I.N.I.

A sermon to be preached at St. Timothy Lutheran Church, Hyde Park, NY on the 1st Sunday after the Epiphany (9 January 1994), and based on the lessons for the day, the Baptism of our Lord, particularly the Epistle, Acts 10:34-38

Grace, mercy and peace be yours in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Dear Friends in Christ,

In a course I teach at Concordia College, Bronxville, we have the students focus of heroic figures. We want them to end up being able to evaluate heroic figures. We want our students to think about what makes a person a hero. We want them to think about why some unlikely people are heroes, and why some well-known figures aren’t heroes.

One of the things we do the first day is to ask our students to write down an answer to the question “Who are your heroes today? We get some interesting answers. There are always some who look up to Mom and Dad, some who hold up a coach or teacher, some who say that different sports figures or entertainers are And there are often ones who say they really have their heroes.

A lack of role models and heroes is really appalling. Just about as appalling to me is when our students hold inadequate role models as their heroes. They aim low and often even miss that mark.

This is sinful. It is an unfocused waste of the talents God has given us. It is poor stewardship. It is wrong. It should be avoided.

On this day on the Church’s calendar which has been reserved for a remembrance of the Baptism of our Lord, we can find in the lessons for the day a charge to hold up Jesus as our role model.

Think first, for a moment, about some of the biblical information we have about people who aim low in selecting their role models. There was Judas Iscariot, of course, who lived in the very presence of the Lord, but somehow was pulled away to the temptation to betray the Lord. The Old Testament brings us the sad record of the sons of Eli, who had a fine role model in their father the priest, but contented themselves with being scoundrels who desecrated the sacrifices to fill their own bellies. Jesus tells the parable of the prodigal son who, rather than emulating his successful, loving father (or even his older brother) thought only of himself and ran out of town making whoopee on his portion of the family wealth. There’s also a whole book of advice that we call the Book of Proverbs in the Old Testament. It calls us to remember the wisdom of our elders as we honor the Lord in everything we say and do. It also warns us what can happen if we ignore this sage advice and aim no higher than our basest desires.

These examples from Scripture can be multiplied many times over by looking in the newspaper, by reading literature, by viewing plays and movies. The point of tension that creates interest on the part of the reader is often a conflict in values between one person who is available to be a worthy role model, and another person who is rejecting the values and lifestyle of the first. The point of tragedy in a news story is often where an otherwise “good” person suddenly commits a senseless, violent crime. Both these kinds of cases reveal either a rejection of worthy role models, or an attachment to someone who is very unheroic.

Jesus, as God’s ideal, is our best role model. The Gospel for today recalls for us His Baptism. We see Him going down into the water of the Jordan River to be baptized by John over John’s objections. Jesus said He had to be baptized in order to fulfill all righteousness (Matthew 3:15), so John consented.

What was the righteousness that Jesus had to fulfill? What was the work He had to do? In being baptized, Jesus was starting His public ministry (although He did immediately thereafter go off to spend 40 days fasting and praying in the wilderness). What did His ministry consist of?

We could describe the miracles: healings, feeding the hungry, raising the dead, walking on water, and so on. We could describe the teaching: parables, sermons, object lessons, and so on.

Instead, let’s look at the way Jesus’ ministry is described in today’s Old Testament lesson [Isaiah 42:1-7]: the first of the four ‘servant songs’ in Isaiah. Keep in mind that the characteristics of our Lord’s ministry can be held up as goals for us to reach, too. Jesus can be our perfect role model or hero.

In Isaiah, Jesus is called God’s servant (v. 1). We, indeed, are also servants of the most high God. He is called the “chosen one in whom [God] delight[s]” (v. 1); and God certainly chose each of us, knowing us from before we were conceived, nurturing us in our mother’s womb, leading us to faith, to Baptism, to life in Him. Verse 1 of Isaiah 42 also says that “He will bring justice to the nations.” This all—pervading sense of fairness and equality, of even-handedness in His treatment of us–and remember the opening words of the lesson from Acts serving as our text where Peter proclaims his insight that God shows no partiality, treating all people the same–this justice certainly filled Jesus’ earthly ministry and is a hallmark of the way Christians treat people.

Verse 2 says that “He will not shout or cry out, or raise his voice in the streets.” In other words, He will bring peace and be a man of peace. What an apt description of the Christian, as well. “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the sons of God.” (Matt. 5: 9)

Gentleness and a healing touch over against the weak and helpless are expressed in the words “a bruised reed He will not break, and a smoldering wick He will not snuff out.” There are so many hurting people in our world, that it would be easy to break their spirits and snuff out their hopes almost without knowing it. The directing Spirit of Christ in us guides us to a more careful path among them.

These and other descriptions of the ministry of Jesus are things for us to aim for in our walk of faith with Him. You know what He said and did; you know what is recorded in the Gospels. As Peter says in our text from the Book of Acts, “You know … how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him. ” (10:37-38) This is our goal as Christians. This is our target. This is our role model.

We are a called—together community of believers who seek to be like Christ. Moving back up to verses 34 and 35 of Acts 10, we see where God puts this claim on us. There Luke records Peter saying that “I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism, but accepts men from every nation who fear him and do what is right.” These two things are the means at our disposal for marching in step with the Lord Jesus. Let’s see ways in which this happens.

‘Those who fear Him, can be confusing. Does it mean those who are afraid of God? Those who shake in their boots at His approach? Is this a way of recalling throughout history the terror felt by Adam and Eve hiding in the Garden as God walked nearby after their rebellious first sin? Nor indeed, it is not.

The verb “fear” also contains the meaning “respect.” This is how it is used here in Scripture. Martin Luther explained it this way in one of his earliest sermons: “Being afraid of God is different from fearing God. The fear of God is a fruit of love, but being afraid of Him is the seed of hatred. Therefore we should not be afraid of God but should fear Him so that we do not hate Him whom we should love…. Therefore the fear of God is more aptly called reverence.” (What Luther Says, #1525)

Luther’s brief explanations to the 10 Commandments in his Small Catechism, you’ll remember, begin “We should fear and love God….” The commandments are explicit instances of ways we can show our love and respect for the God who loves and created us. The rich interpretation of these words from God that comes to us in the Catechism shows us how we can be living God-pleasing lives. The person who fears God in this way shows that he or she has been made acceptable to God.

We should also note that even in Bible times, the Gentiles who attached themselves to communities of Jews and professed their faith in the true God were called “Godfearers.” Respecting and revering God showed that the Lord had made them acceptable to Himself, even though they were not biological children of Abraham.

The other, the second, thing from our text that is a means at our disposal for marching in step with Jesus is we “do what is right.” That should be simple enough. This means that we fulfill God’s will in actions that are pleasing to Him. It doesn’t, of course, mean anything like that we earn salvation by doing this. It doesn’t even mean that doing what is right is something that we are able to do before God graciously steps into our lives and brings us to faith in Him.

How do we know what is ‘right”? How do we know what God’s will is, that we may do it? We read the Bible, of course.

St. John tells us in two places (the 6th chapter of his Gospel, and the 3rd chapter of his first epistle) that God’s commandment—the work that God wants us to do—is to believe in Jesus Christ as our Savior. It’s as simple as that.

And since God is the One Who is bringing us to faith anyway, it works out pretty evenly: He tells us what He wants us to do, then He gives us the power and motivation to do it. Believing in Jesus as our Savior from sin is doing what is right.

Naturally, there are many things that will grow out of our faith. There are many actions and attitudes that will follow because we are believers. Acts of mercy and charity will become more and more our natural reaction to the needs of those around us. We, who are anointed with God’s Spirit through our Baptism, will grow to become more Christlike in our words and deeds.

When we hold up the Lord Jesus as our hero, as our role model, we have a sure and certain pattern to mold our own lives after. We will be the people God wants us to be.

AMEN

May the peace of God that passes all human understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord. AMEN

S.D.G.