THE FIRST SUNDAY AFTER THE EPIPHANY 2009

This sermon was preached by the Rector on January 11, 2009.

"You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased."

Mark tells us that these are the words that Jesus heard as he was coming up out of the waters of baptism. I believe that somehow, in a way that we can’t even begin to understand, Emma, whom we will baptize today, will hear similar words - "You are my Daughter, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased."

That is what God has said – and is saying – to all of us. If there are days when you are discouraged, look at yourself in the mirror and remember that God says, over and over again, “You are my Child, the Beloved, with you I am well pleased.”

One might wonder why God would say such words about one so young, one who has hardly had the chance to do anything to please God. But one might wonder the same thing about Jesus, at least as Mark’s Gospel tells the story of the Good News. The only thing that Jesus had done, according to Mark’s account, is to come to the Jordan to be baptized. Forget for a moment the story of Jesus in the Temple that Luke tells. Mark wasn’t interested in such stories, and may not even have heard them. All that Mark seems to have thought that God cared about is that Jesus came to be baptized.

And Emma comes to be baptized this morning and that is very pleasing to God. In fact, it is God who, acting through Emma’s parents and Godparents, has brought Emma to this important moment – in fact the most important moment – in her life. It is God, acting through all of us, that speaks those words to Emma, affirming that she is God’s beloved, with whom God is indeed very well pleased.

The baptism of Emma, who is barely three months old, is a problem for some Christians who believe, and with some reason, that a profession of faith by the person being baptized is required. I do not deny the importance of our profession of faith and I have spent a fair amount of my time over the years since my ordination encouraging young people to own their faith. But there is something to be said for baptizing those who are too young to make a profession. Quite simply, there is nothing that Emma can do today to make her baptism happen. God does it all. Even if we didn’t baptize her today, I believe that God has already claimed as a child of God. All that we are doing is recognizing and surrendering to God’s gracious action.

Now it is clear that there are some differences between Jesus’ baptism and Emma’s. This isn’t the Jordan River. But beyond that, it is clear that Jesus wasn’t baptized in the Name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. But these differences aside, there is one way that Jesus’ baptism and Emma’s are very much the same.

Jesus was baptized in what my friend and professor, the Church of South India presbyter Christopher Duraisingh, calls a “solidarity plunge.” Mark tells us that “John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.” John’s proclamation, Mark tells us, started what we might call a revival movement, a movement of people towards God, a turning back to God. And Jesus takes the “solidarity plunge” and casts in his lot with sinners, that is, with all of us, with people in every place and every time.

As Emma is acknowledged in baptism as a member of Christ’s Body, she becomes part of Jesus’ “solidarity plunge.” Although through her membership in Christ means that she does not, to use the words of Jesus in John’s account of the Good News, “belong to the world,” she, along with all of us, is called to live in solidarity with all the world’s people. She is called, with all of us, as we will affirm once again this morning, to "proclaim by word and example the Good News of God in Christ." And that Good News is, to borrow again from John's account of it, that "God so loved the world that he gave his only Son...." As Lutheran pastor Walter Wangerin puts it, "God was in love with the world."

This morning Emma takes the "solidarity plunge" that Jesus took and that all of the baptized have taken down through the centuries. This morning Emma will not all hear God say, "You are my Daughter, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased." She will also hear – and we will also hear -  Jesus say, "Love, love as I love and be a light in the darkness of this world."