Sermons
Well, with Epiphany now behind us…
that’s officially the end of the Christmas season.
I have packed away my Christmas tree and decorations…
I have put the Christmas cards out for recycling…
and life has pretty much returned to normal.
All of that stress and activity…
all of that busyness…
seems like an eternity ago now.
And I have vowed, once again—
as I have done every January—
to be stronger this year and stick to my convictions…
to try to keep Christmas as simple as possible…
to avoid spending more than I need to…
and to avoid over-catering and over-eating.
And yet, it’s hard, isn’t it?
I have heard many people say…
that they have tried to make Christmas simpler…
but, inevitably, it doesn’t end up working out that way.
In the end, we humans are creatures of habit.
But, more than that…
there are times when we still operate on instinct…
when the old pack-mentality kicks-in.
There are times when we just get caught up in things…
when we get swept along by people or events…
and it’s hard not to get swamped in the process.
In the first century, Israel was occupied by the Romans.
Unfortunately, many of the governors who were sent were insensitive to local sensibilities…
and heavy-handed in the way that they wielded their power.
Quite a few were simply looking for the chance to make a profit.
In other words, they were corrupt.
Add to that, the behaviour of ordinary Roman soldiers could be brutish and bullying…
and many of them were not afraid to engage in extortion and stand-over tactics.
Then there were the tax-collectors…
who collaborated with the Roman occupiers…
who were perceived to be crooked and immoral…
and who added to the significant financial burdens that ordinary peasants endured.
Meanwhile, the Israelite elite—
the religious establishment and those with economic and political power—
sought to prop up their own position…
and did so by exploiting their own people.
In short, the average person was suffering…
feeling oppressed…
and longing for change.
Politically, they wanted freedom.
Economically, they wanted a fair go.
They wanted more control over their lives.
In response, some opted for terrorism—
actively resisting Roman rule.
Most, however, simply harboured hopes and dreams…
longing for a great leader who would come and set them free.
It was in that context that John the Baptist appeared.
According to the author of Luke’s Gospel, John was a prophet who called people to repentance…
who called people to adopt a different way of life—
a way of life that was counter-cultural:
exhorting them to act justly…
to treat others fairly…
and to share what they had with the poor.
John preached a form of activism.
His emphasis was on what people needed to do in order to bring about change.
And ordinary people got caught up in it.
“What then should we do?” was their response.
Baptism was a part of that.
For John, baptism was a symbolic act expressing commitment to this different way of life…
a symbolic commitment to justice and compassion…
and a symbolic stand against corruption.
John tapped into, and fed, this mood for change—
stirring hopes of a new world…
a just world.
So, many people came.
Even allowing for the author’s typical exaggeration—
when he claims that everyone was baptised—
it’s clear that there was a popular groundswell.
People were swept along by it.
And so it was that Jesus, too, came to John…
and was baptised.
As such, Jesus also made this symbolic commitment…
aligning himself with John’s hopes for a new and better world…
committing himself to justice and compassion.
By being baptised, Jesus made a commitment to a counter-cultural lifestyle…
a commitment to working for change.
Jesus, too, got caught up in what was happening.
He too got swept along by this popular movement…
swept up in this groundswell for change.
And yet, in the Lukan version of this story…
the actual baptism of Jesus is rather insignificant.
It’s almost mentioned as an aside…
somewhat matter-of-fact…
without any detail.
For this author, the baptism itself wasn’t the pivotal event.
Rather…
the pivotal event happened some time after he was baptised.
At some later point, Jesus prayed.
The sense of this happening later is much stronger in the original Greek:
later, while praying, the Spirit descended on him;
later, while praying, he perceived God to be speaking to him personally:
he heard God acknowledging him as God’s Son…
he heard God confirming his sense of identity…
he heard God affirming him.
It’s as if Jesus needed to take time out to reflect…
on who he was…
on what he was doing…
and on who he was and what he was doing in relation to God.
Here, in his praying, Jesus began to discern his true identity.
While being still before God, Jesus perceived that God was pleased with him.
Although, as the author crafts the story, it isn’t clear why God was pleased with him.
Was it for being baptised?
Or was it for stopping, reflecting, and praying?
Was it that Jesus took time to contemplate who he was…
and where he was going?
Because it was during that stillness that he perceived the Spirit descending on him…
and it’s from that point on that he embarks on his ministry.
It wasn’t Jesus’ baptism itself that prepared him for his ministry.
Nor was it his commitment to a different way of life.
It was in taking time to reflect—
it was in being still before God—
that he began to recognise who he was…
and what he was being called to do.
Everything else flowed from that.
In the stresses and pressures of modern life…
with so many competing claims on our time and attention…
it’s easy to get swept along.
It can definitely happen at Christmas time.
But it can also happen at work and in our private lives.
It certainly happens in the church.
It’s easy to get caught up and swept along and—
in the process—
we can lose a sense of who we are…
we can lose a sense of purpose…
we can lose sight of why we’re doing what we do.
It’s easy to get swept along with busyness and activity…
so that we can start to think that it’s all simply a matter of doing the right things.
It’s easy to begin to think of religion or faith as simply a matter of “doing”:
being nice to others…
going to church…
helping with morning tea…
greeting people at the door…
or even devoting our lives to serving others.
But, in the end, faith isn’t primarily a matter of “doing”, it’s a matter of “being”.
It’s a matter of stopping…
being still…
reflecting…
not filling every moment with activity or with words…
and being open.
Because when we stop…
when we become still and open before God—
whoever and however we might perceive God to be—
it’s then that we may discover, as Jesus did…
who we truly are and where we are called to be.
And, when we do that, we might also discover…
that this is how we begin to change the world.