Sermon

Expectation

by The Very Rev. Terry White, Dean

In homes around the area last week, school-aged children watched television with a special fascination. So did parents. Eyes were glued to the scroll across the bottom of local tv stations which proclaimed if school was closed for the next day.  As the alphabetical listing rolled by, cries of “c’mon, c’mon, please, please” sought to persuade the list to include one’s own school. Parents watched as well, perhaps with excitement, certainly not disappointment or dread, that school was closed . . .again.  Cries of “hooray” sounded from students and teachers alike as schools closed.  Hope and expectation had been well-founded.

The Gospel lesson on the Feast of Christ’s Baptism begins with the words, “As the people were filled with expectation.”  All of the lessons for today give a multitude of reasons for God’s people to be filled with expectation.  The presence of God, the power of God, the promises of God run throughout the readings. Indeed, Psalm 29 includes creation in the promise that God reigns over all: God’s voice thunders over the waters, God breaks the cedars, God’s voices causing creation to shake, rattle, and roll, and God sits enthroned and rejoices at the sight of glory shining throughout all creation.

Our first reading from Isaiah is the victim of an unfortunate edit by the lectionary.  Two hugely important words from the text are omitted.  The reading actually begins, “But now,” two words indicating something new had arrived. The passage says, “But now, thus says the Lord, do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.” God affirms and assures Israel and Jacob of God’s never-failing providence and presence. Indeed, from the four corners of the earth, God’s daughters and sons will be gathered, “everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made."

We, who have been called by name in baptism, formed and made for God’s glory, have every reason to be filled with expectation.

From today’s Gospel, John the baptizer’s preaching had led people to anticipate the emergence of some great change. Not a temporary stimulus of some sort, not even a systemic change.  John signaled something else, God breaking into lives and history, redeeming the past, enlivening the present, and assuring eternity.

Before Jesus is baptized, John says, "I baptize you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”

Reflecting on these verse, the Rev. David Ewart writes, “I am reminded of Mr. Rogers whenever I read a separating-the-wheat-from-the-chaff passage. As Mr. Rogers often pointed out even people who are bad most of the time will be good some of the time; and those who are good most of the time will be bad some of the time.

“So the wheat-chaff separation is not separating into two groups of "bad" persons and "good" persons. It is separating the good that is within each person from the bad that is within each person.” (www.holytextures.com)

This is how the glory of God breaks into the world. When our hope and expectation leads us to act in accordance with the grace we have been given, so that the fire of God’s love and justice and compassion which John preaches purifies us and propels us into action.

Luke’s version of the Lord’s baptism is different from other accounts.  One commentary says Luke is short on water and long on Spirit and fire. Luke writes, “Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, "You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased."

After Jesus had been baptized, and was in communion with God in prayer, the Holy Spirit descended upon him.  John’s prediction of baptism of Spirit and fire comes upon Jesus, as it comes upon each of us, and upon the Church.  To be set aflame as God’s beloved daughters and sons means we are sent aflame into the settings where God has placed us to show forth his glory, to seek and serve Christ in all people, to love our neighbors as ourselves.

In a few moments Avery will be baptized.  In baptism we are buried with Christ in his death, we share in his resurrection, and are reborn by fire and the Holy Spirit, and our lives become a living confession of faith.  The feast of our Lord’s Baptism, the renewal of our own baptismal covenant, and the beginning of this season of Epiphany which calls us to manifest the glory of God in our lives provides a supreme opportunity to not only be filled with expectation, but live and work and serve with expectation.  This is what it means to be baptized, to be grafted into the Body of Christ, and marked as Christ’s own forever.

I conclude with these words from Nathan Mitchell:

We are urged to move quickly from the intimate scene of Jesus’ birth toward the more challenging vision of his baptism.  In short, we are asked to move in the direction of life itself: from concern for intimacy to concern for community.  A Christian parish becomes its best self when it accepts the challenge of community. The parish community cannot limit its attention to the search for justice and intimacy among its own members. It must be prepared to take up the cross, standing against evil and injustice wherever they exist in the world. This may seem like a harsh message so soon after the Christmas season, or on the day of a child’s baptism, but in fact it is the church’s message at all times, in all seasons.  There is, ultimately, only one mystery we celebrate: it is the paschal mystery, Jesus’ dying and rising in the human community called “church.” (A Christmas Sourcebook, New Proclamation, p 75.)

When weather forces school to close, the expectation, the hope that preceded the announcement is then followed by celebration and action. Shouts of “hooray!” and “thank you, Jesus!” quickly lead to plans for sledding, a sleepover, movie marathon, or whatever. There’s a message there for all of us who are baptized into the death and resurrection of Jesus. Our expectation, our hope that God is with us and loves us has been fulfilled in the coming of his Son, and in our baptism, and is renewed in the Eucharist.  What must follow is action. 

© Grace and Holy Trinity Cathedral