Tell Out My Soul

Luke 3:15-17, 21-22

“Epiphany” means to reveal. And there are three major events in the season of Epiphany that are said to reveal the divinity of Jesus. Firstly the, visit of the three Magi, secondly, the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan River, and thirdly Jesus’ first miracle at the wedding feast in Cana when he turned water into wine.

Jesus’ baptism by John marks the official beginning of Jesus’ ministry. The baptism is accepted by Bible scholars and historians to be a concrete factual event, it is an event that is related in all four of the gospels. Jesus crucifixion, his resurrection and his baptism are the three most important events of his ministry. His baptism took place in the river Jordan at a place called Bethabara, on the eastern bank. John was preaching there and gathering a large following. He spoke up against the hollow practices of the Sadducean priesthood and their focus on the outward show of faith. He was very critical of the establishment; and this eventually got him into trouble.

John preached that goodness and righteousness was not all about paying money, making sacrifices and sticking to rules and regulations. John preached repentance but he didn’t mean it to be a washing away of sin; it was more about a turning away from the things that kept them separated from god. He urged his followers instead to turn towards an authentic relationship with God, a relationship based on love and not a bunch of procedures set up by a corrupt priesthood. And the people that came to John to be baptised were making a public commitment to love god in faith and truth.

The beautiful thing about this event is how the relationship between Jesus and John is revealed and how interdependent the two men were. We heard a few weeks ago about Mary visiting Elizabeth and the touching connection which was made between Jesus and John even when they were still in their mothers’ wombs. John’s whole mission, his life’s purpose, depended on the arrival of Jesus and the success of Jesus’ mission hinged on John’s preparatory work. From the moment they were conceived their destinies were intertwined in this divine plan. John and Jesus were like a double act so to speak but on different stages and this moment was when their life missions dovetailed.

We can imagine the scene, it’s peaceful, Jesus has just emerged from the water, the water running down his head and shoulders, his head bowed in prayer. The clouds part, the sun comes out and the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove flutters down upon Jesus and then the voice of God the father saying, “you are my son, my beloved, with you I am well pleased.” This is the revelation; God has given his son his stamp of approval and Jesus is making a commitment to do his Father’s will, whatever it takes. He’s saying, here I am Lord, I’m ready.

It is a significant and touching moment, all three members of the Holy Trinity are present in one place. God the father’s voice is heard, the Holy Spirit in the visible form of a dove appears, and of course, the physical presence of our Lord Jesus, the word made flesh.

The Holy Trinity, for a long time, has been a mystery; how can one god, indivisible be three persons? Well God isn’t like a box with three compartments. The Trinity can be described as a community of relationship. The early church fathers used a word to describe the Trinity and this word was perichoresis which literally translates to a circle dance. The Father, Son and Holy Spirit are constantly engaged in a circular dance of harmony and flow, a relationship without a beginning or end and Jesus’ mission was to invite us to this dance, to draw us into this circle and into a close relationship with God.

And the joy in all this is that we are all acceptable to God just as we are and all we have to do to join in this dance is to rsvp, to say yep we’re coming. We don’t have to be pious or good or perfect or anything like that. I love this saying by Father Richard Rohr a Franciscan author and speaker. He says, “God doesn’t love you because you are good. God loves you because he is good.” How liberating is that? All we have to do is say yes to the invitation and we can come to the dance just as we are, warts and all.

God doesn’t expect us to be free from sin, he knows we’re going to fall short and he forgives us every day. But God does expect something from us and that is to repent. And that means to acknowledge that we fall down, and to make a conscious effort to not repeat these errors. In other words, to turn away from our undesirable behaviours. That’s the important bit about repentance, the promise we make to do better, and not fall into those traps again.

So we have repentance and commitment. These are the means by which we can prepare ourselves to receive the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit is the helper, the healer and the comforter. The Spirit gives us the tools to do God’s will. Things like strength, wisdom, peace, understanding so that we can live in relationship with the Trinity. But God doesn’t just pick people at random and say “wham” here’s the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit doesn’t just arrive out of the blue. In order to receive the Spirit, a person needs to be prepared and ready.

This is what we hear about in the reading from Acts (Acts 8:14-17). The apostle Phillip had gone into Samaria and made converts there and we hear that the Samaritan faithful accepted the word of God and were baptised in the name of Jesus, in other words they were spiritually ready and had made a commitment to follow the teachings. They had repented, turned away from the wrong path. It was only then that Peter and John arrived and laid their hands on them and they were able to receive the Holy Spirit.

It’s only when we make the commitment to God’s plan for us that the Holy Spirit will arrive and fill our hearts with that burning love for God. What does commitment mean? It means to be dedicated. It means devotion, allegiance, loyalty, faithfulness. We make commitments all the time, to our children, grandchildren, husbands, wives, partners, our church, our community, our sporting club, so many commitments. And we keep them, most of the time. But a commitment that is of paramount importance that sometimes drops to the bottom of our commitment list is our personal commitment to God, to Jesus, who gives us so much and asks so little in return.

A really good way to keep our commitment to God is to keep him in our hearts and minds as we live our daily lives. We can do that by simply spending time with God, praying, and thinking about him through the course of the day. It could be simply just saying to God, “have I said I love you today.” Making a commitment to God doesn’t mean that we have to exclude everything else or give anything up. We don’t have to enter a monastery or anything like that. It just means saying “yes” to God, “yes, I love you and I will do what you want me to do and I will do my best today to do what pleases you. I want to be on your team, I want to join in the dance of the Trinity and to be part of the divine community of relationship.”

It’s not hard. It’s dead easy really; God does not want to make things hard for us. As the apostle John says, “For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome” (1 John 5:3). Making this commitment with our full hearts and minds, means that we are ready to receive the Spirit. And the Holy Spirit gives us the tools to carry out God’s will, and live in communion with him. How great is that, on top of it all, we get all the help we need.

There’s a beautiful prayer called Come Holy Spirit which reads in part,
“come Holy Spirit fill the hearts of thy faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love. Send forth your Spirit and they shall be created. And you shall renew the face of the earth.”

Renewing the face of the earth, that seems like a pretty big project. The Holy Spirit can’t do this by himself, he needs us, the faithful, to help carry out this project of renewal. And if we say yes to God and make that commitment to him, to be faithful in name and deed, then it is guaranteed that the Holy Spirit will come to us. The Holy Spirit will fill our hearts with the unquenchable fire of love for God. The Holy Spirit gives us the strength and will to be God’s hands and feet in the work that needs to be done here on earth, in his holy name.

Amen