AU United Methodist Community

Rev. Mark Schaefer
Kay Spiritual Life Center
January 9, 2011
Isaiah 42:1–9; Matthew 3:13–17

Isaiah 42:1–9 • Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations. He will not cry or lift up his voice, or make it heard in the street; a bruised reed he will not break, and a dimly burning wick he will not quench; he will faithfully bring forth justice. He will not grow faint or be crushed until he has established justice in the earth; and the coastlands wait for his teaching.
Thus says God, the LORD, who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and what comes from it, who gives breath to the people upon it and spirit to those who walk in it: I am the LORD, I have called you in righteousness, I have taken you by the hand and kept you; I have given you as a covenant to the people, a light to the nations, to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness. I am the LORD, that is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to idols. See, the former things have come to pass, and new things I now declare; before they spring forth, I tell you of them.

Matthew 3:13–17 • Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan, to be baptized by him. John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now; for it is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he consented. And when Jesus had been baptized, just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens were opened to him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”

I. BEGINNING

Happy New Year!  A new year is always so exciting, isn’t it?   A new year, a new semester.  A fresh chance to start something anew.  It’s a time of resolutions, new starts.  A number of people I know have lists of things they’d like to accomplish: books to read, things to learn, names of all the countries in the world to memorize.  It is a time of newness.  In the words of the old carol: “Fast away the old year passes, hail the new, ye lads and lasses.”  The turn of the year from Christmas through the New Year is a time of new beginnings, of new starts.

II. BAPTISM OF THE LORD

Even for the church, it’s a time of new beginnings.  Today is Baptism of the Lord Sunday, in which we read of Jesus’ being baptized by John the Baptist in the river Jordan.  It is this event that marks the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry in the Gospels.  Matthew’s version is similar to Mark’s, with a couple of differences here and there, but both share in using the same imagery in their telling of the story. Each speaks of the waters of the heavens being torn open, of the Spirit descending, of a voice from heaven.  When we read the Bible, we so often read it for the story that we miss when the authors are crafting their narratives for particular effect and to tell a particular message.

For there is another narrative in which water, light, spirit, and word are all involved.  It is in the first chapter of the Book of Genesis, when God’s spirit hovers over the water, when a word is spoken, and light is summoned forth out of darkness.  The creation.

What Matthew presents for us in his narrative is not simply a story of Jesus getting baptized.  It is not simply the beginning of Jesus’ ministry.  It is the inauguration of a New Creation.  A new thing that springs forth in Jesus of Nazareth.

Images of newness are found throughout our readings today.  The text from Isaiah is one of the Servant Songs, about the Suffering Servant of God, with whom Christians have long associated Jesus.  The oracle about the one who will “bring forth justice to the nations” is concluded by God’s declaration: “See, the former things have come to pass, and new things I now declare; before they spring forth, I tell you of them.”

As Christians, we proclaim not merely a new year, but a New Creation underway.  A radical departure from the past: “the former things have come to pass, and new things I now declare…”

III. NOTHING NEW UNDER THE SUN

Am I the only one who wants to say, “Really?”  Because, as sad as it is to say, even our brand new year of 2011 isn’t turning out to be that new, now is it?  There are a lot of things going on that have been going on for quite some time.

Let’s start with the religious sectarian violence, shall we?  The New Year got off to a great start when 21 Coptic Christians were killed coming out of mass on New Year’s Eve in Egypt, the result of a suicide bomber.  This followed on the heels of similar killings in Iraq and throughout the Middle East.

And then there’s the violence in our country.  The shooting of Congresswoman Gifford and the murder of six innocent people, including a 9 year-old child.  There has been a spate of killings in our own city and in neighboring Baltimore.  Every day, we read about some tragedy of senseless violence.

And let’s not forget the hate.  After all, this coming Friday, we’ll have a front row seat to a hate-fest like none other when protestors from the Westboro Baptist Church come to visit AU and remind us that because we tell people that God loves everyone, we are bound for hellfire and damnation.  That’s after they protest Amabassador Holbrooke’s memorial at the Kennedy Center and Friday prayers at the Islamic Center.  That’s a pretty busy day for a hate group.

I confess that when I read the news, the verse of Isaiah where God declares a new thing that springs forth is not what I am immediately reminded of. Rather I am reminded of the verse from the first chapter of Ecclesiastes: “What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done; there is nothing new under the sun.” (Ecclesiastes 1:9–10 NRSV)

IV. A NEW THING SPRINGING FORTH

No, this seems like the very same old, weary world.

I have a lot of sympathy with the cynics.  Mine is a cynical generation, inclined toward irony and cynicism.  So, it would be very easy for me to lapse into the cynicism of Ecclesiastes: there is nothing new under the sun.

Except that there is.  If you know how to look for it.  It occurs to me that the world is like one of those illusions that you see from time to time, like the one printed on the back of your bulletins.  Looking at the picture what do you see?  Do you see the an old woman with a headscarf?  Or a young woman with her head turned away from the viewer?   Now that you’re aware, you can probably see both, but not at the same time.  Your perception flips between the two images.

The world is not that much different.  It is entirely possible to see the world as a place of unrelenting brokenness, of violence, of hate, locked in a cycle that will never end.  There is nothing new under the sun, and never will be.

But it is equally possible to look at the world and see it as a place where God’s reign is breaking in all the time.  Where a new thing is indeed springing forth.  It is possible to look at this old, broken, hurting world, and see something wondrous at work.

Over the last few years, I have been coming to the conclusion that faith is not what we are inclined to think it is.  Faith is not a system of beliefs.  Faith is not religious principles or doctrines.  Faith is a lens.  It is a lens that helps us to see the world as God intended it.  A world in which God is at work, even now.  Faith helps us to flip our perception of the world from one of despair to one of hope.

Because if we look at the world through the lens of faith, we see something new at work.

You see Muslims throughout Egypt offering themselves as “human shields” so that their Coptic neighbors can have a Christmas celebration without fear.  You see people reaching across party lines to ensure that the vigorous political debate necessary in a free society does not become poisonous and violent.

You see students responding to the most hateful rhetoric imaginable not with more rhetoric, not with more vitriol, but with love and hospitality.

These moments can, like the picture of the woman above, be interpreted variously.  Someone could just as legitimately view even these hopeful signs with cynicism. Flashes in the pan.  A lucky break.  Nothing more.

But we are Christians, and we see not only with the help of the lens of faith, but by the light of God.

V. END

This is a light that is not born out of some vain hope, it is the light of the one who comes into our lives at their darkest. That light that is born within us in the winters of our souls.  The light of the Christ whose star we saw at its rising and who calls us westward leading, still proceeding, and guides us with its perfect light.  It is the light of the risen sun on that Easter morn that shines into the dark places of our hearts and casts out all fear.

This light helps us to see the world as a place not where brokenness has sway but a place where God is at work. And seeing the world that way gives us courage to live out that faith.

Today is baptism of the Lord Sunday, a Sunday in which we retell the story of Jesus’ baptism, but also remember our own.  Now, while there are a couple of you here who have no difficulty remembering your baptisms as they were but a few months ago, for most of us, baptized as infants, our remembrance is less vivid.

But remembering our baptism is about remembering what it means: that we are born anew with Christ.  We are made part of that New Creation.  We are part of the new thing that springs forth.  God is at work in us as individuals and as communities.  God is renewing us.

And so as we remember our baptism, we go into a world that is overrun by brokenness and we shine the light of hope into the dark reaches of despair.  We shine a light of peace into the shadows of division.  We shine love into the dark corners of hate. We help the world to flip its vision and to see not the old tired world, but a world where God is at work.  A world in which a new thing springs forth.

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