A Name for Ourselves
By Griff Martin
A Sermon on Matthew 3:13-17 and
Isaiah 42:1-9
For the First Sunday of Epiphany
(Jan 12, 2020)
For the Beloveds of First Austin: a
baptist community of faith
Incarnate and Coming Christ, we ask
that you once again take the Word and transform it into a living and breathing
new reality we can all together experience. Make us aware of your presence here
in this space and in these words God, for if we are present to you then nothing
else will matter, but if we are not present to you then nothing else will
matter. In the name of the Creator, the Christ and the Comforter. Amen.
Let’s begin this morning with the
doctrine and theology of original sin…. I know those are the words you got up
early and drove downtown to hear this morning – a good sermon (well, a sermon),
on the doctrine and theology of original sin. What could be more exciting,
right?
So, let’s start here: I don’t
believe in original sin. I think this particular theology has been developed
and largely taught in the church based on poor readings and understandings of
Scripture, Augustine and John Calvin, and it’s been distilled to a simple but
incorrect understanding that goes something like this: because Adam sinned, we
are all born sinful. It’s in our very DNA, similar to our eye color and height.
Adam ate the apple and because of that, we are all doomed to hell.
I could list a host of theological
reasoning to explain why I find original sin to be heretical, to include the
very birth of Jesus as one fully human and yet, one we claim that is without
sin (which is important to remember today because the question should come up
in our minds on the day we celebrate the baptism of Jesus: Was Jesus baptized
to repent of his sins? No, he was not). Back to original sin. I could point to
a more practical example – the birth of a newborn or our practice of family
dedication. Never in my life have I held a newborn baby and thought about
original sin and how this baby I was holding inherited doom and was destined for
the flames of hell. Instead I have thought about goodness and beauty and
possibility; thus, why I believe in original goodness of human beings.
I believe we are born good and pure,
full of beauty and possibility, and born into a world full of goodness and
beauty and possibility – and at the same time, a world that has often fallen
for a less than good and pure story. Thus, all the brokenness we see around us.
And most of us end up falling for that same story. I think the stories of
Genesis 1-11 are trying to tell us that truth over and over again, to warn us….
The stories affirm our goodness and warn us of all the bad stories we don’t
need to fall for. It’s all a brilliant way to express a truth found in Proverbs:
pride goeth before the fall.
And I think our foundational myths
that are trying so hard to explain our beginning and who we are, the stories we
find in Genesis 1-11, all try to warn us of pride going before the fall. Adam
takes the apple because he wants to know and be more than God. Cain kills Abel
because he wants more. And the stories of pride keep building, until they
climax in Genesis 11.
The story begins with humanity
having one language, using the same words. All is good in the story, people
seem to be getting along, and then they have this idea: let’s build something
grand, something that will get noticed. This is in and of itself not a bad plan.
What if the people had this idea, “let’s build something grand for God?” But
that is not the story we have; again, pride goeth before the fall. Genesis 11:4:
“Come let us build our self a city and a tower that is grand, so that we can
make a name for ourselves.” This might be one of the most relevant passages in
Scripture, something we all can relate to…. Let’s make a name for
ourselves.
Because isn’t that what it all seems
to be about these days? In this world of cancel culture, a world of lists of
influential and sexiest and richest people, in a world that is so
individualistic and ego-centric… in that world we know these words: let’s make
a name for ourselves. Looking at history and humanity as a whole, pride might
be our original software malfunction (the virus we all catch from the world and
we all fall for). Our very goodness, if not understood correctly, becomes
pride.
Moving from Genesis to the Gospels,
God sees this paradox that our very goodness, if not understood correctly,
becomes pride. It’s part of the problem. Thus, when God realizes that for us to
fully understand things like God’s plan for humanity, God is going to have to
become human. This issue has to be tackled.
So, after a few decades of
understanding humanity, of walking around in human skin, of seeing the world,
of being a baby and a kid and a teenager and a young adult (the hardest classes
in this whole journey of being human)… decades we know very little about, with
the exception of running away to the temple (because how many of us, Jesus
included, really want our life stories to focus on those years of 12-25?)…
thus, we find Jesus one day in the line of humanity who is waiting to get into
the waters of the Jordan River with this prophet John the Baptist.
He steps into the waters and there
is a bit of an argument because John does not feel fit to baptize Jesus – quite
a task. But Jesus calls him to the task because that is what Jesus does,
constantly call us to tasks that we don’t feel up to or worthy of. John
immerses Jesus into these muddy waters. And then, well… hear the words of
Matthew again: “And when Jesus had been baptized, just as he came up from the
water, suddenly the heavens were opened up to him and he saw the Spirit of God
descending like a dove and landing on him. And a voice from heaven said, ‘This
is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am will pleased.’”
Jesus has not done anything yet.
There is no public ministry, there have been no healings, the water is not yet
wine, the lepers are still lepers, the parables have not been uttered, the
miracles have not occurred. He has done nothing that we know of except to live
as a human being. He has not made a name for himself yet, and yet, “This my
Beloved.”
Beloved. Original goodness. Original
worth. Original claiming as God’s own. The only name we ever need.
As baptists, we take a bit of pride
in how we baptize (please hear the echo from earlier, pride goeth before the
fall). We do believe in immersion. Baptism is a choice that one makes to
demonstrate their belief that Jesus is Savior and a promise to follow his ways,
to live like Jesus. For us, baptism is about obedience; thus, we don’t baptize
infants. But we should not throw the baby out with the bathwater; there is
another element to baptism as well that is emphasized in infant baptism
practices… the acknowledgment, the claiming of our original name, Beloved.
Beloved, perfectly created, loved by
God, desired by God, pleasing to God, good in every way. Beloved is the only
name we ever need.
This is our heritage.
And yet, how often we forget. The
Martin family has Swedish, Danish heritage, both on Abby and my side, yet we
know very little about this. Abby and I are very hands-off parents; a project
is to be completed by the student, not their parent. It’s equal parts principle
and pure wonderful laziness. Thus, when Blake was asked to do a heritage
project, we suggested Sweden and let her do the rest. Then came the day for the
Cultural Fair at school, the first time we saw her project. So, imagine our
surprise when we realized that one of the questions the student had to address
was “how does your family celebrate your heritage?” And on the display Blake
had written, “To celebrate our heritage every summer on Swedish Independence
Day by dancing to Abba and eating the candy Swedish fish all day.”
We have never done that. I looked at
Blake and pointed to that answer and she shrugged and said, “sounds fun.” And I
knew then we needed to know a bit more about our heritage. So, we started to so
some work, and one of the things we discovered was the practice of hygge and
lagoom, which are about bliss, coziness and contentment. Now this we
have been practicing; this the Martin family does well. Our perfect
evening is not a night on the town; we like pizza and puzzles and movies by the
fire under blankets wearing sweat suits. That is perfection for us.
And now we know we have a perfect
reason to practice that – it’s our heritage. We were made to do that. This is
who we were created to be. Much like all of us here today were created to be
Beloved.
Claim your heritage, claim what you
were created to be and do… And our heritage begins with one word: Beloved.
Before you do anything right or
wrong, before you create anything good or bad, before you make a name for
yourself, before you do or don’t do anything, before everything… you are
Beloved. Hear that. You are Beloved.
You are exactly who God created you
to be.
You are perfect.
You are good.
You are worthy of Love and
Belonging.
You don’t have to try so hard
because everything you want and need you already have: God’s love and
affirmation.
In you, God is pleased.
You are God’s own.
In this world of cancel culture, a
world of lists of influential and sexiest and richest, in a world that is so
individualistic and ego-centric, know these words: You are Beloved.
Each day you step on the scale
hoping you have reached that horrible thing we know as “goal weight,” know this
truth: You are Beloved, whatever you weigh. Each day you open that app on your
phone that has all your bank account information and you fall for the horrible
lie that you are what you make, that you are your own net worth, know this
truth: You are Beloved, no matter how much money you have. Each time you open
your report card to find out your GPA and how that will affect your college
choice, know this truth: You are Beloved no matter what GPA you hold.
Each time you look at your resume
and job title, each time you struggle to own who you really are, each time you
remember some horrible name someone called you on the playground that you still
carry with you or the name they called you online yesterday, each time you feel
“less than” because of your skin color or sexuality or gender, each time you
find yourself trying to prove and earn your own worth, hear and know this
truth: You are Beloved.
You are Beloved, and so is everyone
else.
Maybe this is why we celebrate
Jesus’ baptism each year because we need to hear these words and this truth:
You are Beloved. Because if we believed that about ourselves and about everyone
else, our world would truly look very different.
This truth is that this is what
allowed Jesus to live the way he did. The miracles, the healing, the parables,
the water to wine…. It all comes from claiming his heritage of being God’s
beloved – a heritage we get to claim as well.
Who are you? What name do you carry?
Beloved.
Claim it. Live into it. Let your
heritage shape you. Beloved, fully loved, wanted, perfect. This is you. Amen
and Amen.
*artwork: Baptism of Christ, painting by Zagitov Vladimir, artmajeur.com/zagitov
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