Jesus: To Baptism, and Beyond...

Jesus' baptism was a beginning in one sense, but a continuation in another. 

Our human growth is like a trees- layered season on season. Think for a moment about your growth and significant faith events in your life. What led up to them? what was going on in your environment? If you could see a cross-section of your life like below, what would you see?

Jesus was raised a Jewish boy and the one story we have of his youth tells us he was growing this way, too. 
"And Jesus matured, growing up in both body and spirit, blessed by both God and people." Luke 4:52 The Message

By the time he was 30, somehow he had come to a profound sense that his Jewish religion had become distorted, self-serving & self-preserving- rather than a path to an Abba- father-God. And perhaps, most nagging of all to a Jewish boy-why had God's promises to his people not been fulfilled?

We don't know how this happened to Jesus. We haven't been left that story. But we can see what Jesus did about it.

He must have began asking himself how should he live in response to this realization? What should he do? 

His baptism may have been his ritual demonstration that he was purifying himself from his own participation in this. It also was clearly, a preparation for the exercise he would undertake to answer this question- a vision quest.

So the Spirit leads him into the wilderness for a struggle. 

There were several ideas people had about how the promises to Israel would be fulfilled. Jesus was tempted with three of them:

"Since you're God's son, turn these stones into bread..." 

Would he respond by being a new Moses, who would lead people from bondage to an enslaving political and religious system to some new temporal reality - like Moses led the Hebrews from Egypt, feeding them in the desert by miracles when they were hungry?

Or would he be a new David, and seek to conquer all the kingdoms of the world, establishing a new Israel? Many would-be Messiahs had, and would, continue to pursue this path.

Or would he be a sensational miracle worker- in the footsteps of Elijah, who called down fire and over-threw the false prophets? In Jesus' case Satan suggests he pull some dramatic temple stunt to demonstrate his supernatural abilities.

Jesus refused all of these roles, is filled with the Spirit's power, and gains a different vision. 

He returns to Galilee with a clear sense of identity,  purpose and direction. And so he stands up in the synagogue in Nazareth and declares:

God's spirit is on me;
He's chosen me to preach the Message of good news to the poor,
   Sent me to announce pardon to prisoners and recovery of sight to the blind,
    to set the burdened and battered free, to announce  "This is God's year to act!" -Luke 4 The Message

This is different kind of Messiah- one not seen before-yet one clearly following the vision of the prophets- the vision of a Kingdom on earth:

•  where there is enough for all; 
• where realizing we are all God's child makes us whole, and transcends divisions; 
• where justice rolls down like waters, righteousness like an ever flowing stream.

So some questions for us:

What did your baptism mean/do for you? 

Do we know ourselves to be God's beloved child- no matter how others see us or treat us?

What vision directs your life? Is Jesus' vision reflected in that?

What if we understood Jesus' Nazareth sermon literally (and we would do that based on seeing how Jesus then lived):

What are we doing to be good news to the poor? 
How are we seeking the pardoning of those imprisoned? 
How are we helping the those who are incomplete to be made whole? Then, metaphorically, who are the blind that need to see?


Baptismal Covenant from the Book of Common Prayer (with editorial comments)

Celebrant     Will you proclaim by word and example the Good
                 News of God in Christ? (and remember, Jesus said this was specifically for the poor.)
People          I will, with God’s help.

Celebrant      Will you seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving
                 your neighbor as yourself? (and we know from Sunday School that our neighbors are not just those folks living next door).
People          I will, with God’s help.

Celebrant      Will you strive for justice and peace among all
                 people, and respect the dignity of every human
                 being? (justice and peace comes from the prophets; not sure of the citation of the dignity clause, but can't argue with it).

People          I will, with God’s help.