Julie Rubidge ended her sermon last Sunday morning with the words `We wish you a happy new year! ` What positive words! We pray for one another, that indeed this will be a happy new year, a brand new year, full of new potential. Our readings today echo positivity and hope, to cheer us as we enter into a new year.
Our Gospel reading is a familiar one, the baptism of Jesus, there in all four Gospels.
The whole country of Israel is buzzing with excitement as it receives the message of John the Baptist. Could the coming of the Messiah be close? Hundreds are being baptised by John, longing for a new beginning. Jesus himself comes to be baptised and the crowds see something completely new. Matthew describes the Spirit of God coming down on Jesus and alighting on him. The voice from heaven affirms who Jesus is: `This is my own dear Son, with whom I am pleased.` Something completely new.
That new beginning is described in our Epistle reading from Acts 10 as we hear Peter speaking with boldness to the crowds about the Resurrection. He speaks of Jesus` baptism: `You know about Jesus of Nazareth and how God poured out on Him the Holy Spirit and power.` On that day great numbers are baptised, from near and far. Something completely new.
And here is our Old Testament reading in Isaiah 42 about the coming of the Messiah: `Here is my servant, whom I strengthen – the one I have chosen, with whom I am pleased. I have filled him with my spirit, and he will bring justice to every nation. ` Verse 6: Through you I will make a covenant with all peoples; through you I will bring light to the nations.` Verse 9: `The things I predicted have now come true. Now I will tell you of new things even before they begin to happen.` Something completely new.
God delights in new things. He himself doesn`t change but he is continually making things new. In this new year, he wants to do the same in us. There are so many plans he has for your life and mine. But we struggle. We want to follow Jesus. We want to be in step with him in his church. But so often we fall short.
How can we try to make things different in this new year? Perhaps we need to look at our Gospel reading for pointers to the answer.
Jesus comes to John to be baptised. He shows the humility of the Messiah. John protests and asks that Jesus baptise him. But Jesus is adamant: `Let it be so for now. For in this way we shall do all that God requires.` What is God calling you to? Is it to take a step of faith? Is it to let go of something we know to be wrong? Imagine you are kneeling at the feet of Jesus. What do we want to offer in his service? Jesus came to be baptised – we need to come to him in repentance, as we allow him to work in us.
We need to admit our need of him, just as Jesus acknowledged his need of God`s direction. We need to repent, to turn away from what we know to be wrong and to pray that the Holy Spirit, a person, will work in us. Michael Ramsey, once Archbishop of Canterbury, wrote this: `To put it as simply as possible: where is God? God is above us and around us and everywhere, the world`s creator. Where is God? God is particularly revealed in Jesus, the very image of God. Where is God? God is within me, enabling me to respond to God above me and around me. Why a person? Because God is always personal, not impersonal, so I find myself saying not that there`s an It within me – but just as there is a He to whom I am responding, so there is a He within me enabling me to make that response.`
Jesus in his baptism saw the Holy Spirit alighting on him, the Spirit to empower him.
In the same way we come to the end of our own resources and rely on the Spirit`s indwelling power. If we look at a series of religious rules, we will find it hard to keep them. If we rely on the depth of our knowledge of the bible, we shall come unstuck. We need to rely on Jesus and his Spirit within us. We need to pray that the power of the Holy Spirit would so empower our lives that what happened throughout the book of Acts is ours too. God longs that we shall allow change. He longs for an obedient and expectant people to come to him, to admit their need of him, and to receive the riches of his kingdom. The voice came from heaven at Jesus` baptism was clear: `This is my own dear Son, with whom I am pleased.` He says the same to us, his dear sons, his dear daughters, that he delights in us. But he has much more to show us, much more to do in us. May this new year of grace, 2023, be one when each one of us experiences something completely new as our Lord ministers to us in the power of the Holy Spirit and calls us afresh to his service.
The Revd Pat Hopkins