Any experience may be perceived differently by those involved.

John was an old man and he lay dying. His wife of many years was sitting close by. He opened his eyes for a moment, and saw her and said, “There you are Agnes, at my side again.” She smiled faintly and fluttered her eyes and said, “Yes, dear, here I am.”

Then John said, “Looking back, I remember all the times you were at my side. You were there when I got my draft notice and had to go off to fight in the war. You were there when our first house burned to the ground, and we lost every thing we had. You were there when I had that accident that destroyed our car and I was seriously injured. And you were there when my business went bankrupt, and I lost every cent I had.”

Agnes again smiled faintly and fluttered her eyes and said, “Yes, Dear, I have been - by your side - all the time.”

Then the old man sighed and said, “I’ll tell you what, Agnes, you’ve been a real jinx!” (Norman Neaves, “Are You Ready to Take the Big Step”)

That’s not what Agnes expected to hear. The experience is ridiculous, but makes the point. Any experience may be perceived differently by those involved. Today we look at one of the pivotal experiences in Jesus’ life: His baptism. We look at it from three perspectives: That of Jesus, that of God, and then from where we stand.

Look at the baptism first from Jesus’ perspective.

Verse 9 says, “In those days, Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan.”

From his perspective, Jesus’ baptism was a moment of personal decision and commitment. He had been doing manual labor in the carpenter’s shop until he was 30 years of age. He knew that the time had come for him to leave his family, his friends, his vocation, the security that he had grown up knowing - and obey the call of God.

Certainly Jesus was the Son of God. He was the Messiah. But He was also human, and human beings make decisions and commitments which determine their destinies.

According to tradition, Joseph died when Jesus was quite young. Jesus worked in his carpenter’s shop until the youngest children in the family were able to assume responsibility for themselves. Parenthetically, that says something about the value that God places on family life. It also says something about the integrity and value of faithful work.

Jesus left the carpenter’s shop and stepped into the muddy waters of the river Jordan. That was first of all a decision - a decision to follow God’s destiny for his life. Again and again, Jesus said that he had come not to do his own will, but to do the will of his Father.

Isn’t that a leading for us? We have to keep reminding ourselves of who we are and what we’re about. It was so with Jesus…even to the last. In the Garden of Gethsemane, he wrestled to the level of blood-letting. He was in so much anguish so intense in His struggle, that drops of blood burst out as sweat to keep his whole being from exploding. “Let this cup pass - Let it pass, O God, if it is possible. But Father, as frightened as I am, as confused and frustrated as I am, as painful as I know it’s going to be – not my will, yours be done!”

It never ends - the process of deciding - deciding to be God’s person, to do God’s Will. It goes on everyday. Decisions are focused in so many different ways - some obvious, some subtle; some with explicit grave implications; some, on the surface, harmless, but carrying a hidden high price tag.

Young people have to decide almost daily. Will I follow the crowd and give into peer pressure? - To drink, to do drugs? Decisions that carry grave consequences. But more subtle than that - a whole lifestyle that responds to the luring invitation to instant gratification – the gusto life - all the thrills as soon as you can get them. No waiting. Tomorrow is too far down the pike! Responding to the promise of the magic of the moment, young people become sensual hedonists, controlled by the insatiable drive of pleasure.

And we parents contribute to the deadend lifestyle by failing to teach and demonstrate delayed gratification discipline and temperance. Even abstinence.

The process of deciding never ends. Every day we are confronted. Will we follow our own will or the will of God?

Jesus made a decision in his baptism which was a paradigm of his whole life commitment to the will of God. And in that decision was an act of identification. That’s the second thing to note as we look at his baptism from Jesus’ perspective. Identification.

For John the Baptist, baptism was a tangible sign of dedication, cleansing, and commitment. It was practiced by him to give people a physical experience of the spiritual reality of their confession and repentance.

The question arises - why was Jesus baptized. Did He need to confess and repent? John the Baptist had said of Him: “One is coming after me who is greater than I - in fact, I not even worthy to untie the thongs of His sandals.”

Then when he saw Jesus coming to him the next day, he said, “That’s Him - that’s the one I’ve been telling you about - the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. I baptize you with water to repentance; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.”

And yet this, “Lamb of God who takes away the sun of the world,” seeks John’s baptism. Why? Who can probe the mystery of that? Yet this is certain: Jesus’ personal commitment was not only to God but also to us. In his baptism, Jesus stood beside us, making at that moment his complete identification with sinful human beings - with you and me. His steps into the Jordan River were really the first steps that would eventually lead him to a skull-shaped hill and a crude, cruel cross. It was a costly identification. His hands would be pierced by nails, his feet by ugly spikes. His back would be lashed and his head crowned with thorns. Still, Jesus was resolute - his baptism represented a powerful, personal identification with human beings.

What heartening news. Jesus is with us. In His baptism, He acted out what had happened gloriously in his birth - the Incarnation. God became one of us that we might become one with Him. What headlining news. No other religion offers that – a God who identifies with us. Think what that means, you can’t go any place where Jesus hasn’t been or won’t go. There’s nothing, Paul shouted, that can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus – life, death, suffering. Things present, things to come, principalities, and power – nothing. Identification. Jesus has become one of us.

We’ll leave that now, but come back to it before we close.

II.

Decision and identification - that’s Jesus’ baptism from his perspective. Let’s look now at God’s response. The response was that of affirmation. Listen again to Mark, verses 10 and 11:

“And when he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens opened and the Spirit descending upon him like a dove; and a voice came from heaven, “Thou art my beloved Son; with thee I am well pleased.”

We thought the flood was coming again this weekend didn’t we? But remember the porched member? No rain for week, drought across the southeast, same Methodist down in Georgia kept a sense of humanity in the midst of the drought and seized upon the occasion to witness to passersby.

As a brief side glance from our primary focus, recall the importance of the dove in the story of the flood, the first judgment of God upon his sinful people. Nothing in the world had ever happened to compare to the drama of this flood. From within the ark, when the flood was at full tide, Noah released a dove. When the dove came back with a green olive branch, it meant that there was hope. Land was somewhere out there. The great ministry of the Holy Spirit today is to give us hope by bringing God’s presence alive within us, so that the Spirit bears witness with our Spirit that we are truly children of God. Jesus is not just another person, He’s not just a great teacher of the past, and He’s a living Lord. God spoke and said, “Thou art my beloved Son; with thee I am well pleased.”

What affirmation! Jesus had not preached a sermon. He had not performed a miracle. He’d not called a disciple. But He did know who He was. He had made his decision, had identified with the people, and now he would never forget. When He was tempted in the wilderness, He would remember this word of God. When He was anguishing there in Gethsemane, with the ominous shadow of the cross looming over Him, He would remember this word from God. And when He was hanging there on the cross, seemingly forsaken by everyone and all creation, he would remember this word of God spoken at His baptism. “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”

Affirmation - that was God’s response to Jesus and his baptism.

Have you heard of the fellow that survived the Johnstown, Ohio flood? It was one of the worst floods in the history of this country. Wherever this fellow would go – and whenever there was the slightest opening, he would tell the story of that flood. Nothing in the world had ever happened to compare to the drama of this flood. Sometimes his story would inspire – sometimes bare. But he never ceased telling it. When he died and went to heaven, at the first gathering he began to tell his story. Jesus interrupted him and whispered in his ear, “Don’t preach it, Noah is in the audience.”

III.

Now let’s come to a final consideration. What is the message in this for us?

Edward Farrell, a friend of mine, is a Roman Catholic priest who serves an Inner City Parish in Detroit, He’s written some marvelous books - one I would especially recommend entitled Prayer Is a Hunger.

Ed is a part of a small group with whom I meet each January. I’ve told you about this group. We call it the Ecumenical Institute of Spirituality. It’s an important group for me. Though we meet only for three days once a year, sharing our spiritual pilgrimages with one another, seeking to focus our minds and hearts on some growing edge, it’s an important part of my life. Douglas Steere, the Quaker giant of the Inner Life, is the patriarch of the group, and one of my spiritual mentors.

Morton Kelsey, one of the most prolific and helpful writers I know, the author of the classic spirituality, The Other Side of Silence. Doris Donnelly, who led a Mini-Retreat for us at the church, her best-selling book, Learning to Forgive, which is in a library, she’s a part of the group. Ed is a part of it too. He’s one of the most genuinely humble persons I know. Serving some of God’s forgotten people in One of Detroit’s most depressed areas, he is quietly profound. I never will forget the insight he provided me about this text. He said that Jesus went to the cross so that we too could hear the same word Jesus heard at his baptism - So that you and I can hear – “This is my beloved daughter, this is my beloved son - with whom I am well pleased.”

Have you thought about it that way? Jesus’ paid the price so that for you and me, the heavens could open, and we could know the reality of God’s Spirit as a living power and presence, in our lives. Jesus wanted us to know the reality of good news in the dark days of hopelessness and despair.

The voice which declared Jesus God’s beloved Son is still speaking in our souls, “You are mine. You are unique and special. I am pleased with you. I love you. I love you so much that I gave my beloved Son for you. You are my beloved son, you are my beloved daughter.”

Is it true with you, as with me - I need the heavens to open like that everyday. Without God’s assurance, I’m left to compulsive seeking for security, pleasure, and meaning. With out an awareness of His Grace, I exhaust myself at self-justification. I can’t live with meaning and joy without the Dove of the Spirit, God’s invigorating, infusing, and inspiring power.

There are others who witness to it more convincingly than I. Here’s one.

Parade magazine carried the story of Byron Janis, the world renowned pianist. He has played in some of the greatest music halls of the world, in Europe, in the United States, even in the Soviet Union. He has been acclaimed by many as the most accomplished pianist of our time. Few people know about another side of his life. In fact, it’s a side that only his wife, Maria, knew until just recently Byron Janis has severe bursitis in one of his shoulders and has a virtually crippling case of psoriatic arthritis in both of his hands!

Can you imagine that? - This acclaimed pianist cannot even make a fist with either of his hands! The little finger on his left hand is completely numb, and the joints of the other nine fingers have been fused together by surgery! There’s mobility in only one distal joint, the middle finger of his left hand, and he lives in excruciating and horrible pain all the time.

Yet, he sits at the keyboard with a smile on his face, and plays some of the most incredible music that the human ear could ever hope to hear.

“How do you do this?” asked Barbara Goldsmith, the woman who interviewed Janis for Parade. Listen to the verbatim word of this great virtuoso.

“What helps me the most, I cannot explain. You see, I developed a very personal relationship with God. I think prayer is important. I think that belief in God is healing. No one knows what its like for other people, but I know that unless I had found a belief in God, I would never have been able to say what I say. God works with us, and we with God. (From Neaves, Church of the Saviour)

That should inspire us what would happen if we were to do what Byron Janis has done - really hear that affirming word of God - “You are my beloved son” - “My beloved daughter,” - “In you I am well pleased…” If we would develop that personal relationship with God in a deep and quiet way - do you have any idea what a tremendous difference it would make!

I came across a story recently that is suggesting here. Margery Ann Cowper told the story first. Her six-year-old son was trying to force open a daffodil, and make it into a full-bloom flower.

Frustrated, he said, “Mommy, why is it that when I try to open the bud myself, it just dies? But if I wait and let God open it, it becomes a beautiful flower?”

Before his mother could dream up an answer, the six-year old said quickly for himself. “Oh, I know. It’s because God always works from the inside.”

And so He does, as we develop our relationship with Him, the dove of the Holy Spirit, His empowering Presence is constantly available, and we can go on - through our wilderness of temptation our Gardens of Gethsemane, even on the crosses on which our lives might hang from time to time - we can go on, hearing him say, “You are my beloved child, in you, I am well pleased. (Story told by Mel Wheatley, “That’s what the man said: The Really Significant Thing about Repentance”)