Solidarity
Homily delivered for the First Sunday after Epiphany (Year C)
13 January 2013
Homily delivered for the First Sunday after Epiphany (Year C)
13 January 2013
8:00
a.m. Said and 10:00 a.m. Sung Eucharist
Trinity Episcopal Church
Trinity Episcopal Church
Ashland,
Oregon
God,
take away our hearts of stone and give us hearts of flesh. Amen.
This summer a new film about the Lone
Ranger will be released, with Johnny Depp starring at the mysterious former
Texas Ranger’s Indian companion, Tonto.
When I was young, there was a story, probably politically incorrect by
today’s standards, about the Lone Ranger and Tonto. Hostile Indians are riding around them in an
ever-tightening circle. When it is clear
the end is near, the Ranger turns to Tonto and says, “What are we to do,
Tonto?” The reply, “What do you mean ‘we,’ pale face?”
Identity, group affiliation, mutual
obligation. That is what today’s story,
the baptism of Christ, is all about.
The Lectionary includes it for the
First Sunday after Epiphany as one of the great signs of “God in Man made
Manifest” because of the voice coming from heaven at the end of the reading
(Luke 3:21-22). Note, however, how the
Lectionary connects this epiphany to Jesus to us. Isaiah says: “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you, … Because you are
precious in my sight, and honored, and I love you.” The Psalm says, “The voice of the Lord is
upon the waters, … The LORD shall give strength to his people; the LORD shall
give his people the blessing of peace.
This story of Jesus being baptized by
John clearly embarrassed early Christians. The various Gospels tell the story
in different ways as a result.
Mark,
the earliest Gospel, says John appeared in the Judean and preached a “baptism
of repentance for the remission of sins.” Jesus of Nazareth comes and John
baptizes him along with the rest. But when Jesus comes up out of the water,
“immediately he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him
like a dove. And a voice came from heaven.’”
Matthew changes the story in several crucial ways. He deletes the fact that John’s baptism was “for repentance.” He adds a dialogue—John says “I need to be baptized by you, Jesus, not you from me.” Jesus replies that he must be baptized “to fulfill all the demands of righteousness.” Jesus here does not get baptized because he needs his sins to be remitted but rather because of the demands of God’s Law, one of Matthew’s major concerns.
Luke leaves
in the fact that John’s baptism is unto repentance and adds a lengthy
description of the Baptist’s preaching.
But he avoids mentioning that it was John who baptized Jesus. Here, the
opening of heaven, the descent of the dove, and the hearing of God’s voice occurs
only after the arrest of John, “when all
the people had been baptized and Jesus also
had been baptized and was praying.” Jesus
here is simply throwing in his lot with the whole group of other people getting
baptized.
In contrast to Matthew and Luke, who in their separate ways say that Jesus’ getting baptized was not for the remission of sin or a sign of his subordination to the Baptist, the Gospel of John simply deletes Jesus’ getting baptized altogether. In the prologue of John, the Baptist appears purely as a witness to Light, the word made flesh. John bears witness of the one who is to follow, and identifies him as Jesus. Later, Jesus goes out to Jordan to baptize rather than be baptized (John 3:22-4:3). Though the Baptist is quoted as bearing witness that he saw the spirit descend on Jesus, there is no scene in John’s Gospel of the baptism itself.
The early
Church preserved these stories despite the discomfort it felt about the idea of
Jesus receiving John’s baptism of repentance.
This is convincing evidence that the historical Jesus was, in fact,
baptized by John, drawn to the Baptist’s message of a living faith in an
engaged God who would soon set things right in the world.
The
important take away in all of this is what Luke stresses: that Jesus was showing solidarity with people receiving John’s baptism, and indeed, with
us all.
“Solidarity”
means showing your connectedness to others.
It is throwing your lot in with them, showing that you are one of them, that
you are part of them and they are part of you.
It is an expression of the idea that “I” am not alone, an independent
unity apart from all others. It means “we
are in this together” rather than “everyone for oneself.” It means we owe it to each other to treat others as we would be treated.
Some
people are uncomfortable with expressions of solidarity, because sometimes they
can be exclusive or partisan, where our identity as part of a group is
expressed as a function of who is not
included in the group.
But authentic
Christian ethics have always taught that our obligations of special beneficence
to those who most have a claim on us, like family, kindred, nation, and
co-religionists, should never preclude our obligation of general beneficence,
the good that we owe all others because of our shared humanity.
Blessed
Emma, Queen of the Hawaiians who is commemorated on our Episcopal calendars on
November 28, tried to serve her people, who had become outcasts and wanderers
in their own land, by establishing hospitals and schools for the benefit of
native Hawaiians. But in so doing, she
specified that these institutions should never exclude non-Hawaiians. What she called “the strangers in our midst”
were also to be served.
Such “Aloha” is the glue that binds us
together. Solidarity fosters the
common good, equal opportunity, fair and reasonable distribution of the fruits
of our economic life, equality among people and nations, and peace in the
world. It includes all the other
principles and values that are necessary to create and sustain a truly good
society. It is at the heart of what it
means to be human, since we humans are essentially social beings, not isolated
monads. It is more than a vague feeling
of compassion, common cause, or shallow sympathy. It is in fact a commitment to our common
life, a sign that we accept responsibility for each other.
Our modern American society is rife with values
that work against solidarity: greed,
selfishness, inequality, discrimination, exploitation, oppression, partisanship,
putting one’s own well-being, rights, and privileges above the basic needs of others.
For us Christians, the heart of solidarity is
the life of Jesus. Through the
incarnation, God is in real solidarity with us and we are in solidarity with
God. By receiving John’s baptism,
God-made-flesh showed solidarity with us, with all our limitations, weakness,
and sins. The social teaching of the
Baptist and Jesus both stem from profound solidarity.
One of the reasons we Episcopalians so value Common
Prayer, prayer in community and for community, is that it is a primary way we
express our solidarity with each other and with all creation.
The Book of Common Prayer includes several ceremonies
and rituals of community: Baptism, the rite of Christian initiation; Confirmation,
where we take on as adults the promises made on our behalf when baptized as
children; and Reception by one of our bishops as an Episcopalian is
another. Here at Trinity, we also use a
supplemental rite from the Book of Occasional Services to welcome people as
members of our congregation regardless of their status with any of these other
rites of community. These are all rites
of solidarity.
Here at Trinity Church, we follow Jesus’
practice of open table fellowship and welcome in our weekly celebration of the
Lord’s Supper. Our open welcome to the
Lord’s Table is sincere and heart-felt.
In addition to table fellowship, we also welcome
you, encourage you, to make other acts showing your growth in God and solidarity
with us and our tradition of prayer and worship.
If you are not baptized, then start the process
of preparing. Show your solidarity with
Jesus, who was baptized along with us so very long ago.
If you have not been confirmed, then start the
process of preparing. Taking on your own
vows of baptism, or if baptized as an adult, affirming those vows in the
presence of a bishop representing the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church,
is a powerful and deep way of advancing your spirituality and your connection
to the tradition that Jesus started. If
you have been both baptized and confirmed in other parts of the tradition, but
want a closer connection to and identity with the Episcopal Church, then
prepare for reception as an Episcopalian.
If what you experience here week after week is right for you, if the
Church’s stance on social issues is right for you—a stance based on our sense
of solidarity with God and other people—then you should become an Episcopalian
and not just a Member of the Congregation here at Trinity Episcopal
Church.
For you baptized and confirmed Episcopalians,
think about preparing for the reaffirmation of baptismal covenants that we will
hold during the Easter Vigil.
This is an open-ended invitation. You don’t have to take it up right now. And your welcome at the Table remains full,
sincere, and open. You are always welcome
to join the congregation by joining a Trinity Newcomers Class regardless of
baptismal or confirmation status. You
are always welcome to participate in Trinity’s whole range of Ministries and works
of service and love for each other and the whole community. Participating in these additional acts of
solidarity will only enhance and enrich this.
But it is up to you.
Bishop Hanley will be visiting Trinity about a
month after Easter. We will be
organizing an Inquirers’ Class for people to prepare for baptism at the Easter
Vigil on March 30 and then for confirmation or reception during the April 21 Episcopal
Visit. The Class will start the first
Sunday of Lent, February 17. We will be
covering such things as the nature of faith, the Creeds, our baptismal
covenant, and basic Christian Faith and Episcopal Practice. My
experience is that these classes are among the most spiritually enriching
experiences we can have in our lives in the Church.
Note in today’s Gospel story that when Jesus shows his
solidarity with us in a concrete act, God reveals himself. The dove of peace, the Holy Spirit
descends. The voice of God, a voice of
splendor and power, says, “You are my child. I love you. You make me happy.”
And so it is for us.
Let us show solidarity with each other, so that
we might hear the voice of God, be bathed in God’s light, and hear God say, “You
are my child. I love you. You make me happy.”
In the
Name of God, Amen.
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