By : Sarah Levy

Luke 3: 15-22

Good morning church.

I am so grateful to be with you all and have the opportunity to reflect on and wrestle with the word that God has for us today.

In the liturgical calendar, this Sunday is known as Baptism of the Lord Sunday, the Sunday in which we take some time to reflect on Jesus’ own baptism.

All of the gospels have some version of this story, and contain similar elements, but the lectionary for this year focuses on Luke’s gospel.

Our text for today starts out with John the Baptist, who has been travelling all across the region around the Jordan River calling on the people to repent and saying that salvation is near.

John is drawing serious crowds, and it’s clear his message of the possibility of imminent salvation is resonating with the people, who have been living under empire and have been holding onto hope that God’s justice would someday be restored on Earth, as promised by many generations of prophets.

Folks are starting to talk, to get a bit excited- could this be the one, the Messiah we have been waiting for who will usher in God’s kingdom…? Is this finally the moment?

And yet, as the people are wondering and hoping that this is it- that the person in front of them is the Messiah-

John says, actually, there is someone even more powerful who is coming, and this baptism, this ritual washing thing that I’ve been doing, is nothing compared to what he will
do.

He’s going to baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. Now, to be honest, I would be confused and a little bit pissed.

I mean, I’ve been following this guy around, went through this whole baptism thing that was supposed to forgive me of my sins and purify me, and now this guy is saying that he isn’t actually all that powerful and that we have to wait for someone else.

To top it all off, in the next scene we see John getting thrown into jail for calling out the evil things that Herod, the imperial governor of the region, is doing.

At that point, I would probably be feeling at least a little demoralized- injustice seems to be winning out yet again and the ultra powerful Messiah who John said was following him close behind is nowhere in sight.

And then the text jumps to Jesus’ entrance onto the scene as an adult. Now I’m expecting a pretty flashy entrance-

maybe with some fire and an awe-inspiring display of power.

But classic Jesus never comes quite the way we expect.

The text says that Jesus just shows up at the river to be baptized alongside all of the other everyday folks. It isn’t even clear if anyone notices him-

even when God speaks and the dove comes down, there is no suggestion that the crowds are watching or listening.

It says that Jesus prays after being baptized and then God comes and speaks directly to him, calling him Beloved.

What a beautifully tender moment. Before Jesus even begins his ministry, before he has done anything particularly awe-inspiring, God says that he is pleased, that he takes delight in Jesus right here in this ordinary moment.

As Anglican priest Tish Harrison Warren says in her book “Liturgy of the Ordinary,” “Jesus emerges from water a commoner, wet and messy haired. And suddenly the Spirit of God shows up and the deep mystery of the universe reverberates through the air: this is the Son of God…Jesus is eternally beloved by the Father. His every activity unfurls from his identity as the Beloved.

He loved others, healed others, preached, taught, rebuked, and redeemed not in order to gain the Father’s approval, but out of his rooted certainty in the Father’s love” (Tish Harrison Warren, Liturgy of the Ordinary, 16-17). Jesus emerges from water a commoner, wet and messy haired” alongside all of the other folks being baptized in that river, and probably alongside some folks who were just going about their daily business at the river- fishing, bathing, etc…

I don’t think it is a coincidence that this is the moment in which God says this blessing over Jesus, in which the Holy Spirit manifests itself in bodily form, coming down as a dove to sit on Jesus’ shoulder.

I think that God is reminding us, and maybe Jesus too if he was having any doubts, that Jesus’ full immersion into this human community, this human experience, was essential and deeply sacred.

It is only after this experience that Jesus can go out and start his radical healing and justice work, after he has been reminded that he, not only in his divinity, but also in his full humanity, is unconditionally loved by God.

What if, when you woke up in the morning, before you had done anything particularly “productive” or “admirable” or “impressive,” you were reminded that you are Beloved?

If, as you were brushing your teeth or washing your face you heard or felt God say, “I see you and I am delighted with you as you are right in this moment?”

How might that change the way you move through your day- the way you treat yourself and others, the way you engage the world around you?

This word beloved in Greek is the word agapetos, which comes from the word “agape.”

Agape is the same word used to describe God’s love for Jesus, God’s love for humanity and the love we humans are called to show one another (the love in “love your neighbor” and “love your enemies”), a love characterized by selflessness and commitment. These loves are all one and the same.

When we remember that we are so deeply loved by God, that love naturally can and should overflow and spill out into the world.

We can be empowered to do the kind of radical work that Jesus did, the work of healing and liberation, if we are grounded in our own identity as beloved children of God.

So what or who reminds you that you are Beloved? For me, it was my aunt, who has since
passed, who would always end her texts to me with, “I love, love love you” with many
exclamation points.

When I doubt myself or when I find myself getting impatient with others or when I am trying to get up the courage to do something difficult, I often think of her words- “I love, love, love you”-

and I feel a little more confident, a little more compassionate, a little braver. I hope you can find those people, things, practices, moments in your life that remind you that you are deeply loved, that

God takes delight in you in all of your humanness. May that free you to share your love, to bring your whole beloved self to this messy work of being human together. Amen.

Benediction: May you go forth reminded of how loved you are, and may that reminder encourage you to step more confidently, compassionately, and boldly into the work of healing and liberation to
which we are called.