Isaiah 43:1-7 Psalm 29 Acts 8:14-17 Luke 3:15-17, 21-22
Introduction
Depending on your church tradition, some may remember your baptism, but many I suspect others were very young when it took place. Whenever and where ever it was, it is a sacrament about identity; we are called into the community of faith and into a relationship with God through Jesus Christ our Lord. We become God’s beloved child. In January, in the Methodist tradition, many churches will engage with the covenant service, which is a reminder of our identity in Christ. It is a service in which we remind ourselves once more of God’s grace to us, and make our own response to that love. So we begin with the sense of identity outlined by the prophet Isaiah:
Called out of Exile
Isaiah’s prophecy is concerned with the Babylonian Exile; a period spanning some 60 years from the first deportation in 597 BCE to the return to Jerusalem in 539 BCE. Because of the reference to Cyrus in this part of the book of Isaiah, we can be sure that the writer wrote during the last stage of the exile, so at least two generations may have been born in exile.
We usually read bite-sized pieces of scripture, but the message in this part of Isaiah really begins at chapter 40 with the well-known verses:
Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry after her that she has served her term, that her penalty is paid, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins. Isaiah 40:1-2
Isaiah’s poetic vision is cosmic in its scope, exhorting the exiles to raise their sights beyond mere survival in a foreign place and catch a glimpse of God’s kingdom. It has a resonance for us today as we continue in pandemic, and perhaps need that extra sense of comfort to catch a glimpse of God’s kingdom around us.
But now thus says the Lord,
he who created you, O Jacob,
he who formed you, O Israel:
Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by name, you are mine.
2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;
when you walk through fire you shall not be burned,
and the flame shall not consume you.
3 For I am the Lord your God,
the Holy One of Israel, your Saviour.
The God who creates and sustains the world, advised the ancient Israelites not to be afraid. And the same God coming alongside us in Jesus continues to offer constant assurance to all who are called to God’s service. Fear not, for the Lord is redeemer, rescuer, saviour and healer of the people. As Frances Jane van Alstyne (otherwise known as Fanny Crosby) put it: Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine. Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine ….
And in the second part of the message of Isaiah an invitation is given to God’s people to respond to the grace of God, by revealing God’s glory by being a light to the nations. In other words, proclaiming in word and action the works of God. An ideal text for a covenant service!
Timely arrival
According to Luke, Jesus came as a culmination of the piety of Israel to fulfil all the prophecies concerning him. So Jesus came into human history, not in splendid isolation but right at the heart of the urgent longings and contingencies of the faithful people of God. Yet although, Jesus fulfils all the requirements of the Law, Luke leaves his hearers in no doubt that the messiah is coming in ways that are disruptive, uncomfortable and completely unexpected:
‘The powerful One will baptise not with an outward symbol of water, but with the fire of the Holy Spirit’
Whilst this points forward to the Day of Pentecost, let’s remain with the opening chapters of Luke’s gospel for one moment (chapters 1-3), because it is worth considering the importance to this Gospel writer of the Holy Spirit:
The Holy Spirit is mentioned in both halves of our Gospel reading. In the first half, John the Baptist says that the one who is coming ‘will baptize you in the Holy Spirit and fire” (v. 16). In the second half, Jesus is baptized, “and the Holy Spirit descended in a bodily form as a dove on him” (v. 22). Curiously, Luke then inserts a separating story concerning John’s arrest by Herod; a character not well-liked by Luke. But I don’t want to dwell too long on the difficulties that may present (if John is in prison who is baptising?)
Luke wants his hearers and readers to concentrate on the Holy Spirit, and so references to the Holy Spirit can be found throughout Luke-Acts (both written by Luke). So here in the opening chapters of Luke, we have discovered several mentions of the Holy Spirit over the past few weeks:
- The announcement of John’s birth; the angel tells Zechariah that John “will be filled with the Holy Spirit” (1:15).
- The announcement of Jesus’ birth; the angel tells Mary, “The Holy Spirit will come on you” (1:35).
- Elizabeth, ‘filled with the Holy Spirit,’ sings Mary’s praises (1:41-45).
- Simeon ‘came in the Spirit’ to see and give thanks for Jesus in the temple (2:27-32).
But then we arrive at chapter 3, to discover the disruptive power of the Holy Spirit at work in the world as a judgment separating as it were, wheat from chaff – not an easy message to hear.
Or as Tom Wright so eloquently says,
The crowds were wondering if John was the Messiah, the King of the Jews; no, says John, but he is coming. But there is already a king of the Jews, and he does not care for rival kingdom-announcements. John’s warning of the fire that will burn up the chaff is partly directed at that supreme piece of chaff, Herod Antipas, a shadow no doubt of his malevolent old father, but still capable of brutal over-reacting, not least to disturbing prophets.
Tom Wright, Twelve Months of Sundays, (London: SPCK, 2012) year C p 18
And then, following the fiery words from John, when Jesus has been baptised and is praying, the Spirit descends in the gentle form of a dove. We are back to that gentle, confirming image of the Spirit who invites each one into covenantal relationship with God.
Right from the very outset, this messiah offers submission to God as one of the most defining signs of his ministry; he identifies with Israel’s hopes and desires to make a new beginning with God. Jesus truly is ‘God with us’.
And this is a moment in which we too are invited to share in an act of covenant before God and in the presence of one another, a reminder of the new beginning each of us has been called to make with God
Worship at home 