Sermon 1/9/2022 “Saying yes to God”

Sermon 1/9/2022 “Saying yes to God”

Preacher: Jo J. Belser
Location: Church of the Resurrection, Alexandria, Virginia
Text: Luke 3:15-17, 21-22
Day: 1Epiphany, Year C

In today’s gospel lesson, Jesus is no longer a baby or even a child. Instead, Jesus is about 30 years old, and he appears before his cousin, John the Baptist, and is baptized.

Ever since that day, people have wondered why Jesus needed to be baptized. We think of baptism as a way of saying “no” to sin. And it is. However, baptism is more about saying “yes” to God. Saying “yes” to God invites God to be part of our lives in new ways.

Some people get a head start on saying “yes” to God. Those are people whose parents know that baptism is so important that they say “yes” to God for their young children, showing them the way to seek God. But eventually everyone has to decide whether to say “yes” to God for themselves.

One of the first baptisms I got to be part of (at another church than this one) was the baptism of Jackson, a five-year-old. He and his younger brother Harper and I were talking about baptism when Harper asked, “Is the water magic?”

Harper’s question revealed that he was really thinking through what baptism is. The problem was that I didn’t know how to answer him. I knew the answer to his question (No!) but not how to answer Harper’s question in a way a four-year-old would understand.

Fortunately, my colleague responded to my silent plea for help. She said, “No, the water is not magic, but it IS special.”

I am in awe of this answer even today, but I am in even more awe at the question, because Harper was in good company. A famous theologian, Martin Luther, for instance, gave HIS answer to the age-old question of why a sinless Messiah had to be baptized, and HIS answer involved water. Martin Luther said that Jesus’ baptism consecrated all water—made special all water—for all time.

I don’t know what YOU think about Martin Luther’s answer. I think he took his eyes off Jesus. What was changed by Jesus’ baptism wasn’t the water, but Jesus himself. There is something deeply healing about baptism, something healing caused by saying “yes” to God.

In Jesus’ case, he had a lot he needed to say “yes” to God about:

• Yes, I will carry out the purpose you gave me in life.
• Yes, I will show everyone how to live a healthy, authentic life.
• Yes, I will accept other people’s rejection and scorn, and even their unbelief.
• Yes, I will allow myself to be killed unjustly.
• Yes, I will give my body and my blood for all who ask for it.
• And Yes, I will show the whole world that death isn’t forever.

When viewed from this angle, we can see that Jesus HAD to have been baptized, had to say “yes” to God, not just privately, but publicly. Otherwise, if Jesus hadn’t been baptized, we might never have heard of God being born into human history.

There’s one more thing to wonder about Jesus’ baptism today. Luke’s gospel says that Jesus prayed after he came out of the water and THEN God spoke his blessing over Jesus, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”

God is always pleased when we say “yes” to him. But what I wonder is what Jesus prayed after he was baptized. We don’t know what Jesus prayed, because scripture doesn’t tell us. Perhaps, though, just maybe, Jesus prayed the words from our first lesson today spoken by the prophet Isaiah. If so, his prayer could have been something like this:

“Abba, Father,
I say ‘yes’ to you today, and I promise to say ‘yes’ to you every day.
Because you have called me by name,
    and you have promised that you will always be with me.
That when I pass through hard times in this life and
    when I walk through the time of my death,
You will be with me,
    and I will never not exist.
And so, I give my life to you,
    and I give my death to you,
so that there will be a way to redeem everyone
    who says ‘yes’ to you. Amen.”