinguish or smother. Imagine a world in which this was the operating principle. Consider what difference it would make if we emulated the One who refuses to exploit the vulnerable and instead, faithfully brings forth justice on their behalf.

The prophet delivers to us this week the pronouncement that God’s chosen servant is gentle, relentlessly pursuing justice, unwilling to use efficiency as an excuse for promoting the survival of the fittest. God is indeed the One who created the heavens and the earth and all the people upon it. God is also the Servant who cares for the least of these, remembering those relegated to darkness, dungeons and prisons.

The God we hear about in Isaiah is powerful, the creator of all, whose character is one of gentle compassion and whose purpose entails care for the vulnerable, rescue for the long forgotten and a new order of righteousness, light and justice. If this is the identity, character and purpose of our God, how do we as those who worship and follow God’s chosen servant reflect the light that has come into the world?

The Acts pericope details further how we witness to the identity, character and purpose of our God. The light that has come into the world is, in fact, breaking forth beyond traditional boundaries of people, nations and faiths. The Gentiles have seen and heard and believed. The apostles’ preaching has been heeded. (Remember, the Spirit is at work in the Word read and proclaimed! We should never forget that God’s Word does not return empty.) Jesus is Lord of All. God shows no partiality. Christ’s coming was for the sake of the world. Forgiveness, redemption, reconciliation are at hand for all who believe and repent.

The God we hear about in Acts is the One who sent the Son to save. Jesus is Lord of ALL. Partiality is ungodly. Forgiveness is afoot. Imagine if the identity, character and purpose of the God we learn about in these few verses in Acts shaped our identity, character and purpose, too. How are we witnesses and witnessing to the Spirit bridging divisions, creating an expanding circle of concern and community, calling for repentance while extending and declaring forgiveness?

Matthew’s account of Jesus’ baptism reveals the very essence of who God is, how God acts and what God desires. Matthew’s telling of this story is the only version that has a back and forth between Jesus and John. Only here in the New Testament is the word, “restrain” or “prevent” used. Found in verse 14, it is the word said by John to protest Jesus being baptized by him. John reasonably asserts that the order should be reversed. Jesus should be the one baptizing John. John understands his place. John knows his role is to point to the One who is greater than he, the One whose sandals he is unworthy to tie. John’s assessment is, of course, correct. And yet, and yet, Jesus responds to John’s attempt to prevent his baptism with the assertion that his baptism will “fulfill all righteousness.”

This phrase is a liturgical one. It is a prayer, a commandment, a plea and a proclamation. To “fulfill all righteousness” is to be in alignment with the will of God. Both John and Jesus’ identity, character and purpose are fulfilled in this baptism when heaven opens up and God speaks and the Spirit descends. Duty and destiny come together when Jesus stands on the side of the river with sinners and submits to baptism and John, uncomfortable and unworthy, submerges the divine in the waters of the Jordan.

What’s at stake here? Everything. Jesus’ identity, character and purpose are explicitly revealed. “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.” The very Beloved Son of God, sinless though He is, submits to the waters of baptism. Matthew Myer Boulton puts it like this in his book, “God Against Religion”:

“Imagine the Jordan River, a line of unwashed sinners on one side, waiting anxiously for baptism, and a line of those newly washed clean on the other. And now comes God the Son, Jesus of Nazareth, the only one among them all who might truly claim to be clean and pure, and he proceeds to get in line with the sinners … he crosses the Jordan, so to speak, in the opposite direction: from ‘clean’ to ‘sinner,’ from insider to outsider…he confirms his solidarity with sinners by submitting to baptism … .”

The bruised reeds and dim wicks have the Beloved Son on their side. Sinners have a shot at salvation. The Son who submits to baptism will also submit to death, coming up from the water and the grave for the sake of the unclean, underdogs, Gentiles, prisoners, Pharisees, soldiers, Pilate, Peter, all of God’s fallen, yet beloved, world. This is who our God is, how radically our God loves and how far our God will go in order to establish justice and show mercy.

How do our lives reflect the identity, character and purpose of our God? Remember Jesus’ baptism and your own, and then go forth and demonstrate the difference those waters make, not just for you, but for all of creation.

This week:

  1. Take a look at the other three New Testament passages where the phrase “to fulfill all righteousness” is found – Romans 8:4, Romans13:8 and Galatians 5:14.
  2. Could John have “restrained” Jesus’ baptism? Look at the other gospel accounts of Jesus’ baptism and note the differences. What do you notice is consistent in all the accounts?
  3. How do we talk about notions of repentance and sin, and a cultural context that doesn’t use or value these concepts? Do even we, as Christians, think of ourselves as sinners? If so, what does that mean? If not, why not?
  4. Take notice of the phrase in Isaiah 42:6, “I have given you as a covenant to the people.” The meaning of the Hebrew is unclear. What do you make of this idea?
  5. Consider reaffirming the baptismal covenant in worship this week. Liturgy for this can be found on our Book of Common Worship.
  6. Consider using this prayer by Ted Loder, printed in “Imaging the Word, Vol. 1,  in your devotions this week: “Holy One, untamed by the names I give you, in the silence name me, that I may know who I am, hear the truth you have put into me, trust the love you have for me, which you call me to live out with my sisters and brothers in your human family.”

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