Introduction
This account of the baptism of Jesus contains, for us, perhaps one of the most significant discourses in the New Testament. In this, we hear John, known as the Baptist, almost prepared - in great humility - to refuse baptism to Jesus. "I am not worthy to carry his sandals", he had just told those who had gathered around him, themselves waiting to be baptised.
Then Jesus appeared. Biblical scholars have debated for centuries as to whether or not John had recognised Jesus as the Messiah prior to baptising him. Whilst these scholars continue to argue about this, one thing remains clear: that, even before baptising Jesus, John had recognised in him a profound difference from the sinners who had already flocked there to receive their baptism.
I have often wondered what onlookers may have thought of Jesus prior to his baptism and how they might have treated him. Did Jesus have to queue, along with everyone else, or was he immediately hurried to the front of the line? Did anyone other than John see in him his divinity or notice the profound difference between he and themselves? Of course, the real 'give-away' for anyone present at that time, will have been the point when Jesus was revealed as the Son of God, for with this came the opening of heaven, the descent of the dove onto Jesus, and the voice of God being heard.
We might ask why, in this account, God declares such pleasure in Jesus: is it merely because he has received baptism? Did the Spirit of God - so obviously and individually - descent on all those who had received baptism at the hands of John? No. The truth of God's declaration rests on the fact that this was the very point at which Jesus' public ministry began. No longer was he a private individual; no longer would he remain as relatively anonymous as he had been until this point. From hereon in, all that Jesus did and said was to have profound and immeasurably important significance. God's declaration of pleasure rests purely in the fact that Jesus had - as it were - 'come of age', that he would now begin to do the things that God had sent him to do. In undergoing baptism, Jesus is clearly shown as accepting his destiny and willingly taking-on his public life and ministry.
The Spirit of God then took Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted. But this wasn't just any old wilderness: this was the wilderness of Judea, a location that was commonly regarded as a dwelling-place of daemons. And it was in this Judean wilderness that Jesus had his encounter with that most fearsome of daemons, Satan, wherein the Prince of Darkness tried to tempt Jesus. Here we witness the devil quoting Scripture to Jesus, in his endeavour to get the Lord to kowtow to him. However, the Lord's knowledge of Scripture and his allegiance to God are both substantially greater than the devil could have known.
On Baptism
I have often thought that the tradition of baptising infants is a strange practice. Whilst we declare that "we acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins", we tend to give this sacrament to those who are far too young to have ever sinned - unless, that is, you believe in the doctrine of Original Sin, wherein we all come into the world carrying the transgressions of countless generations before us, right back to the time of Adam and Eve. Surely it makes considerably more sense for baptism to be received when one has reached an 'age of reason', that is, a time in life where one is aware of the concept of sin, and the importance to Christians of receiving absolution from those iniquities?
All of us here will remember the recent baptism of Andy J; some amongst us might consider it strange that Andy had not been baptised as an infant: I do not. If the purpose of baptism is to wash away our sins, then it makes sense - at least to me - to receive this sacrament only when one is old enough and spiritually mature enough to understand it's significance and supreme importance. Coming voluntarily to baptism as an adult will always indicate greater spirituality and spiritual maturity than we could ever expect from any infant.
Frankly, the longer one leaves baptism, the greater numbers of our transgressions are cleansed from us. For some, this might open-up the temptation to live one's entire life without baptism, only undertaking this ritual cleansing immediately before the time of death. As curious as this may sound to modern ears, this was actually common practice until the concept of 'Original Sin' became an accepted doctrine of the Christian faith! Whilst that may well appear ridiculous to those of us whose baptism was decided for us in our infancy, there remains a precedent for this within the Church of Rome which allows any person at all - where a priest is not immediately available - to give baptism to someone whose life is in danger and who has not - or it is believed may not - have already received this sacrament.
As supremely important for the absolution of sins as baptism is, I still do not advocate withholding this sacrament from anyone who has reached, or surpassed, a mature enough age of reason. Whilst we will - due to our human frailty - go on to sin time and time again in life, if we are members of any religious community - such as this church - we receive absolution from our sins whenever we confess them with a contrite heart: indeed, at the start of our services, after having brought our sins before God, we "receive pardon and peace" and our sins are, in the name of the church, of Christ and of God, forgiven.
Temptation
Whenever we sin against God, we have succumbed to a temptation. Jesus, as we heard in the reading, was aware just how inviting such temptation could be: if we deny that Jesus had within him the possibility of giving-in to these temptations, then we also deny his true mortality; in doing this, we would also deny that, "the Word became flesh and dwelt amongst us". We have to acknowledge that Jesus was just as thoroughly human - and therefore just as susceptible to human failure - as he is thoroughly the Son of God Incarnate. It is therefore important that we do not fall into the heresy of believing that Jesus was divinely immune to such temptation: he wasn't.
We see the frailty of Jesus who, having fasted for forty days and nights was then, in his weakened state, visited by Satan. This was the time when Jesus would have been most prone to succumbing to the temptations that the devil brought to him. Try to imagine, if you are able, just how utterly exhausted and close to death you would be if you, too, had actually fasted for that length of time. Yet Jesus was only frail physically, not spiritually. The frailty described did not extend to accepting or acting on any of the suggestions of Satan. Instead, Jesus rebutted all that Satan suggested: here we see the divine, as well as the human, at work in Jesus' human form; here we see Jesus the Son of God, as well as Jesus the carpenter; here we see the possibility, instilled through God, that we are all capable of achieving.
Lent
The fasting undertaken for forty days and nights by Jesus echoes Israel's forty years in the wilderness. Now, as we prepare to enter the period of Easter, beginning today with the forty days of Lent, we are deliberately reminded of the forty day fasts undertaken by Moses, Elijah and, of course, Jesus himself.
As Andy has reminded us, the Western church omits Sundays in its count of Lent, and has done since the Seventh Century. In the early churches, the fast in Lent was rigorously kept, with only one evening meal a day being permitted, with meat, fish, eggs and milky foods (such as cheese and pancakes!) being absolutely forbidden: in Eastern churches, abstinence from these foods is still the rule of Lent. What is especially interesting is that the fast of Lent was originally kept as a preparation for baptism. Now, however, most churches agree that Lent should be observed as a time of penance, of abstaining from festivities, by almsgiving, and by devoting time to prayer and to religious studies.
Conclusion
Perhaps those of us baptised in childhood have been lucky. Now we need not fast for forty days before we are blessed with our baptisms. Whilst, at such a tender age, we might not be aware of the significance of what is happening to us, we are started on the journey that will bring us to fullness, and to unity with God.
We do - all of us - have our times in the wilderness, when we may be tempted against what we know to be right. But as followers of the One whom, although divine, through and in his humanity, showed us how to "reject Satan and all his ways", we need only look to him for our example: Satan offered Jesus - the physical, human, flesh-and-blood man - more than our imaginations could ever conceive, yet still Jesus did not succumb. Whilst we may not have his strength of will, we do at least have all the great gifts that he freely bestows upon us. In our baptisms, in our confessions, in our communion, he continually washes away our sin: in reality, we are constantly being blessed with his great love for us, with its life-giving renewal, forgiveness, and rebaptism every time that we too, say, "worship and serve only the Lord your God".
Amen.
(John Stanway)
This
sermon was first preached in the Metropolitan Community Church of Manchester.
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