Redeemed

Epiphany 1

January 12, 2025

Fr. Tim Nunez

May my spoken word be true to God’s written word and bring us all closer to the living word, Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen

One of the interesting questions of our faith is why Jesus was baptized. We hold that Jesus “knew no sin” as Paul put it in his second letter to the Corinthians. He was the Lamb of God, without spot or blemish. He had no need for ritual washing. He wasn’t dirty and needed no bath!

Further, as co-eternal with the Father and the Holy Spirit, he did not need a jolt of power. He did not become the Messiah when the Holy Spirit landed on him. He was with God and was God from the beginning.

So, then, what was happening at his baptism?

We can approach this question from this beautiful passage in Isaiah 43:1-7, looking first at it from the perspective of God’s people at the time God spoke through Isaiah. At that time, Israel had been forcibly removed from the Promised Land to be servants in Babylon. Babylon was close to modern Baghdad. The short route was over 600 miles on foot, across hard and desolate country.

There they were, so far physically from home, in a foreign land with a foreign language and customs, serving the people who had conquered them. There were a few bright spots, but surely they were longing for home – and across several generations. They kept home alive in scripture, ritual and prayer.

Now God speaks. Yes! The God who created you and formed you as his people, speaks and says:

“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you. I have called you by name. You are mine.”

What does that mean? In our culture, we redeem coupons and gift cards. That falls far short of how Israel would hear this, then or now. When Israel came into “the land of milk and honey,” it was not so, yet. It did have some nice pasture areas for small nomadic tribes. Keeping flocks is hard work, 24/7. But the nation also needed farming. Farming requires a lot of painstaking, hard work with God’s blessing to have it flow with milk and honey and grains and fruits and vegetables.

They call that redeeming the land. They still do. When Jews migrated to escape persecution in Europe starting in the late 1800s and after World War II, they bought essentially worthless land. They irrigated dry and barren land. They drained swamps. They had to learn how to raise crops and livestock all over again, and they did.

When God tells them, in the midst of a very barren time, “I have redeemed you,” it tells them that God has restored that opportunity to them. They will recover the dry and barren places they irrigated and the swamps they had drained and planted. They, as a people and as individuals, have been prepared to produce. That’s in the past perfect tense. He has declared it done. Do not fear.

He goes on to say: “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you.”

What waters? Their primary formational story is the Exodus. When God delivered them from Egypt, he parted the Red Sea and they passed through on dry land. After their 40 years in the wilderness, God parted the River Jordan so they could pass through on dry land. Waters are also symbolic of chaos. God is assuring them that they will get through all of the uncertainties ahead because he is with them.

The same is underscored by the fire. Fire consumes and destroys, as we have seen in California this week. The flames will not consume you.

Why was Jesus baptized? One way to understand it is that he is recapitulating that salvation history of Israel and carrying it forward into the New Covenant. This is heralded by John when he talks about the threshing floor, separating the wheat and chaff and burning the chaff.

The New Covenant has become very personal. What they have seen God do in redeeming the land is going to be done in each of them. The washing away of sin is the first step. The work of the Holy Spirit is ongoing.

How does that work in our lives today? Jesus brings it right where we are and continually draws us deeper into that promise of redemption. It’s great when we are able to connect children with Jesus so that their faith is an integrated part of their formation as people. It’s great when we are able to help teenagers and young adults decide to own their faith, to help them understand themselves as independent followers of Jesus and find their identity in him as they contemplate relationships and careers and so on.

Young adults face a lot of chaos and fear. “What am I supposed to do in life and how am I supposed to do it?” The waters of chaos loom as they hold their baby in their hands for the first time and every fiber of their being is screaming, “Don’t drop it!” Then comes, “Please eat!” and “Please sleep!”

As we age we hit further stages of, “Who am I now?” And, “What am I supposed to do?” after a job change or career change, or a move, or a divorce or death of a spouse or parent, or retirement. God willing, we age to the point of our decline and suffering physically and mentally. We feel used up and have limitations. We face, and/or avoid facing, our own death. Chaos.

At every stage and in every circumstance of life, Jesus recapitulating that whole salvation history and carrying it into the New Covenant invites us to his redemption. The Lord will redeem us, make us abundant with new life and opportunity and purpose.

These first few verses of Isaiah 43, a Jewish prophet who lived over 2,500 years ago, are inscribed around the rim of the baptismal font at Salisbury Cathedral in England.

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 overcome you.

When you walk through fire, you shall not be burned and the flame will not consume you.

For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.

Do not fear.

AMEN