Again & Again: God Meets Us at the Edge
Scripture: Matthew 1:9-15
Quote: Again and Again, God meets us where we are, but doesn’t leave us there!
Matthew 1:9-15
Baptism of Jesus
In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”
The Temptation of Jesus
And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him.
The Beginning of the Galilean Ministry
Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.”
This story begins and ends with Jesus doing something. But in the middle, God is present. Specifically, Jesus decides to be baptized, he is tempted, and he begins his ministry (proclaims God’s reign).
Baptism – Matthew 1:9 -11 – God Claims Us
In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”
This is kind of an echo of Genesis 1. There God calls things to rise out of the chaos and then proclaims the, good. It is good it is good it is good. Here Jesus rises our of the water (a symbol of chaos in the Bible) and proclaims him beloved and expresses delight and pleasure….essentially he is good
And it’s like this for us as well. As we rise out of the waters of baptism God is delighted, he claims us as beloved, god is pleased as a mother is pleased with her child.
God didn’t just send Jesus to suffer; God delights in Jesus, expressing joy for his belovedness – that too is part of God’s purpose in Jesus Christ. And I think we Christians forget this! Every parents creates their child with joy and delights in the child. Before Jesus was sent to suffer he was sent to bring joy! Remember that!
And Jesus hadn’t really done much yet. Especially in the gospel of Mark! So God wasn’t delighted in what Jesus did…that’s not what Mark is trying to tell us anyway. God delighted in Jesus for who he was and is! “With you I delight, I am well please. Not I delight in your decision, but you just for you!
We need to remember this as well cause again it is this way for us…God does not delight in what we do, but rather, in who we are.
One more thing: In this moment of baptism, pay attention to where Jesus is, who he is with…. he is with every other person who hears and decides to get baptised. The fishermen, his fellow carpenters, the folks who worked the vineyard, the bakers, the shepherds, maybe even the tax collectors and prostitutes….! He is with all the average Joe’s of Israel! Think about that. God-in-flesh joins alongside those that he will one day soon heal, beckon, teach, challenge, and comfort. And at the same time, God-in-Spirit meets God-in-flesh at the water’s edge, at the threshold of his ministry…. and God the Parent delights!
Ok, so God claims us loves us and delights in us. Let’s look at the next part of the story…
Temptation – Matthew 1:12-13 – God pushes us
And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him.
“the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness” – let’s break this down…
- Spirit pushed him. Sent him, drove him out, took him out – (ekballei) ἐκβάλλει
- into isolation, solitude, wilderness, a deserted place (eremos) ἔρημος
- Angels waited on him. Deacon (διακονέω) is the word used, angels served him
God meets Jesus at the water’s edge (right after baptism) – at the threshold of something new (in the wilderness), in the in-between what we call liminal space. (I have always loved this phrase I guess because I connect with it….it reminds me that life is always lived n-between.)
God claims Jesus, names him beloved, and then God pushes him in the wilderness. God’s covenant with all of creation reminds us that God meets us where we are—in the midst of all our extremes- our reluctance andour certainty, our hope and our doubt, our apprehension and our eagerness, our joy and our suffering, our excitement and our weariness
God meets us at the edge of things, right where you are, proclaims you are good, pushes you out into the midst of the world promising to stay with you, watching over you through the wilderness of your life.
This is powerful! And we forget it! All the time we forget it. I wonder how you might live each day if you set a reminder to go off every morning when you are in the shower….to remind you of your baptism, to help you receive the waters in the shower as your daily baptism, and to hear in that moment of God’s love for you, delight in your, of how God claims you again this day. Then to realize that when you step out of that shower, you are in the wilderness of the world, but not to fear cause God is with you, his angels are waiting on you….even when you can’t sense it, no…especially when you can’t feel it!
So maybe we should all take a moment to consider right now: Where are the edges in your life right this moment… and how is God meeting you there? What is God saying? Can yo unearth him claim you? Can you sense him with you?
Jesus Proclamation – Matthew 1:14-15 – God changes us
Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.”
Jesu emerges from baptism and temptation different. Something has shifted. His life, his minsitry. Some say his ministry begins at this moment, others say we don’t really have many stories from his childhood so who know what he might have been doing. Regardless, in the gospels Jesus’ baptism and temptation mark a shift into his adult ministry of preaching teaching, pastoring, healing, and saving.
What we read right here is that Jesus boldly proclaims God’s reign. Clearly Jesus has chosen a path. Clearly he is ready to walk it, beginning to walk it. Facing the giants knowing of God’s love and presence and delight!
All three stories…
The common thread in each account is God’s closeness. God is near. God is present. God is extraordinarily present with Jesus. And for us.
In pivotal moments, At the edge of life in the liminal space we find ourselves, in the in between not knowing what is next, seeing and feeling the wilderness, solitude, loneliness, isolation…God is waiting on us, his angels serving us!
Rev. T. Denise Anderson – a woman of color who is one of the writers and developers of our Lenten theme this year – says this:
In the black church, people sing of how God picks us up, turns us around, and places our feet “on solid ground.”
God’s proximity informs our trajectory
Do yo hear that? God’s proximity informs our trajectory. God’s closeness has something to do with where you are headed. Even if you think things are doomed, God is nearby and that fact changes things, changes you, changes things around you, changes the outcome. God’s proximity informs your trajectory. And no it’s not magic. Not about zapping things to be good for you.
God’s proximity informs our trajectory because as Rev Anderson says,
God approaches us to claim us, to equip us, and send us to do God’s will.
God is claiming you right now! God is equipping you right now in ways you have yet to see, right now…and you don’t even realize it! And god is sending you out, pushing you out, taking you out! Because he loves you and delights in you and wants you to be the kingdom citizen you were made to be!
Leave you with this…and you have heard it before…but sometimes we need to be reminded of even the simplest and catchiest of truths:
God meets us where we are, but doesn’t leave us there.
Again and again, God meets us where we are, but doesn’t leave us there.
At the edge, God meets us where we are, but doesn’t leave us there.
In the Storm and in the Sunshine, God meets us where we are, but doesn’t leave us there.
- In the Good and the Bad…
- In the happy and in the messy
- In the ordinary and the profound
- On the wedding day and in the divorce
- When you start the jobs and when you get fired from it
- When you first meet a lifelong friend and when you lay her to rest
- On your birthday and on your death day and every day in between
Because that’s where we live…. in the in-between. But I thank God that through it all I am not alone. And I hope you will too today. And not by just saying thank you, but by living differently, like a person changed by the Holy Spirit