The First Sunday after Epiphany - Year A; Isaiah 42:1-9, Acts 10: 34-43, Matthew 3:13-17, Psalm 29

The Rev. Kristen Dobyns

Collect: Father in heaven, who at the baptism of Jesus in the River Jordan proclaimed him your beloved Son and anointed him with the Holy Spirit: grant that all who are baptized into his Name may keep the covenant they have made, and boldly confess him as Lord and Savior; who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen.

Water. We can’t live without it. It covers the oceans, lakes, rivers, and streams of our earth. It is found in mountain snow covers, arctic ice, glaciers, and underground reservoirs. Even our bodies are 98% water. We drink it, we cook with it, we wash with it, we swim in it, we boat on top of, we snorkel, scuba dive, and submarine underneath the water’s surface. We ski or snowshoe on water in the form of snow. We use it to put out fires.

We pursue many pleasures in and on the water. We use water to make tea and coffee; the water in the grape makes the juice for the wine, the water found in fruits and vegetables helps to sustain us.

Water can also be frightening. The water of a summer rainstorm, a thunderstorm, or a hurricane can be devastating. An earthquake may trigger a tsunami, an enormous wave that causes much damage and destruction. Floods from too much rain too fast were part of much of Indiana’s story last week. A water-spout, dangerous eddies and riptides or currents, all of these are part of the dark side of water.

Water stories are part of our sacred scripture too. From the creation of the world as it separated from a watery chaos, to the Flood, to the parting of the Red Sea, we find stories about water.

By the time Jesus was growing up, ritual uses of water were also a part of the Jewish religion. From ritual washing and cleansing after coming into contact with something unclean, to ritual baths for those repentant of sins, or for those converting to Judaism, water played an important part in people’s faith.

This story of Jesus’ baptism by John occurs in all four of our Gospels. It is foundational to Jesus’ ministry and calling, and it is foundational to our understanding of our own baptismal covenant.

So, what is this story of Jesus’ baptism in Matthew about? Why did Jesus need to be baptized with John’s water baptism? Wasn’t he sinless? And why did Jesus say, “ Let it be so now; for it is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness.”

We know that ritual washing was not an unusual practice when Jesus lived. Customs existed of ritual washing that were performed privately without a baptizer by the people themselves.

John, however, was baptizing people in public, in a river, rather than privately. John called for a water baptism of repentance and he proclaimed that someone more powerful than he would come baptizing with the Holy Spirit and with fire.

Then, there he was, the one whom John believed was more powerful than he, that one who would baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire. Yet, that one, Jesus, asked John to baptize him.

So John did. Because it was a right and proper way for Jesus to start his ministry, because Jesus was aligning himself with all in need of repentance, because he was faithful to God.

And, then Jesus heard, “This is my Son, the beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”

It was like a commissioning. The next chapter in Matthew tells of Jesus’ forty day fast in the desert and of the temptations the devil posed to him. Jesus’ baptism, identified him, strengthened him, and prepared him for the coming temptations.

Our lives are complex. Much goes on each day. We make many decisions. Sometimes it can be hard to decide the right thing to do. In many ways we are no different than the people alive when Jesus walked the earth.

We Episcopalians are also a baptismal people. Many of us have been baptized, some as infants, some as children, and some of us as adults. How does our baptism affect our internal approach to life, and how does it draw us into a continuing covenant with God? Certainly, the description of Jesus’ baptism in the Jordan River sounds like a transformative event. Might there be something transformative about recalling and integrating our baptism into our everyday life?

Water, that symbol of cleansing, of new life, is necessary to all life. The waters of baptism remind us that Jesus is our thirst quencher, our source of life. Water reminds us also of drowning and death. We symbolically die with Christ when we are baptized and then we are raised to new life. Water is also a reminder of our covenant with God. Just as we remember, the exodus through the Red Sea, Noah and the Flood, we also remember that God made a covenant with the Israelites. The Ten Commandments are a small summary of this covenant. Our baptism with water is a sign of our covenant with God. We will remember that covenant when we recite the questions and answers to our baptismal covenant instead of the creed today.

I want to move now to our Epistle from Acts. Because we are in the season of Epiphany, that season when we remember that Jesus is for all humankind, not just for the Jewish nation.

Peter has just had a dream where a sheet full of all kinds of living creatures, both clean and unclean was dropped in front of him. Then he was commanded to kill and eat even that which was unclean. Of course, knowing Peter’s personality you already can guess that he protested but the voice from God insisted.

Then, with a knock on the door he was taken to Cornelius and his household. Cornelius, a many of prayer, had a vision from an angel who told him to look for a man, Simon called Peter, and to listen to his message. Cornelius and his household were not Jewish but asked Peter to tell the story of Jesus to them. Peter began to understand, that his dream was God’s message teaching him that salvation through Christ was available to all humanity.

As he told the gospel story, the Holy Spirit fell upon them and Peter finally understood. “How can we not baptize them with water in the name of Jesus,” he said, after he witnessed these Gentiles receive gifts from the Holy Spirit.

Thus begins the story of the spreading of the gospel that allowed the Christian faith to spread beyond Israel, even to us today. Thus we hear an early story of what is still a common custom among Christians today.

So, I asked myself, how does this custom, this ritual, call me and call you to a better understanding and relationship with God and with each other?

Our Book of Common Prayer says Holy Baptism is full initiation by water and the Holy Spirit into Christ’s body the Church and that the bond which God establishes in Baptism is indissoluble. Today is one of five major feast days when baptisms may be performed. It is also a time when together as community we renew our baptismal vows. It is how we are reminded again of the call of our baptismal covenant.

The 1979 prayer book reintroduced the baptismal questions that were asked of new Christians in the first centuries after Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. These questions still guide us today. They give us a model for action in our covenant relationship with God and with each other.

When we show up for church each week we continue in the apostles’ teachings, fellowship, in the breaking of the bread, and in the prayers.

When we try to resist evil and repent and return to the Lord when we fail, we live in the covenant.

When we proclaim the good news of Christ by word and example, when we seek and serve Christ in all persons loving our neighbor as ourselves, and when we strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being we are living into the covenant we or our sponsors made with God at the time of our baptism.

The water in our baptismal font reminds us visually of our baptisms, our water cleansing, and our covenant with God. Our life begins in the water of the womb, our life continues through the sustaining water found in our very cells, in our blood, in our skin, and in our food and drink. Our food and drink comes from the water cycle of rain, lakes, evaporation, and clouds. We are sustained by water and we are threatened by water, in floods, storms, and in over melting of glaciers and ice caps. How fitting that baptism, our symbol of new life involves water, so necessary to life.