Anointed to Purpose

Epiphany 1

Fr. Tim Nunez

 As we step into Luke’s account we are told the people are filled with expectation. They are looking for a hero. There was a problem, the Roman occupation, and they were looking for someone to lead them to set things right with God who would then set things right in the world. They are focused on John because he seems to fit the bill.

People are always looking for a hero. That’s why the biggest movies tend to be hero tales, be it a secret agent or a boy wizard or a Hobbit or a teenager bitten by a radioactive spider. And Spider-Man is popular.  When Meg and I went to see the new Spider-Man movie a week before Christmas, the parking lot was strangely full – at the Eagle Ridge Mall. There was a long line. We had to hunt to find reasonably good seats. We’re not used to that. Once I even said to the one other couple in the theater, “Mind if we join you?” There were several moments when the audience cheered loudly. Great fun. Your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man became the biggest movie of 2021 despite opening the last week of the year.

But, the villains were only the presenting issue of much deeper problems. When Spider-Man beats the bad guys and saves the day, the world is still filled with sin, war, poverty and all manner of troubles.

Back to our Gospel, the Romans are really the presenting issue of that time and that place. Even if John had led them to victory, that would not have accomplished the real work God is bringing about through Jesus.

People know to the core of our being that something is wrong and we tend to affix that deep-seated recognition on our circumstances - the next election and so on - and apply our expectations as the supposed cure. The presenting issue is important in the moment, but the real problem is always much deeper than that. We don’t need a hero to fix the moment. We need a savior to transform us for all eternity.

Jesus isn’t a hero, he’s a savior. He has always been God’s Son. He didn’t have any sins to wash away at his baptism. He did it as a demonstration of faithfulness to his Father’s will in leading us into that sacrament of dying to self and rising to new life in him. He did not become empowered when a radioactive dove alighted on him. He’s beginning his work of salvation that will roll forward person by person.

We know something is wrong. Things need to get better. But Jesus needs to get beneath our presenting issues to the root problem deep inside each of us. The solution has to start inside each of us. All the good in us needs to be preserved and all the chaff – the sin – needs to be burned away for good.

At the end of Luke’s Gospel, the last thing Jesus says before he ascends into heaven is, “And see, I am sending upon you what my Father promised; so stay here in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.” (Luke 24:49) Clothed with power. That sounds better than a radioactive spider bite.

Jesus is talking about the Holy Spirit. And for us in our baptism, there is an element of what God has already done – what God has always done – to save his people and what he is doing to empower our meaning and purpose.

1. You are called for salvation

We are already called and beloved by God before our baptism. You can see it.  God’s love is already active when parents bring infants for baptism. Love in thought precedes love in action. John wrote that Christ has been the light of all people from the beginning. (John 1:4) The seed was always planted. Paul wrote to the Ephesians that God chose us in Christ from before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love. (Ephesians 1:4) We lay claim this morning to the loving promise of redemption God gave through Isaiah to “everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.”

And what does The Lord say, He who created you? “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.” Do not fear. He has you. You are his. Yes, there will be times when life is like a rushing river, but the waters will not overwhelm you. The most important part of you is beyond all of that. There will be times when life is like walking through a fire, but the flames will not consume you. The most important part of you is beyond all of that.

Why, says Isaiah? Because you are precious in his sight and he loves you. Do not fear because he is with you. And it’s not just about rescue.

2. You are called for his purpose

There is an element of empowerment when we are baptized by water and the Holy Spirit. Not just by the name of Jesus, but also in the Holy Spirit. This is the key difference from the Baptism of John, which was only for repentance. We have that element as well, but the Holy Spirit makes it so much more. That’s evident in our passage from Acts today. The Samaritans had accepted the Word, the witness to Jesus but they had not received the Holy Spirit. It’s not just a decision of assent that we make, it’s also what God does in, with and through us.

We touch on that, literally and sacramentally in baptism when the candidate is anointed. We say, “You are sealed by the Holy Spirit in baptism and marked as Christ’s own forever.”

Anointing is not meant to signify that the person is safe, they’ve reached base so to speak. Anointing is for a purpose. You’ll recall that when God sent the prophet Samuel to Jesse’s home to find the next king of Israel, Jesse lined up his fine strapping sons but none of them were it. Samuel asked if there were any more. Jesse had to call the boy David in from the field and Samuel anointed him to be the future king of Israel.

Jesus was anointed by the Holy Spirit at the start of his ministry. And you’ll recall that just before his crucifixion Jesus was anointed for death, which lead to his Resurrection and Ascension. There’s a purpose, always a purpose.

In baptism, God anoints each of us to be a part of his kingdom, but it’s not like joining a club. It’s more like getting the job, joining the team, jumping in on the project. Some of that comes through awakening the gifts and talents God has given you, some comes through surprising ways God empowers and inspires you. It starts at the beginning, is affirmed in baptism and we return to that empowerment from the Holy Spirit again and again and again, continuously in the life of faith.

And that is what we prayed in our collect this morning – that we be empowered by God to keep the covenant we’ve made and confess him as Lord and Savior, in all our jobs, all our projects, all our relationships, to his glory.

There’s an element of that in prayer. My first prayer when I wake up, before I get out of bed, is to invite the Holy Spirit to empower me for the day. Prayer calms our minds and draws forth what God has already planted there. And it opens us to inspiration – the inspiriting action of the Holy Spirit. It’s hard to tell if the peace, the healing, or the inspired idea came from what God is doing outside or inside, we just know that it came from God.

AMEN!