Bishop Craig Schweitzer

Luke 3:15-17, 21-22 • 01.13.13

Click here to hear an audio recording of this sermon.

Our worship today began with a special Thanksgiving for Baptism – something I don’t think we give much thought to in our daily run through life. And the title of today’s sermon may be the most frequent question I ask people. If it’s not at the top of the list it’s pretty close to the top.When I ask the question, “do you remember your baptism?” to confirmation aged students, 99.9% of the time the response is “No. Are you kidding me, I was just a baby. Of course I don’t remember it”.

When I ask adults, the response is pretty much the same although it is usually accompanied with a blank stare. You know the stare that says, “I should probably give the pastor an answer, but I have no clue what the answer to that question really is.”

As Lutheran Christians we lift up the Sacrament of Holy Baptism as one of the most central and significant experiences in our life of faith. So why does it seem like so many of us have no interest in actually living our lives in ways that reveal our identity as baptized children of God. We’ve already moved on to another identity even before the water has evaporated from our forehead with no real interest in actually living life as a baptized child of God.

There was a business man walking by a fishing pier on his way to yet another meeting when he noticed that his neighbor who was a professional fisherman had already docked his boat for the day on the pier and was wasting valuable fishing and money making time playing catch with a young boy from their neighborhood.

“Why aren’t you out fishing?” asked the businessman.

“Because I caught enough fish for one day,” replied the fisherman.

“Why don’t you catch some more?”

“What would I do with them?”

“You could earn more money,” said the businessman. “Then with the extra money, you could buy a bigger boat, go into deeper waters, and catch more fish. Then you would make enough money to buy nylon nets. With the nets, you could catch even more fish and make more money. With that money you could own two boats, maybe even three! Eventually you could have a whole fleet of boats and be rich like me.”

“Then what would I do?” asked the fisherman.

“Then,” said the businessman, “you could really enjoy life.”

The fisherman gave the businessman a confused stare and said, “What do you think I am doing right now?”

Are you enjoying life as a child of God, a baptized son or daughter in the body of Christ? Do you remember your baptism? Or is your baptism a onetime event that you can’t remember because you were just a baby and you don’t think it has any significance or importance in your life today. Or is your baptism significant for you because you think you now have a get out of hell free ticket or some extra fire insurance from God just in case you really screw something up in your life. Or do hear voices around you tell you that your baptism as an infant didn’t really count because you weren’t the one making the decision to have Jesus in your life.

The baptism of Jesus that we celebrate this weekend is an invitation for all of us to remember our own baptisms – not as something that happened in the past, but as something that is important to every day of our life in Christ.

The story of the baptism of Jesus appears in all four gospels, but I want you to note the differences in Luke’s gospel. Luke doesn’t seem too concerned with the actual moment of the baptism. Luke is more interested in what happens after the baptism. Interested in telling us the story of a savior named Jesus who remembers his baptism long after the event of the baptism has taken place. And take note of who baptizes Jesus in this gospel. It’s not John the Baptist. By the time Jesus is baptized in Luke’s gospel, John has already been thrown in jail by King Herod.

This encounter at the river in Luke is nothing less than a divine moment between God and Jesus Christ through the power and presence of the Holy Spirit. Jesus is baptized by the Holy Spirit. And you know what, it’s the same Holy Spirit that you and I are sealed with in our baptism.

Professor David Lose says that “Our relationship with God [through our baptism] is the one relationship in life we can’t screw up precisely because we did not establish it.”

And Pastor Shelly Cunnigham offered a wonderful devotion on our gospel reading this week. She wrote, “We say that in baptism a person is marked with the cross of Christ. That mark confers identity. Like a tattoo or a scar, it tells a story. But it’s not simply a story of something that has happened in the past. It’s a story that is still unfolding.”

She goes on to say, “Your life story is still unfolding. Every day brings possibility, challenge, and opportunity to serve. How will your baptism affect how you live? Will God’s word of love give you the strength to follow Christ’s path?”

And the question I ask today as we seek to follow Christ’s path is, do you remember your baptism?

As Jesus remembered his baptism he cared for the sick and those who had been thrown out of the community. He fed the hungry and helped the poor experience the riches of his love. As Jesus remembered his baptism he died on a cross for you and me. And you know what, it’s that cross you and I are marked with in our baptism.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, remember your baptism in emails and text messages that you send and in every conversation that you have. May they carry words filled with the peace and love that God has for all children of God.

Remember your baptism as you care for friends and family and neighbors in need. May your care help them experience the gentle touch of Jesus’ healing hand.

Remember your baptism as you take time each day to pray. And in these times of prayer, may you hear God speaking directly to you, calling you his beloved son. His beloved daughter.

I think we should begin remembering our baptism right now. Martin Luther even thought it was important for us to bless ourselves with the holy cross each morning and evening and say ‘In the name of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.’

In my own life in Christ I say similar words. As I make the sign of the cross. I say “I am a child of God. Marked with the cross of Christ and sealed with the Holy Spirit forever. Amen.” No, as a matter of fact, the ritual of making the sign of the cross is not reserved only for our Roman Catholic brothers and sisters, it’s for Lutherans too. And whether you do it with a small cross on your forehead or a large cross over your entire body, it’s a great way to remember your baptism.

Do you remember you baptism?

Let’s try it. I invite you to make the sign of the cross and say these words after me, “I am a child of God. Marked with the cross of Christ and sealed with the Holy Spirit forever. Amen.”

Related articles

• Communion Meditation: Wash Yourselves and Eat with Jesus! (apologus.wordpress.com)
• Morning Prayer ~ January 13, 2013 (ronpogue.typepad.com)

Matthew 2:1-12 • January 6,2013

Click here to hear an audio recording of this sermon.

Brothers and sisters in Christ grace and peace to you from God our Father and Lord and Savior Jesus. Amen.

I haven’t done this in quite a while, so I’d like to start by taking a poll. First – How many of you still have your Christmas tree up? Interesting.

Second – This question. What do you have on the top of your Christmas tree, a star or an angel? How many have stars on the top of your tree? How many have angels? Interesting.

The reason why I ask the first question is Christmas for followers of Jesus Christ, isn’t over until January 6th or the Feast Day of Epiphany. In fact, Christmas doesn’t begin in early September and end on Christmas Day, Christmas begins on Christmas Day and ends at Epiphany. The past 12 days are actually when you should have been doing all of your Christmas shopping and gift giving. And the reason for my second question about angels or stars on top of your Christmas tree is that I think there are two types of people. Some are star people and some are angel people.

Anyway, on this feast day of Epiphany, we celebrate three wise men or magi or kings from the east – whatever you want to call them. What’s important is not what you call them, but who they are and how they play a role in the Christmas story – the coming of the Messiah into the world. Do you remember the Christmas story? We hear it nearly every year on Christmas Eve from the gospel of Saint Luke? Do you recall the role that the wise men play in Luke’s gospel? That’s right, they are not even mentioned. For Luke, there is no star, no wise men, only a few ordinary everyday shepherds from Bethlehem who briefly encounter angels.

In fact, Matthew is the only gospel that mentions these men from the east. Luke writes of Mary. John writes eloquently of the Word becoming flesh. Mark doesn’t say anything about the birth of Jesus, but rather begins his gospel with proclamations from John the Baptist.

So why are the wise men so important to the story of the birth of Jesus – the savior – the Messiah? I mean, are the three wise men only important because they have the coolest costumes and props at church school Christmas programs? I think the writer of Matthew’s gospel wants us to see something else. Matthew wants the reader to see that this Jesus is not only king of the Jews, but the savior of ALL nations. He introduces us to these men from the east who are not Jewish and are not part of the inner circle of temple or political life and power, yet, they have come bringing gifts and wanting to worship this new king.

Matthew brings these foreigners from the east into the Christmas story to show us something. In Matthew’s telling of the birth of Jesus, King Herod and all of Jerusalem as our text says today are frightened at this newly arrived Messiah. They even begin to devise a plan to kill him. It’s the foreigners who arrive to worship.

But you and I, as followers of Jesus the savior of all nations in 2013. Followers who know the entire story. You and I are never frightened or experience jealousy like King Herod and all of Jerusalem do. You and I never scoff at visitors who worship in ways that are different from the way we have always worshiped in our congregations. You and I never push foreigners away who have experiences of Jesus that are different from ours – especially those of us who live in western North Dakota. You and I would never do that…or…

As Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago Professor Craig Satterlee offers, “We have our own ways of reaching out, just far enough to slaughter someone’s experiences of God’s grace for the sake of our patterns, practices, and perspectives.”

I think that’s why Matthew introduces us to these men from the east at the beginning of his gospel. He needs to shake things up a bit as he begins to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ that has forever changed the world. With the Messiah’s arrival, the world, with all of its darkness and judgment and death, has changed. The world was changed by a Messiah who didn’t arrive on a golden chariot bearing swords and guns and proclaiming war. It was changed by a Messiah who came in the gentle sounds of a new born baby. Changed by a Messiah who eats with tax collectors and prostitutes and Lutherans from western North Dakota. Changed by a Messiah who heals blindness and disease and restores broken relationships – many of which exist in this house of worship today. Changed by a Messiah who died on a cross and three days later destroyed every power of death that will ever exist by rising out of the stench of death’s darkness.

If we believe this – that God’s coming into the world in the baby Jesus is true and changed the world forever, then the title of the sermon today is probably the wrong question. Have you found our God? That doesn’t work with the gospels. On this feast day of Epiphany, the good news of the birth of a Savior named Jesus is that God has found you. After all, God found the shepherds. God found Mary. God found these foreigners from the east who were outside of the inner Jewish circle, yet, they bring gifts and bow down in worship.

So, there are two kinds of people. Star people and angel people. In scripture, angels often appear to people who are waiting. Waiting for the Messiah or for a sign from God. And usually they have been waiting for a long time, like the Shepherds in Luke’s Christmas story.

And the star is for those who are still searching, those still unsure, those who still have questions, those on a quest to find out about this mystery and message from God wrapped up in human flesh and swaddling clothes.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, it doesn’t matter if you have an angel or a star on the top of your Christmas tree. What matters is that the good news of the birth of the Jesus Christ is for you. It’s for foreigners like wise men from the east or the annoying neighbors living across the street from you today. It’s for the insiders of temple and political life in first century Judea and 21st Century Lutheran Christians living on the prairies of North Dakota. The good news is that the God of Jesus Christ came, found you and me, and meets us right where we are. Amen.

Related articles

• Feast of Epiphany (January 6): “They saw the child with Mary his mother.” (shechina.wordpress.com)
• Epiphany: Celebrating the Appearing of God in Christ by Mark D. Roberts (lacykitkat.wordpress.com)
• Epiphany: Encounter with Jesus in faith and good works (junjunfaithbook.com)