Beloved; Matthew 3: 13-17; ICCM; Pastor Rebecca Ellenson; 1/12/20
John and Jesus were cousins. When Mary found out she was expecting a child she went to her relative Elizabeth who was pregnant with John. In today’s gospel those babies are all grown up. John has been out baptizing and preaching about the coming of someone greater than he who will fulfill the expectations of the prophets.
I wonder what family stories the two of them grew up with. Did their mothers tell their sons about the dreams foretold their birth? Did they share the songs they had sung about them? Did Joseph tell Jesus about his dream that told him to name him Jesus because he would save the people from their sins?
Jesus embraced his own purpose and shaped the goals of all the others around him. Joseph’s life purpose had little to do with carpentry. It was raising the child called Emmanuel–God with us, that gave his life meaning. It was the same for Mary, of course. John’s purpose had to do with Jesus too. He was out there in the Jordan wilderness, dressed in camel’s hair and leather, eating honey and chapulines—locusts. John prepared the way for his cousin, by preaching change and calling people to repentance.
When Jesus came to John it didn’t fit with John’s own identity—You should baptize me—he protested. All his life John had heard that Jesus would be the more important one. But notice what Jesus did—he said No—This is how it is! John had a vital role to play too. Jesus needed John’s service and he validated his cousin’s life work. Then—the heaven’s opened for Jesus and Jesus saw the Spirit descending like a dove and landing on him. A voice proclaimed, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased!” What an impact that must have made on Jesus! Through the Holy Spirit he was able to see his status as God’s child, the Beloved, with whom God is pleased!
Our identity rests in God’s relentless tenderness for us. We, too, can define ourselves radically, as those beloved by God. That is our true self. Every other identity is illusion. It’s not just Jesus who has a life purpose, or a proclaimed identity as God’s beloved child.
In John’s gospel Jesus prepares his disciples for his leaving, the night before his death by promising that God will send the Spirit to empower them to do his work. Jesus says, Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and in fact, will do greater works than these! As the Father is in me so I am in you. The Spirit of truth abides in you and will be in you! The Spirit will teach you everything. Those are daunting worlds, until we claim them and live in them. There is purpose in each of our lives, in each of our days. When we open ourselves to the Spirit’s presence we are led and empowered.
Paul says in 1 Corinthians 2: 9-10, God has prepared things for those who love him that no eye has seen, no ear has heard, or that haven’t crossed the mind of any human being. God has revealed these things to us through the Spirit. The Spirit searches everything, including the depth of God. This is huge!
I believe my life purpose is about serving the poor. I’ve only spent 17 years of my working as a pastor, so far. I was ordained when I was 29. Then 11 years later I left parish ministry. As a newly single mother, I knew deep in my heart, that my first purpose was to be the best mother I could be to my children who needed me more than ever. I found other work for 12 years. I went from preaching about serving the poor—to serving the poor directly.
For over 8 of those years I led a company that helped people with mental illness, chemical dependencies, lack of education, or criminal histories find work. It was a secular agency—but I knew the work was ministry. Our clients needed to find their purpose; identify their gifts, talents, and passions; and they needed to believe in their own agency, their own abilities and value. One of the biggest challenges s had to do with self-image. Many of them had internalized the messages they had heard- “You’ll never amount to anything. Who would hire you? Why bother even trying—you don’t even have a high school education? You’re going to be just like your father.” So many self-fulfilling prophecies stood like brick walls in their way.
Changing what we believe about ourselves changes what we can do. To find success our clients needed to visualize themselves having already achieved bigger dreams than they had aspired to before. It was totally amazing to see them find hope and reach toward new dreams.
We all carry lies in our souls that can become our truth and shape our reality. Retirement can bring its own identity challenges. We may think we are too old, too shy, too bold, too tired. Or we may believe we are not smart enough, not secure enough, not adequate in some way.
Listen to the prophet’s Isaiah’s words: Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen , in whom my soul delights , in whom I have put my Spirit, who will bring forth justice… The prophet’s words were claimed by and for Jesus. The spirit descended on him and he was empowered to serve, yes. But listen:
Thus says God, who created all things, who gives breathe to the people and spirit to those who walk on earth—I am the Lord, I have called you in righteousness, I have taken you by the hand and kept you. I have given YOU as a covenant to the people… to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon!
Those words are given for all who walk the earth, all you breathe!
Paul says the same thing- God gives various gifts. God’s purpose is to equip God’s people for the work of serving and building up until we ALL reach the unity of faith and knowledge of God’s Son. God’s goal is for us to become mature adults, to be fully grown, measured by the standard of the fullness of Christ! Wow!
The purpose of being a Christian is not to go to church. I heard someone quote Joyce Myers the other day. Evidently, she says that sitting in a garage doesn’t make you a car any more than sitting in church makes you a Christian. Oh, don’t get me wrong. I’m very glad to see each and every one of you here today. I hope you invite a friend to come with you next week. I think coming to church is important. But God’s purpose for us is to use our various gifts to equip people, to serve and build and mature until we grow into the fullness of Christ!
We discover our purpose and direction through a connection with the Holy Spirit. That’s what happened in our gospel today. There in the Jordan the heavens opened, and Jesus saw the spirit descending like a dove and alighting on him. He was open to more than he could ask for or imagine. He was touched by God’s claim on his life, he accepted the call and continued until he finished what he was sent to do.
We see this pattern not just in Jesus’ life but in the lives of nearly all the people in the biblical story. Jacob wrestled with God on the riverbank. In his dream there he climbed a ladder with God at the top. The heavens opened, so to speak, and he heard God’s claim on his life. The voice said, Know that I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and I will bring you back, for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you. Jacob became Israel there. With his new identity he pledged his life to God and through him God accomplished what was meant to be.
Moses, in his encounter with the divine before the burning bush, was called to lead a people out of slavery—of course he protested, Who am I? What gifts do I have for such an audacious task? But God’s claim was on him. Moses had seen the greatest need around him, the bondage and destruction of a whole people. And it happened, he led them to freedom.
Saul, a Jewish persecutor of the early Christians, received a calling on the road to Damascus. The heavens opened, so to speak. Saul became Paul the evangelist to the Gentiles. In Galatians 1 he describes himself as an apostle who is not sent from human authority or commissioned through human agency, but sent through Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised him from the dead.” How did he know? He didn’t read it in the Bible or learn it in Seminary. He went to Jerusalem with Barnabas and Titus 14 years later, and because of a revelation, he found his mission. He never met Jesus—it came through the Spirit’s working.
Steve and I had a chance to get to know Peter and Melinda Gebraad better last week over dinner one night. They are the founders of Gems of Mazatlan, a Canadian charity that distributes tax deductible donations to 6 of the orphanages in Mazatlan, including the Salvation Army Children’s Home, whose residents sing here for us each year during Advent. For Pete and Melinda the heavens opened, so to speak, when they met the SACH kids in 2014 and fell in love with them. They weren’t looking for a life purpose, but they found one. They never dreamed this would become their passion and give such meaning to life.
Their careers allow them to work remotely and devote 6 months a year to improving the lives of children through stabilizing the facilities and systems in the various orphanages here. They saw a need, identified how to meet the need, and used their own gifts to further the mission given to them. Those three steps are vital to figuring out a life purpose.
Pete works as a pyrotechnician, producing shows as big as the Olympics. Pyrotechnics is not his mission. But the skills and talents he used in that work, organizing, publicizing, recruiting, managing—are put to use, now, in the service of the orphans of Mazatlan. Melinda works as an accountant—but that’s not her life mission. She uses those skills though in the financial management of the charity they founded.
I listed a website in the bulletin today: beyondbeaches.ca It includes a directory of charities that are looking for volunteers. If you’ve got time to give and the skills to fix things, or mow grass, or make sandwiches, or give rides, or hold the hand of a child who has to go the dentist for the first time—they can hook you up. Who knows how the Spirit will work in your life.
The Spirit equips us for service and calls us to serve. It’s through our God-given talents that we are built up into mature Christians, fully grown and measured by the standard of the fullness of Christ. It doesn’t have to be showy or public. There’s all kinds of quiet ministry and service going on too.
My prayer for each of you is the same as Paul’s prayer. Now to the one who by the power at work within us, is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine, to that One—to God, be the glory in the church, now, and through all generations!
Open yourselves to the Spirit’s power. Let the heavens open and hear the words “Beloved” “Child of God” “The one with whom God is pleased.” Amen