January 8, 2006 David Martin

SERMON: "Dyed in the Spirit”

Scripture Readings : Genesis 1:1-5, Acts 19:1-7; Mark 1:4-11

Spirit of truth and Spirit of love,
open our hearts and minds and lives to the ways that you seek to work in us
and to change us through our baptisms. Amen.

News flash:
The more I thought about my sermon title, “Washed in the Spirit,”
the more I decided that metaphor wasn’t quite right.
“Dyed in the Spirit” or “Colored in the Spirit” would be better.
So the new title is “Dyed in the Spirit”
or “Colored in the Spirit.”
Take your pick.

No angels. No shepherds. No stable.
No wise men. No star.
Not a word about Mary and Joseph.
Mark’s story of Jesus begins at the Jordan River with John the Baptist:
“In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee
and was baptized by John in the Jordan .”

We make the birth of Christ a very important and special event,
but only two books in the Bible tell the Christmas story --
Matthew and Luke.
In contrast, there are at least six books
that talk about Jesus’ baptism --
Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, and Romans.
In the scriptures,
it would seem that Jesus’ baptism
is a more important event than his birth.
Perhaps that should be a clue for us.
Perhaps we should not only give greater emphasis to Jesus’ baptism
but also our own baptisms.

John the baptizer appeared in the desert
on the east bank of the Jordan River
proclaiming a new ritual for a deep human need:
the ritual of baptism for those who needed to be cleansed on the inside and to start over,
to turn around and to be forgiven of their sins.
I call the need to be cleansed on the inside and to start over
a deep human need
because I see all the self-help books and magazines in the stores and the ads on TV
about exercising or dieting
or strengthening relationships or changing attitudes or finding a new career.

John the Baptist was bit unconventional—
but those who controlled the standards
and the power and the wealth of the time—
drove off many hurting people
who were seeking help,
and John was there for them.
We might imagine John the Baptist was a wild fanatic and rather off-putting,
but for those people who needed to be cleansed on the inside and to start over,
John was like Dr. Phil, clear-eyed, practical, forceful when necessary,
but usually gentle,
intent on releasing people from their burdens,
washing away their inner dirt and grime,
and pointing them to a warmer and brighter and closer relationship with God and with one another. This is what John’s baptism of repentance
for the forgiveness of sins
was and is all about:
publicly inviting God
to wash our hearts and forgive us.
We don’t wash ourselves in baptism,
but God washes us and makes us clean.

In those days Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee
to be baptized by John.
Jesus?
Jesus submitting to a cleansing baptism
of repentance for the forgiveness of sins?
The one who was without sin?
But this is where Jesus would spend his earthly life--in the midst of sinners--
eating with them, talking with them, healing them, calling them, forgiving them.
Jesus entered the waters that they entered;
Jesus allowed himself to sink into the depths in which they sank;
and by the power of God,
Jesus rose up out of the water,
having experienced baptism as we experience it and yet something more.

For as Jesus tore open the surface of the water,
he saw the heavens torn apart,
not just opened, but torn apart.
If God simply opened the heavens,
then they may well close again.
But because the Spirit surge of God
breached the barrier between heaven and earth and tore it open,
this rupture cannot be closed—
for even at Jesus’ death,
the curtain of the temple
that separated the sacred from the profane
was torn in two,
from top to bottom.
The protecting barriers were gone
and God was on the loose in the world, uncontrolled, provoking awe,
and yet like a dove,
that symbol of gentleness and peace,
of hope and restoration.

Jesus was baptized by this Spirit,
whose voice of assurance spoke from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved,
and with you I am well-pleased.”

This Spirit was the very presence of God.
This was the same Spirit that was present in creation, when God created the world.
In the book of Genesis, it says,
“The Spirit of God was hovering above the waters.”
The Spirit was brooding above the waters,
ready to create life in those waters.
Then, that same creative Spirit that was present in the creation story came on the prophets.
The prophets were filled with God’s Spirit and they spoke with boldness and authority.
Then, that same Spirit came on Jesus at his baptism, this powerful Spirit of God.

As a consequence of having the Spirit of God inside of him,
Jesus had unusual power.
By the power and Spirit of God in him,
he turned water into wine,
controlled the wind and waves of the sea,
cured the sick, healed the deaf and blind.
This same Spirit gave Jesus unusual gentleness. Isaiah 42 that says,
“A burning candle he will not snuff out.
A bent reed he will not break.”
When Jesus came to earth and was filled with the Holy Spirit,
there was a spirit of gentleness to him
in all relationships.
Jesus would not snuff out any person
who was like a burning candle
or snap a person who was like a bent reed or twig. Jesus had the spirit of gentleness upon him because the Spirit of God was within him.

As a consequence being baptized with the Spirit of God,
Jesus brought release and freedom and good news to many,
over and over touching earth with heaven,
and broken bodies, hearts, and spirits
with the love of God—
never seeking to hold on to
a spiritual and emotional high
just for himself.

Unlike John’s baptism,
Jesus’ baptism by the Spirit of God
was not just a washing away of sin.
It brought the power of the Holy Spirit
and a special relationship with God -
a relationship available to us
regardless of our sin or merit,
age or social, economic, ethnic or racial status.

In our baptism,
God’s love descends on us,
“just as I am, without one plea,”
as the old gospel song puts it.

I am reminded of the opening sequence
of the movie “Forrest Gump.”
In that sequence,
the first thing we see is a feather dislodging
from a dove flying overhead.
The feather wafts along,
almost alighting on several “acceptable” people, finally settling on Forrest, sitting on the bench, waiting for the bus
in his simple way.

In our baptism,
the Spirit descends on us and fills us,
the same Spirit found in the creation,
the same Spirit found in the prophets,
the same Spirit who filled Jesus
and called him “beloved.”

“Baptize” comes from a Greek word
meaning “to dip, steep, dye, color.”
Just as an ounce of dye colors a gallon of water,
so baptism colors or “dyes” our whole lives,
imperfect though we remain.
Baptism colors each person
as God’s “beloved child.”
Sin is real,
but God’s grace and acceptance are more real. They color our whole life.
It is not because we have value
that we are loved
but because we are loved
that we have value.

Yet in the same way that honeybees
have a special ability to see the ultraviolet light reflected by flower blossoms
that we cannot see,
we need the story of Jesus’ baptism
to help us see our own baptismal coloring,
or we are as good as blind
to the Spiritual gifts of baptism,
and we turn away
from what we have been given.

Sad to say that for some
baptism is just a sentimental checklist item
for young children.
Others see baptism simply as a church membership coupon
good for cashing in at weddings and funerals:
I call it hatch, match, and dispatch theology.

More than once I’ve been asked,
“Can we get our baby done?”
as if baptism is a little more than
a sacred protective ritual
or the necessary prelude to a party
celebrating the child’s birth.

I’ve often been disturbed by our country’s willingness to see the Middle East
as our private battleground
without stopping to consider
that baptized Christians can be found throughout the Middle East
let alone people all who bear the image of God.
What if we adopted the Mennonite Central Committee’s Modest Proposal for Peace:
“Let the Christians of the world agree
that they will not kill each other.”
Would we let our baptismal identities
color our relationships and commitments?

Even in the church, this church,
when faced with disagreement’
we sometimes have difficulty seeing the color of our baptism,
the color that unites us,
and reminds us that we are all God’s beloved children.

In the movie “The Lion King” there is a scene
where the budding Lion King Simba
is called back to his true colors, his core identity.
Rafiki, the baboon, takes Simba to a lagoon
to show him his father.
Simba sees the reflection of himself in the waters,
but says that it isn’t his father,
it’s just a reflection of himself.
Rafiki says “Look Harder, he lives in you.”
When Simba looks again
he hears the voice of his father saying:
”Simba, you have forgotten who you are,
you are more than you have become,
Remember who you are...”

Remember who you are:
look for the color of God’s love
given to you in your baptism by the Holy Spirit.
When we see the dye of God’s love in the fabric of our lives,
we are empowered to face our daily challenges with love and with gentleness
challenges in our friendships and marriages,
challenges with our children,
challenges with our parent’s aging or their deaths, challenges with your own aging and mortality,
challenges with all the injustices
in the world that surround us,
When the we and the people around us
see the color of baptism in ourselves,
there is power for mission,
spiritual power and spiritual gentleness,
that sends us into the world
so that others too might know the love of God:
the love that, as the popular song has it,
“lifts us up where we belong.” Amen.

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