In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. Mark 1:9
Did you hear the one about the pastor who went for a hike? He met a hungry and angry bear. The bear chased him, and the pastor ran for his life. Finally the pastor tripped on a log and there was no chance for escape. As he lay on the forest floor he prayed that the this would be a loving Christian bear. Then he pastor heard a voice, it was low and rumbly it was the voice of the bear that was kneeling with its front paws together in prayer it said, “Dear God, thank you for this food you have provided for me. Amen.” Ha ha ha. The moral of the story is, you may call yourself a Christan, but if you devour others around you, you might think about what it means to be a Christian.
About five thousand people violently stormed and vandalized the United States Capitol this past Wednesday January 6, 2021. Many of them Christian flags, crosses, t-shirts, etc. It is said that the last time this happened was during the British Invasion in which they went so far as to burn the capitol. That was 1814. I am so very deeply sorry and saddened by what has happened. It was wrong for people to storm the Capitol building, vandalize, and wreak havoc. Vandalism and looting are not God’s will for any group of people.
Not long after the time of Jesus, the Jewish temple was destroyed for the second time. There was a Jewish revolt against Roman authority. The revolt failed, and the Romans burned down the Jewish temple. About 700 years before the Romans burned the temple, it was the Babylonians. The strategy of such an action is to demoralize a perceived enemy, to strike fear in their hearts, so that they may be overtaken.
Then again, sometimes destructive behavior is done not because there is any animosity toward the victim, but rather because the perpetrator just wants something and they are willing to crush anyone who is in their path to get what they want. Just the other day one of our members was robbed at gunpoint in our parking lot. The criminal didn’t see our church as it’s enemy, but as a means to get what they want, money. What is troubling is that they would use a weapon, like a gun, to get what they want. Thankfully our member is okay, and the police have been helping us to secure our campus.
What I can’t help thinking about, however, is how the very same member who was robbed had just finished building the beautiful cross tower we have been enjoying. How could it be that as soon as a faithful follower of Jesus completes an act of faith and devotion they suffer. It makes me think of the old adage, “No good deed goes unpunished.”
Jesus himself spent his whole life loving, healing, teaching, and caring for others. What happened to him? He was crucified! Doing good and being good are not guarantees that you will not suffer. If could even be the opposite. Doing good in some twisted way arouses persecution. So what can you do?
You can evangelize. As Christians we are called by Jesus to love our enemies. This includes people who have hurt us, and people who have done hurtful things. Loving someone is not enabling them. Love has boundaries. Love is not about being foolish or unwise so that others may victimize you. No. Loving an enemy includes justice. It includes a reckoning of what has been done that was wrong. It includes atoning for wrongs made. But as Christians we are to see beyond retribution and work toward the evangelization of our enemies. We are to love our enemies.
The apostle Paul was a genius at evangelism. We read about his evangelistic missionary journey in the book of Acts chapter nineteen. He finds some people who say the believe in Jesus, and are baptized, but they know nothing of the Holy Spirit. We further discover that they had been evangelized first by Apollos. Now there was a bit of rivalry between Apollos and Paul. There were what we call perhaps frenemies. But Paul doesn’t talk bad about Apollos. He doesn’t criticize these new converts for having been baptized “wrong.” He asks them to tell him about their baptism and they do. It is discovered that they were baptized in John’s baptism, which likewise is not criticized or condemned. Rather they are invited to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. They are, and they receive the Holy Spirit, the very breath of God.
Sometimes Paul has been compared to a shrewd entrepreneur. What I admire most about entrepreneurs is that they don’t see enemies, they see opportunities. Why would you hurt or destroy an enemy, when you could befriend them, form a relationship with them that is mutually beneficial? That is what evangelism is all about. It’s about converting an enemy into a friend. It doesn’t mean that you will ike everything about them, but that deep down there are common interests for which we will do better together. We all do better, when we all do better.
If you think that evangelizing would be difficult for you to do, don’t worry, because it was probably hard for Jesus to do too. If you think that you are already on in years and settled into your occupation, and that the last thing that you will do with your life is make disciples of Jesus Christ, you are in good company. Because today when we remember the Baptism of our Lord Jesus Christ we witness first hand the radical transformation of none other than Jesus Christ himself. Before he was baptized his life’s road was headed toward the very respectable job of being a carpenter! He was raised by Joseph and at the age of 30 in the ancient world, it would be like a person being the age of 50 in our world today. By that age you are not a new start in your career, you are settled in. You have put in the time to learn your trade. And yet Jesus, who was without sin, gets in the same waters of Jordan River with other sinners and is baptized by John his second cousin once removed. Jesus may not have had any sins to wash away but he did repent. He radically changed his life to become an itinerant preacher, healer, and teacher of God’s children both Jewish and Gentile. The Holy Spirit descended down from heaven in the form of dove and this same Spirit animated by God’s words, “This is my Son the Beloved” spurs Jesus to radically reform and repent his life to begin his public ministry.
The same Holy Spirit today falls on each and every person who hears the Word of God to stir up your hearts to go and evangelize and do public ministry. Listen. A lot of those 5,000 people who stormed the capitol had Christian flags and banners, and crosses. I suppose some of them thought they were doing God’s will. I am not one to judge whether they are truly Christians or not. That is between them and God. But I will say this. That was a terrible evangelism strategy. Violence and coercion never made a disciple of Jesus. Love is the only way to win a heart for God.
Martin Luther King Junior said that darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, but only love can do that. We must be in the business of God’s entrepreneurial evangelism converting enemies with love to fellow disciples of Christ. We can do this!
We can do this because out of chaos God creates new life. From the crucifixion came resurrection. From the earth being a formless void, the Spirit of God created the cosmos. Today we read in Genesis chapter one verse one that in the beginning it was a mess. It was chaos. Everything was darkness and reality all around was a formless void. If you have never done so before I would invite you today to consider how the words of creation in Genesis so closely compare to the birth of child.
A baby that is still in the womb lives in darkness and a formless void. All around the child is water. Genesis says that in the darkness the Spirit of God hovered over the waters. Before a mother gives birth her embryonic sac is ruptured and so now air can enter and hover over what was once just water. Then when the blessed mother gives birth for the frist time in the life the child sees light. And God said, “Let there be light!” The child realizes at that moment that there is light, and that it is good. Creation unfolds before the child. When Jesus was born 2000 years ago, he came into the world born of Mary and when he saw the light he saw creation unfold before him just like he must have seen it eons before at the dawn of all creation. It was a proleptic fold of time upon itself unfolding anew with the presence of God woven into the physical fabric of creation.
Each time a child of God is baptized they are immersed into these same waters of creation. They enter into the water that ran down the Jordan and held Jesus. In your baptism you enter into the same water that broke to bore Jesus into the world. It is the same water that poured from Jesus side when the lanced his lung on the cross. And by his wounds you are healed. By his death you are resurrected. God is delivering us God’s precious creation unto new life. Everything old is passing away, and God says, “Behold I am making all things new!”
God calls down from Heaven, God’s own voice chasing after the Holy Spirit in flight like a dove and God voice speaks to each of you sayings, “You are my beloved! With you I am well pleased!”
You are my beloved! With you I am well pleased! Amen.
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