January 25 2009    Reading:  Matthew 3.13-17

 Theme: The Baptism of Jesus

I watched a DVD the other evening with old cine clips of Edinburgh. One of the clips that was a real surprise was a short film of the huge crowds going to Murrayfield sometime in the 1930s or 1940s. The road from Haymarket down to Roseburn was jammed with people of all ages, young, middle aged and old. All on their way to the match, the trams, also jammed with people made their way slowly down towards Colt Bridge. And above the crowd and the trams, steam trains could be seen shuttling back and forward to Roseburn Station, bringing in yet more hundreds, to join the great queues waiting to get into the ground.

By all accounts the scene at the river Jordan, was very much like that. Matthew’s gospel tells us that, after John the Baptist had gone preaching in the area round the river Jordan near Jerusalem, people went out…from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan in great crowds. And other gospels tell us more of who came - the common people from Jerusalem, Judea and the Jordan area. Religious experts from the capital, tax collectors, and soldiers on a couple of days leave.

We also read why they came - in such great numbers; there were men and women, burdened by guilt, sinfulness, looking for guidance for their lives. Others, coming out to see if John might just bring about a new beginning for Israel and its people.

There must have been campsites there, where people lit fires and cooked.

And we can be sure, that as with all crowds, there were queues down at the riverside waiting to be baptised by John in the Jordan.

Why baptised ?

Now the gospel of Matthew declares to us that here in the midst of these milling crowds, queues of chatting men and women, some laughing, some silent, some anxious, some joyful, men and women from all walks of life, here, among them all,

is Jesus. The Gospel is quite clear about this

in verse 13: Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan.......

and this is where we move from a record, an account about a big event on the banks of the river Jordan, to something different...........

for those of you who haven’t heard this before, the gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, the books about Jesus, are like stained glass windows. You can stand and look at a stained glass window, it might have an angel on it, or a complicated pattern,

but then from behind the window the sun suddenly shines, and all the rich reds, greens, blues and gold, are lit up

this is what happens in the gospels - we are looking at what is there, when suddenly it is lit up, here in Matthew’s gospel we suddenly move from a record, an account about a big event on the banks of the river Jordan, to something different, something deeper.

The gospel of Matthew tells us that here in the midst of these milling crowds, queues of chatting men and women, from all walks of life, here, among them all,

is Jesus. And the gospel tells us....... He came to be baptised by John in the Jordan !

Why ? why did Jesus come to be baptised ?

One of the other gospels tells us that down at the Jordan river John told people to turn away from their sins, their wrongdoing, and they would be forgiven, when they did that he baptised them......

But Jesus is without sin and has nothing to repent of........

so there is no reason for him to be baptised.

Even John himself is baffled and says to Jesus You don’t need to be baptised by me !

I need to be baptised by You !

So, why did Jesus come to be baptised ?

Well the answer is this: in being baptised along with all the queues down at the riverside and with all the crowds,

Jesus shows us that He is utterly One with us

in being baptised along with the common people from Jerusalem, Judea and the Jordan area, the religious experts from the capital, the tax collectors, and soldiers on a couple of days leave, the men and women, burdened by guilt, sinfulness.

Jesus shows us that He is utterly One with us,

And that makes sense, Jesus, the One who saves us, has to be One with us,

Jesus who will remake human life, has to One of us as a human being

in being baptised along with the silent, the anxious, the lost, the doubtful, the hypocrites. Jesus shows us that He is utterly One with us,

When Jesus goes down into the flowing waters of the Jordan river, it’s as if He is immersing Himself in the flow of human life itself, as the gospel unfolds, we see Him immersed deep in the life, the infirmities and the sorrows of men and women, in a great act of loving communion with us, in a great act of loving communion with our human life. For you see if Jesus Christ in His holiness stays away from sinners, then men and women like ourselves, sinners, have no hope for sin is rooted in our human nature.

But He comes into our midst, seeking us, this is why Jesus is baptised in the river Jordan. It makes sense, Jesus, the One who saves us, must be One with us, and so He is baptised.

He who knew no sin was .... numbered with the transgressors.

Why ?

so everyone else can find life through Him......

the Spirit to be His strength

Jesus is baptised, yes, and at that dramatic moment we are told, rising out of the water.. heaven was opened, the Spirit of God descended upon Him

Jesus must be One of us as a human being, for He it is who remakes human life and He will do this through the power of the Holy Spirit

This is why as Jesus rose up out of the waters, the Spirit came down upon Him. Now, of course, Jesus was born through the power of the Spirit, and has always walked and lived in the Spirit, but now the Spirit comes down in what is a different creative power. Jesus is anointed by the Spirit, in the Spirit, for that momentous remaking and reshaping of human life, in the midst of the sinfulness of human life.

What that will mean is made clear during the terrible spiritual experience that takes place after the Baptism. Where Jesus faces through forty days in the desert, forty days of conflict, and the most severe testing of Who He is, what He will do. Through it all, He has the enduring, inexhaustible strength and life in the Spirit. And throughout His life in the riches of wisdom and understanding, courage and faith, given by the Spirit.

He will overcome sin, and death through holiness and love in the Spirit. For us.

the Father’s affirmation

These are great and immense things.........Jesus baptised, One of us, the Spirit comes down upon Him. And now the voice of the Father speaks in wonderful affirmation -

This is my Son, whom I love,

with Him I am well pleased.............

Now the Father speaks:

This is my Son, whom I love, with whom I am well pleased.

The Father, confirms and affirms Jesus the Son, who He is, what He is. All that comes after this, all that Jesus will do, is in the light of this glorious, divine confirmation, all that Jesus will do, is done with the Father’s blessing.

When He took upon Himself our infirmities, our sorrows, for our sake, as One of us..........this was done with the Father’s blessing......

When at the cross, Jesus took away our sin, once and for all for our sake

this, even this, especially this, was done with the Father’s blessing.

when He rose again from the dead, for our sake,

this was the Father’s blessing,

the greatest, deepest, richest blessing to us in the history of the world.

AMEN.