Luke 3:15-17, 21-22

As the people were filled with expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah, John answered all of them by saying, "I baptize you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire." Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, "You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased."

My youngest son, Kyle, came home from his church preschool with a take-home lesson featuring an image of Jesus standing waist-deep in the river, with John standing beside him, and a dove descending from the sky. He proudly informed me that he learned Jesus was “bath-tized in the river.”

Bath-tism – a cleansing soak floating in the gentle waves flowing water. I think that’s an outstanding theological insight for a soon-to-be-four-year-old.

Today we celebrate the baptism, or bath-tism, of Jesus. As you heard in the Gospel message, Jesus came to the Jordan River to be baptized by his cousin, John. And he wasn’t alone. There was a crowd there as well, and the gospel says that every person there was baptized.

But baptized for what? To get their ticket punched so that they could go to heaven? To make sure everyone knew they were full members of the best team?

No, the way Luke tells the story, people were were being baptized by John as a response to his call for the people to repent.

The word repent in the original Greek is more accurately translated, “change your mind.” The crowd wanted to change their mind, change their approach to life, change how they interacted with others, change how they thought of themselves. And so they came to be washed in the flowing water. They came to have the dirt and grime of their lives washed away. They came because they needed help in order to change their mind. They desired a catalyst to ignite a new faith, a new direction, and a new way of life.

It’s up for debate as to why Jesus placed himself among those who were baptized. The orthodox belief is that Jesus was without sin and therefore had nothing for which to repent. Some suggest that Jesus was baptized as an act of solidarity with the people. Or perhaps he found it a fitting way to begin his ministry? Or perhaps he too desired a changed mind?

We may not know why he desired baptism, but we certainly know what happened afterwards:
“As he was praying, the Holy Spirit, like a dove descending, rested on Jesus. And along with the Spirit came a voice saying, ‘You are my son, chosen and marked by my love. You are the pride of my life.’”

In the baptism of Jesus, we “see” and “hear” the good news that God loves Jesus and claims him as God’s own son. We are witnesses to Jesus’ ordination (literally his being “set aside for ministry”). It is this act of solidarity with the fellow baptized, his submission to his cousin John, his ritualistic cleansing, that sets him on the path of ministry where he will heal the sick, challenge injustice, befriend sinners, embrace suffering, upset the earthly order, triumph over death, and change the world forever.

That’s one hell of a bath!

It is why we celebrate the sacrament of baptism in the church two-thousand years later. For in baptism we “see” and “hear” the good news…

that we have infinite value and worth;
that God desires to be the source and goal of our passion;
that God will always seek to draw us back into relationship with God and each other and forgive us when we stray;
and that God will be with us all the days of our lives.

Baptism’s importance is not as a one-and-done event or a “ticket to heaven;” but rather as a once-and-forever event enabling us to repent – to change our mind. Baptism is a plunge into cleansing water that clings to us daily in the midst of our struggles and joys.

By taking the time to commemorate and remember our baptisms, we commemorate and remember that someone, out of their love for us us, brought us to the font to be washed with God’s love and forgiveness in the presence of a family of faith who pledge their support and prayer. We are not alone. God is with us. Our brothers and sisters in Christ are with us. The cleansing water of baptism is with us. And we, too, are the pride of God’s life.

For those of us who have been baptized, our calling to live as children of God is not over.

The day the words of forgiveness joined with the waters of baptism and washed over our bodies is the day God ordained us–set us aside for ministry that will give glory to God by healing the sick, challenging injustice, befriending sinners, embracing suffering, upsetting the earthly order, triumphing over death, and changing the world forever.

The day of our baptism has come and gone; God’s promise of salvation was poured over your head and spoken into your ears; God claimed you as a child and told you that you are loved; and yet, there is still work to be done: planting and sowing, healing and comforting, loving and serving, caring and forgiving.

We are called to be open to new ideas and experiences and people so that we may be led to daily repentance – daily changing our minds – with the full knowledge that we are not alone nor will we ever be alone again.

If you haven’t been bath-tized, if you want yourself or your child to be blessed with the eternal covenant of baptism, to be washed in the waters of forgiveness, to change direction and be set aside for ministry in Christ’s name, the invitation is always open.

Ifyou have already been baptized, in order to remind ourselves and one another of God’s baptismal promise and our baptismal vows, I would like you to utilize the baptismal font at the front of the altar. As you come forward later in the service for communion, dip your finger into the water and make the sign of the cross on your forehead and remind yourself, “You are God’s beloved child, called and sent to make a difference in the world.”

Luke 2:8-14

In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid; for see—I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger." And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors!"

One of my most vivid Christmas memories was the Christmas morning when I was eight years old. I awoke that morning as excited as a boy could ever hope to be. I ran down the hallway to the living room and found Santa had delivered quite a load of presents under the tree. It wasn’t really the number of presents that I was most excited about; rather, it was the anticipation that one of those boxes had the one thing I wanted above all–the only thing I asked Santa for that year – a Sega Genesis video game system with the Sonic the Hedgehog game.

My grandparents were joining us for the gift opening festivities. They loved watching me open presents; grateful that their grandson could receive gifts that neither of them could have imagined for themselves, given their upbringing in rural impoverished Eastern Kentucky and having one blue-collar income.

I started with the biggest presents because I knew the Sega Genesis had to be in one of those wrapped boxes. Of course, you know what is often in the larger boxes, right? Sweaters, jeans, and the gifts that are things an eight-year-old needs but isn’t particularly exited to open on Christmas morning. The kind of gift that gets an acknowledging glance, but then is casually tossed over the shoulder in order to find something more exciting.

A few minutes into the gift-opening extravaganza, I suddenly realized that I had opened all the boxes that could potentially contain my precious gift. I reluctantly opened the final gifts in the small boxes. They contained candy, action figures, card games, and baseball card packs; but no Sega Genesis.

I sat beside my tower of unwrapped presents, surrounded by a sea of torn wrapping paper, and did something I’ll never forget – I cried. No, that sounds a little to sympathetic and innocent. I mean, I threw a tantrum. I ran to my room and slammed the door. I laid on my bed and kept trying to figure out why Santa hadn’t brought me the one thing I wanted for Christmas. Had I been bad? Or worse yet, were the rumors about Santa true, after all?

Not two minutes later there was a knock on my door. The sound of my grandpa’s gentle voice passed through the door, saying, “I have something for you.” I opened the door and there was my grandfather, holding a beautifully-wrapped present – a BIG, beautifully-wrapped present.

I took it, tore it open, and read those glorious words: Sega Genesis.

My grandpa explained that he heard I wanted one special thing for Christmas, and that he and my grandma wanted to be the ones to get it for me. Since their arrival at our home the night before, the gift had been hidden in the trunk of their car. They were waiting until I had opened all the other gifts before giving me my special gift.

I give all my family members a ton of credit for even allowing me to receive that gift after how I acted. If I find either of my kids crying over not getting a particular toy all the while sitting beside a mountain of other toys, I’d probably through all the gifts into the trash! Heck, I’m surprised I didn’t end up in the trash!

I tell this story not just so you know I can be selfish and spoiled; but because it’s a story about how life’s blessings often come from the places and people we least expect – like a special gift delivered not from Santa’s sleigh but from the trunk of Grandpa’s rusty Dodge Aries.

And as we are gathered here on Christmas Eve, we remember that the Christmas story is, above all, a story about how life’s blessings often come from the places and people we least expect.

Perhaps you’ll find this illustration helpful in recognizing the unlikely and unexpected nature of the Christmas story:

Let’s break it down a bit.
Animals – smelly, filthy, untamed;
Foreigners – unwelcome, threatening, mysterious;
Straw – not the ideal bedding for a baby;
Shepherds – smelly, filthy, unwelcome…just like the animals they care for;
The “Nobodies” are Mary and Joseph. Mary–an unwed, pregnant, teenage girl still reeling from a bewildering encounter with an angel nine months earlier; and Joseph–a man engaged to a pregnant teenage girl.

Why would God choose to be born into a situation as messy, smelly, chaotic, imperfect, and scandalous as this?

Why? Because that’s exactly the kind of situation where grace happens. The same God of the Creation story, who bringing order into chaos and darkness in order to create life, is at it again in the Christmas story, bringing order into chaos and darkness in order to create life.

In telling the story of Jesus’ birth year after year we are reminded of God’s presence in the midst of our brokenness and imperfection; God’s presence in our stink and squalor.

Each of us here tonight is, to some degree, weighed down by fear, anxiety, apprehension, and doubt. Rather than be ashamed of these feelings; Christmas provides the opportunity to hold these out as imperfect places for God to be revealed to us. These feelings are not barriers barring God’s presence. Rather, they are simply more crazy characters to add to the nativity scene of our life, right next to the smelly donkey and shepherds. God shows up in our fear. God shows up in our anxiety. God shows up in our apprehension. God shows up in our doubt.

The birth of God in a stable in Bethlehem is unlikely and unexpected. This story turns our understanding of value, privilege, and victory on its head and replaces it with the truth that victory is innocence, power is in caring for others, and faith is uncertain hope-filled trust.

So on this Christmas Eve, a night of eager anticipation; prepare to unwrap the present you’ve been hoping for. But don’t be surprised to find the gift isn’t in a meticulously-wrapped box under a beautifully-decorated tree. Instead, God’s precious gift of life comes from the most unexpected places, whether the smelly stable of Bethlehem, in the midst of your dark emotions you’d prefer to ignore, or delivered personally from someone who loves you very much.

Amen.

"Bath-tism of Jesus" – Luke 3:15-17, 21-22

Grandpa's Gift – Luke 2:8-14