Delivered at Bethel United Methodist Church in West Greenville, South Carolina on January 13, 2013.
I share these thoughts hoping they are of help to someone else.
Comments are always welcomed.
What We All Need to Hear
Audio Version
As the people were filled with expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah, John answered all of them by saying, "I baptize you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of His sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire."
Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, "You are My Son, the Beloved; with You I am well pleased."
Luke 3:15-16,21-22 (NRSV)
Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, "You are My Son, the Beloved; with You I am well pleased."
Luke 3:15-16,21-22 (NRSV)
But I need You to love me, and I
I won't keep my heart from You this time
And I'll stop this pretending that I can
Somehow deserve what I already have
From "I Need You to Love Me" by BarlowGirl
Typically, science-fiction films involving conflicts with extraterrestrial lifeforms depict an advanced alien race invading the planet Earth and oppressing humanity. This is the premise of such films as War of the Worlds and Independence Day. What makes James Cameron's 2009 film Avatar fundamentally different from it's predecessors is that the Earthlings are cast as the villains. In this film, set in the twenty-second century, the humans invade the alien planet of Pandora and oppress the Na'vi, a more primitive race of lifeforms. The humans seek to drive the Na'vi from their homes so that they can mine a rare material aptly called unobtanium. The film does not describe the unobtanium in great detail, nor does it tell us exactly how the humans plan to use it. What we can glean from the film is that the material is extremely valuable to humans and that humans will stop at nothing to get their hands on it.
In the book Insurrection, philosopher Peter Rollins makes the following observation about human nature:
The most sought after material in the universe is not some precious metal or limited resource but rather the attention of those whom we desire. We long to be seen by the other and acknowledged by them in some way. Yet this most precious of materials proves to be frustratingly ethereal, elusive, and fleeting.1
Basically, we all desire to have certain people in our lives: parents, friends, spouses, and children, to name a few. Perhaps what we want even more than the people we want in our lives is to be noticed, appreciated, and wanted by the people we want in our lives.2
As human beings, we often try to find our identity and our significance in the eyes of other human beings. If we are honest with ourselves, we can see that it is often the gaze of another person that motivates us to do the things that we do. When we are young, we strive to make our parents proud of us. A young softball player might score the winning run in her softball game, but the victory is drained of meaning if her parents are not cheering her on from the stands. A young student may earn straight A's on his report card, but his achievement is meaningless if his parents do not acknowledge it. This motivation does not go away as we grow up, though, over time, we seek to be seen and appreciated by people other than our parents. Often we take up hobbies and various activities in order to meet people and to establish friendships. Of course, the desire to be seen can be best observed in the search for a romantic relationship, for people go to great lengths to attract a significant other.3
The fact that our identities are so linked to other people is one reason that it is so devastating to be separated from people close to us. Because we so often find our significance in the eyes of our loved ones, it is only natural that neglect from parents, estrangement from a friend or a close relative, or a divorce would leave us feeling completely uprooted.4
Early last year, I emailed my pastor in the midst of my existential crisis du jour. She responded to me, telling me that we all desire what one of her seminary professors calls "the three A's." First, we all desire acceptance. We all want to be welcomed into the lives of other people. Second, we all desire affirmation. Affirmations are the positive statements that are true about us. In a world of negativity where multitudes of voices are ready to criticize us for anything and everything we do wrong, we sometimes need other people to tell us what is right about us. Third, we all want approval. We all want people to look at us with favor.
I can honestly say that the desire to prove myself worthy of these things has been a major motivation in my life. When I was a junior in college, I was fortunate enough to have a date for the junior-senior dance. Having a date was very significant to me because, prior to this time, I always went to such events by myself. I am not at all proud to say this, but, throughout the evening, I kept an eye out for girls who had rejected me in the past so that I could introduce my date to them. Simply having a date for the dance was not enough for me: I wanted other people to know that I was worthy of having a date.
It could be said that acceptance, affirmation, and approval are the figurative "unobtanium" we all seek, for we expend a great deal of effort trying to obtain these things from other people. The painful truth is that it is impossible to earn these things no matter how hard we try and no matter how good or deserving we think we are. We work really hard to be worthy of these things, but the truth is that, even if a person was to be one-hundred-percent perfect, it would still be the prerogative of the other to withhold acceptance, affirmation, or approval.
The horrific shooting in Newtown, Connecticut last month left many people asking "Why?" Why would anyone commit such a heinous act of violence and cruelty? What would possibly compel a person to murder innocent children? One theory gained a lot of traction on social networking websites because of a quote wrongly attributed to actor Morgan Freeman:
It's because of the way the media reports it. Flip on the news and watch how we treat the Batman theater shooter and the Oregon mall shooter like celebrities. Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris are household names, but do you know the name of a single victim of Columbine? Disturbed people who would otherwise just [kill] themselves in their basements see the news and want to top it by doing something worse, and going out in a memorable way. Why a grade school? Why children? Because he'll be remembered as a horrible monster, instead of a sad nobody.5
Whether or not you agree with this theory, whoever made this statement has a point: people who commit atrocities like the recent shooting in Newtown or the shooting at Columbine High School in 1999 gain a perverse type of celebrity status. Books about the Columbine High School shooting were still being written ten years after the incident. Is the desire to be seen by others so compelling that a lost, desperate soul who has given up on life would choose to go out in a blaze of infamy as opposed to dying in obscurity? Is the desire to be remembered so great that a person would rather be remembered as a monster than forgotten?
Before Jesus began His public ministry, there was another teacher by the name of John. He was a rather eccentric fellow: he dressed oddly, ate weird foods, and spent most of his time in the wilderness.6 He was popular with the masses, but he did not get along well with the powers that be.7 John proclaimed a message of repentance, calling people to change their ways. The Greek word metanoia, which is translated into English versions of the Bible as repentance, literally means "to change one's mind."8 John knew that the messianic age of peace that Israel had awaited for so long was finally at hand. He knew that the people would need to change the way they think and the way they live if they wanted to live in an age when swords are beaten into plowshares, when wolves live peacefully with lambs, when all conflict ceases, and when knowledge of the Lord covers the earth like water over the sea.9
John gave people practical advice for changing the way they thought and lived. He called people to live lives of generosity by giving whatever they had in excess to those who were in need. He called tax-collectors to live lives of honesty by collecting no more than they were required to collect. He called soldiers to live lives of contentment by not using their position in society for their own personal gain.10 John also gave people the chance to celebrate a fresh start through baptism, a Jewish cleansing ritual.
John also knew that the Messiah, the "Anointed One" who would usher in this age of peace, was in his midst. He knew this from a very young age, for the Bible tells us that when a pregnant Virgin Mary visited John's mother, John began kicking in the womb.11 John was the one with the privilege of preparing the way for the Messiah: in the words of the prophet Isaiah, he was the voice "crying out in the wilderness, 'Prepare the way of the Lord, make His paths straight.'"12 When people began to think that John was the Messiah, he said, "I baptize you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of His sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire."
One day, Jesus, the person of whom John prophesied, came forward to be baptized. All things considered, this can be somewhat surprising. Christians typically hold to the belief that Jesus had nothing of which He needed to repent. We believe that, as St. Paul wrote, Jesus "knew no sin."13 Furthermore, Jesus was the very one who was to usher in the age of peace for which John was trying to prepare people. With all these things in mind, I ask, why would Jesus need a baptism of repentance? One version of the story even tells us that when Jesus came to be baptized, John protested, saying, "I need to be baptized by You, and do You come to me?"14
"You are My Son, the Beloved; with You I am well pleased."
I ask you now, are these not the words that we all so desperately need to hear?
This simple statement that God the Father declared to Jesus – "You are My Son, the Beloved; with You I am well pleased" – is saturated with the acceptance, affirmation, and approval we all desire as humans. With the words, "You are My Son," God accepted and claimed Jesus as God's own. With the words, "the beloved," God affirmed the truth that Jesus was dearly loved. With the words, "with You I am well pleased," God let Jesus know that he was both seen and appreciated. I think that this knowledge sustained Jesus in a very profound way. After His baptism, He spent forty days fasting in the wilderness where He was tempted with personal gain, worldly ambition, and self-glorification.15 I believe that Jesus was so secure in His identity as the beloved Son of God that none of these things meant anything to Him.16
I also ask you now, are these words not meant for us as well?
Your first impulse might be to balk at my question. You might be saying to yourself that Jesus' relationship with God is very different in nature from your own relationship with God. You might even be asking yourself, "Why would God be 'well pleased' with a complete screw-up like me?" Believe me when I say that I understand that feeling.
None of us are Jesus, but we were all created by God, so, in one sense, we are all sons and daughters of God. We are not perfect by any means, but St. Paul reminds us that God loves us while we are still sinners.17 The Gospel tells us that God loves us so much that God sent the Son into the world to seek out and to save the lost.18 We are the reasons that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came into the world in the first place. God's ultimate purpose for sending Jesus into the world was to bring us into God's family. Paul writes, "[God] destined us for adoption as His children through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of His will."19 We are all sinners, but God is still pleased with us enough to invite us into God's family. We can claim as our own those precious words that God said to Jesus because God created us, claims us, loves us, and welcomes us as family. We spend so much of our lives trying to be seen, trying to earn the acceptance, affirmation, and approval of others, but God simply hands us all of these things free of charge.
I said earlier that it is utterly impossible for us to earn things like acceptance, affirmation, and approval no matter how much we might deserve them. The reason that these things cannot be earned is that they are all forms of grace. Grace is, by it's very nature, a gift that is freely given with no strings attached and freely accepted without the promise of repayment. Grace can never be earned; it can only be given and accepted.
The reality of grace offers us a twofold challenge. As humans, we invest a lot of time and effort into being seen, accepted, affirmed, approved, and loved. We need to realize that we already have that which we want most. God sees us, claims us, appreciates us, and loves us more than we can even imagine, through no merit of our own. Thus our first challenge is to simply accept God's grace. According to theologian Paul Tillich, grace is that which reaches out to us in our darkest moments, saying,
You are accepted. You are accepted, accepted by that which is greater than you, and the name of which you do not know. Do not ask for the name now; perhaps you will find it later. Do not try to do anything now; perhaps later you will do much. Do not seek for anything; do not perform anything; do not intend anything. Simply accept the fact that you are accepted!20
Next, we need to remember that, though we can never earn grace, we are fully capable of giving grace to other people. Though it is impossible to earn the acceptance, affirmation, and approval of other people, it is completely possible to accept, affirm, approve, and, most importantly, love other people unconditionally. Those of us who have experienced the love and grace of God should be all the more eager to share this love and grace with others.
As human beings we all want to be seen; we all want to be appreciated; and we all want to be loved; but we don't always experience these things from other people. When the world leaves you feeling invisible, alone, neglected, unappreciated, unloved, or forsaken, may you remember that you are a beloved child of God with whom God is well pleased. May you never forget this truth. May knowing this truth compel you to share God's love and grace with those who might feel invisible, alone, neglected, unappreciated, unloved, or forsaken.
Amen.
Notes:
1 - Peter Rollins. Insurrection. 2011, Howard Books. p. 5
Please note that I am only using Rollins's observations as a starting point. In Insurrection, Rollins starts from the same point but goes in a completely different direction than I go in this sermon. I am a big fan of Peter Rollins, and I think he offers some critiques that Christians need to consider, but I do not always arrive at the same conclusions he does.
2 - Insurrection p. 4
3 - Insurrection p. 6-7
4 - Insurrection p. 3-4
5 - Kim LaCapria. The Inquisitor: "Morgan Freeman Didn't Make Newtown Statement, Rep Confirms." December 16, 2012.
6 - Matthew 3:1-4
7 - Luke 3:19-20
8 - Wikipedia: Repentance
9 - These descriptions of the messianic age of peace come from Isaiah 2:2-4 and Isaiah 11:1-9.
10 - Luke 3:10-14
11 - Luke 1:39-45
12 - Luke 3:3-4 (NRSV) and Isaiah 40:3
13 - 2 Corinthians 5:21 (NRSV)
14 - Matthew 3:14 (NRSV)
15 - Luke 4:1-13
16 - For more thoughts on this subject, see my sermon, "In Tune with Christ."
17 - Romans 5:8
18 - John 3:16 and Luke 19:10
19 - Ephesians 1:5 (NRSV)
20 - Paul Tillich. The Shaking of the Foundations. ch. 19
Bautismo de Cristo was painted by Juan Fernández de Navarrete around 1567.
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