Year A Baptism of the Lord 9 January 2011
Isaiah 42: 1-9 Psalm 29 Acts 10: 34-43 Matthew 3: 13-17
Isaiah 42:6-7 “6 “I, the LORD, have called you in righteousness; I will take hold of your hand. I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people and a light for the Gentiles, 7 to open eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness.”
We, as Church, can take these words from Isaiah as our call from God. We are called in righteousness by Him to be a covenant and a light, bringing the promise of God to the people in our community. It is our call to reveal the Good News of God and in so doing, open the eyes of the blind. It is our call to free the captives from the prison of darkness, despair and meaninglessness. But....... What is it that is holding us captive?
When I look around at the lives of Christian people around me, it seems that many of us are crippled in our mission and God given call. We are crippled by hurt and ignorance, and also by our actions or the judgment of our actions, whether deserved or not. Hurt is inevitable as a fact of life on planet earth, but due to that hurt we often shut ourselves away from the truth of God’s love. Truly, in the searchlight of God’s truth we might discover some of the burdens we are carrying which are keeping us captive.... things that God wants us to let go of as we discover the truth that He reveals to us.
I have had an experience of this myself recently. I was hurt by something that was said to me, but as I thought about the facts I realized the statement wasn’t actually hurtful at all, but instead it was simply the shadow of old judgements based on gossip and the way I felt judged that was making me feel so hurt. I was carrying a false sense of guilt... guilt that I knew wasn’t mine, but guilt that I believed others held me in judgement.
The truth that set me free was realizing that the guilt is not mine. God knows the truth and other opinions didn’t matter. Though they have actually been bad enough to hinder my job prospects and even my perceived ministry....
Knowing my relationship with God was secure made the difference and allowed me to let go of the burden imprisoning me. And yes this is easier said than done, and probably one of those many miracles that God does in the year2011. If he does this for me, you can know He is keen to do it for you too.
I have also been reflecting on how so many vibrant and gifted people in ministry have left ministry due to “false guilt” and other burdens that imprison us. How many of us who have the gift of God’s revelation, have been blinded and imprisoned in the darkness of hurt and lies about God’s rejection?
And then this brings to mind another issue: We all know the many stories of priests and ministers being taken to court for “inappropriate” behaviour, most commonly for sexual abuse, but I would ask you to think about the news we hear about footballers accused in the same way. Some of the footballers we would easily accept as being guilty but there have been plenty who claimed their innocence.... and many who have been victims of the injustice of a lie. Is it possible that this is the case with some of those ministers also?
I had an experience many years ago, where I rolled my car and was charged with driving without due care and attention. I was in 2nd gear, just leaving the carpark with 4 girls who had been at a youth convention. The windscreen quickly fogged and I couldn’t see. I thought I was pulling over to the side but, as I found out, there was no side but a drain. There were no signs or guide posts, just a slight raised edge. I was told by my solicitor that I had to plead guilty. It felt wrong, as I didn’t do anything without care yet had to plead that I did. From what I’ve heard in a few other cases this “pleading guilty” happens quite a bit with others who are also not guilty.
On a Church level we have been crippled by these things whether they’ve been correct judgments or not. What we are missing is the Good News of God’s grace, and also God’s perspective and wisdom.
Jesus was an unlikely candidate for ministry. He appeared to be the son of a woman of questionable character.... after all, she was found to be pregnant with him before her nuptials had been completed. I’ve no doubt that there was plenty of gossip about Jesus. Jesus did not follow any of the accepted protocol for religious behaviour. He didn’t concern himself with the ceremonial washing and constantly broke the commandment about keeping holy the Sabbath day.... or so it seemed. And that is my point. Many things are not as they seem.
Jesus was both fully God and fully human. How do we get our heads around this? As I’ve said previously, I like to parallel this with the movie Superman II. Superman gives up his power and becomes like a normal human – all for the love of Lois Lane. Jesus did the same.
In Jesus giving up his “God” power to become human, means that he was JUST like us. Just like us in every way, except that he did not sin. Even more important is what this means for us as Christians in our lives. You see, this week we read about the Baptism of Jesus. Something very important happened at his baptism:
Matthew 3: 16-17 “16 As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. 17 And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”
The Spirit of God descended to Jesus. After this we see Jesus move into ministry with power.... what power? Remember I just said that, like Superman, Jesus gave up his “God” power.... So the power that Jesus had was the power of the Holy Spirit which came on him – him being a fully human man. The implication is that Jesus lived the life that we too can live. We too have the Holy Spirit. Even more we live in the fulfilment of the promise of God and Jesus intercedes for us. What I’m implying is that we should be living a life that is a lot more empowered and connected to God than the one we are living.
Acts 10: 38 “38 how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him. “
Every now and then I get on my soap box about how we should be relying more on the power of the Holy Spirit. I’m still trying to figure this out myself, but I do really believe that we are not properly utilizing the gift that God has given.
Many times in our church and corporate prayer we insert structure and formula along with a big dash of creative razzle dazzle, such that we don’t actually need the Holy Spirit. Not that there is anything wrong with using structure, formula and creativity. These are God given gifts, but the focus of our efforts needs to be directed and informed by the Spirit of God.
Many years ago I was sent to the Catholic National Liturgical Convention in Melbourne. There were many interesting electives teaching us on different aspects of liturgy. Each day began with everyone together and some kind of prayer service and keynote speaker address.
Over the course of the week I became increasingly disillusioned. There were hymn writers telling us that there was nothing real and everything was subjective and that their songs were full of imagery that could mean absolutely anything. There were song leaders teaching us complicated choral pieces.... (ps – this is a bad thing because people should feel like they are fully participating). All in all I was very disheartened and concerned about the lack of “God” focus in it all.
The final day of the convention the prayer service was run by a drama group. They performed by proclaiming disjointed scripture quotes. None of it connected or pointing to anything - none of it revealing God’s truth and good news. There were many, many candles.... the only bit that made sense. The candles were to symbolize us and then the Pascal candle was the symbol of Christ. When the service was over and the key note speaker came on the candles were extinguished.... but the Christ candle would not go out. No matter what they did that candle stayed lit. Eventually they gave up and left it lit throughout the speaker’s address. It spoke volumes to me and reminds me of the scripture in this week’s readings:
Isaiah 42: “ 1 “Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight;
I will put my Spirit on him, and he will bring justice to the nations.2 He will not shout or cry out, or raise his voice in the streets. 3 A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out.”
Isaiah speaks prophetically about Christ. The life of Jesus was not one of a naturally charismatic leader with a squeaky clean background. Isaiah also speaks prophetically about the light of Christ in the church. After the crucifixion, resurrection and then the day of Pentecost, right through to today, the church has had many occasions of being like a bruised reed and a smoldering wick. It seems very much that way now.
Most importantly, Isaiah speaks prophetically a message of encouragement to us personally. We are bruised and battered. We feel that our light is smoldering rather than shining brightly, but God lets us know that the light of Christ in us, just like at the convention, will not snuff out.
We have been given a gift of the light of Christ and have a responsibility to proclaim it: Acts 10: 42“He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one whom God appointed as judge of the living and the dead. 43 All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”
What is stopping us from fulfilling our God given call?
Sometimes it is our inability to forgive others and sometimes our inability to forgive ourselves. We really need to understand God’s grace and love to combat these attacks of Satan which are imprisoning us, and be set free. Did you read the last line of that last quote? “everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”
When Jesus died on the cross for our sins were they in the past or the future? The future of course! When we believe and accept the sacrifice of Jesus we need to know that even our future sins are forgiven. Forgive yourself. We need to realize that others are also loved and forgiven when they believe and accept the sacrifice of Jesus – both future and past sins. (Note forgiveness and trust are two different things!)
Whatever it is that is stopping us from our call into ministry we need to give it to God. And when I say “Our call into ministry”, I do mean all of us. We are all called to proclaim the truth that God has revealed to us. For each of us that will take a different form. Ordained by God and anointed by His Holy Spirit to be His witness, if you have that sense deep within you that you are not in the place God wants then it is time to step forward.... and God Himself will give us strength.
Psalm 29 :8-11 “8 The voice of the LORD shakes the desert; the LORD shakes the Desert of Kadesh. 9 The voice of the LORD twists the oaks and strips the forests bare. And in his temple all cry, “Glory!” 10 The LORD sits enthroned over the flood; the LORD is enthroned as King forever. 11 The LORD gives strength to his people; the LORD blesses his people with peace.”
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