The owner of a beloved neighborhood bar announced he was getting out of the business, and he would sell the bar to the person who gave the best pitch.
There was the guy who wanted to re-open the bar and call is Oktoberfest—complete with Oompa music and half price sauerkraut.
Another pitch came from a woman who wanted to re-open as Lena’s, they would only serve Aquavit and Pickled Herring.
Then finally, the winning pitch was to re-open the bar as Resolutions Gym… which would be a Gym for the first two weeks of each New Year, then become a bar for the rest of the year.
New Year’s resolutions often only stick so long, right? Human willpower, and our overestimation of our own abilities and attentions…
they are real hurdles.
And there is a theological truth to that as well…
we often get things twisted up and think of our Baptism as a resolution
—not unlike those made by the customers of Resolution Gym
—but Baptism is always a Revelation.
Baptism is not a Resolution, but a Revelation
Prayer
Baptism is not a Resolution, but a Revelation
After spending 3 chapters linking John the Baptist to Jesus, Luke switches gears and disconnects them.
It is only here in the 3rd chapter that we can be pretty darn sure that the Gospel is about Jesus, not John…
that John is not The One who the people ought to wait for, but Jesus is.
Now, if the Gospel was a Resolution, instead of a Revelation
—John would have made a better Messiah…
If Baptism was a sort of New Year’s Resolution of the Soul
—John the Baptist would be our man.
John’s Baptism, after all, is one of contrition
—water naming repentance and restitution,
a sort of digging up of the soil of the soul,
so that a seed might be planted.
A holy emptying,
a sacred preparation.
“Right your wrongs!”
Reach the baseline of morality!
Repent, repair, restrain yourself…
share and be fair.”
Resolutions…
But John affirms
—the one who is coming,
is a farmer,
is a seed scatterer,
fire and Spirit winnowing and gathering
—He will make you fruitful!
Jesus’ baptism is not a clearing up job,
not only a righting of wrongs
—not a hasty last second decision before you kiss your special someone on New Years…
Not a Resolution.
Remember that part of Fantasia
—the Sorcerer’s Apprentice, where Mikey Mouse makes the brooms clean for him…
The Brooms do it themselves.
We sometimes think that’s what Baptism is like
—stalks of wheat or corn marching themselves to the granary…
Themselves being the operative word…
but that’s John’s Baptism
—that’s a Resolution.
Or… do you think Isaiah’s people made it a whole generation kidnapped in Babylon on their own—themselves?
Or did the Earliest Church, who we read about in Acts, choose to make room for Samaritans,
without the Holy Spirit’s intervention?
No—that would be resolving to be more inclusive,
or resolving to white knuckle it through Babylon.
Resolving to be fruitful.
Now, that image of wheat stalks marching themselves to fruitfulness,
grains gathering themselves into the granary
is ridiculous—Fantastical…
but imagine if we had to make ourselves fruitful,
if we had to redeem ourselves!
When we do that…
when we confuse the Baptism of John and our own baptism
—we end up like those out of control brooms…
we resolve ourselves into insolvency…
pouring water again and again until we’re dealing with a flood of our own making, instead of the saving waters of Baptism.
-I’m going to eat less and exercise more—Until February.
-I’m going to lay off sweets—But what about the Holidays?
-I’m going to read more books, get more sleep… until the cats keep me up or I want to watch a movie on Netflix…
-That person who really annoys me… I’m going to will myself to like them… until they borrow my tools without asking.
I’m going to save myself… God have mercy!
I think of a man I met,
whose Pastor told him that he wouldn’t need to go to Narcotics Anonymous any more,
if he got Baptized
—because then he would always make right choices…
that man relapsed and it destroyed his marriage,
and his faith…
Because our Baptism isn’t some sort of magical resolution making us perfect…
it’s a Revelation!
After all that hype by John the Baptist,
Jesus’ baptism can seem almost too straightforward
—prayer and Spirit present,
God the Father revealing who Jesus is
You are—my Beloved Son
—I am so pleased! —with you.
Revealing who Jesus is
—as Luke will again if we were to continue to read
—he gives Jesus’ genealogy,
going all the way back, to God
—God’s Child.
Dear ones,
this is true of our Baptism as well.
The words of Isaiah to the people who God is freeing from exile, are true for us as well:
You are precious, honored,
God loves you!
Dear siblings
—trust Jesus
—God’s pleasing beloved son
—Jesus into whom we are Baptized.
Be confident that you are joined to him,
clothed with mercy and forgiveness,
delivered, claimed, adopted, renewed and given life from the dead!
That is what is revealed in Baptism.
What of resolutions? You might ask.
What of change?
What about that guy who believed that Baptism failed him?
How does a Revelation of Jesus’ identity
—one we are graciously sewn into
—help him?
Help people
to be more patient, kind,
resistant to addiction,
people desperate to be better?
Simply put, any theory of change and transformation,
any new resolution,
any movement from despair to hope,
has to go through love,
has to be grounded in kinship and acceptance.
You can do the hard work of including Samaritans,
because you’re already loved
and you get to witness and celebrate them being loved too!
You can get through Babylon,
because you know you are God’s people
—precious and loved.
The desire to be a better person…
is not helped by being to-do-ed to death
No, people change,
because they have a stable loving place to begin their journey.
The challenges of sobriety,
are easier to navigate if you know you’re already accepted by God…
The long slog of getting through some stuff,
is sweeter and safer
when you can make the sign of your baptism… the sign of the cross
—you belong to God!
Baptism is not a Resolution, but a Revelation. Amen.
