Sunday, January 08, 2006

The Call to Discipleship: It Begins with Jesus

A famous preacher--Origen, back in the third century--once told the story of a city that received a gift. It was a huge statue, so massive that nobody could see it clearly or know for certain what it was. Finally, some people got an idea. “Why don’t we miniaturize it?” they suggested. And that, according to Origen, is exactly what they did. By making the statue smaller, the townspeople finally could look at it and say, “Oh! That’s what it really is!”

The Bible says that God did something to Himself through Jesus Christ. Jesus, Paul says in the New Testament book of Colossians, “is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.” And warming to his subject, Paul adds, “...in Him all things in heaven and on earth were created, all things visible and invisible...all things have been created through Him and for Him. He Himself is before all things, and in Him all things hold together...in Him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell.”

In Jesus, God shrinks Himself down to our size so that we can say, “Oh! That’s what God is like!”

This is exactly what Martin Luther meant when he said that if we want to know what God is like, we just look to Jesus on the cross. There we see how God channeled His power and compassion into a sublime act of self-sacrifice that can save the sinner.

We’ve just begun a season of the Church Year designed, in fact, to help us all see God clearly. The season of Epiphany began on Friday. January 6 is always Epiphany Day on the church calendar. That specific day remembers the visit by the wise men or the magi sometime within the first two years of Jesus' birth. They were led to the house where Joseph, Mary, and the baby were living by a star that shone overhead. Epiphany, epiphane in the Greek of the New Testament, means “to shine upon.”

Throughout this Epiphany Season, as we consider how Christ calls us to be disciples--followers, we’ll be seeing again and again how Jesus authenticated His right to call us to follow by showing Himself to be God. The light of the world shines on us in Jesus and our call is to let His light shine in our lives, letting Him take control!

The Gospel lesson appointed for the first Sunday after January 6 is always about one of the strangest incidents recounted in the Bible: the baptism of Jesus by His relative, John. I say that it’s strange because the writer of our Bible lesson, Mark, has already told us that John was calling people to “a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sin.” But Jesus, the Bible repeatedly tells us, was completely and totally sinless. So why on earth is a sinless Savior undergoing a baptism designed for people turning from sin?

A little story may help us to understand the answer to that question. I'm ashamed to admit this, but here goes: I can’t swim and in fact, I have an irrational fear--check that, an irrational terror--of water. It’s stupid and frankly, as a Christian, I feel guilty that I’ve done nothing to face and conquer this indefensible fear. Nonetheless, it’s the truth that water scares me to death.

Once, when our son, now twenty-four, was a year old, we went to a pool party. Everything was going well. The burgers and hot dogs were on the grill, the kids were playing in the pool, the grown-ups were having those conversations that bore the life out of their children. And then, I don’t know how it happened, our son fell into the pool. Right next to where I was standing!

Frankly, at that moment, I didn’t give my fears a first, let alone a second, thought. Not certain of the depth of the water, I was about to go in after our boy when somebody already in the water picked him up and handed him to me. When I thought about it later that night, I realized that in spite of my fears, I would have jumped into that water if I’d had to do so. Now, there's nothing heroic or laudable about that. I suppose that it would be instinctive to everyone here to risk their life for a family member.

Even animals have this instinct. Pastor Gerald Mann tells about being in Africa on a safari. His guide was an unflappable English hunter. Once, they were concealed somewhere in the bush, observing a lioness when they realized that she had become aware of their presence. It was just a matter of time before she would be after them. “Now,” said the guide, “would be a good time to run!” They soon realized why the lioness was so riled up: She was protecting her young.

This instinct then is bred into the bone of sinful human beings like me and even of animals in the wild.

But God doesn’t operate on instinctive love. God loves the unlovable. He loves the Osama bin Ladens and even the Mark Danielses of the world! For God, love isn’t an emotion, but a commitment to do the most possible to bring sinful human beings back into fellowship with Him. God will go to the absolute depths in order to save people. And He’s anxious to spare not just the cute and cuddly from the sin and death that threaten us, but the whole human race.

Jesus waded into the Jordan River so that He could reach down to all of us, sinners all! No wonder the New Testament has six different accounts of Jesus’ baptism and only two accounts of His birth. Jesus’ baptism is more stunning and more important than Christmas, because in His baptism, Jesus demonstrated how far God is willing to go to reach out to us!

That's the first thing I want you to remember about Jesus' baptism by John.

But, here's another thing I want you to remember: Jesus’ baptism demonstrates that when we repent--turn from sin--and confess our need of Him, something wonderful happens. Mark writes this in our Bible lesson:
“...when [Jesus] was coming out of the water, He saw the heavens torn apart...”
The word for torn apart in the New Testament Greek is schizomenous. (It’s related to the word schizophrenia, which means a split personality or psyche.)

The college football season ended a few days ago with three great bowl games. Many times in those games, running backs or quarterbacks broke amazing runs resulting in first downs or touchdowns. Everybody cheered for the runners. But nine times out of ten, those runners only got big yardage because of some unsung lineman who blew a hole open in the defense.

To use a homely analogy, I would say that Jesus is our lineman! He blows the doors of heaven open for us.

Mark hammers this point home later in His book when, as Jesus dies on a cross, we’re told that the curtain in the Jerusalem Temple that once concealed the Holy of Holies, God’s presence in the world, was torn from top to bottom. Through His life and His death and His resurrection, Jesus opens eternity to us!

Our call to be Jesus’ disciples starts with Christ Himself. He enters our life and He tears open the doors to heaven for us.

Whatever good we do, however much we grow as people, will be rooted in our willingness, like the people who came to the Jordan River, to confess our sins, to repent, and to follow the lead of Jesus.

Jesus is God made plain to the world and if we follow Him, He’ll take us through today and lead us all the way to heaven!

[The story of Origen is found in A famous preacher--Origen, back in the third century--once told the story of a city that received a gift. It was a huge statue, so massive that nobody in town was certain what it was. Finally, somebody got an idea. “Why don’t we miniaturize it?” they suggested. And that, according to Origen, is exactly what they did. By making the statue smaller, the townspeople could look at it and say, “Oh! That’s what it really is!”

The Bible says that God made something similar happen through Jesus Christ. Jesus, Paul says in the New Testament book of Colossians, “is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.” And warming to his subject, Paul adds, “...in Him all things in heaven and on earth were created, all things visible and invisible...all things have been created through Him and for Him. He Himself is before all things, and in Him all things hold together...in Him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell.”

In Jesus, God shrinks Himself down to our size so that we can say, “Oh! That’s what God is like!”

We’ve just begun a season of the Church Year designed, in fact, to help us all see God in this way. The season of Epiphany began on Friday. Epiphany is a Greek word that means “to shine upon.”

Throughout this Epiphany Season, as we consider how Christ calls us to be disciples--followers, we’ll be seeing again and again how Jesus authenticated His right to call us to follow by showing Himself to be God. The light of the world shines on us in Jesus and our call is to let His light shine in our lives, letting Him take control!

Today’s Bible lesson talks about one of the strangest incidents in the whole Bible, the baptism of Jesus by His relative, John. It’s strange because the writer of our Bible lesson, Mark, has already told us that John was calling people to “a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sin.” But Jesus, the Bible repeatedly tells us, was completely and totally sinless. Why?

A little story may help us to understand the answer to that question. I can’t swim and in fact, I have an irrational fear--check that, an irrational terror--of water. It’s stupid and frankly, as a Christian, I feel guilty that I’ve done nothing to face and conquer an indefensible fear. Nonetheless, it’s the truth: water scares me to death.

Once, when our son Philip, now twenty-four, was a year old, we went to a pool party. Everything was going well. The burgers and hot dogs were on the grill, the kids were playing in the pool, the grown-ups were having those conversations that bore the life out of their children. And then, I don’t know how it happened, Philip fell into the pool. Right next to where I was standing.

Frankly, at that moment, I didn’t give my fears a first, let alone a second, thought. Not certain of the depth of the water, I was about to go in after Phil when somebody already in the water picked him up and handed him to me. When I thought about it later that night, I realized that in spite of my fears, I would have dove into that water if I’d had to do so. That, I suppose, is nothing more than a parents’ instinct.

Even animals have such instincts. Pastor Gerald Mann tells about being in Africa on a safari. His guide was an unflappable Afrikaaner. Once, they were concealed somewhere in the bush, observing a mother lion with her cubs when they realized that the mother had become aware of their presence. It was just a matter of time before she would be after them. “Now,” said the guide, “would be a good time to run!”

The instinct to risk life and limb and danger for the sake of the people to whom we’re close is bred into the bone sinful human beings like me and even of animals in the wild.

But God doesn’t operate on instinctive love. God loves the unlovable. He even loves the Osama bin Ladens and Mark Danielses of the world! For God, love isn’t an emotion, but a commitment to do the most possible to bring sinful human beings back into fellowship with Him. God will go to the absolute depths in order to save people. And He’s anxious to scoop not just the cute and cuddly from the sin and death that threaten us, but the whole human race.

So, Jesus waded into the Jordan River so that He could reach down to all of us, sinners all! No wonder the New Testament has six different accounts of Jesus’ baptism and only two accounts of His birth. Jesus’ baptism is more stunning and more important than Christmas, because in His baptism, Jesus demonstrated how far God is willing to go to reach out to us!

Jesus’ baptism demonstrates too, that when we repent--turn from sin--and confess our need of Him, something wonderful happens. Mark writes in our Bible lesson:
“...when [Jesus] was coming out of the water, He saw the heavens torn apart...”
The word for torn apart in the New Testament Greek is schizomenous. (It’s related to the word schizophrenia, which means a split personality or psyche.) When the heavens were torn apart at Jesus’ baptism, He saw “the Spirit descending like a dove on Him. And a voice [the voice of God] came from heaven, ‘You are My Son, the Beloved; with You I am well pleased.”

The college football season ended a few days ago with three great bowl games. Many times in those games, running backs or quarterbacks broke amazing runs resulting in first downs or touchdowns. Everybody cheered for them. But nine times out of ten, those runners only got big yardage because of some unsung lineman who blew holes open in the defense.

At the risk of suggesting a homely analogy, Jesus is our lineman! He blows the doors of heaven open for us. Mark hammers this point home later in His book when, as Jesus dies on a cross, we’re told that the curtain in the Jerusalem Temple that once concealed the Holy of Holies, God’s presence in the world, was torn from top to bottom. Through His life and His death and His resurrection, Jesus opens eternity to us!

This is a time of year when we make all sorts of resolutions. "I'm going to lose twenty pounds," we say. Or, "I'm going to read the Bible every day. I'm going to serve my neighbor no matter how inconvenient it may be." We grit our teeth and snarl, "I'm going to be a joyous Christian, blast it all!"

The problem with this approach is that it begins with us. It's based on our faulty capacity to accomplish things on our own steam.

Our call to be Jesus’ disciples starts with Christ Himself. He enters our life and He tears open the doors to heaven for us. Whatever good we do, however much we grow as people, will be rooted in our willingness, like the people who came to the Jordan River, to confess our sins, to repent, and to follow the lead of Jesus.

Jesus is God made plain to the world and if we follow Him, He’ll help us become the best people we can be and take us all the way to heaven!

[The story told by Origen appears in Perfect Illustrations for Every Topic and Occasion.

[The inspiration for the theme of these Epiphany messages has been suggested by the staff at Prince of Peace Lutheran Church in Burnsville, Minnesota.]

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