Matthew 3:13-17                                              Baptism of the Lord

 Over by the Catholic Church on Hwy 70, Our Lady of the Angels, there’s a towering stand of trees, trees that have been there a while. Those trees are completely different from the trees in my neighborhood. They have seen a few years. I love big trees.
I especially love the old oaks that stand tall with their outreaching arms and the ones with the curved branches, bending low, and still reaching up. I love the banyan trees with the exposed roots. Old trees like old people and old churches have done some time, weathered some storms, endured a few battles, and they’re still standing. Praise the Lord. It’s time to start celebrating things and people that are old, and stop wishing everything to be new and wrinkle free. Away with our disposable society, wanting replacements of every item and plastic surgery for every wrinkle. Let’s celebrate the wisdom wrinkles represent. People with wrinkles have roots. Oh, sure, I know nearly everybody here is a transplant, but if you’re over fifty, you have some roots in time.

 In that towering tree over near the Catholic Church on 70 is a large nest. Because it is an eagles’ nest, it has prevented the Catholics from building a larger sanctuary north of the current structure. There is a pair of eagles in that nest and soon there will be eaglets. Mom and Pop Eagle have some wings. So will their babies, but their babies don’t know how to fly yet. They will learn by watching Mom and Pop and by being persuaded to leave the nest. They’ll use their wings in time. This is just the beginning for them.

 Jesus had his beginnings in Bethlehem. He was born, and he was dedicated to God in the temple on the eighth day with circumcision, the mark of the covenant. Later his parents moved to Egypt to protect him from the danger of King Herod. Chronologically, the next story we have is of Jesus going to the temple at age twelve and challenging the teachers there. Jesus was given roots and wings, protection and freedom. Nurture in the tradition of his family’s faith and then freedom to interpret that faith. None of the birth, infancy, and childhood stories are in all four Gospels.

 But all four Gospels record the baptism of Jesus by John. Hear now the way Matthew tells the story:
 

  ^NRS Matthew 3:13  Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan, to be baptized by him.  ¹⁴ John would have prevented him, saying, "I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?"  ¹⁵ But Jesus answered him, "Let it be so now; for it is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness." Then he consented.  ¹⁶ And when Jesus had been baptized, just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens were opened to him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him.  ¹⁷ And a voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased."
 

 I wonder what Jesus understood about himself prior this moment. What had his parents told him about their experiences around his conception and birth? Did he understand his calling at all? He understood himself as a son of the covenant given to Abraham and Sarah. He had been nurtured in the Jewish faith.

 But like all young adults, there came a time when he had to forge his own direction, to take the roots he was given in faith and fly with wings like the eagle. Jesus went to his cousin John to be baptized, and in that moment, the heavens opened and he saw the Spirit of God coming down like a dove, and the voice from heaven said to all who were there, “This is my son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”

 It is easy to see why some Protestants, most notably the Baptists, practice a
believer’s baptism. After all, we are to be like Jesus. He was baptized as an adult.
But he was also circumcised in the faith as a baby. He, like many of you, was marked by parents who were detemined to acknowledge the prevenience of God’s grace – the fact that God loved him and called him from the beginning.

 Those churches like Presbyterians that practice infant baptism are emphasizing the fact that God’s love is there from the beginning. Infant and childhood baptism, where children are brought on the wings of parents’ faith and that of a nurturing congregation should lead to profession of faith and the confirmation of baptism in the teen years or young adulthood. Baptism, when done at an early age presumes that the child will be nurtured in faith and will be given an opportunity to claim his or her own faith at a later age of accountability.

 Infant baptism without a serious approach to confirmation through Christian nurture is cheap grace. So the imperative for all of us in this congregation is to see that our children are nurtured in faith. The children of this church are your children. That’s why I wish there were more of you helping in the nursery, teaching by deed the love of Christ to our little people.

 There’s a great one-day event to learn more about passing the faith to your children and grandchildren on February 9^th. I hope you’ll go with me. I’m counting on at least a dozen from Peace.

 Believers’ baptism without serious recognition of God’s Spirit working in our lives, even before we believe, can lead to a works righteousness attitude. Baptism is more than my faith, my acceptance of Jesus. Baptism is a celebration of what God has done for us in Jesus Christ.  Baptism does not need to be repeated, but only reaffirmed in confirmation and then renewed again and again, but baptism in any Christian church that believes in the name of the Holy Trinity is received as a valid baptism by Presbyterians.

 Jonas Salk was born in NYC, to Russian-Jewish immigrants who had no formal education but were determined to see their children succeed. Salk worked hard to develop the polio vaccination and never secured a patent because he was so determined to make sure everyone had access to the vaccine, he did not care if he made any money. Salk said, “Good parents give their children roots and wings. Roots to know where home is, wings to fly away and exercise what's been taught them.”

 Let’s apply that to baptism.  Roots.  Knowing who you are as God’s beloved. Jesus had not even started his ministry when God announced from the heavens, “This is my son, the beloved, with whom I am well pleased.” As God’s people, we need to know that God is well-pleased with us before we make any response of faithfulness. God is looking at you today and saying, “I love you. You are my special child.” The waters of baptism are for your roots of faith as you grow in the rich soil of a community of other Christians.

 Wings. God, your loving parent, wants you to take the flight of faithful living, not to sit dormant in the nest of God’s love. The Spirit, the dove of baptism, is the wind that gives lift to your flight of faithful living.

 Baptism gives all children of God, young and old alike, roots and wings. Roots to know that we belong to a Christian faith with depth and breadth, with history and tradition. Roots grounded in God’s love. Wings giving the freedom to soar, with wings like the eagles, to go places in faith, to transcend the troubles of life, to gain the perspective of high above the trees. Traveling according to the Spirit. No matter where we go, God’s Spirit is the wind, the breath of air that lifts us and supports us.

 There’s an old slave story from St John’s Island about a mean slave master who with his slave driver, was especially cruel, whipping his slaves all day long. One day a woman who had just had a baby was being whipped for stopping work to nurse her whimpering child. Later she got whipped again for collapsing in the heat, trying to work while holding her infant. As she was being whipped, the older slave beside her, whispered, “Kubilah.” And then, without hesitation, she took wings and flew above the field, never to be whipped again. And all the slaves in the field went with her, like eagles soaring high above their troubles. “Kubilah” means fly away. Jesus taught us that we shall all fly away one day, and that even now we can fly away in the knowledge of God’s great love which carries us from birth through life and even through death itself.