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WHEN JOHN BAPTIZED JESUS
A bruised reed He will not break, and a dimly burning wick He will not quench. (Is. 42:3)
Martin Luther was once asked how he knew he was saved. He looked straight into the eyes of his inquirer, and gave his answer in five words. He said, "Because I have been baptized." We witness the sacrament of baptism often here at Westminster, and it generally is seen as a happy moment. If the baptism is of an infant, we are amused and intrigued by the various responses of the babies. In previous congregations if a little one chooses to make himself or herself known at the time for the baptism, I have said to the congregation, "Remember, Jesus said suffer the little children to come unto me."
Aside from the delightfulness of the sacrament, the church has always seen this moment as a serious four-fold event, in which we are undergoing a profound initiation, a process of cleansing from sin, and entrance into the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and being received into a new community or family of faith. The closing sentence of most Presbyterian baptismal orders says it all in one sentence. "Child of God, you have been sealed by the Holy Spirit in baptism, and grafted into Christ Jesus forever. At First Presbyterian in Deland, FL, we encouraged families to have a birthday party with their children each year on the date of their child's baptism, as well as on their birth day, celebrating their birth into the life and death of Jesus.
Given that understanding of baptism, the obvious question which this morning's Gospel reading raises is, why on earth would Jesus himself request to be baptized by John? Matthew, it seems to me, in writing about this event, asked the same question. In response, Matthew makes three statements. First, he says Jesus WENT to the Jordan "to be baptized." In other words, Jesus recognized John's authority and identified himself with those who responded in faith to John's call. Second, John himself recognized that Jesus did not fit the image of those coming in repentance seeking forgiveness. That is, Jesus transcended John's baptism. In effect John said, "Sir, I need to be baptized by You, and do you come to me?" And third, Jesus states his reason for being baptized: "to fulfill all righteousness." I've often wondered what the real meaning of that word "righteousness" is, and here, as so often in the New Testament, I think it simply means doing the revealed will of God. And here, "fulfill" means simply "to do, to perform," and the meaning is that it is necessary for both John and Jesus to do God's will, which includes the baptism of Jesus. The plural "us" links John and Jesus together as partners in carrying out God's saving plan. The bottom line, it seems to me, is that Jesus is identifying himself with us all. The person who needed no forgiveness identified himself with all of us who need a lot of forgiveness. The compassionate one identifies himself with all of us who need a lot of compassion. The sinless one identifies himself with all of us who know our own sinful nature.
The event culminates in a dramatic event which in itself is an epiphany event. In all three Gospels the heavens were opened, the Holy Spirit descended upon Jesus empowering him for the ministry before him, and the voice from heaven declared, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased." Can you imagine what feelings and emotions went through Jesus at that moment. I can almost feel a surge of certainty and self-understanding that came upon Jesus at His baptism. The event confirmed what Jesus thought sure to be true about who He was, His internal state, His messianic self-consciousness. God is confirming that Jesus is who He thought He was, God's own son, God's own servant.
Now, here is my real question for you this morning. What was it that brought upon Jesus this inner conviction, this inner understanding that He was the chosen servant of God? There is no record of that growing self-consciousness in the whole of the New Testament, with the possible exception of Jesus at age twelve at the temple. But I'd like to suggest that it was upon serious reflection of certain passages from the Hebrew Scriptures, with which Jesus was so very familiar, that He came to such self awareness. And here is a prime example, from Isaiah:
Here is My servant, whom I uphold, My chosen, in whom My soul delights; I have put My spirit upon Him; He will bring forth justice to the nations. He will not cry or lift up His voice, or make it heard in the street; a bruised reed He will not break, and a dimly burning wick He will not quench. Can you not just sense Jesus reading and re-reading those lines, and then wondering is this the calling which I am to fulfill? Maybe we can think through these words as Jesus might have given His heart to them. Imagine Jesus reading them.
"A bruised reed He will not break." A reed isn't much in itself. Reeds are as common as the wayside grasses. And yet, as Isaiah proclaims his message, even people who appear to be expendable and worthless are to be restored and cared for. Am I to do this? And there is the dimly burning wick. This must be like the oil lamp that is sputtering. Meant to give off light, it offers only a flickering flame and much smoke. But according to Isaiah, lamps like that which are not fully functional, not able to do what they were meant to do, will be carefully trimmed and re-supplied rather than being snuffed out. "Yes," I bet Jesus thought, this is the God whom I have sensed as My Father, the God who is loving and patient and gentle in all God's ways. "A bruised reed He will not break, and a dimly burning wick He will not quench." Is this God's call on My life?
If it is at least partially true that these powerful words were formative for Jesus' self-understanding, words which sent Him to His baptism to identify with people whom these images represent, let's come just a bit closer to them. Consider the bruised reed. I imagine whole acres of them growing up on either side of a river. I can see animals as they scurry for prey thrashing through the reeds, trampling many of them down. BROKEN REEDS SUGGEST CASUALTIES THAT OWE THEIR DIFFICULTIES TO SOME BLOW FROM WITHOUT. Many suffer in life through no fault of their own. We all know people who are victims of birth defects, victims of some accident on land, sea, or air, victims of some disastrous downturn in financial fortune, victims of a drastic loss of health, victims of sub-prime lenders. All such received some blow or blows that caused them to tumble from the orders of life, whether of marriage, or employment, or health, or family, or faith. These are the bruised reeds. They were just standing there when something hit them and down they went.
Life in the kingdom which Jesus would soon preach determines our attitude toward such. Here in America, however much we talk about democracy, we are in large measure a meritocracy. There is still a pervasive feeling in the land that only those who can contribute are worthy of support, concern, and interest. Those who become unemployed know only too well how quickly even friends can change.
Here is a major clue to what the church Jesus would establish is all about. Church is a place where people are treasured and valued not because of their vocational productivity but because God has called them his own and invested them with God's worth. I always feel uncomfortable in receiving new members by letter of transfer. The term itself is cold. It suggests a movement of FREIGHT rather than a movement of PEOPLE. Here's what a letter of transfer really means. "I cared and was cared for in my church in Minnesota. I wish now to care and be cared for here! "A bruised reed He will not break."
The final image. "A dimly burning wick He will not quench." If the wick is beginning to age and needs to be trimmed or repaired or, if the oil supply is low, there will be replenishment. Isaiah, and I think Jesus reading Isaiah, saw PEOPLE WHO ARE CASUALTIES BECAUSE OF SOME INNER FAILURE. There are many such in our society. However much they inveigh against the injustices of our society, which are many, the essential problem is inside. They suffer from depleted stores of hope, love, purpose, self-confidence, and faith.
What I catch from this ancient promise is that God does not condemn our little. He does not mock us because the flame is not pure and bright and steady. God is there rather to trim and treat that wick and to re-supply the oil, anxious that we be fulfilled and not destroyed. If the truth were known, God deals with us more graciously than we are prone to deal with ourselves!
For some reason I've been giving much thought in recent weeks to this matter of depletion and supply. As I advance into what we call a senior citizen, I have come to revise my definition of the heroic. Heroes are not those in the Herald Sun on page two under the caption, "People in the news." Those folks of stage and screen in jail for a day or those folks from rock groups that jump, swoon, sway and groan with orgies on stage. The real heroes of our time are those who have taken life's depletions in stride, overcome their loss, kept on moving, and contributed to the best of their ability to the betterment of the communities in which they move. "A dimly burning wick He will not quench."
Our baptism is entrance into the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth who lived, taught, died for and rose for people whom these powerful words depict.
Jesus' baptism was his identification with us who are often are bruised reeds and dimly burning wicks.
And both Isaiah and Jesus saw in God a loving Parent who is marked by tenderness and who is moving society in the direction of a loving, caring, and tender human family.
Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights. "A bruised reed He will not break, and a dimly burning wick He will not quench."