OT Lesson : Isaiah 42.1-9
NT Lesson : Acts 10.34-43
Gospel : Matthew 3.13-end
To-day, as the Epiphany season unfolds, we come to the Baptism of Christ, the moment when Jesus’ own identity and mission was revealed. When the four evangelists wrote down what they thought people needed to know about Jesus, they all included an account of his baptism, though with some subtle differences. Luke, for example, is the only one to mention that the revelation of Jesus’ true identity came to him while he was praying. Matthew, whose account we have just heard, is the only one to record John’s reluctance to baptise Jesus, and Jesus’ slightly strange response: ‘Let it be so now, for it is proper for us in this way to fulfil all righteousness.’ As we shall see, as we follow Matthew’s gospel this year, he loves to draw attention to the ways in which Jesus fulfils the Old Testament prophecies about the Messiah. Prophecy is the declaration of God’s will, and righteousness is the doing of God’s will. From the very beginning of Jesus’ public ministry, Matthew wants us to see in Jesus’ baptism a sign of his complete and proper fulfilment of Messianic prophecy in utter obedience to God’s will.
In the terms of the declaration itself – This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased (Matt 3.17) – there are echoes of the passage we read from Isaiah: Here is my Servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight. I have bestowed my Spirit upon him (Isaiah 42.1-2). In Mark and Luke, who put the declaration into the 2nd person – You are my Son, the Beloved – there is a further echo of Psalm 2 (v7) – You are my son; to-day I have begotten you. Psalm 2 is one of the so-called ‘royal’ psalms. It speaks of God as a king dispensing judgment in the exercise of his mighty power, sweeping aside those who may have conspired against him.
So we have in these few words of commissioning a rich tapestry of references to Christ as Servant, Christ as Son of God, Christ as King and Judge. And when the Spirit of God descends on Jesus to strengthen and empower him in all these roles, it does so with the same almighty power that hovered over creation, driving him into the wilderness to come to terms with the implications of such a dramatic revelation.
Cornelius, in our New Testament reading, was a Gentile, a centurion in the Italian cohort of the Roman army of occupation. He was a good man who – like so many people to-day – had a sense of God without quite knowing what that meant. In Luke’s account of the development of the early church, Cornelius helps Peter to make the ground-breaking discovery that the gospel to which he has already born such powerful witness among his own Jewish people is offered on the same terms to the Gentiles. As he prays, Peter dreams of a sheet full of all kinds of birds and animals which he is invited to kill and eat. When he protests that as a good Jew he cannot eat such food, he is shown the same dream again, three times, and senses that God is trying to tell him something. It is at this moment that messengers come from Cornelius, who has been prompted by a vision to send for Peter to tell his story. When he arrives, Peter has no hesitation in entering Cornelius’ house, explaining that God has taught him – by that dream – not to regard anyone as profane or unclean. God’s love reaches out to us all, whatever our race or religion, our colour or our sexuality.
Jesus, Cornelius, Peter … three very different people, but all three laid themselves open by prayer and worship to the activity of the Holy Spirit. Jesus did not need John’s baptism of cleansing for the forgiveness of sins. But by his baptism he identified himself utterly not just with the pilgrims who had flocked to John in the desert, but with all humanity in our weakness and sinfulness and in our search for God. As Jesus laid himself open to God in prayer, the Spirit descended on him with great power to strengthen him for the tasks which lay ahead, driving him into the wilderness to reflect more fully on the nature of the mission to which he was called.
Cornelius was at prayer when he saw that vision of an angel telling him to send messengers to Joppa to find Peter and bring him back to Caesarea. Peter had been praying when the messengers from Cornelius arrived. And when he gets to Cornelius’ house, Cornelius welcomes him with the words: So now, all of us are here in the presence of God to listen to all that the Lord has commanded you to say.
Great things happen when we open our hearts to God in prayer. Jesus was moved to embark on his public ministry, to set out as healer and teacher on the road that would lead to the cross of Calvary. Cornelius was moved to get in touch with Peter, as you or I might be moved to visit someone or to make a phone call. Peter was moved to change a tenet of his faith, a firmly held conviction. Under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, to whose promptings we open ourselves in prayer and worship, each one of them was moved to do something which God could use to carry forward his plan to reach out in love to all his children.
Like Cornelius and his household, we are here this morning in the presence of God to open our hearts to whatever the Spirit has to say to us. Like Peter we are witnesses. We know how our prayers have been answered. We know how we have been guided through life. We know how the love of God has reached out to us, both to share our joys, and to comfort us in times of great distress. It’s a risky business. It may change the course of our lives our lives. But if we open our hearts to God in prayer, as Jesus and Peter and Cornelius all did, we shall, like them, be shown what to do or say, and like them we shall also be given the strength to do it.