I Don't Understand

It's been quiet on here lately.  After Christmas Eve, I was absolutely exhausted then I went on vacation and then I got sick.  So hopefully in the next few days I'll be able to catch up a bit.   So first here is my first written sermon of 2011.  


And as of my trend lately, this was not the sermon that I gave.  In fact it was greatly edited in the delivery that other than a few paragraphs here and there very little is identical.  


The sermon is based on the gospel lesson for yesterday, Matthew 3:13-18, Jesus' baptism which is appropriate as yesterday was "Baptism of our Lord Sunday."  

Enjoy!

John doesn’t get it.  He doesn’t understand why Jesus would be coming to him for baptism.  Shouldn’t John be baptized by Jesus instead of the other way around? 

John has been preaching that his baptism is of water and repentance and one who is more powerful than him is coming who will baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire.  So why would the more powerful one need a baptism of water and repentance, especially when he is in no need to repent since he is God.  And why wouldn’t the more powerful one not baptize the less powerful one with Holy Spirit and with fire?

I have to agree with John here, I don’t get it either.  I don’t understand why Jesus came to John in order to be baptized.  I don’t understand why Jesus didn’t baptize John.  But then again there are many times that I don’t understand Jesus.  And I’m not alone.

Throughout the gospels, Jesus is questioned about what he is doing.  Why is he teaching and healing on the Sabbath?  Why is he eating with tax collectors and prostitutes?  Why is he touching lepers?  Why is he teaching against the Jewish leaders?  Why? 

And Jesus is still being asked why.  Why do good things happen to bad people and bad things happen to good people?  Why am I put in the situation that I’m put into?  Why can’t there just be peace on earth?  Why did I get sick?  Why did my loved one die?  Why didn’t I win the powerball? 

But all these why questions, both in scripture and today, are because we are like John, not understanding what Jesus is asking of us and what Jesus is promising to us. 

Jesus asked John to baptize him, to bless him, to commission him at the start of his ministry.  For even John was not able to baptize others by himself.  He was only able to baptize because God was with him.  John’s baptisms of water and repentance came from God. But when you don’t understand this, when you think it is just John who is acting and not God, then it is easy to ask why Jesus would come to John for baptism.  But in coming to John, Jesus’ ministry is being blessed both by human hands and by God’s, as a voice from heaven calls out “this is my son, the beloved, with whom I am well pleased.” 

And in John doing as Jesus asks, in John baptizing Jesus, they would together fulfill all righteousness. 

But what does it mean to fulfill all righteousness.  Well that is a good why question to ask Jesus:  Why is the bible so difficult to understand?  For no one really knows exactly what Matthew meant when he wrote that phrase. 

In other parts of Matthew, Joseph is called righteous when he wants to quietly end his relationship with Mary.  In the beatitudes we are told that those who hunger and thirst for righteousness are blessed and will be filled.  And the kingdom of heaven belong to those who are persecuted because of righteousness.  We are told that righteousness is an internal quality and an external practice. 

So maybe fulfilling all righteousness means obeying God both in our actions and in our thoughts. 

But John’s thoughts were not yet there, not yet able to understand Jesus when he did as God commanded, and yet Jesus told him that together they fulfilled all righteousness.

And yet fulfilling all righteousness does not mean meeting all the needs of this world.  Jesus did not heal every sick person. Jesus allowed expensive oil to be poured on him instead of it being sold to help the poor. 

And we are called to feed the hungry, clothe the naked and welcome the stranger.  But we are not called single handily to feed all the hungry in this world, to make sure that every child has clothes on his back and shoes on her feet, and make sure that every person feels welcome.  

Instead in our baptism with Christ, we are called to do what God requires, to do what matters in this world, which is more than meeting needs.  We are called to be faithful to God, to feed those who we are able to feed, clothe those who we are able to clothe, welcome those who come into our midst.  We don’t always know what exactly God is asking us to do, but yet through prayer, study and conversation we are called to discern what righteousness we are called to fulfill in this world.  We don’t always know what exactly God is asking us to do, but once we discern what God wants of us now, God asks us to follow those commands in both our thoughts and actions.  We don’t always know what exactly God is asking us to do, which is why our ministry in this world, both as an individual and a congregation, might change over time.  

In our baptism by Christ with the Holy Spirit and with fire we are called to fulfill all righteousness even if we don’t quite understand what that is.