dawn is coming

upon our eyes

Sermon on Jesus' Baptism; Luke 3:1-22:

There’s a book I haven’t read. A movie was made of it, though; and I have seen that. “Big Fish.” It’s basically a Father/Son story. The son, a consummate practicalist; and the father… The father who is, well, always telling these tall tales. 

The son can’t stand it, and wishes for nothing more than his father to face up to reality. 

It all comes to a head in the father’s last days. As his death comes, the son expects his father to finally give up the charade. The father, though, doesn’t. The father doesn’t, predictably, because of another one of his far-fetched stories…

…When he was a boy, says the father, he and some buddies dared one another to run to the door of a dilapidated building on the edge of town. Rumor was, a witch lived there. And if you looked her in the eye, you’d see you own death…

As the father tells it, he went to the door. And when the witch jumped out, he calmly asked her to let him and his friends look into her eye. Which she obliged. And indeed, when they looked, they all saw their fate. 

Well, seeing his end, the father wasn’t afraid. And he remained implacable even as his health declined…

Of course his father’s clinging to these stories, only serve to make the son more and more angry. As the movie progresses, you find the son, in refusing to accept his father’s stories, only confirms them. The son’s very resistance to the father’s tall tales, only brings them to fruition. 

Finally, in the end, the son too accepts his father’s tales and fate.

It’s a fine story.

Of course, that’s not how it works for the rest of us. The rest of us, we have to constantly be on the lookout for ways to carve out the future we don’t have to fear. There are times too, when we can convince ourselves we’ve managed it.

And there are other times, when that illusion is shattered…

Like last summer at confirmation camp. I figured as the youngest pastor, I had the “cool” pastor credentials, well in-hand. 

One afternoon, I went to the pool. Planing to sit on the edge and joke with the campers. Walking across the hot pavement, one of the campers noticed I wasn’t in a bathing suit. 

“Pastor Ryan,” they called. “Aren’t you going to go swimming?”

Nonchalantly I sat down, put my legs in the shallow end, and said offhandedly, “No, I doubt anyone wants to see their pastor in a swimsuit.”

THEN, without any hesitation, they nodded! Even sizing me up and then affirming, “yeah, that’s true.”

Well, I hadn’t expected them to agree so readily!

No matter how hard I tried, I was still the same old egghead. Sitting on the edge of the pool…

Truth is, no matter how hard we try to shape up our lives, when we go to bed, we’re still the same person we’ve always been…

For my own part, all my attempts to carve out my own future have always been doomed from the start. And I know why, too…

Well, enough about me.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus of all people, is baptized. As he’s baptized, we’re told heaven itself opens. The Holy Spirit alights upon Jesus. And none other than God, gives a sermon. “This Jesus is my son, the beloved.” God preaches that Jesus is the revelation of God’s very, own heart…

There, in only the third chapter. Before Jesus has done much of anything. Before the plot gets underway, God interrupts. And, spoiler alert, reveals who this Jesus is. Right at the beginning!

What’s more, God gives this Jesus everything he will need to bear his identity out; the Holy Spirit and all of heaven opened and poured out upon him.

All this happens before Jesus squares off against evil. Before he proves himself. Or even earns the title! 

From the very start, God gives Jesus all the goods. God doesn't hold back or keep any secrets. God tells Jesus exactly who he is; “Son,” “Beloved.”

It’s a fine story.

Of course, that’s not how it works for the rest of us. The rest of us, we have to constantly be on the lookout for ways to carve out a future we don’t have to fear. There are times too, when we can convince ourselves we’ve managed it.

And there are other times, when that illusion is shattered…

Like when my baby brother was born. Once there were two of us, Grandma had, had enough. Mom and Dad weren’t going to keep dragging their feet. It was high time, said grandma, that the boys got baptized. 

Dad rolled over, and mom couldn’t raise any reasonable objections, so grandma had her way. 

Well, my folks didn’t belong to any church then. So, I suspect grandma was equally persuasive with her pastor as she was with her boy. So one day, after church. At a church I had never been to; before or since; I was baptized.

And it’s no small irony that the deed was done in a lutheran church… 

Eventually, when I was in fourth grade, mom got religion. From the fourth the twelfth grade, I went to the Pentecostal church. But, when I moved out for college, I put all that nonsense behind me. Religion, Christianity; was for the birds.

My only trouble was, regardless of what I thought or did; what had been done to me in baptism was more powerful. That day, in a small town, with a pastor who didn’t know me from Adam, sealed my fate. 

And that, that’s why I’ve never managed to carve out my own future… 

Because in baptism God interrupts, and spoiler alert, reveals exactly who we are. God doesn’t hold back on you or keep any secrets. All of heaven is poured out, and the Holy Spirit is given too. God gives everything we need to bear the identity of a child of God out.

This, it’s not what any of us would have chosen. It’s what we’ve been given. 

And thanks be to God, God doesn’t hold back. God gives all this, regardless of what we try to make of our own future… 

In baptism, what happened to Jesus, happens to the rest of us. Jesus’ baptism is a revelation; of what baptism does. What it gives. 

In baptism heaven itself is opened and poured out. The very Holy Spirit is handed over. And none other than God, gives the sermon. 

In baptism, nothing is held back, God keeps no secrets. ALL of heaven is poured out.

In baptism a promise big enough to wrench our lives out of our own hands is made. 

You who are baptized; and if you aren’t, talk to me. We can fix that. 

You who are baptized, nothing can be done to undue your future. Or, even do it up any better, either!

All the goods have been given. Nothing has been held back. God interrupts, says exactly who you are; “Child of God…”

You’re future, there’s nothing left of it to put in order, or improve. God hasn’t held back on you. Kept any secrets from you. 

Heaven’s been opened and poured out on you. The Holy Spirit’s been granted. God gave the sermon that’s stronger that what you think or do. Stronger even than Death. 

Big Fish is a clever story. Your baptism, though, that’s the real deal. 

It’s your end, given to you now. It’s the Spirit that’s Holy. And all of heaven, too.

Your future, it’s not something you have to carve out or make happen. God gives it to you, as a gift. There’s nothing you have to do to achieve it. There’s no further you must look to find it.

That is what it means to be ‘forgiven sinner, free-riding on Jesus.’

It’s to have your future given to you. To give up trying to make it yourself. To hear the sermon God gives to you, “beloved child. Well pleased.” To hear that, and cry out, “Amen. Let it be so.” And trust God to do that, to make it so. 

Because God will. God doesn’t hold back, or keep any secrets when it comes to the future of his baptized children…

The only real question now is, not what do you have to do to carve out your future. But, what will you do now that you don’t have to do anything for it? Now that its been given to you?