Epiphany 1(Year C)
They sent to them Peter & John who came down & prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit.
Do any of you know who Gwynfai Jones is? I suspect not. He is not a Welsh international rugby star although you might think so given the name. He doesn’t earn millions of pounds or even hundreds of thousands of pounds in some glamorous industry, which allows him a lifestyle, which is mildly exotic. He worked until very recently in the Springburn / Sighthill area of Glasgow doing a steady job in good weather & bad. He does however share something in common with David Beckham- they both went to Buckingham palace on the same day to collect honours from the Queen. Not surprisingly the media focused on Beckham & possibly didn’t even read the list of those honoured to see that Gwynfai Jones, along with a couple of hundred others received honours for being good decent people helping others. He was, until his retiral, the minister of St. Rollox Parish Church opposite the old Springburn railway locomotive works. He was honoured not because he was a timeserver & the church was allowed to nominate someone but because he served others, particularly in his latter years, the huge number of refugees dumped in that area of our noble city by our political masters in London. His name unlike Tim Henman’s was not added to give interest to the list neither was it there to provide the Prime Minister with a public relations coup having nominated the entire England World Cup Rugby Squad. He was there because he is a good man. We should be honoured that good men still exist. He was singled out but his work is the work of countless other good people from his area and the Caring City charity based at Cathcart Old Parish Church. Why did he do it? Why do they do it? It is a response to their baptism, an event for many which they have no recollection of yet thru’ it the grace of God is given.
Today is the day when the western church celebrates the opening of the public ministry of Jesus, which begins with his baptism. Just a few weeks ago in Advent we read of it thru the perspective of Christ’s coming to deliver his people as the promised one. Here it is from the perspective of him who has realised he has a role in God’s salvation plan & who needs to join those who are looking for God to deliver them. The story of his baptism is so important it is the only story told in each of the gospels. Luke is concerned with establishing who this Jesus is & so places him within the context of the crowd who are desperately seeking to hear the good news.
Some imagine John is the one who is sent to deliver them but he disabuses them of this. He knew he was called to bring this troublesome arrogant & religiously apathetic people back to their senses but he knew also he was not the one to take them along the road to the next stage. That was to be the task of God’s truly anointed one & he on seeing Jesus, his cousin yes, a carpenter yes but at that moment neither – the lamb of God. Jesus had gone along with others, loads of them because the story tells us a multitude went to hear John preach about living lives that would truly show the love of God in the world. John’s was a social gospel, which is so often condemned by the right wing of the church. The tax collector was to be good at his job, no more no less, the community was to share with the less fortunate if they had plenty, the soldier was to be content with his wages & not rob or cheat others. In the midst of this moral exhortation about being good decent people came his cousin who had plied his trade as a carpenter & who was discovering he had a greater role if God’s will was to be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Whatever happened during the act of washing in the Jordan - the act which the baptiser used as a means of showing the people that their sins could be washed away if they followed God with a true heart, Jesus emerged as the most important of these two men who desired God’s kingdom to be established thru’ Israel. Jesus, thru the narrative of the heavens opening, of the symbol of God’s spirit the dove descending & the voice telling him who he is emerges as the one chosen who is special in God’s plan for his people. He wanted the same thing as John a people who would be godly & at this moment he realises his divine vocation to help others be God’s people.
This story gives anchor to the other stories from today’s lectionary. The returning of God’s ancient people to his fold because he has paid the ransom for them, he has bartered their release from the tyranny they suffered & the story of the baptism of the Samaritan community. That community in Samaria, which should, in the old understanding of Israel have been outside God’s love, began to believe in Christ thru’ the preaching of Philip. The Jews had traditionally hated the Samaritans because they had not in an earlier age kept faith with the religiously pure Israel & as a consequence had been seen as apostates having rejected the pure life of faith. This community however had experienced the love of God thru’ the teaching of Philip & even the biggest pagan within it, Simon the magician had been converted. Something, however, had been lacking within the community & so the church at Jerusalem sent down to them a couple of heavy weights in the shape of Peter & John who prayed again with them. Thru’ this experience something gave that community new life. It is called the Holy Spirit & by it the Samaritan community was energised. The tragedy is that for many modern Christians unless they have actively participated in the event of their baptism they believe they cannot have received the Holy Spirit thus denying the validity of infant baptism. When the Pentecostal & renewal movements of the 60’s & 70’s were in full swing it was not unknown to discover large numbers of people wanting to be re-baptised only this time in the Spirit. They needed to be re-baptised because they had wanted to give public expression to their realisation that faith in Christ was so important. The misunderstanding is that the whole Samaritan community was re-baptised, it wasn’t. Peter & John laid hands on them as I often do when speaking to children or dealing with the ill but I am not re-baptising them when I say a prayer over them I am reminding myself & the child or the sick person & others present that this child or struggling person is God’s child, special & precious in his sight. It is thru’ my baptism that I am enable to do this as all God’s people can. Thru’ baptism, your baptism whenever it occurred in your life God’s Spirit has been given to you to be his child, holy, faithful, loving. By your baptism you are also called to share in Christ’s ministry. Baptism is not a gift you hide away from others & only share with yourself: it is something which is to be shared. How do you do it? Not by shouting I have been baptised as a child & then baptised as an adult in the spirit. Nor do you condemn those who have not been baptised & are seen technically as being outwith the church. You live your baptism. You live the life of faith. You do what Gwynfai Jones & huge numbers of people do every day. You show God’s love for the world by caring for the least of his children. You share in the ministry of Christ no less when you take his love, in action into the world of Govan or the Gorbals, to Ethiopia or Iran to Colombia or Palestine. You show Christ to the person who has never seen Christ by loving them in a way that they cannot begin to believe & in so doing you call them to that special relationship of love that God desires for all his people. You might not, by the way be honoured by the Queen for doing all this & I suspect it unlikely you will be acknowledged by the government in the shape of the honours committee but you will be honoured by the one who is infinitely more important, the King of kings & lord of creation. The one who gave you life & in baptism calls you to an even greater one.
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