Welcome back! The Christmas season is over and, while “ordinary time” has an actual meaning in the church calendar, I think we are all back to ordinary time in life now. Today we have one more “large” observance in the life of Jesus before we settle in for a few weeks until Lent. One more week of white paraments!
Gospel: Matthew 3:13-17
This is the Baptism of Jesus, one of the few events found in all four Gospels. We read the preceding verses back on the Second Sunday of Advent, and you can review that here.
Jesus and John meet up at the Jordan, where John’s been baptizing people. John objects to baptizing Jesus at first—“You should baptize ME!”—but acquiesces when Jesus explains that He is doing what God asks. As Jesus emerges from the water, the “heavens opened to Him” (v. 16). Something like a dove descends to rest on Jesus, and a voice is heard. That voice identifies itself as the father of Jesus, so it is the Voice of the Father.
It’s easy, I think, to wonder why Jesus needed to be baptized. After all, He was sinless. We need to be baptized because of our sin! One reason is that Jesus wants to fully identify with us in our humanness. He leads us in every way, including through the baptismal waters.
A second reason is found in v. 15: “to fulfill all righteousness.” This language is also found in the Old Testament, and it means to do what God asks. God asked, so I’ll do it. It’s evident by the Voice of God that Jesus, in fact, was doing everything the God the Father was asking of Him.
Old Testament: Isaiah 42:1-9
Isaiah has four “servant Psalms” throughout its 66 chapters; this is the first. All four definitely point to the appearance of a Messiah. This passage is one reason I like to consider the Gospel reading first in my posts, rather than last as we do in the worship service.
The words of the Voice of God in Matthew 3:17 are directly found in v. 1 of this reading. There’s little doubt that the crowds who saw Jesus’ baptism that day knew exactly where the words came from. This baptism had the people’s attention right from the beginning.
Later, in v. 6, we read, “I am the Lord; I have called you in righteousness.” This is exactly what Jesus meant when he explains to John that he is pursuing baptism to “fulfill all righteousness.”
Now that we know God is sending a Messiah, what can we expect of him? Isaiah lets us know what that person will do: he will function as a new covenant between God and people; he’ll open the eyes of the blind, deliver justice to prisoners who sit in darkness. And we will know him because God will bestow His own glory on him.
By staking a claim on these verses as Jesus did with John, He was also telling the crowds what to expect of Him. This was truly the beginning of His public ministry. The Voice of God was the great introduction.
The Voice of the Lord figures prominently today through these readings, especially this Psalm! It does many things, including bestowing an unmistakeable identity on Jesus.
There is amazing imagery in this Psalm. Consider all of the attributes of the Voice of God: among other things, it thunders; it breaks trees; it flashes with flames of fire. And it declares God’s pleasure with Jesus’ baptism.
One “word” note, because I love them: the word for “flood” as found in v. 10 is only used to describe Noah’s flood. It isn’t just a flood of destruction. It’s specifically a flood that separates the faithful from the unfaithful.
New Testament: Acts 10:34-43
Talk about getting plunked down in the middle of a story! I think for this passage I just want to set the scene for you.
This passage takes place during the early days of the new Church. Pentecost, the arrival of the Holy Spirit on Jewish Christ-followers, has already happened. Peter was wrestling with how much of the law they were still subject to. All of them? One of the features of Jewish tradition had been the dietary restrictions. Those restrictions had kept the Jews apart from the Gentile world and helped to unify their culture.
But they also served as yet another barrier to entry for Gentiles. Asking them to give up a large part of their diet would have been a stumbling block and possibly even quite expensive. Peter knew that Jesus had sent them to all the world but being constantly on guard for eating the wrong thing was putting a real barrier up between the early Christians and the rest of the world.
So, as He often does, the Lord spoke to Peter through a dream. To summarize, God told Peter that everything was “on the table” now, so to speak. Go to the Gentiles with a clear conscience; eat. It’s all clean.
Meanwhile, Cornelius, a Roman centurion who was following God, also had a vision. He was told to send for Peter, who was in another town, and invite him to come stay. And so while Peter was having his vision, a couple of Cornelius’ servants were already enroute to that town to fetch him. Peter arrives at Cornelius’ home where he speaks the words we read in today’s passage.
These verses are the only real summary of Jesus’ ministry found in Acts, and they are delivered to a Gentile audience. Immediately after Peter speaks and our passage ends, the Holy Spirit arrives in Cornelius’ home. Peter baptizes those present with water as an affirmation of their baptism with the Spirit. I think of this event kind of like a “Gentile Pentecost.” It’s a big deal!
Prayer
Father, we long to hear Your voice! Help us, like Jesus, to be mindful of the things You want us to do, the good works You have for us. Give us ears to hear Your good news. Thank You for the gift of the Holy Spirit, who guides and directs us each day. Thank You for the waters of baptism, that washed us of our sins and connect us to Jesus and John, and to the great cloud of witnesses who have gone through those waters before us. Amen.
