Author’s Note: This post is edited from a sermon delivered on January 10, 2021, in response to the January 6 Insurrection.

Scripture: Matthew 3:13-17 (NIV)

Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John.  But John tried to deter him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?”

Jesus replied, “Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.” Then John consented.

As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, 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, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”

Today, we’re going to talk about some very difficult things.  We’re going to talk about them because they need to be talked about, but before we do, I want to say, to all of you, that what I am about to say, I say with all the love and humility I can summon.  I love you, and I’m grateful you’re here.  

Today, I am going to speak about what happened this past Wednesday, when a protest became a riot, and a riot became an attack on the United States Capitol building, in which our Congress was meeting to certify the results of the 2020 presidential election.  The last twelve months have been incredibly painful and difficult for our nation.  There have been protests all over our country.  There have been acts of violence all over our country.  I have, for the most part, avoided commenting directly on these things because, as a pastor, I believe in reserving the right to have a nuanced and compassionate conversation on divisive issues.  Going forward, I will always welcome the chance to have those conversations with you.  But before all else, as a pastor, I believe my duty – to God and to my church – is to speak on God’s love and what it asks of us.  And today, that duty compels me to address what happened on January 6.  

Like all of us, I believe in democracy.  Democracy gives us the best chance to create a society that avoids the oppressive practices Jesus spoke against while encouraging us to love and trust our neighbors as Jesus told us to.  And what happened this past week, while it may have started as a protest and turned into a riot, ended as a targeted attack on the foundation of our democracy itself.  What happened Wednesday went beyond anything we saw in 2020, and was nothing less than an attempt to overturn the result of a democratic election through violence.  We cannot treat this attack as a partisan issue.  It is an issue of right and wrong.  And because of this, it is also a gospel issue.  

So, let’s talk about the gospel.  Our scripture passage for today tells us the story of Jesus’ baptism.  And while we might think of a baptism as an ordinary or commonplace thing, our passage uses baptism to make a radical statement about who God is.  Jesus’ baptism was – probably – a baptism by immersion, which means he probably went fully underwater to receive it.  In scripture, when someone or something gets immersed, God usually brings the water.  God brings floods during Noah’s time and causes the waters of the Red Sea to come crashing down on Pharaoh’s army as the Israelites flee Egypt.  God stands above the water, raining it down on the unrighteous and on oppressors.  And here is Jesus, God made flesh, preparing to be immersed in it.  

This switch means something.  People get baptized.  Not gods.  In the ancient world, the wall between divinity and humanity was not to be crossed over, and everyone knew it.  The people who persecuted Christians often did so because they found Christianity itself scandalous, shocking, and offensive.  Baptism by immersion is a powerful sensory experience.  It involves the discomfort of holding your breath, the sound of going underwater, and afterwards the feeling of wet clothes clinging to skin and the satisfaction of the deep breath to fill your lungs up with air.  To people in the ancient world, the idea that God could be fully a part of the human world and truly experience a baptism by immersion would have been seen as the equivalent of taking your pants off in the middle of the fanciest restaurant you can imagine.  Certainly, our Christian ancestors were not alone in their time in proclaiming God all knowing and all powerful.  They were alone in proclaiming that God chose to use that infinite power and knowledge in order to truly walk with us, to understand our pain, our hope, our fears, and our dreams.  

The beauty of Baptism of the Lord Sunday, then, is that Jesus says yes to baptism not because he needs it, but because Baptism is an important thing human beings do, and Jesus was a human being.  In our scripture passage, God has shown us that, through Jesus, God is with us.  God has said yes to the frailties of being human.  God has said yes to the prospect of having a genuine relationship with us.  God has said yes to knowing us, and to being known by us.  Though we worship a God of infinite power and knowledge, our God has not chosen to use that power and knowledge to force us and bully us into compliance, but instead has used that power and knowledge to actually know us as we actually are, and to accept us, with all our quirks, complexities, and shortcomings.  

Today, we must follow this example.  We must work actively to meet others where they are, to feel their pain, and to build relationships with them so that, together, we can create a better world.  We worship a relational God, and America has been at it’s best when Americans are relational with one another.  Our best moments have come when we balance the need for justice with a respect for those who are different from us, the need for truth with a commitment to discussion with those who disagree with us, and the need for strength with compassion for those who might oppose us.  We have never struck this balance perfectly.  But this past week, that balance was attacked.  It was attacked by people who have rejected both democracy and the gospel.  It was attacked by people who have rejected a commitment to relationship, compassion, and love of neighbor because they believe that their way should be the only way.  And that balance was attacked by people who would have us believe that any means can be justified when the end result is protecting their version of America.  

And neither they, nor any of us, have the right to do this.  To love our neighbors in our democracy means accepting that America belongs to all of us, together, and we are called to hold it in trust so that future generations can know an America better than the one we knew.  We must do this.  Because if Wednesday proves any one thing, it is that, whatever our past, America has not yet fully realized it’s potential.  We have much left to accomplish, and much that is worth accomplishing.  We will only know health when all of us are free of sickness.  We will only know contentment when all of us are free of hunger and thirst.  We will only know safety when all of us are free of living in fear.  And we will only know freedom when all of us, from the most powerful to the least of these, are truly and finally free.

So, as we celebrate Baptism of the Lord Sunday, as we acknowledge the love of the God who chose relationship over coercion, dialogue over confrontation, and solidarity over violence, we must also step out and say clearly that the people who attacked our democracy last week must repent of their sin.  This is also true of those who enabled them, and it is especially true of those who enabled them from the highest offices and positions of power in our nation.  Together, they have chosen coercion over relationship, confrontation over dialogue, and violence over solidarity.  They have rejected Jesus Christ, and have chosen evil.  As Christians, we cannot let this stand.  

But, friends, today, we can do so much more than condemn!  In the coming days, let’s recommit ourselves to building a better America together.  Today, our country has two faces.  One is the face of sin – the raging quote unquote patriot, running through the halls of our government buildings to get what they want.  The other is the face of the Gospel – of the millions of Americans who believe that America can be redeemed from this moment and are giving, organizing, and sweating for that redemption.  Most of us have tried to wear this second face. Let’s commit to joining the others who do as well.   Together, we can create an America that finally lives up to its promises for all its people, so that, like our God, America becomes a nation committed to presence, relationship, and being in solidarity with others.  This will come with consequences.  We will have to submit to discomfort, to moments of doubt, and moments of fear.  But those of us who know the Gospel know that discomfort, doubt, and fear are often the signposts that the miraculous breakthrough of God’s love is just around the corner.  

So, may we submit to these challenges, as Jesus submitted to be baptized.  May we fulfill the great potential of our republic, as Jesus fulfilled all righteousness.  And as Jesus was immersed in water, so may we all work for an America that is finally, truly immersed in the love of God.  May we march forward in that spirit of love, and may we trust that, as we do so, we do not walk alone.  Glory, glory alleluia, God’s truth is marching on.  Amen.