Good morning.
Each year leading up to New Year's Day,
about one-third or so of Americans
will make some kind of New Year's resolution.
And you can probably guess
what some of the most popular resolutions are, right?
Eat less, exercise more,
and usually take up some kind of new hobby.
Last week, however, I read a column in the New York Times
in which somebody described a different approach
to New Year's resolutions.
The author and a group of friends
would get together for brunch every New Year's Day,
and at the end of the meal,
they would write a resolution down on a piece of paper,
and then they would put it in a hat,
and then everyone would draw from the hat,
receiving a random resolution,
and that would be their assignment for the coming year.
And she writes that usually these resolutions were practical,
like fold your clothes at night
instead of putting them over a chair.
Or sometimes they might be aspirational,
like sign up for voice lessons.
She writes that one year, however,
I drew the following resolution out of the hat.
Every morning, when you wake up,
stick your arms out at your sides,
wiggle your fingers,
and say,
it's showtime.
She says she actually did this faithfully
for the month of January before it fell off,
but she says that even now,
years later,
she will occasionally still start her day with,
it's showtime.
Now, even if they are not as unique as that,
there are good reasons why people make New Year's resolutions.
And one of those reasons, research shows,
is that a key component of change in a person's life
is what behavioral scientists call the fresh start effect.
People are more likely to pursue positive change in their life
at key markers that provide a kind of psychological do-over.
And they allow them to put some distance
between themselves and their past failures of the previous year
and to be sort of newly optimistic about the future.
And so studies show that people are more likely to visit the gym
after New Year's Day in January
and also after a birthday
at the start of a new semester
and on Mondays.
Sometimes those fresh starts that we need
that provide us that kind of opportunity for a fresh start,
sometimes we don't choose them.
Sometimes they find us.
There's a unique thing,
if it's okay here in January,
to talk a little bit early about baseball.
I know spring training hasn't even happened.
But there's a unique thing that happens
when Major League Baseball players
get traded from one team to another
in the middle of a season.
If you get traded to a team in a different league,
so if you're playing for a team in the National League
and you get traded mid-season to a team in the American League,
all of your stats for the year,
like your batting average,
are reset to zero.
And they are calculated afresh
from the moment of that trade.
It's like the season has just like
suddenly started over anew for you.
On the other hand,
if you get traded to a team in the same league,
nothing changes.
Your stats just continue
as they were through the season.
And a recent study looked at over 40 years of data
and discovered something fascinating
for players who were not having a great season.
And they got traded to a team
in the other league
allowing their stats to be reset.
What happened?
Their performance got a major boost.
Their batting averages improved.
They got on base more often.
They played better defense.
Why?
Because they got the chance of a fresh start.
They had a new beginning.
And today's gospel reading
from Luke,
where John the Baptist
is baptizing in the Jordan River,
it's a story about new beginnings.
People have heard
John's preaching out in the desert,
calling them to change their lives,
to live more generously,
to care for those in need,
to be more honest.
And they have come to the water's edge
to get a fresh start.
Luke 3 verse 15 says,
the people were in expectation.
These were folks that
did not have great stats.
Their moral batting averages
had taken a hit.
Their relational integrity was slumping.
And here on the banks of the Jordan River,
they had an opportunity
in the middle of the season
to begin again.
And so as each person waded in
and as John the Baptist
lowered them below the water,
they might have been recalling stories
that they had heard the rabbis
talking about in the synagogue.
They might have thought about
the story of Naaman,
who had been instructed
by the prophet Elisha
to go and wash himself
seven times
right there in the River Jordan
to be healed,
to be cleansed
from his leprosy.
Or they might have
reflected on the fact
that in the Old Testament,
water is a symbol
of both destruction
and judgment.
And they might have remembered
Noah being kept safe
from the destructive waters
of the flood
or how Pharaoh's army
as they were pursuing
the Israelites
out of Egypt
were drowned
in the Red Sea.
And so as John the Baptist
would lift each person
out of the water
and as they step back
onto dry land,
they would have done so
with a sense that
their sins had been judged
and cleansed
and they had the opportunity
for a fresh start.
I think it is entirely possible
that no one even noticed
when Jesus got in line.
Probably no one would have
known him
or if they did,
they knew this was
John the Baptist's cousin
from Nazareth,
50 miles away,
who had been working
in construction.
But in the parallel accounts
from Matthew's gospel,
we do know that
John the Baptist noticed
and he says to Jesus
effectively,
you got in the wrong line.
If anything,
I need you to baptize me.
And I think when we read that,
John the Baptist's reaction
kind of captures
our reaction as well.
Our instinctive thought,
even if we've read this passage
a hundred times before,
is that it's a little bit
disorienting,
it's a little bit jarring
when we see Jesus
standing in line
with everybody else
to see somebody
who has nothing
to repent of
standing in line
for a baptism
of repentance.
But this is what
we have to remember.
Jesus is not in line
for his sins
but for ours.
And this scene
is not just a scene
of a new beginning
for those who are getting baptized.
It is also
a beginning
for Jesus
because this is his,
this is the beginning
of his ministry.
This is the inauguration
of his ministry.
And it is a ministry
that is characterized
right from the start
by him
identifying
with us.
The theologian
Carl Barth
who was writing
just before he died
in the final volume
of his
massive church dogmatics,
he wrote
that when Jesus
stood in line
to be baptized
with the others,
Jesus was not
quote
being theatrical.
Barth writes
when Jesus
was baptized
he needed
to be washed
of sin.
Not his sin
but our sin.
When faced
with the sins
of others
he did not
let those sins
remain theirs
but as the one
ordained
from all eternity
to be their brother
took their sins
as his own.
And therefore
no one
who came
to the Jordan
was as laden
and afflicted
as he.
Jesus'
ministry
then
and now
is one
in which
he identifies
with us
and accompanies us.
Wherever we are
no matter
how far away
from God
we might be
or we might feel
no matter
how low
at any
one time
our moral
or relational
batting average
might be
Jesus gets in line
and stands with us.
Even now
Paul writes
in Romans 8
Jesus prays
and intercedes
for us
before the Father.
in all
of our
shortcomings
in all
of our
failures
in all
of our
struggles
nothing
can change
the fact
that Jesus
is with us
that he accompanies us
that he does not leave.
And in this scene
at this
inauguration
of his public ministry
a ministry
that is going
to be carried out
at dinners
with
partiers
and prostitutes
and greedy
financial
analysts
known as
tax collectors
what happens?
We see
Jesus being
empowered
by the Spirit
and affirmed
by the Father
in this ministry
right there
at his baptism.
Luke says
that the Holy Spirit
came down
on Jesus
in the form
of a dove
and the voice
of God the Father
is heard to say
you are my beloved
son
with you
I am well pleased.
This is by the way
the first
and perhaps
clearest expression
of the Trinity
in Scripture.
And right here
we see
that the entire
Godhead
is all in
on this ministry
of Jesus'
solidarity with us.
There's also
something else
for us to consider
when we
read of Jesus'
baptism
and that is
we're reminded
of our own
baptism.
And just as
Jesus'
baptism
is a means
of his
solidarity
with us
our baptism
brings us
into solidarity
with him.
Starting
in the
300s
or so
when
Christianity
was
growing
and expanding
across the
Roman Empire
the church
began
this massive
building
campaign
which included
constructing
these beautiful
baptisteries
some of which
we can still
see today.
And when you
look at them
and you see
the baptismal
pools
designed
around those
baptismal pools
were vivid
frescoes
or mosaics
of
Jesus'
baptism.
So that
as converts
go down
into the
pool of water
they do so
against a
backdrop
of Jesus
standing in
the Jordan
with John
while the
dove of
the Spirit
is coming
down.
And so
at their
own
baptism
of adult
believers
they are
themselves
literally
entering
into the
story
of Jesus'
baptism.
And then
just before
they're
baptized
they would
make
baptismal
vows
using words
very similar
to the words
that we use
in our
baptismal
vows
today.
They would
say I
renounce
the devil
and all
the spiritual
forces of
wickedness
that rebel
against God.
I renounce
the empty
promises
and deadly
deceits of
this world
that corrupt
and destroy
the creatures
of God.
I renounce
the sinful
desires of
the flesh
that draw
me from
the love
of God.
I turn
to Jesus
Christ
and confess
him as
my Lord
and Savior.
I joyfully
receive the
Christian faith.
I will
keep God's
holy will
and commandments
and walk
in them
all the
days of
my life.
And then
they were
baptized.
And they
understood
that they
were being
baptized
not just
with water
but baptized
in the
Holy Spirit.
John the
Baptist
himself
said of
Christ
I baptize
you with
water
but he
will
baptize
you
with
the
Holy
Spirit.
And so
scripture
is clear
that
baptism
is not
just
a
outward
ritual
or a
kind of
institutional
formality.
A person
who is
baptized
in water
whether
that person
can remember
it or
not
whether
it seemed
momentous
or not
whether
they were
adults
or
adolescents
or an
infant
that person
is also
baptized
into the
Holy Spirit
and then
immersed
into a
new realm
the realm
of Christ.
In Galatians
3
Paul writes
that the
believers there
he says
all of you
have been
baptized
into Christ.
In Romans
6
Paul writes
do you
not know
that all
of us
who have
been
baptized
into
Christ
Jesus
were
baptized
into
his
death.
In
1 Corinthians
12
Paul says
for in
one spirit
we were
all
baptized
into
one
body.
What
might
that
mean
for us
today?
Let me
suggest
two things.
baptism
first
some of
us may
come from
traditions
in which
baptism
doesn't
feature
as prominently.
We may
be inclined
to talk
about
decisions
we make
for Christ
or accepting
certain truths
and all
of that
is important.
All of that
is valid.
But throughout
church history
and from the
very start
of the
early church
onward
baptism
was of
great
importance.
At
baptism
we are
immersed
or doused
in a
new
reality.
The reality
of the
Father,
the Son,
and the
Holy Spirit.
And
understood
in this
way
salvation
is not
just
the forgiveness
of sins.
It is
that.
but salvation
is also
about human
persons
entering
into a
new
reality,
the relational
dynamic
of the
Trinity.
And over
time
we begin
to undertake
certain
activities
such as
learning to
pray without
ceasing
that enable
us to
participate
in that
relational
dynamic
in increasingly
deep ways.
second,
there are
opportunities
at various
points in
the church
calendar for
congregations
to renew
or reaffirm
their baptismal
vows.
Often that's
done at Easter
but it can
also occur on
other feast
days such as
Pentecost Sunday
or All Saints
Day.
But
there is
another way
that the
church fathers
say that
our baptism
can be
brought
into
the present
and that
they say
is through
the practice
of
repentance.
One of the
desert fathers
was known
as
Mark
the
ascetic.
He was a
disciple of
St. John
Chrysostom.
He lived
in Egypt
in the
400s
and Mark
writes this
at baptism
Christ
comes to
live in
the innermost
part of
our being
without
our realizing
it at
first.
And we
only become
conscious of
it over
the course
of our
gradual
transformation.
And a key
component of
that transformation
he writes
is repentance
which he
calls the
renewal of
our baptism.
and he
writes that
there are
two kinds
of repentance.
The first
he calls
liturgical
repentance
such as
what we do
here on
Sundays
or what
we would
pray in
the daily
office from
the book
of common
prayer.
And the
second kind
of repentance
is a repentance
that becomes
increasingly
habitual
in our
hearts.
where we
become more
aware of our
shortcomings
and failures
and we
experience
greater humility
in our
efforts to
grow and
we become
more attentive
to the
slow
often
imperceptible
work of
God's grace
in our
lives.
And over
time
we develop
a posture
of repentance
in our
hearts
that gives
God more
space
to work.
But here's
what's
interesting.
The fathers
say that the
second type
of repentance
the habitual
heart level
repentance
is built
on and
depends on
the first
type of
repentance
which is
formal
and liturgical.
Regular
formal
repentance
they say
can create
space
for deeper
work
to occur.
prayer.
So what
this means
practically
is that
when I
pray the
morning
office
when I
open up
the app
on my
phone
with
morning
prayer
on it
and the
confession
of sin
is right
there at
the beginning
every
single
morning
in
morning
prayer
that
confession
of sin
is something
I can
kind of
rush
through
as a
rote
prayer.
Almighty
and merciful
God
we have
erred and
strayed from
your ways
like lost
sheep
we have
followed too
much the
devices and
desires of
our own
hearts
we have
offended
against your
holy laws
I can do
that as a
rote prayer
or
it's an
opportunity
to slow
down
and reflect
to repent
specifically
and daily
of what may
sometimes be
just
simply
hidden
selfishness
but which
creates
barriers
to me
becoming
more like
Christ
using
liturgical
prayer
thoughtfully
and reflectively
can
over time
create space
in our
hearts
in which
deeper
transformation
can occur
and where
Christ begins
to shine
in our lives
that much
more brightly
repentance
is a way
of bringing
our
baptismal
vows
forward
and
activating
the grace
of baptism
given to us
with the Holy
Spirit
right in the
present
and in this
respect
then
new beginnings
are not
just
limited
to
New Year's
Day
or birthdays
or new
semesters
or Mondays
the gift
of daily
repentance
which begins
and remains
liturgical
but increasingly
becomes habitual
and from the heart
is one way
of putting
into practice
that reminder
from Saint
Benedict
always we
begin again
always
we begin
again
and so
perhaps
we can
ask ourselves
at this
start of the
new year
as we
reflect on
Jesus'
baptism
and our
own
where do
I want
to grow
this year
where do
I want
to become
more
free
where do
I long
to become
more like
Christ
and then
we seek
to live
out our
baptismal
vows
with the
power of
the Holy
Spirit
through the
practice
of daily
repentance
we know
that we'll
fail
we know
that the
path
to
transformation
is long
and slow
but we
will also
remembering
with each
faltering
step
that
Jesus
who began
his
ministry
standing
in line
with
sinners
is
standing
right there
beside us
amen
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