Psalm 29
Acts 10:34-43
Matthew 3:13-17
If you have not seen the Walden Media movie “Narnia, Voyage of the Dawn Treader” in the theater or if you have never read the C. S. Lewis Book, then consider yourself warned: This is a “spoiler alert.” I am going to share an important plot point. Not the most important, but still very important. Now, on with the sermon.
Last week, Marie and I saw “Voyage of the Dawn Treader” at the theater. It was the first time we had seen a movie in the city where we lived in years, and it was great. We sat there with our 3-D glasses, a far cry better from the last two generations of 3-D entertainment I’ve seen, along with a dad, his teen daughter, and her BFF; and we all enjoyed this wonderful movie. My short review: good story, nice effects, good use of the 3-D, but do read the book.
It was a good movie, but it is a far better book.
This book introduces a new character to the Narnia universe, a cousin of the Pevensie children, Eustace Clarence Scrubb. For me, the easiest way to describe this young boy in the first half of the book is to say that Eustace rhymes with useless. While Lewis is more subtle about this in his writing, the screen writers take a ham handed approach as Edmund rhymes, “There once was a boy called Eustace/who read books from the facts that were useless.”[1]
On the voyage, Eustace becomes a dragon on account of his selfishness, his self pity, and his greed. In the movie, the great lion Aslan shatters the dragon skin from Eustace by the power of his mighty voice. The power of his roar, a lion’s words if we want to think about words as acts like we have over the past couple of weeks, separates Eustace from the physical curse of being a dragon.
But that’s not the way that it happens in the book. As for me, the movie’s speech wasn’t terribly memorable. Eustace did describe the power of Aslan, but the images from the book are burned on my psyche, and especially on this Sunday the words from C. S. Lewis’ work are far more important.
Eustace describes his encounter with the great Lion to
Eustace was in considerable pain because a piece of jewelry, a bracelet, was biting into his arm. When he was a boy the bracelet was very loose on his arm, but on his thicker dragon upper arm it was terribly small and very painful. He sensed, he knew that if he could soak his swollen arm in the well it would be healed. But Aslan told him that first he would have to undress, he would have to shed the dragon’s skin. So Eustace began by scratching. His scales began to come off like a fish being cleaned. And as he scratched, he noticed that he was able to take off his entire skin, like peeling a banana.
After a couple of minutes, he was able to step completely out of his skin. He stood next to it, and he was sickened by its sight. He was glad to be rid of the skin and began to enter the spring. That was when he noticed that he was unable to shed the dragon’s skin. There was another layer of skin under the first. And there were more layers under that one. No matter how hard he tried, no matter how many times he peeled a layer of skin, he was not able to rid himself of the dragon’s skin.
After Eustace tries on his own several times, Aslan tells Eustace, “You will have to let me undress you.” Eustace was frightened. He was positive that having the dragon’s skin torn by the claws of the great lion would be excruciating. But his arm hurt so badly that he was willing to take the risk. Eustace laid back and the first cut from Aslan’s claw was so deep that Eustace thought it went to his very heart. The pulling of the dragon’s skin was more painful than anything he had ever felt. After a time, Eustace was able to see the dragon’s skin set aside. It was not like the layers of skin he had taken off. This skin was far thicker, and far greener than what Eustace had been able to remove himself.
His skin being removed, Eustace felt raw. Aslan came to him and lifted him (which was also pretty painful since he had just lost his skin) and tossed him into the well. It stung for a time, but quickly the pain was gone and he felt refreshed. His arm was healed. In fact, he had been restored. Eustace was no longer a dragon, he as a boy again. And while Eustace could not remember how, he had been dressed in new clothes by Aslan and was taken near the camp of the rest of the crew of the Dawn Treader.
When Eustace returned to the camp, there was great joy and celebration. They shared a wonderful breakfast and shared great stories about the island, and about Aslan. The way I like to look at this story, it is as if Eustace receives the baptism of Aslan. His old skin is shed and he is made anew in the waters of Aslan’s well. It is only when he lives wet, in relationship with the lion, that Eustace quits being, well, useless.
John says “I need to be baptized by you,” then he asks Jesus, “do you come to me?” John knows his role. Matthew 3:11 John clearly tells the Pharisees and the Sadducees, “I baptize you with water for repentance, but one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” So John knows that he is not the one, he is the one who makes his path straight. John knows Jesus doesn’t need his baptism, he needs Jesus’.
But in a word, Jesus let John know he needed John’s baptism and everything was right in creation. John knew Jesus’ words were the answer to his question, the words that overcome all objection. “It is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness.” This is when John allowed the drama to unfold the way it had been ordained.
“It is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness.” Righteousness, in a word, in a moment, John knew what this meant, so what does it mean to us?
Our reading from Isaiah reminds us that the Lord calls the prophet in righteousness. The Lord has given him to the people as a light to the nations so that he might open the eyes that are blind, bring out the prisoners from the dungeon and release from prison those who sit in darkness. The Lord gave Isaiah to the world to show us that the former things have come to pass, and the new things the Lord now declares will be shared with the prophet before he shares them with the rest of the world.
The Lord tells Isaiah the former things have come to pass, and Isaiah will be told of the new things now declared before they spring forth. These are not the sort of things that one would tell a causal acquaintance, someone on the street. There was a relationship, [3] a relationship between the Lord and the prophet, an intimacy I can scarcely imagine. I imagine John was experiencing this same intimacy with the Lord Jesus in the waters of the
John knew that righteousness exists in relationship. John knew as the readers of this gospel knew in the first century that righteousness only exists in relationship. In the language of our gospel reading, in ancient Greek, righteousness can only exist in relationship.
And there is more to this righteousness.
The obvious question that comes from this reading from Matthew is why in the world Jesus would need a baptism for repentance of sin? He is without sin, so of course he didn’t. But in presenting himself for baptism, Jesus emphasizes doing what is right. The action which he fulfills in this moment and will continue to fulfill throughout his life on earth is what he was supposed to do, what he had to do.[4] While remaining fully divine, Jesus empties himself of all Godly status and privilege; accepting life on earth as a human being; human life to the point of facing life’s death, even death upon the cross.
He wasn’t forced to do these things. But being Jesus, the Son of God and the Son of Man, integrity demanded he could do nothing else.
Jesus could have come to the river to establish righteousness, but that is not what he had come to do, not in this moment in time. When John consented to Jesus’ coming to the river, Jesus was immersed into the waters of the
Hear the words of the psalmist who wrote:
The voice of the LORD is over the waters;
the God of glory thunders,
the LORD, is upon the mighty waters.
The voice of the LORD is a powerful voice;
the voice of the LORD is a voice of splendor.[5]
As our gospel reading comes to an end, the voice of the Lord is heard over the waters, a voice of power and full of splendor. The voice which thunders over the mighty waters tells all who are assembled,[6] “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”
In due time, Jesus would give the world a new righteousness, a new relationship with the Lord open to all of us, not just the prophets of the Old Testament. But this was not the reason he came to the river. Jesus had come to the river to do the right thing. He came to accept the baptism of John, creating a with him relationship available to all who seek it.[7]. And in his obedience to righteousness he did what was pleasing to God, receiving the anointing of the Holy Spirit, hearing the glorious voice of the Lord.
This is as far as I got by Saturday afternoon. Then I checked facebook and when I did I found out about the shooting in
It seems that in times like these, when chaos looks like it is going to swallow us all, that people come to church seeking answers, seeking a word from the Lord. Today I speak about righteousness that comes through relationship. I speak of a man who takes a baptism that is not his, but he takes it on behalf of all of us. He accepts the baptism of water to stand with us in the waters of the church. He has chosen to live wet in the waters of our baptism, a baptism he does not need, but chooses to accept.
It’s funny how many of those images will return around Easter time. Then he will take what should be assigned to us again. Then he will accept a punishment that we deserve, not him. And he will do it on our behalf.
Today, we come to the font, accepting three new members into this community, a community established in the waters of his baptism and in ours. Today we will come to the font and ordain and install new leaders, Elders into this part of the Body of Christ. One of these Elders has served the congregation and the Session faithfully. The other has served the congregation faithfully and begins serving in a new ministry today.
Today we will come to the table to celebrate the Lord’s Supper sharing the Bread of Heaven, the Body of Christ broken for us and the Cup of Salvation, the Blood of Christ shed for us.
In our reading today, through the Baptism of the Lord, we are again called to remember our own baptism. Our baptism is a bath, a tomb, a womb. Our baptism is a gift which identifies us with the community Jesus calls into existence every day. A community he founded and a community he joined in the waters of his baptism, done through righteousness which is a gift freely offered which we freely desire.[8] In the waters of the baptism we share together, we live a wonderfully wet life.
As for yesterday’s shooting, I have no new word. I have no new insight. I have no new wisdom. What I have, the only thing I ever always have, is the promise of the Lord our God. The only thing I really have to say about this is that as we are called to live in righteousness, in relationship with Jesus Christ. And as in the life of Christ, sometimes we live wet in the waters of our baptism; and in other more horrific times it is in the blood of the cross.
[1] “Narnia, Voyage of the Dawn Treader” http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0980970/quotes, retrieved January 5, 2011.
[2] Lewis, C. S., Voyage of the Dawn Treader, The. Harper Trophy:
[3] Kittel, Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, volume II, page 195.
[4] Ibid, page 198.
[5] This version of the Psalm is found in the Presbyterian Church Book of Worship.
[6] Not all scholars agree that the assembly heard the words of the Lord. But because Matthew’s gospel says, “This is my Son” instead of “You are my Son,” I am inclined to side with the scholars that say everyone heard the words. On the other side, I believe only Jesus saw the Spirit come based on the pronouns used in Matthew’s gospel, “…the heavens open to him and he saw the Spirit…”
[7] Kittel, ibid, page 198.
[8] ibid
I also posted this comment to my blog "There's a Fat Man in the Bathtub with the Blues."
ReplyDeleteOver the past eight hours or so, something that I have noticed missing from the sermon piece is that I speak of a Jewish woman, a woman whose faith is important to her, and use it in a Christian context. Literally, I take her shooting, I take her story, and put it in an a-Semitic setting.
I say a-Semitic instead of antisemitic because I neglect it entirely! My writing is completely without reference to her faith and that's what the prefix a- means, without.
So, how can I talk about what has happened to this woman and put it in a Christian context?
First, John 4:22 (references here) reminds us "salvation comes from the Jews." Any Christian who takes an antisemitic stand fails to remember this most basic of all truths, salvation comes from the Jews.
Second, my denomination, the Presbyterian Church (USA), has made a statement that the Jews have always had a special relationship with the Lord, further saying that this relationship did not end with the life of Jesus of Nazareth.
Finally, what happened in Tucson transcends denomination, it is a tragedy of at least national proportion. If I split the hair in my sermon too finely by not mentioning Representative Giffords' faith, I apologize.
It was an oversight, not a slight.