In the season of Epiphany we look at those special events in Jesus' life where his presence was especially manifested with power. Jesus' baptism is one of those epiphanies. You heard Luke's version read this morning.

The Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form as a dove, and a voice came from heaven, "Thou art my beloved Son; with thee I am well pleased."

In newer translations, which are thought to be more accurate, the adjective "beloved" is made a separate phrase to emphasize the intensity of the personal nature of this experience. "You are my Son. My beloved. In thee I am well pleased."

That is Luke's version. All four gospels portray this scene. But Luke's version is a little different than the others. In each version, though, the Spirit descends "like a dove."   The Holy Spirit is not a bird. Luke and the other apostles use the dove as a metaphor for the Spirit's coming into our lives. It is a beautiful metaphor. Have you ever seen a dove descend and land? It is graceful, gentle, and quiet. That's the point being made. That is the way the Holy Spirit will enter into our lives. The Holy Spirit came to Jesus gently, quietly, and in Luke's version, privately.

That is why Luke is different than the other three gospels. The other writers imply that the Spirit descended upon Jesus at his baptism, apparently when he was still in the water. That is the way this scene is often portrayed in religious art, especially those beautiful paintings out of the Middle Ages. Jesus, standing waist deep in water. John the Baptist standing next to him, pointing at Jesus, as if to say, "This is the one!" or, in the words of the Gospel of John, "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world!" Above Jesus' head in these scenes is the Spirit, as a dove, descending. It is like the symbol that is in the baptismal font here, a nimbus around the Holy Spirit as he hovers above Jesus' head.

That's the way all the other gospels picture it. But Luke is different. He says, "Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the Holy Spirit descended upon him." Which means that the Epiphany, this special presence of God in this event, came to Jesus when he was by himself, praying. In other words, it wasn't a public event. It was a personal and private experience. No one else saw it. No one else heard that voice from heaven. He came out of the water, went off by himself, and prayed. That is when it happened.

Luke, more than any other gospel, emphasizes that Jesus prayed. Jesus went off by himself to pray. Several times Luke will say, "He left the crowds and went off by himself to pray," or even, "He left his disciples and went off by himself to pray." I think Luke emphasizes that to get our attention. When Jesus prayed, something happened, especially at those critical points in his life, when he was facing a crisis, or a decision, or a time of doubt, or questions. At those points when he prayed, there were epiphanies, special manifestations of God, just like the one at his baptism. I believe they were the same every time. He received his identity, "You are my Son," and regained power and vision for his life, through the Spirit.

We know in the Gospel of Luke there are three times when he receives such confirmations. One is at the beginning of his ministry, at his baptism, which we heard this morning. Then at the middle of his ministry, at that event which is called, "The Transfiguration," he goes off by himself to a mountain. But this time he takes with him Peter, James, and John. While he is on top of the mountain praying, a voice again says, "This is my Son. Listen to him." That confirmation is not only for Jesus, it is also for the disciples. "Listen to him. This is my Son."

At the end of his ministry, the last night of his life, he went off by himself again, to the Garden of Gethsemane. We know that he prayed there. It is the only record of a prayer of Jesus that we have. "Let this cup pass from me; nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done." Then he left there, was arrested, tried, and crucified. He was in the garden all night. We only have a few sentences of his prayer. What else happened there? I believe that it was the same. "You are my Son, my beloved; I will never leave you."

Luke is writing his gospel for Christians, those who have been baptized. He is telling them, your baptism means the same as Jesus' baptism. You are God's daughter, or God's son, with you God is well pleased. In your baptism your relationship to God was affirmed and then sealed. You are a child of God.

That is one of the most radical dimensions of Jesus' preaching. He preached that you and I can have the same personal, intimate relationship with God that he had as the Son of God. For persons in Jesus' time that was blasphemy. They were shocked to hear that. It is probably one of the reasons they plotted to arrest him. In those days only certain people, it was thought, could have that kind of relationship with God. The Messiah, certainly, the Son of God. That makes sense. Kings, they were anointed, so they must have a special relationship with God. Prophets, they were chosen, so maybe they, too, would have that special relationship with God. But that was it. Not common folk. Not people like you and me. Our relationship with God, they said, is like the accused before a judge, and God, therefore, is distant, stern, righteous, and unchanging.

Jesus shocked his society by saying, "God is not like that. Sometimes God is like that, but if you come to God, God will be with you the same way he was with me, a father to a child. God desires to have that relationship with everyone." So he said, when you pray, say, "Abba, Our Father." "Abba" is the most personal address for God in Aramaic. It means, "Daddy." That is the way you would translate it into English. It is the most personal address. Jesus said, when you pray, pray the way I do, say, "Our Father."

There are few commands that Jesus gave the disciples. One was, when you pray, say, "Our Father." The other was, "Go into all of the world baptizing everybody in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit." Which is to say, go baptize people so they will have the experience that I did in knowing that I am a child of God. Then teach them how to pray, "Our Father."

The exclusiveness that characterized all religions up to that point was shattered, just demolished by that preaching. The hierarchy of class was demolished by that preaching. The segregation by race, the division by gender, the separation that is caused by poverty and wealth in our society, all of that collapsed with the command,

"Go into the world and baptize." Reveal to all people that we are God's children. Seal it with a baptism. Then teach them to pray, saying, "Our Father," so that they will learn that we are all children of God, all of us, in whom he is well pleased. Therefore, we are all brothers and sisters of the same parent, to whom we pray alike. We all pray the same prayer, intimately, personally, to the same God.

Now one word about this parental image. It is tempting to think of it in terms of dependency, the way that small children are dependent upon their parents. But it is not like that. It is like the relationship of a parent to an adult child, not intervening, but loving and supporting, being there. Not the love that protects, but the love that empowers.

It was that way with Jesus. God did not protect Jesus from all of the vicissitudes, the pains and problems of this human life. In fact, that was one of the temptations that the devil threw at him in the scene that comes, incidentally, right after the baptism. The Spirit drove Jesus out into the wilderness, forty days and forty nights. There the devil tempts him by reasoning (the devil always uses reason), saying, use your special relationship with God to show that you are superhuman. Then all people will come to you. Jesus resisted that temptation so that he would be like us. His relationship with God was like our relationship with God, like that of an independent, adult child. He did not pray for intervention. Oh, in the Garden of Gethsemane he said, "If it is your will, let this cup pass; nevertheless I will do your will, and not my own." That is not a prayer for intervention, but for empowerment, to face what he had to face.

We have within us as human beings two needs. One is to be free, and the other is to be loved. When things get difficult we feel the tension between these two basic human needs. We want to be free, but we also want others to accept us and to understand us. That will happen when there is someone who will give us the freedom to be who we are, and then love us as we are, even if we make mistakes, even if we have to carry some cross of shame, they will stand by us. They will not abandon us.

The love that a parent has for a minor child is a love that intervenes. It ought to. That's a love that wants to protect a child. But the love a parent has for an adult child is the love that stands by.

A daughter calls home, talks to her parents about the great disappointment in her life, how she feels. She talks about what she can do now. They talk about all this. At the end the parents say, "We wish we could do something." She says, "You have done a lot just being there. I can feel your love. It helps. Thanks for being there."

I think it must have been like that when Jesus prayed to God in those critical moments in his life. His identity was confirmed, "You are my Son." He was assured that he is loved, "You are my beloved." He was assured that God would always be with him. The Holy Spirit empowered him and led him.

How close that is to any parent reaching out to an adult child, saying, "We love you. We are proud of you." We've heard that, some of us. Many of us have never heard it, and we probably never will from our parents. For any number of reasons we won't hear that. But Luke wants you to know that because of Jesus Christ, you can hear that from God, your Heavenly Father. Just as Jesus, at critical times in his life, went apart to hear those words again, so at critical moments in our lives, when we need to be reminded of who we are, when we need to have renewed direction and purpose and power in our lives, there will be epiphanies. When once again you will hear, "You are my daughter," or "You are my son."

You will have that opportunity in a few moments during the last hymn. You will be invited, if you wish, to come forward to renew your baptismal vows, and to remember that you are baptized. It is not unlike what Jesus experienced at those critical moments in his life when he went off by himself to be reminded of his baptism, to be reminded of what was said to him, and what that event meant in his life, "You are my Son; I will never leave you."