"This Is My Son"

By Rev. Billy D. Strayhorn

(Luke 3:15-17, 21-22)

Luke 3:15-17

[15] As the people were filled with expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah, [16] John answered all of them by saying, "I baptize you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. [17] His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire."

Luke 3:21-22

[21] Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened, [22] and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, "You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased."

(NRSV)

INTRODUCTION:

Have you ever noticed how weird "time" is in the Bible? Biblical time is sort of like time in the movies. You know what I'm talking about don't you? You've seen it in the action movies. There's twenty seconds left before the bomb that will destroy all of Europe and send the Earth in a completely different orbital pattern explodes. But it takes twenty minutes to tell the story. Sometimes Biblical time is like Soap Opera time. In soap operas mothers can carry their baby for 11 or 12 months before delivering. You see the new born for a week or two. Then three months later the child is entering school and a year later they've grown to become a rebellious teenager. Of course Mom and Dad and all the other characters haven't aged a bit.

Well, sometimes it appears that Biblical time is like that. Last week was Epiphany Sunday. We read about the wise men from the east who came and knelt and worshipped baby Jesus, the new born King of the Jews. Today we look up and Jesus is 30 years old. Except for a trip to Jerusalem, we don't know much about his life as a child, his teen years or his young adult life.

Maybe the most significant thing about his early life is that there really wasn't anything more significant about it than the fact that he had a stable family and loving parents who gave him a normal upbringing. They helped him grow in his knowledge and faith. And they helped him experience a normal life. His parents helped to prepare him for the life to come. A life, that from this day forward, would be everything but normal.

I. HIS STORY:

A. But then nothing about him was ever really normal. Let's look at His story. He began life with a checkered past. His birth scandalized the community of Nazareth. He was conceived and born out of wedlock. His mother gave birth to him before she even married the man to whom she was engaged. And this guy wasn't even his real father. It was a time of shame and anguish for the families. I don't think it was that hard for this young couple to leave Nazareth and go to Bethlehem. At least there, they could leave some of the stares and whispers behind.

But it didn't end there. You see, all the hoopla caused by his birth made the local King mad. And as a result, he and his family had to flee. They became refugees and exiles. They were homeless people. His stepfather may have even held up a sign for passersby to see: "Will work for food."

Once they found out it was safe to return, he didn't grow up in splendor. His stepfather had a good job but he was a blue collar worker. Joe worked in one of the trades. He worked long hours and he was his own boss but it meant his adopted son couldn't go to the best schools. The family couldn't afford it. But then that was pretty normal for the times. Only a few of the select and wealthy got to attend the fine schools. Despite his beginnings, Jesus had a pretty normal upbringing and lead a pretty normal life.

B. And that's what makes this day and the events of this day so important. Jesus came to the Jordan River living a normal life. He heard the call of his cousin, John the Baptizer. And like so many of his neighbors and friends he came to be baptized. He came to physically and symbolically claim a new direction for his life.

And God, his father, ratified that direction; and ratified His acceptance of Jesus. "the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, 'You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.'"

It was absolutely clear that Jesus was accepted. That Jesus belonged. And that God was well pleased.

II. HER STORY:

A. I told you His story. Now let me tell you her story.

In October of 1990, at "The Gathering" which was an international United Methodist event, held in Ft. Worth. I had the opportunity to participate in a class led by Dr. David Kerr. He told a story about one Sunday morning having an infant baptism as part of the regular morning service. We do that quite often here. That morning he also chose to preach about baptism and how we are accepted by God's Grace and by God's unconditional love. At the close of the message he gave an invitation. No sooner had the invitation been spoken than a fourteen year old girl who had given birth to a baby boy just a couple of weeks before, jumped up, grabbed her baby, ran forward and said, "I want my baby baptized!" Dr. Kerr paused in the story, looked at this group of preachers sitting there and said, "I know some of you shudder that this daughter of sin brought her child of mistake and out of control hormones forward for baptism that day. But she wanted that child accepted."

He told us that he did baptize that baby. You see, that young girl and even her baby were alienated, excluded, cut off. She knew what her sin was. She had lived with it swelling within her for nine long months. And she would live with it for the rest of her life. When she came forward that morning, though it wasn't given in the proper ecclesiastical terms, she was making her confession of sin and a deep felt profession of faith.

And when she cried out, "I want my baby baptized!" what she was really saying was "I want my baby accepted! I want my baby included! I want to belong! And I want my baby to belong!"

And isn't that what the Church is all about? Isn't that what Baptism is all about? Isn't that part of the reason Christ died on the cross, so that we wouldn't have to be separated from God any longer? That young girl, maybe for the first time in her life, really felt the love and acceptance of God both for her and her son.

B. That church boldly and lovingly reached out in love. Through a little water and a little faith, that young girl and her son with the checkered past knew without a doubt that they belonged. And I think that we could say that God was well pleased.

III. MY STORY:

That's His story, Her story and now here's My Story.

I'll never forget my baptism. It wasn't one of those knock you off of your feet experiences. I didn't feel transported to the seventh level of heaven. I didn't speak in tongues. There was no manifestation of the Holy Spirit. And the heavens didn't open. But for this kid with the checkered past, it was a life changing event. You see, this kid's father was a drunk who left when he less than a year old and never came back. This kid grew up in a home that was both normal and abnormal. It was a typical blue collar home. And for the most part this kid lived a normal blue collar life.

Except at times my stepfather made it very clear that I wasn't his real son. And I didn't really fit in. The words "I Love You" were rarely if ever spoken. I was the unwanted stepson who just wanted to be loved, accepted and respected. There was a hole in my life that I kept trying to fill. Consequently, I did a lot of dangerous and foolish things trying to gain that acceptance from others.

Luckily God intervened with the love of a beautiful woman whose quiet faith and faithfulness had a big impact upon my life. Through her love and acceptance of me and her gentle witness, I became curious about this guy Jesus. I began reading the Bible. I even started going to Church.

And then one day it struck me that the message the preacher was preaching wasn't just for all those other people there. It was for me. It was real. And it made it difference. The Church, the people, the preacher, Mary and God had all conspired to bring me to this point. I stood up the day I was baptized and knew that I belonged. I was a child of God. It didn't make any difference what others might think. That little bit of water on my head marked me and sealed me as one of God's children. And no one could ever take that from me.

IV. OUR STORY:

A. And that's OUR story. You see Baptism is about belonging. Oh, it's about a whole lot more stuff, too. It's about repentance and forgiveness and grace. But it's basically about belonging; belonging to God; belonging to God through faith in Christ.

One of the greatest blessings of life is knowing who you are and to whom you belong. Jesus had that blessing of belonging to God confirmed at his baptism. Through baptism, God confers that same blessing upon us. God reveals to us our true identity. Through our baptism we become the sons and daughters of God. Through our baptism God tells us that we belong not only to God but also to the people of God. We are not alone. We belong.

During every baptism we use some form of these words. "Through baptism [we] are incorporated by the Holy Spirit into God's new creation and made to share in Christ's royal priesthood. We are all one in Christ Jesus. With joy and thanksgiving we [are all] welcomed as members of the family of Christ." (1)

B. We come into this family by professing our faith in Christ and getting rid of the junk that keeps us separated from God.

Tucking his six-year-old son into bed one night, Dad tapped his son's chest and asked, "Do you know what you have in there?"

The boy looked puzzled and responded, "My guts?"

"No, you have a piece of God," his father replied.

After a brief silence the boy responded, "God is in my guts?"

"No," said his Dad, "we have a piece of God inside of us; it is God's gift to each of us." The boy smiled, tapped his Dad's chest, and asked whether his Dad had a piece of God in his guts. They laughed and together they began to ask the same question about the rest of the family.

"Does Mommy have a piece of God?"

"Yes," they answered, laughing.

"Does brother have a piece of God?" "Yes."

Dad knew that the boy attended a day care center with a little girl named Mary who was so spoiled she made the people around her miserable. He said, "You know, even Mary has a piece of God."

The boy looked stunned, and then he said emphatically, "No, not Mary." When his father insisted the boy said, "Daddy, I have been with her more than you. She doesn't have a piece of God."

Dad told his son that God never missed anyone; everyone has a piece of God inside. The boy pondered that for a while, and then said, "Well, her piece must be all covered up with junk!" (2)

It's that junk that separates us from God. And it's that junk that Christ came to remove. It's why he was baptized. Not because he needed to remove any junk from his life, but so that he could show us, all of us with checkered pasts and junk filled hearts, what is normal. What is expected. And! And, what the outcome will be.

It's for this reason that Jesus went to the cross. To show us just how much God loves us and how much God wants us to belong to family of God.

CONCLUSION:

You have been created by a loving God. You are a designer original. There are no plain label or generic brands in God's eyes. Each of you is a unique creation. You have been created in the Image of God, therefore, you each have a famous maker label.

It doesn't matter if you have a checkered past. It doesn't matter if you've never felt good enough to belong. There's no time like the present. God wants you to belong. God invites you to belong. All it takes is a little faith and a little water. You are a child of God. Affirm that. And let God confirm that.

1. pp. 98-99, United Methodist Book of Worship

2. 2. Mark Victor Hansen & Barbara Nichols with Patty Hansen, OUT OF THE BLUE: DELIGHT COMES INTO OUR LIVES (New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1996), 30-32.