Trinity Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)

Sermons 

Title: "Signed, Sealed, Called"

Text: Matthew 3:13-17

about why Jesus was baptized.

After all, he’s the messiah,

why would he need baptism?

That was pretty much what John was asking him, after all.

The gospels make it pretty clear that,

as far as they are concerned,

Jesus is the son of God

from the moment of his conception, if not before,

so it’s not the dunking in the river and the dove descending

that determined who he was.

Others prefer to focus on the how of Jesus’ baptism.

They point out that he was baptized by going into the water,

and being dunked totally under the water –

notice, however, that our text doesn’t actually say that –

so therefore, some would conclude

that that’s how we should all be baptized.

None of this sprinkling stuff.

For some, how Jesus got baptized is important.

But for today I’d like for us

to lay aside those questions of why and how,

and focus instead on when.

Mark’s gospel begins with Jesus’ baptism.

In John, after that wonderful "In the beginning was the Word" section,

the telling of the story of Jesus’ life begins with his baptism.

Matthew and Luke have the stories of his birth;

Luke has that one strange episode about Jesus as a boy,

staying behind in the Temple when the family leaves for home …

but for them, too, the story of Jesus as an adult

begins with his baptism.

So the important thing is this:

it is with Jesus’ baptism in the Jordan

that his ministry begins.

His baptism is the event

that kicks off all the rest of it.

It is here at the Jordan

that God gives a sign for all to see:

"This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased."

This is the one Isaiah spoke of,

"Behold, my servant, whom I uphold,

my chosen, in whom my soul delights.

I have put my Spirit upon him,

he will bring forth justice to the nations,"

and so on.

Now, at the Jordan,

at approximately age 30,

is when Jesus receives the sign from God, and the seal of God,

to begin his ministry.

We don’t know very much about Jesus before this time.

From his childhood up until this moment,

we’re just not certain what he was up to.

Everyone pretty much guesses that he was a carpenter,

since he was the oldest son of a carpenter,

makes sense he would follow Joseph’s trade …

And if the tradition is true, that Joseph was many years older than Mary,

it may be that Jesus was already having to provide for his family

at a fairly young age.

But that’s all speculation.

What we do know is this:

when he is baptized, everything changes.

Now he is set apart by God for a special calling.

Now his ministry begins.

Now he is who he was truly created to be.

His baptism is the turning point.

And although most of us probably don’t think of it in quite the same way,

our baptism is the same.

Not that we were dunked in the Jordan,

but that our baptism changes everything.

It is probably true that most of us here

were probably baptized as infants or as young children,

and we may not even remember the event …

much less did we go out the next day

and start preaching to the multitudes!

Nevertheless, in our baptism,

we receive God’s sign; we are sealed by God;

we are called to be in God’s service

and given gifts and talents to do the job which we are called to do.

And this is true

even if we are tiny babies when we’re baptized.

We are called and set apart by God,

even though it may be years before

we recognize and begin to live out that calling.

One of my all-time favorite stories about baptism

comes from Methodist pastor William Willimon,

who is – or was? – the chaplain at Duke University.

I may have told you this before,

but it bears repeating.

Willimon describes a phone call he got one day,

in his office at the chapel, from an irate father.

"It’s all your fault!" the man shouts at him, through the phone.

"What’s my fault?" Willimon asks, puzzled.

"My daughter! I’m holding you personally responsible!"

Willimon is even more puzzled. "What about your daughter?"

"We sent her to Duke

so she could get a good education

and get into medical school.

She was going to be the third generation

of doctors in this family.

And her grades are great;

she could get in any med school she wanted.

But now she’s got some dang-fool notion

that she’s going to Haiti instead.

As a missionary.

And it’s all your fault."

"How is that my fault?" Willimon asks, intrigued.

"You’re the preacher!

She likes you.

She started listening to your sermons,

and working in the chapel,

and now … this!

I’m holding you personally responsible."

"Hold on just a minute," says the reverend.

"That’s where you lost me.

Didn’t you have her baptized?"

"Well, of course we did.

But we never intended it to do any damage."

"Ah, but you see, she was messed up before we got her.

Baptized, Sunday-schooled, called …

Don’t blame this one on me.

You were the ones who started it.

You should have thought about what you were doing

when you had her baptized."

"But we just wanted her to be a good person.

We never wanted anything like this."

"I’m sorry, Mr. Jones.

You’re really talking to the wrong person.

The damage was done

long before she ever set foot in our chapel.

Congratulations, Mr. Jones;

you just helped God make a missionary."

Admittedly, that whole exchange

is somewhat tongue-in-cheek.

But it reminds us to take baptism seriously

in a way that many of us forget to do.

This is not just a happy occasion

on which we get to show off a cute baby.

It is a time in which we say,

okay, God, we accept the responsibility

to raise and teach and nurture this child;

but today we affirm that he or she belongs to you.

Do with him as you will.

Let me hasten to add

that there are a variety of callings

to which God might invite us.

Often, we think only of people like ministers and missionaries and monks

as having a "calling,"

and the rest of us as having a "job" or a "career."

But the truth is,

you can be called to be a doctor;

you can be called to be a homemaker,

or a parent,

or a teacher,

or a writer,

or an engineer,

or almost anything.

It doesn’t have to be a noticeably holy occupation!

God gives us differing gifts,

and calls us to discover and use the talents we are given,

not to spend our time wishing that our talents were different somehow.

Now, we also need to be truthful about the fact that

not every job is a calling.

I doubt, for example,

that God calls anyone

to be a migrant farmworker,

working sixteen-hour days at a subminimum wage,

and living in a tarpaper shack without water or electricity.

So that, people who are forced by lack of education,

or not having proper citizenship papers,

or whatever,

into jobs that are degrading or demeaning,

will need to exercise their calling in other ways:

by being faithful parents, perhaps;

or by helping others,

or by calling on those of us who are more fortunate

to take them and their needs seriously.

And those of us who have had the advantage

of work that truly is a calling from God

and a good use of our talents and our skill,

need to be sure we don’t assume

that everyone’s work is their true calling.

Most religions have an unfortunate tendency

to take the existing social order

and assume that God created it and blessed it just as it is.

Wrong.

But having said that,

let me reiterate that it is in our baptism,

that God’s seal is placed upon us …

And it is in our baptism

that we are called to God’s service.

To be sure, some of us may spend a number of years

learning to talk, and to walk, and to read,

and a whole lot of other good things,

before we have a chance to discern our calling

and respond to it …

But it is in this moment of truth that we claim –

and/or, our parents claim for us –

that we belong to God.

Not to our parents,

not to ourselves,

not to our spouse, our children, our employer,

or even Uncle Sam,

though we may have loyalties and responsibilities to all of those.

We belong to God.

In baptism, we allow God to claim us,

and we affirm our willingness to respond to that claim,

wherever it calls us.

As we baptize Andre today,

may we all reflect on our baptisms,

and the places to which God has called us,

and those to which God may yet be calling.

Amen.

© 2005 Julie Adkins (e-mail: DrJAdkins@trinitypresdallas.org)