The Baptism of the Lord --- 12 January 2014

And when Jesus had been baptized, just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens were opened to him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him.

• When was the last time you saw the heavens open up? In my experience, that phrase usually means a huge rainstorm. You know, the type where the rain pours down “in buckets”, where it rains “cats and dogs” as my mother used to say. It's the sort of rainstorm where thunder roars and lightning flashes, lighting up the whole sky so much you'd swear the sky would fall on you.
• Maybe that's what happened at Jesus' baptism. Not a huge thunderstorm or a windstorm, but an opening of the heavens. Matthew says when Jesus had been baptized, just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens were opened to him... Then the Spirit of God comes upon him like a dove landing and he hears voice of God expressing both election and pleasure. Before this, Jesus came to be baptized and John objected. Jesus responds by saying "Let it be so now; for it is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness." It must have been quite a confusing day for John and, in some ways, for Jesus.
• I'd like to talk about two things this morning: What it means to fulfill all righteousness and what it means to have the heavens opened. These may be odd idea, but they could be quite important to our own lives in Christ.
• In most cases, righteousness means to fulfil some sort of moral law or code and that law or code is used as the measure of righteousness. Jesus says John should baptize him to fulfill all righteousness, meaning to show Jesus to be a good and righteous son of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob – a true Israelite. He does it not because he needs it for himself (hence John's objection) but for the sake of his heritage. This is very important for Matthew since his original audience in general was Jewish. Jesus' genealogy, His birth to Jewish parents, his escape into Egypt and his subsequent entry into the land of the promise, all show Jesus to be the whole people of Israel, all wrapped up in him. Jesus' baptism by John would not be to renounce sin as it might be for others, but it would fulfill all righteousness as a Israelite following the God of Israel in every righteous way possible. The Law would be followed and fulfilled in Jesus, with the help of John whose objections make sense to us who are in on the secret that not all the characters in the Gospel know. Here as in all the Gospels, the reader is privy to the secret but true nature of Jesus. So for Jesus, the righteousness he holds must be made manifest to all. He would keep to the Law; he would be a true Israelite.
• At Jesus' baptism, the heavens opened as Matthew puts it. We don't know if he was speaking in a literal sense or in a more symbolic sense.
• Actually that doesn't really matter so much. If the heavens are opened, then it is possible to pass through, one way or the other, while they are open. God can get to us and we can get to God. This is shown in Jesus' life by the descent of the Spirit of God in the form of a dove and the Father's voice resounding from heaven.
• Does this happen whenever a person is baptized? We'd believe it does. Not that the physical heavens open and the Spirit shows himself in the form of a dove; that's not something I've ever seen, and if I did, it would probably scare the life out of me. Still if we believe in hidden realities like grace, love, forgiveness, and the presence of God -things we cannot usually perceive- then to believe that baptism as it is done in so many Christian churches throughout the world and throughout time involves the opening of the heavens for the newly baptized and the entire congregation as well the presence of the Holy Spirit AND the acceptance by the Father of the newly baptized as a child of God is not something out of reach of our faith.
• Whenever someone is baptized, in this or any other font, the Father, Son, and Spirit are present, bring life, salvation, and righteousness to us and to our world again and again.
• Did you notice that the Gospel never says the heavens closed up after the theophany, that is, the manifestation of the divine at the Jordan? It seems that the heavens remain open and God can alway get to us and we can -by grace- get to God.
• This next idea may be a bad joke, but it is still wonderfully grace-filled (in my opinion). When I was a young boy, I would run through the house and often leave the door open. My mother would call out after me “Were you born in a barn?” which of course means “Shut the door!” Well, in a way, Jesus WAS born in a barn or at least a stable. So then with Jesus, the door is always open.