God’s Love for Us

1/13/08

Matthew 3:13-17

Who was Jesus?

At this point in the story, as Matthew tells it, we have no report of Jesus having done anything. Imagine that you are reading this gospel for the first time, first gospel. That is often a way to get a different handle on what the meaning of the passage is.

Don’t know – at this time, Jesus was an unknown only in the unfolding does it become clear. So far in Matthew’s Gospel, we know that Jesus is the messiah (the anointed one); we know he was conceived in Mary, his mother, by the Holy Spirit; we know that the Magi had come from the East having seen wondrous events in the heavens that indicated the birth of new King (messiah). We know Herod feels threatened, so the established order is no longer safe. We know that God is protecting this child with supernatural dreams. We know that John is pointing to the coming of the Lord. Prepare the Way of the Lord.

Jesus comes on the stage as an actor in this passage. As Matthew tells the story, Jesus has not yet done anything.

Two things are revealed: A connection to John the Baptist. And a connection to God.

1. Immersed in the prophetic tradition.
2. Immersed in the love of God.

Who was John? The Chapter begins with a description of John’s ministry.

• John was prophet of the old school. Proclaimed God’s word to reclaim God’s people. Preaching and baptizing.
• Called people to account. Shape up. Kingdom of God is right around the corner.
• Can I go home and change my shirt?
• Be baptized. Renewed. Like the flood to cleanse the world.
• John became a locus of divine activity and accountability, inviting people to engage how God might be working in their lives.
• Set expectations. Stirred things up.
• Preparing the way of the Lord, as the Bible puts it.
• Interestingly the Bible joins their families to make them cousins of some sort.
• Human connection to their divine partnership in mission.
• Gospels make clear that John was not working as his own agent. He was pointing the way, helping people open their eyes to something greater that was about to come.

John was a little put off when Jesus comes to him to be baptized. You are greater than I am. How is it that I can baptize you? What blessing can I have to bestow upon you?

This king will be a part of the prophetic message. Herod would not listen to John.

The essence of the Prophetic message is that God is God. Everything follows from that: You shall have no other gods before me.

All power is to be God’s power.

God has expectations about how we behave.

Power is to be used in accordance with justice.

Especially revealing is how power is used with respect to the weak. Those who can’t fight back.

When you deal with someone of equal or greater power, the other person will keep track of how you are behaving. They are generally careful to make sure that you treat them fairly. They won’t let you be abusive.

But how we deal with weaker beings is the great revealer of the extent to which we exercise power on God’s behalf.

Jesus is not in the first instance concerned about his own status and power as he engages John. Jesus is relaxed about this.

The call on our lives coming out of this passage is that we be immersed in the tradition of the prophets that God is God and all power is God’s power and we use our

Resources

Status

Authority

Power/energy/activity to extend, protect, God’s interests of fairness and justice and compassion.

As we are older brother/sisters, parents, teachers, group leaders, managers, pastors.

How do we treat animals? How do we treat the earth? Even inanimate objects. Do we treat things, spaces, with respect as we exert our power and actions on them.

Not always obvious and we can make mistakes. Talk it over.

As we act in the world we remember that we are God’s people, it is all God’s world. God is God is what the prophets remind us.

So we are immersed in the way of the prophets as we act in the world.

Immersed in the understanding that the waters of God’s justice, way of life, God’s dream, God’s power, glorious intention of peace is breaking into our world.

Immersed into the reality that Creation and God’s activity did not end on the sixth day of creation, but God is alive and is calling us into

Creation is not about textbooks concerning millions of years ago. Misses the point entirely.

How do we get on board bending whatever power and authority we have in our lives here and now to God’s creative purpose.

Immersed in the Love of God: (Second thing revealed in this passage)

How we act. How we ARE in the world. As Jesus comes onstage as an actor in Matthew’s Gospel he is revealed as beloved of God.

The Gospel is making a claim here about particular way in which Jesus is the incarnation of God – God’s son – that is particular to him and not to us.

But as we are invited to be a part of Jesus’ overturning, creative action in the world.

We are invited to act out of our identity as beloved of God.

That is our most fundamental identity and reality. As we act in this world, we act out of that reality.

There are those – even those who speak from within the church – who invite us to be motivated by the fear of God.

At times it seems like the message of John the Baptizer comes out of this orientation. But if we look more closely we can see that the harsh words of judgment in from John and even from Jesus are directed at those who claim that the harsh judgment of God will fall upon others.

Jesus’ message is "Judge not so that you will not be judged."

All you who would pretend to be God and judge and condemn those around you, you will be judged.

You who have been blessed with good things, if you do not share those good things, if you do not extend God’s blessing beyond yourself, you will find yourself wanting.

Get on board with the emerging reality of God’s love that is taking form in this one Jesus. God’s son, who reveals the pattern and meaning of human life in this world.

How do we get on board with that? How do we immerse ourselves in the love God has for us.

The answer is signaled in our baptism.

Created in water. Spirit over the water.

Recreated in baptism.

Connected to others who pledge themselves to help us experience that love share that love, embody that love. Act out of that love.

Our confidence/faith is that As we live out of the love of God, we find our sure footing in the world.

We are valuable. We are in touch with that goodness that God has placed within us.

Add on? Fundamental to our identity.

Things, position, activities can become central – God’s reality is our central reality. Prophetic tradition feeds into that.

We can get distracted from that. We are not immersed. We stay on the surface life. The realities of God’s centrality and God’s deep and fundamental love for us can be difficult to stay in touch with.

Maybe you would like to be immersed again in the waters of baptism. Refreshed again because you know you are thirsty for a sense of God’s love in your life.

So I will pray. And invite you to come forward to be refreshed by the waters of God’s creative, powerful love.