January 11, At-Home Liturgy with Josh Dunahoo (Matt. 3:13-17)

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Transcript

Epiphany – Baptism of our Lord

Hello, friends. Last week talked about the Church Calendar—how it’s a spiritual formation practice. The Church has coordinated the days of the year into the story of Jesus so we can have anchor points to bring us daily back to Christ. And we are in the season of Epiphany. At Epiphany, we affirm that God’s glory is made known in Jesus. Glory—that weighty, beautiful, luminescent power. 

This isn’t just theological musing—it is the very real presence of God that opens our eyes and enlightens us. We see differently because the glory of God is shedding light and for the first time, we can see where we are standing… 

Today’s passage is the Baptism of Jesus and we are meant to ask, “What is it about God’s glory that we see in Jesus’ baptism?”

PASSAGE - Matt. 3:13-17

 Two movements stand out from this passage as I’m meditating on God’s glory—what Jesus shows us about God’s power. 

The first, is the Beloved Son part. God says of Jesus, “you are my beloved Son, in whom, I am well-pleased.” And there we see God’s hope for humanity—Jesus is God’s hope for us. He is both the Savior who, John says, “takes away the sin of the World.” But he’s also God’s Son and our Brother—God’s hope for us is that we come to life in Jesus, become like Jesus, trust him and learn to be the Beloved ourselves! (pause)

At the beginning of Matthew’s story of Jesus’ baptism—Jesus comes on the scene quietly, humbly. He’s the Prince of Peace and Savior of the world—but he doesn’t come with an army or a herald announcing his arrival… he just got in line with everyone else for baptism. 

And when it’s his turn, John tries to stop Jesus from doing it—“I need to be baptized by you! Why are you coming to me!?” 

And Jesus, who is humble and willing to sit in our mess, says, “No John. Let this happen now. It’s fitting—it’s the way it should be—THIS WILL FULFILL ALL RIGHTEOUSNESS.

Now, I’ll tell you, that is a cryptic phrase “it is fitting to fulfill all righteousness.” Scholars do not have a consensus on its meaning—it’s debated. But I am going to give you a framework to think about it. Let’s talk about that overused and ill-explained word righteousness. Bear with me—this is really good stuff. 

In Greek, righteousness means justice and upright citizenship—it’s mostly legal language. But Jesus is thinking as a Jew.

And in the Jewish mind, righteousness is this word tzedekah. It’s still rooted in justice—but it’s justice of a particular kind. Tzedekah has implications for a persons relationship to God, self, other people, and Creation. When a person injures someone else, tzedakah demands not punishment but restitution. It’s about making an injury or loss whole. When a person breaks relationship with God—tzedekah paints a picture of lifeblood—life covering up death and healing what’s broken. Tzedekah also demands a compassionate heart for the poor—justice by providing equity for those without. Finally, tzedekah requires a healthy relationship to animals and dirt—to Creation. 

In other words, righteousness is more about whole relationship—being a person who is at peace with God, self, other people, and Creation. 

 John’s baptism is a picture of water washing dirt—it is God erasing mistakes and denotes a reaffirmation of faith. But it is a temporary fix until God does something better. 

Enter Jesus with something better. His baptism will redefine the act altogether. Now, in a tiny stream in the Galilean desert, Baptism will tell the story of the Gospel. Christ has come to engage with the worldly powers of Sin. In other words, he will take on the methods of Darkness that always result in Death.  

In doing so, he will show the glorious power of God—which is life. Breath, consciousness, freedom to live and choose and be. To love and praise and enjoy life. Baptism is a picture of God’s life swallowing up death.  

In the beginning of Scripture, and the beginning of everything, Genesis tells us darkness and watery chaos covered everything… swallowing up the world. But the Holy Spirit of God hovered over that darkness and chaos. And God spoke a word, and Life was. 

In the Gospels, Jesus, the word of God made flesh, will go under the water—a symbol of his later descent into Death. He will rise from the water and the heavens opened, divine light shone on him, the Holy Spirit hovering above, with Death under his feet and the power of God’s life displayed for all to see. 

The parallel is intentional. God speaks and life is. Death can cover the whole earth in darkness, overwhelming all that is living—then God but speaks a word and life swallows death. 

All the injuries caused by the powers of death restored by life. All relational fractures between humanity and God made whole by life.  

The compassion of God for poor humanity has accomplished this. Tzedekah righteousness is fulfilled in this one image and the glory of God—life by his word—is displayed in history—not as metaphor or myth, not as an unseen hope—but demonstrated and recorded. 

 Resurrection Life swallows Death, and Christ is making whole all that is broken. 

Our glorious compassionate God has accomplished this! 

And honestly—we say, “Ok, great. How are we supposed to find ourselves in this story?”
It’s hard to make the glory of God land when it feels like the world is once again covered in darkness.

I’ve been praying and wrestling, and I’m sure many of you have too, as we look at what’s happening in the world. It’s easy to give up hope and slide into despair. We see it—it looks like a desire to check out, or numb ourselves. I’ll share a couple of things I’m really concerned about…

I want to say clearly: this isn’t a Red or Blue thing for me. I’m not trying to solve policy questions here. I’m talking about our methods. I’m talking about human dignity.

Right now, I am deeply bothered by the treatment of refugees and immigrants in this country—the way people are rounded up, put in cages, families separated, children deported to countries they do not know. This is not tzedekah. This is not justice that makes whole.

And the recent takeover of a sovereign nation—this sort of thing hasn’t worked out well in history. It feels like resource hoarding, the kind of grasping that risks global war.

This is the stuff of darkness. Not Christ.

And on a macro level, I don’t know what to do about it. I can vote—and I will—even when it feels like shouting into the wind. 

So what do we do?

These big realities can leave me feeling helpless. And if I sit with them too long, hope starts to feel naïve, and despair starts to seem reasonable.

I thank God for The Hobbit and YouTube today (pause). By chance, this morning, I saw a deleted scene from the Hobbit. It’s a scene where the Orcs and Smaug are completely overwhelming the city. Everyone is on the brink of collapse. (half-pause)

Bard, the remaining hero from this town, is overwhelmed by the dark moment. He says, 

"I let myself imagine the city restored. We would take what is destroyed and rebuild it. We would wash away this sadness. And the streets would once again be filled with life. Full of hope"

Bilbo, the Hobbit, looks at Bard with a stubborn, almost disgusted, tenacity. “No, no, no, no, no, no…. come now. Don’t despair.”  

Bard says, “"What would you have us do? - what else is there for us?"

Bilbo says, “Do? Do? (sigh) Do. Let me show you.” 

He lays his sword down in the middle of the battle, digs a hole in the ground, shows Bard and Gandalf an acorn, which he then puts in the hole and covers in soil.  He says, 

"That is a promise! As many as all who have blood and dirt, there is a chance of new life. 

This may sound hopeless. It May sound foolish...but really what else can you do when faced with Death?? What can anyone do? You go on living." 

Live with hope that what is planted in the ground will grow until swallows up Death—God’s Life cannot be stopped for God has said so. His Word of Life became flesh and dwelt among us and we have beheld his glory—the power of God—the Light of world—full of Grace. He is the Ground of Being. 

And your life is planted in the Ground. Paul says, 

 That’s what baptism into the life of Jesus means. When we are lowered into the water, it is like the burial of Jesus; when we are raised up out of the water, it is like the resurrection of Jesus. Each of us is raised into a light-filled world by our Father so that we can see where we’re going in our new grace-sovereign country.

What is there to do? Believe the promise, lay down our weapons, and plant life wherever we can. 

So what does planting life look like? It might be bringing a coat to our coat drive. It might be volunteering with Canopy NWA. It might be as simple—and as profound—as offering kindness and friendship to our neighbors who are living in fear of ICE right now. Small acts. Ordinary faithfulness. Acorns in the ground, trusting God’s Life to swallow up the powers of Death.