As the people were filled with expectation, and all were questioning in
their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah, John answered
all of them by saying, "I baptize you with water; but one who is more
powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals.
He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his
hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his granary;
but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire. Now when all the people
were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the
heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a
voice came from heaven, "You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well
pleased."
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Now, we tend to think of baptism as something specifically Christian invented by Jesus. It wasn’t. The Jews practised baptism as a form of purification. John used and adapted baptism as the central symbol or sacrament of his messianic movement. Most scholars agree that John baptised Jesus, and some believe Jesus was a follower or disciple of John, who took up ministry when John was killed. The New Testament texts in which John is mentioned portray him as rejecting this idea, although several New Testament accounts report that some of Jesus’ early followers had previously been followers of John. Some scholars maintain that John was influenced by the Essenes, who expected an apocalypse and practiced baptismal rituals.
In this text today, John the Baptiser clearly states that one will come who is greater than he is. And he was preaching identity – you are the baptised. Word was out that something was happening in the Jordan. So people came by the hundreds to the river – and through the ritual of immersion washed themselves of their old ways, were purified and made new - John used that water as a way for people to express their desire for a new identity, to create a new life. And John says one greater is coming – and Jesus stepped into the water and the Spirit descended “like a dove” and gave him his identity – God’s son. In a sense, that’s when his life really began. In the waters of baptism with the Spirit.
Rev. Dr. William Willimon says that the question "Who am I?" forms a life-long crisis of identity. Whether in your 20s, 30s, 40s, or well into retirement, the question still stands on our doorstep to haunt us. Who am I? I am quite sure that is a question Jesus was asking as well.
In Japan, the current government wishes to change the current constitution which was written following the second world war – and which is an anti-nuclear, anti-military constitution. For children born in that period, many find their identity in a peace constitution for Japan. Norio is one of them. They do not wish to revert to the pre-war constitution, which would give much greater military authority. My husband says that is an integral part of his identity – take that away and you take away a part of what has shaped and made whole generations of people.
That question “Who Am I?” When we’re asked – how do we answer? We might give the place we were born, who our parents were and where they came from, our education and training. We might give what our work was and is. Yet at every stage of our lives, a deeper ‘Who am I?’ lives. How do we define ourselves? What defines us?
Christian baptism in our current transition. gives a name. In earlier times, the Church named the child. In Jesus’ time, the day of birth was not celebrated – the day of presentation at the temple when the name was given, was celebrated. Baptism was a cultural practice and a choice. Today among many cultures, when a person becomes a Christian, they replace their given name for a Christian name. They want to express an identity change. When Abram becomes Abraham once he received God’s promise to make of him a mighty nation; when Cephas became Peter the rock upon which Jesus would build. Saul the Persecutor becomes Paul the Apostle. Name changes signify a new beginning, a radical break with the old. At baptism, God takes you and says, "Your name is Christian." Baptism says that we are named, and claimed by God. We have a hymn “I have called you by your name, you are mine.”
Remember the “Roots” series? In a memorable scene, the slave Kunta Kinte waits beside the horses while his master attends a ball. While he sits in the buggy he hears other music coming from the slaves’ quarters. Different music, strange rhythms. His legs independently take him down the path to the little cabins. There he hears music he remembered from his childhood in Africa. The man was from his part of that continent, and they talked in his native language - stories of home. That night Kunta went home changed. He lay on the dirt floor of his cabin and wept, in sadness because he had almost forgotten; weeping for joy because he had remembered. Slavery and humiliation had almost erased his memory, but the music helped him to remember.
Who are you? Who were you, as a person? Have you changed? How? Each time something changes in our lives – marriage, children, employment, illness, travel – it changes us. Or it should.
Who are we, as a congregation? We have taken a risk with God and given up our old identities, - we gave up being Adjala, or Hockley, or Mono Mills – those are part, but no longer all of who we are.. We have taken on a new identity – Trillium United Church – and we chose the trillium because it is Ontario’s flower, with three petals – and to define who we are together as God’s own, as we go forward.
We are here all of us to remind each other that we have been named - as children of God and as a church of God. That we are named by our choice and the working of the Spirit, and claimed as God’s own in a new identity. When Jesus went to be baptised, he was not the same person who entered the water – he was named and claimed as God’s son. So we claim our baptism – by water, and by the Spirit which continues to lead us; be thankful, for this is who you are, who we are. Amen.
Sources:
Who Are You? a sermon based on Luke 3:15-17, 21-22 by
Rev. Tom Hall
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