Sermon: January 13, 2002
Rev. T Michael Harty

Today, this First Sunday after Epiphany, you have invited me here to preach on Matthew, the third chapter. Today, you have also bestowed upon me the honor of speaking on the occasion of the 80th Anniversary Celebration of Christ’s Blessed Congregation, Den Norske Lutherske Mindekirke. For this I am most grateful.

From the very beginning, well intentioned Norwegians believed that the idea of a Norwegian speaking congregation would not fly. Little did they know back then that Mindekirken had no intention of flying, but of driving. And the peaceful pace of driving has made all the difference
in the world to the success of this congregation.

Since that cold day of January 9th 1922, in the Season of Our Lord’s Epiphany, generations of Norwegians and Norwegian Americans at Mindekirken have quietly driven the message of Jesus Christ into their hearts. Now, this church has become known across both Norway and the United States as a place of serious worship in the Norwegian Language, with God inspired music, and warm-hearted fellowship.

Today, we continue to proclaim Jesus Christ’s vision for our lives at Mindekirken by hearing with our hearts the story about His Baptism as told in Matthew 3:13-17.
From the very beginning of his Gospel, Matthew has been introducing us to Jesus Christ. Matthew traced Jesus’ genealogy, told us of His birth, and allowed us to be with the Wise Men as they gave Him gifts. Matthew showed us how Herod the Great tried to rid of this Messiah child, and
how God rescued Jesus by moving Him and His family first to Egypt, and then back again to Nazareth. From there, John the Baptist proclaims Jesus’ coming ministry to Israel. And now today, this First Sunday after Epiphany, Jesus comes to John the Baptist to be baptized. For the most part, this part of Matthew, chapters 1-4, comes across as being informational. And to an extent, that is what Matthew intends.

You see, Matthew is writing to a Jewish audience, and to a Jewish Christian audience. These are people who know about Jesus, but need to hear about the beginnings of His life and ministry to strengthen their faith. These are people who worship in synagogues for Old Testament wisdom; some of them gather later in their homes for Christian wisdom.
Matthew inspires the tugging of their hearts by proclaiming Christ with a generous amount of references to the Old Testament. His hope is to convert them all to the Christian faith only.

But we are not Jewish, nor are we Jewish Christians. We are 21st Century Christians; we already accept Christ. It may not therefore be possible to fully comprehend what Matthew is putting into the first four chapters of his gospel beyond basic information about Jesus. And because of that, it may not be possible to fully comprehend the power of today’s text, especially verse 17.

Our text today is short, it could be read in one minute or less. It shows Jesus approaching John the Baptist and requesting a Baptism. John hesitates, saying that perhaps Jesus should be the one baptizing him!

Jesus assures John that “all righteousness” is accomplished through this baptism, and then the Holy Spirit comes to Jesus “like a dove”. At that point God speaks: “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.” (3:17) It all sounds so good.

However, when we dig deeper into these verses, we begin to wonder why Jesus should be baptized at all. After all, Matthew says in 1:18 that Mary was, “found to be with child from the Holy Spirit.” Why would He receive the Holy Spirit again? And if we wonder why He should receive the Holy Spirit again, then we may ask why Jesus should be baptized.
For John the Baptist baptized for the forgiveness of sins. What sins did Jesus commit? And if that seems somewhat confusing to us as 21st Century Christians, think of how it came across to Jews and Jewish Christians of the 1st Century.

Matthew is up to something here, and it is not simply to inform us about Jesus’ early life or the beginning of His ministry. He wants to tell us something that is critical for understanding God and who God is now that Jesus lives on earth. So what might that be? What does God want to tell us?

First, God wants us to know in our hearts that Jesus was baptized to identify Himself with a sinful humankind that He came to save, though He Himself did not sin. And secondly, God wants us to know in our hearts that the Holy Spirit which Jesus received was somehow different than the
one that created him. This Holy Spirit received by Jesus in His Baptism created the bond that moved Jesus, as Son of God, into His earthly messianic ministry.

Most importantly, God wants to speak to all who hear Matthew’s words this most important point: God Himself proclaims Jesus to be the Son of God! Although Matthew alludes to Jesus being the Son of God up to this point (3:17), now God proclaims it to be the truth.

John Kennedy once said, “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.” Martin Luther King once said, “I have a Dream.” Franklin Delano Roosevelt once said, “All we have to fear is fear itself.” And Patrick Henry once said, “Give me Liberty, or give me death.” These are words meant to be written upon our very souls; they are exceedingly important words that give meaning to our lives. So too is God’s proclamation that Jesus is the Son of God; it is meant to have that same impact. Matthew 3:17 is meant to be written upon our very hearts and souls. “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”
It is a verse to be meditated upon night and day by those who accept Jesus as their Savior, and are Baptized. For to read this verse only as a piece of information from the pen of Matthew is to miss the depth of who Jesus Christ is in our lives.

Jesus Christ is the Son of God. This means that no one else is the Son of God. Not any of the great religious leaders, nor the prophets, nor even John the Baptist. And especially not any one of us.

However, we live in a culture today where the self is regarded as the final determiner of the self’s life. One may rise and fall based on one’s personal choices. Jesus, the Son of God is at best an equal partner, or a silent partner when things are going well, or at worst, no partner at all.

As Mindekirken moves through its 80th Anniversary year and beyond, God wants us to know today that Jesus is the Son of God. When we accept this, believe this in our hearts, and meditate upon our Jesus, our Son of God, we will become convinced that our sins are forgiven, and our salvation is assured. We will let go of our way of doing things, and
hand our lives over to Jesus, the Son of God.

When the early Norwegian settlers emigrated from Norway in 19th Century, they regarded Jesus as the Son of God, and prospered in America. When Norway was held hostage by Germany in World War II,

Norwegians accepted Jesus as The Son of God, and the Germans were repelled. But today, with our affluent American culture, recent generations of Norwegian Americans cannot hear God proclaiming that Jesus is the Son of God. And so the next generations of Norwegian Americans will have to hear our voices above the noise of televisions
and radios so they may know in their hearts that Jesus is the Son of God.

For as we accept Jesus as the Son of God, we reject that we and others are the Son of God, and future Norwegian Americans will sense this.

They will see us treating them as sacred people, just as Jesus has seen us as sacred in His eyes. Future Norwegian Americans will then come to seek out Mindekirken for hope in a world that thrives on hopelessness. They will find peace here while living in a world that cannot maintainpeace. And the mission of Mindekirken will move from us and into the
future as a holy and sacred gift of God to the coming generations. We will tell everyone that Jesus is the Son of God.

And in doing this, God will be glorified through His Son, with whom He is well pleased, the Son whom we proclaim today is Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.