RevMVHuntsermons - St. David's Episcopal Church

Sunday January 11, 2009 First Sunday of Epiphany
The Rev. Victoria Hunt

In the Name of the One, who was baptized in the Jordan River, the Beloved, the Son of God.
AMEN.
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The swift passage of time sometimes leaves us disoriented. Doesn't it seem that only yesterday, we were hanging up wreaths and garlands, setting candles in our windows, and preparing to worsh1p the newborn King, lying in a manger? Just moments ago, it would seem, on the Feast of the Epiphany, we watched the Wise Women arrive at Bethlehem to present to the Child their gifts of gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.   In joy we sang with the angels, "Glory to God in the highest heaven!" Now we find ourselves standing just beyond the threshold of Epiphany.

We encounter Jesus today as an adult. To become our Savior and our King, Jesus had to grow up! To redeem us, Jesus had to submit himself to the baptism of repentance preached by John. He had to leave
the village of Nazareth in which he had grown from child to young adult and embrace a new world where he would confront the purposes of God for his life. He had to leave the occupation to which he had given his
talents and strength and embrace a higher calling. He had to leave his family - his parents, sisters and brothers - and take his place in the larger family of God.
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This third season of the Christian Year, Epiphany, focuses upon three manifestations of Jesus - the child in the manger, the young man by the river of his baptism, and the adult, celebrating with his mother at the wedding feast in Cana of Galilee. Today we observe the second of these epiphanies - remembering the Baptism of our Lord, the moment when Jesus recognized himself and was seen by others as the beloved Son of God. This major event in his life is recorded in the beginning chapters of all three Synoptic Gospels - Matthew, Mark, and Luke and there is an allusion to it in the Fourth Gospel of John.

Two significant questions arise almost immediately. First, why did Jesus submit to baptism? And second, what does Jesus' baptism have to do with our baptism? After all, we are imperfect beings in great need of cleansing, but Jesus was without sin, the eternal Son of God and the Christ. Perhaps Jesus went to John, because he sensed that he was about to receive a new direction for his life. The turn-about of repentance would set him on a journey with a radically different orientation from the one that had directed his footsteps up to this point. As Jesus emerged from the waters, the dove of the Holy Spirit descended upon him, anointing him for this new role of Messiah, and a voice from heaven was heard by all, proclaiming, "You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased."

What significance does this have for you and me? When we follow Jesus into the water of the font, we are adopted by God as Jesus' brothers and sisters. We are made the children of God, and, uniting ourselves to him in baptism, we are christened, that is, we are marked as Christ's own for ever.

On January 6, 2001, Marshall and I celebrated the Feast of the Epiphany in Tarpon Springs, Florida, a Greek community north of Clearwater. The Festival was a vivid portrayal of the meaning inherent in Jesus' baptism. We gathered with dear friends in a crowd of hundreds of people around a small lagoon in a park, festooned with blue and white Greek flags. As we watched, a long procession of young boys, all wearing identical white shirts, wound its way from the nearby Cathedral down the hill to the lagoon, followed by a procession of young girls, all dressed in white. Then, with great fanfare of trumpets and drums, the Greek Orthodox Bishop and Priests arrived at the water's edge, clad in vestments of gold brocade. From other parts of the lake, small, brightly colored boats were launched into the water and formed a semi-circle facing the throng of youths and clergy on the shore. We were too far away to hear the spoken word, but we could clearly see what was happening. Suddenly, with a great gasp from the onlookers, a white dove was released from a cage. It flew high up into the bright sunlight and landed in a tall tree overlooking the scene. Next, the Bishop was given a large white cross, which he ceremoniously threw into the water, not far from shore. At a given signal, all the boys - perhaps twenty-five in number - flung themselves into the water and swam out to the
waiting boats, two or three climbing aboard each one. Another signal was eventually given, and the boys jumped from the boats back into the water and began diving down to find the cross. After much wild
splashing and increasing excitement from the crowds on shore, one boy finally climbed out and triumphantly presented the dripping wet cross to the Bishop! Up to that time, I had associated Epiphany only with
camels and kings. This Festival Day at Tarpon Springs gave me a whole new vision of the manifestation of Christ, finding the cross of his mission in the waters of Baptism!

Our practice of infant baptism with a small shell filled with water is far less dramatic than Christ's immersion in the River Jordan, or the boys' immersion in Tarpon Springs! Yet we all take the essential part of Jesus' baptismal journey. Like the Savior we follow, you and I accept our vocation as Christians at Baptism and are lifted up out of the water, figuratively speaking, from death to new life, to be sent out into God's world to carry his mission to the ends of the earth. It is the moment when we accept (or our Sponsors in Baptism accept on our behalf) our unique place in a pilgrimage of love and service.

    At his baptism, Jesus inaugurated his new ministry. We do likewise. After his baptism, Jesus discovered that God had blessed him abundantly with the power of the Holy Spirit and given him gifts for the fulfillment of his ministry. We are similarly blessed and equipped by God for the work we are given to do on God's behalf.

It is customary to celebrate a Baptism on this Day, or, if one is not scheduled, we can still take this opportunity to renew our Baptismal Vows and reaffirm our commitment to Christ's ministry. We shall do so after the sermon in place of saying the Nicene Creed.

We are all members of Christ's Body and ministers of God by virtue of our baptism. To each of us comes the dove of the Holy Spirit and the voice of God saying to us, "You are my beloved child and I encourage you to exercise fully our shared ministry. Go in peace to love and serve me."   AMEN.

Sermon delivered by the Rev. Victoria Wells Hunt at St. David's Church,
in South Yarmouth, Massachusetts on Sunday, January 11, 2009.