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Scripture Readings:  Isaiah 42:1-9; Matthew 3:13-17

            The recording of the baptism of Jesus by John in the Gospels is a benefit to both John’s ministry and Jesus ministry.  Preachers often approach this passage with a defensive, competitive tone.  Jesus didn’t need to be baptized for cleansing of sin, for he is the all righteous son of God.  But if Jesus doesn’t need to confess and repent, there must be more to John’s baptism of Jesus.

            We think Jesus was a disciple of John.  All four gospels mark the beginning of Jesus’ ministry here with his baptism by John.  The Holy Spirit is poured out upon him and from then on, Jesus is on the move.

Why was John significant to Jesus?  John was a strange and threatening character to the rulers in Jerusalem.  Josephus, the Jewish historian says of John, "When others too joined the crowds about him, because they were aroused to the highest degree by his sermons, Herod became alarmed.  Eloquence that had so great an effect on mankind might lead to some form of sedition, for it looked as if they would be guided by John in everything that they did.  Herod decided therefore that it would be much better to strike first and be rid of him before his work led to an uprising."

            Yet it was not only his preaching that was controversial, the act of baptism itself had powerful implications.  Morton Smith says, "By John’s time the only place in the country where Jews could legally offer sacrifices was Jerusalem, and its services were expensive.  To introduce into this situation a new, inexpensive, generally available, divinely authorized rite, effective for the remission of all sins, was John’s great invention."

            John Domonic Crossan argues that what is most politically radical about John is that he baptized people in the Jordan.  They crossed to the desert side of the river, were baptized, and then entered anew into the Promised Land.  You remember that the arrival of the Jews into the Promised Land is marked by their dramatic crossing of the Red Sea. Passing through the waters of the Jordan was a powerful reminder of God’s covenant with Israel.  It was also a reminder of God’s liberation of his people from slavery and Pharaoh, through the waters of the Red Sea.  Could this baptism lead to liberation from Herod – the Pharaoh in Israel?

            We also know from Josephus that John and Jesus were not the only millennial prophets of the era.  Josephus notes that during 44 to 62 C.E., certain prophets invoked the desert and the Jordan to imagine a new conquest of the Promised Land.  Herod Antipas was not entirely paranoid to think that John’s words and actions might be a threat.

            If we skip up to Matthew 11 we find an exchange between Jesus and some of John’s disciples.  John is in prison and he sends some of his followers to ask Jesus if he is the One.  Jesus replies, "Go back and report to John what you hear and see: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor."  Then Jesus talks about John.  "What did you go out to the desert to see, a reed swayed by the wind?  If not, what did you go out to see? A man dressed in fine clothes?  No, those who wear fine clothes are in kings’ palaces.  Then what did you go out to see?  A Prophet?  Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet.  This is the one about whom it is written, ‘I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you.’ I tell you the truth: Among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist; yet he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he."

            Crossan argues that this exchange in which Jesus juxtaposes John with kings in palaces is Jesus’ response to the immediate crisis engendered among his followers by John’s incarceration and execution.  "It reads like an attempt to maintain faith in John’s vision despite John’s own execution."  John is not just another prophet, but the last prophet who is preparing the way for the Messiah.  Crossan says, Jesus, "in submitting himself to John’s baptism, must also have accepted John’s apocalyptic expectation."  Herod has not terminated John’s ministry.  Jesus will not only continue, but fulfill John’s ministry.

            Jesus ministry is a defiant continuation and fulfillment of the ministry of John.  His baptism is an affirmation of that.  In baptism, Jesus affirms God’s liberating covenant with Israel throughout its history, and he comes up through the waters of the Jordan as the new Israel.  The Holy Spirit will not be deterred by the arrest, incarceration or murder of prophets.  God’s faith will continue to flow.

            As water is all around, so this new rite can be done in almost any place.  It is uncontrollable by the powerful.  The cost is repentance for your sins and dedication and piety in the future, but it is not something you have to buy.  The cost may be your life, but you will gain eternal life.

             In summary, Jesus is affirming that we are cleansed in the river of our ancestors’ faith.  Confession of our individual collective and historical sin is important.  But there is grace there too.  History, family and promise are there too.  Affirm your baptism today.  Confess your sins and repent.  Confess the sins of the church too.  Accept forgiveness from God, and dedicate yourself to the continuation of the ministry of the Gospel of Peace.   Let the Holy Spirit drive your life.

            On January 17 the government celebrates Martin Luther King Jr. Day.  The arrest of the minister and KKK leader who planned an attack and murder of three young men in 1964 Mississippi reminds us that repentance for the sin of racism is not yet complete.  Given that this man was called a minister, maybe we should take the time to affirm just who the God is who baptizes us and forgives us.  Maybe we should take the time to acknowledge the Christian faith of Martin Luther King Jr.  Because most of the resources are made with schools in mind, we often forget just how Christ oriented Martin Luther King was

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I will conclude this teaching sermon today by reading the end of King’s sermon on the steps of the Capital of Alabama, in Montgomery, following the march for voters’ rights from Selma.  The marchers had been brutally and violently attacked.  After arriving, King delivers one of his greatest speeches.  This is cheating on my part.  I have not fought the battles nor suffered first hand from the racism of the South in the 1960’s.  I did not write the words I am about to speak.  But certainly it is better to repeat these words than to forget them.  We are cleansed and liberated and called into righteousness by the river of our ancestors’ faith.  It is better to immerse ourselves into the river of our tradition, that we might be called to further repentance, to accept forgiveness and grace, and to further work for the Peace and Justice of God’s Kingdom.  May God choose to use us in powerful ways, and may we be willing and ready to go.

Martin Luther King invokes the image of traveling from slavery in the Promised Land and the eschatological image of God’s Future Kingdom.  He intentionally sounds like John and Jesus and invokes words that connect the Civil Right Movement to our deeply rooted national and religious tradition.

            Martin Luther King, March 25, 1965.  "Eight thousand started the march from Selma Alabama.  There were those who said we would not make it today unless it was over their dead bodies.  All the world today knows we are here.  Today we are standing in front of the powers of the State of Alabama to say that we ain’t gonna let nobody turn us around.

            "We are on the move now.  Yes, we are on the move and no wave of racism can stop us.  The burning of our churches will not deter us.  The bombing of our homes will not dissuade us.  The beating and killing of our clergymen and young people will not divert us.  The release of these known murderers will not discourage us.  We are on the move now.  Like an idea whose time has come, not even the marching of mighty armies can halt us.  We are moving to the land of freedom.

            I know you are asking "How long will it take?"  Somebody is asking "How long will prejudice blind the vision of men?"  I come to say to you this afternoon, however difficult the moment, how ever frustrating the hour, it will not be long.  Because truth crushed to Earth will rise again.  How long?  Not long, because no lie can live forever.  How long, not long, because you shall reap what you sow.  How long, not long, truth forever on the scaffold, wrong forever on the throne.  Yet that scaffold sways the future.  Behind the dim unknown standeth God within the shadow keeping watch upon his own.  How long, not long, because the arch of the moral universe is long but it bends toward justice.  How long, not long, because mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.  He’s trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored.  He’s loosed the fateful lighting from his terrible swift sword.  His truth is marching on.  He has sounded forth the trumpets that shall never call retreat. He is lifting up the hearts of men before his judgment seat.  Oh, be swift my soul to answer him. Be jubilant my feet, our God is marching on.  Glory hawleluya, Glory hawleluya, Glory hawleluya, Glory hawleluya.  His truth is marching on."