Pew Sheet, Sunday, 12th January 2025, The Baptism of Christ (Epiphany 1)
In today’s lectionary readings, we are reminded of the Baptism of Christ, which marks the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry. It is also the point at which Jesus attracts his first two disciples, Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, and another, unnamed disciple so far as the account of Jesus’ baptism in John 1:35-42 is concerned. This detail is missing in the very brief account of the baptism provided by St Luke’s Gospel today, but it is likely that John himself was the unnamed disciple present at Jesus’ baptism as John very frequently wrote about himself in the 3rd person, a sign of the great humility which he, as the disciple ‘whom Jesus loved’ tried to show when speaking about himself and his relationship to Jesus so as to avoid drawing attention to the fact that he was the one whom Jesus loved so much that he allowed him to lay his head against his breast at the last supper, and would be the only of Jesus’ disciples to watch him die at the foot of the cross.
The one thing common to all of the accounts of Jesus’ baptism, are the words God the Father used to publicly affirm the Sonship of Jesus, and also describe the quality of that relationship, so that Jesus was not simply God’s ‘Son’, but his ‘beloved Son’ in whom he was already – even before Jesus’ redemptive work on the cross – ‘well pleased’. Jesus’ baptism is important for us then; and adds so much to our understanding of his divinity, and the relationship he shared with his Father before anything came into being. It vindicates the claims Jesus would later make about that relationship; and is affirmed by the Father in plain sight of all those in the vicinity of the Jordan that day. It also explains why Andrew and John, who were in all likelihood, already disciples of John the Baptist at that time, transferred their allegiance to Jesus from that moment onwards. This undoubtedly came with John’s blessing, given his assertion that he (Jesus) must henceforth become greater whilst he (John) should become less so, showing that John knew that his primary purpose, to be the one who pointed to the Messiah’s coming was now over. His words gave tacit approval for those of his disciples who wanted to follow Jesus to do so, given that he had now accomplished his life’s main work.
For me though, the role of the baptism story in the Gospels is not just about confirming who Jesus is in relation to the Father (i.e. the Son of God), but is equally important in revealing God as our ‘Abba’ or ‘Father’ too, given that this was the primary reason for Jesus’ incarnation – to bring us back into a Father-child relationship, and show us that God is indeed our ‘Abba’ or heavenly Father – a completely new and novel, and indeed, heretical, concept in Jewish thought and belief at a time when Yahweh was thought to be too aloof, too holy, and wholly invisible and unknowable to be described in such affective, intimate, and relational terms. To claim such an affinity to the living God was indeed heresy!
Jesus’ greatest impact on the world is arguably not the fact that he died and rose to save us from our sins, but to bring us into a real and living relationship with God his Father – and our Father – for which the events of Easter were but the means to an end. But in order to teach us to truly understand this, we need to see that ‘Abba Father’ relationship modelled in the relationship between the Father and the Son. This explains why Jesus insisted on being baptised by John even though he had no need to be, remembering that John’s baptism was the baptism of repentance for sins committed by the individual. Jesus’ baptism was anything but, and as it turned out, provided a dramatic and epoch changing moment for all those who witnessed the event when they heard God speak those unforgettable words, ‘This is my Son, the beloved. Listen to him’.
When the disciples later asked Jesus to teach them to pray, Jesus started with that same word abba (daddy), to remind them that the Father is preeminent in the Godhead, and that our relationship with the Father was the primary reason why the incarnation happened at all – so that ‘veiled in flesh the Godhead’ we might see. The Aramaic word ‘abba’ is different from the Latin or Greek ‘pater’ which purely denotes the patriarchal relationship between a father and his progeny. Jesus instead, taught them to pray “abba ho pater” which literally means “Daddy-Father” using the same term “abba” or “daddy” which a Syrian or Palestinian child still uses when addressing his or her father today. The word conveys not just the physiological relationship of a father to his offspring, but also show what the quality of that relationship should be as well. Ours is to be that perfect, unadulterated, child-like trust and devotion to which Jesus’ ‘Our Father’ (or more precisely, ‘daddy-father’) directs us. The theologian Joanna Collicutt calls this ‘Abba spirituality’, and argues that what the world needs now is not more ‘love, love, love’; but a far greater sense of what it really means to be the beloved child of an ever-living and all-loving God. Not just intellectually (as our Father), but emotionally (as our daddy) as well. Jesus’ relationship to his ‘abba ho pater’, confirmed at his baptism, shows what ours should be like too!
Collect
Heavenly Father, at the Jordan you revealed Jesus as your Son.
May we recognise him as our Lord, and know ourselves to be your
beloved children, through Jesus Christ our Saviour.
Isaiah 43:1-7
Arise, But now thus says the Lord,
he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel:
Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by name; you are mine.
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you,
and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;
when you walk through fire you shall not be burned,
and the flame shall not consume you.
For I am the Lord your God,
the Holy One of Israel, your Saviour.
I give Egypt as your ransom,
Cush and Seba in exchange for you.
Because you are precious in my sight
and honoured and I love you,
I give people in return for you,
nations in exchange for your life.
Do not fear, for I am with you;
I will bring your offspring from the east,
and from the west I will gather you;
I will say to the north, “Give them up,”
and to the south, “Do not withhold;
bring my sons from far away
and my daughters from the end of the earth—
everyone who is called by my name,
whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.”
Acts 8:14-17
Now when the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them. The two went down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit for as yet, the Spirit had not come upon any of them; they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus). Then Peter and Johnlaid their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.
Luke 3:15-17; 21-22.
As the people were filled with expectation and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah, 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 strap of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 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.”
Now when all the people were baptized and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened, 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.”
Post Communion Prayer
Lord of all time and eternity,
you opened the heavens and revealed yourself as Father in the baptism of Jesus your beloved Son.
By the power of the Holy Spirit, complete the heavenly work of our rebirth,
in the waters of the new creation, through Jesus Christ our Lord.
This Week’s Events
Monday (Hilary of Poitiers, Bishop and Teacher of the Faith, 367)
Bell Ringing, 7.30pm in St Laurence. Contact Jan on 07835 461361.
Julian Prayer Group, 8pm on Zoom: ID: 996 4332 0665 and password: Julian.
Tuesday
Zoom In Morning Prayer, 9am. Meeting ID: 748 9970 4493 password: Trinity
Evening House Group, contact Jo on 07803 942 687 for more information.
Wednesday
Morning Coffee, 10.00-11.45am in the St Laurence Room.
Midday Communion, 12.00 noon in St Laurence Church.
Thursday
Daytime House Group, contact Jo on 07803 942 687 for more details.
Friday (Anthony of Egypt, Hermit and Abbott, 356)
Junior Choir at 6.30 pm followed by full Choir Practice at 7.30pm. Contact Derry on [email protected] if you would like to join in this term.
Pastoral Care
Call Steve on 07305 271 148 or email [email protected]