For it is proper

Matthew 3: 13-17, NT page 3 Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan, to be baptized by him. John would have prevented it saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now; for it is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he consented. And when Jesus had been baptized, suddenly the heavens were opened to him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.” Sermon It is Sunday morning, and I am willing to bet that each one of you could think of something else that you might be doing rather than being here, dressed, and in church. Because you are here there are unread newspapers sitting on kitchen tables, 2nd cups of coffee growing cold because there wasn’t enough time to drink them, there is wrapping paper still not put away, clean clothes that sit unfolded, leaves unraked – all because you chose to give your Sunday morning to God rather than whatever chore that will now have to be done later. But not only does getting here take a restructuring of priorities, there are obstacles to getting here as well. I heard a mother say that Satan works the hardest on Sunday mornings, and I can believe it, as there is some power who hides that other shoe, who keeps socks from sliding on, and who puts tangles in little girls’ hair so that getting here at 10:30 is nearly impossible and getting here at 9:00 for Sunday School completely unattainable. But you are here, and simply in showing up I believe that you have done something significant. However, it has been said that a person showing up in a church doesn’t make him a Christian any more than a person showing up in a garage makes him a car, so it not only matters that you are here, to some degree or another it also matters why you are here. There is an old story about a Christian Educator, a good and talented one like our Susie Baxter, who led her group of children into the sanctuary to teach them about reverence in holy places. She said to her group, “it’s important to be quiet in the sanctuary, do you know why?” A smart little girl raised her hand and said, “So we don’t wake up all the people who are sleeping?” You not only have to show up, you also have to stay awake. You have to try to sing hymns that you’ve never heard before. You have to participate fully, because it’s not as though I am the presenter and you are the audience – we are all the worshippers and God is the audience. It is good for you to be here – it is right for you to be here – and – it is proper for you to be here too. Jesus showed up to be baptized by John in the river for the same reason. Our second scripture lesson from the Gospel of Matthew says tells us that, “Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan, to be baptized by him. John would have prevented it saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now; for it is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness.” It is proper for you to be here. It is what good Christian women and men are supposed to be doing on Sunday morning, and I am proud of the way you make this time a priority week after week. I believe that it is when people like you make it a priority to be present in a place such as this and at a time such as now, that the Lord works to change your heart and fill you with the Spirit. It is proper for you to be here, just as it was proper for Jesus to be baptized by John, but that word, “proper,” can mean a lot of things. Some would say it is proper to get married in a church – but that doesn’t mean that every bride and groom who have been married in this place ever set foot in this sanctuary again after the ceremony was over. It is proper for young men and women to be confirmed, and to join this church as full participating members by their own choice and will, but just because it is proper that you be confirmed here, confirmation is the beginning of your life in Christ and not the fulfillment of your Christian obligation. Proper, you see, can mean a lot of things, but saying that it is proper to be baptized – know that it is proper, just as it was proper that Jesus be baptized in the Jordan by John, but by no means was Jesus baptized to satisfy his grandmother or to prove to everyone in town that he was a good a decent person. His baptism, while it was done properly, it wasn’t about looking pretty on a special day, though that’s what being proper can turn into. Doing what is proper – this is a sticky and complicated business, as you probably know. You want to follow the proper procedure, abide by the rules of upstanding society, you want to show the people you care about that you and your family are good enough to be taken seriously and have done all the proper things to hold your head up high when you walk through the grocery store or into the Benefit Ball. As the eyes look you over, you want to be able to say to yourself, “I have done the things that I am supposed to do – I have done what is proper and right.” Married in the right church. Baby’s been baptized. Kids are enrolled in the right school, they have a good group of friends, and they wear the right clothes. The list goes on, and it never gets any shorter because most people don’t know when they’ve done enough, even though while the list gets longer it also gets more expensive. Parents of small children, sooner or later your little girl will need the iPhone that everyone else has, and do you have any idea how mean kids can be about that kind of stuff? Of course you do, and so do I. I am sure it still feels true, that if a rumor goes out in middle school that your mother buys your clothes at Walmart, you may as well pack up your desk now and get ready to change schools. And if your daughters get their shoes and their pants wet on a hike like ours did yesterday, but you decide to take them into the Baskin Robins anyway because you made a promise, and nothing is more serious to little girls than a promise that involves ice cream, so you take them in there, both of them barefoot and one of them pants-less, and you worry if your status in the community will still be intact by the time they finish their ice cream cones. Have you done everything that a proper parent should? Do you have everything that a proper teenager is supposed to have? Have you done all that is proper to “fulfill all righteousness?” It feels good if you have, but what if you know you haven’t? If you look yourself over and are left with the distinct impression that everything is not quite right, if you look deep inside and become convinced that more can be done, or, if you don’t feel proper at all, and in fact, you’re just about ready to give up trying to be – if that’s where you are than you know the reason Christ was born and you can come to understand why he went to the river to be baptized by John. He went to be baptized by John, not because he was supposed to or because it was what good people were doing at the time – Jesus goes to the river to be baptized by John because even though he’s God, that doesn’t mean he can do everything by himself. And so often the pressure is on you to do more and be more – but Jesus goes to the river to be baptized by John and he gives thanks for ministry that not he, but someone else, is already doing. Picture him there baptized by John and know that doing what is proper is not always about you, but giving thanks for the work of those around you, asking for their help, and learning from their example. He went to John to be baptized, not because he had lived a proper life, in fact we know that he hadn’t. His mother was pregnant before the wedding day, his father wasn’t really his father, he was from the wrong side of town in the wrong kind of city – but baptism has little to do with living up to the standards of proper society – baptism is about being made proper by the hand of God. So picture him there, not much in the eyes of the world, and know that no matter what you think they are saying about you, in the eyes of God you are not just proper – you are beloved. He went to be baptized in the river by John, not because he needed to cross all the t’s and dot all the I’s, not because he wanted to look like he had it all together and was doing everything just right – Jesus goes to the water, and it was for him just as it is for you – he goes to the water to give thanks for a strength and a love beyond himself. Picture him coming up out of the water and know that when he’s baptized by John it’s a voice that is not his own that he hears and it is a power beyond his own that he feels just as coming here should have little to do with what you have done or have failed to do but has everything to do with what God has done and is doing. It is good that you are here, it is right and good and proper, for this place is not about how proper you feel as though you are – this place is about God and who God will be to you if you are willing to believe in a redeeming power beyond yourself. If you are tiered of trying to prove it to yourself and everyone else, let God make you proper, let God make you well, for God created you and called you good, God redeemed you and called you Beloved. Amen.