“Knowing What You Have (and Who You Are”) - R. L. Reinecke, M.Div. - Epiphany I, Year C -  Jan. 10, 2010

Luke 3:15 -17, 21 -22

“And a voice came from heaven, ‘You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.’” 

Luke 3:22  (after Jesus’ understanding of the role of his suffering and death as the Messiah.)

My wife, Ruth and I sometimes enjoy watching “The Antique Road Show” on Educational Television.  This week it has been from Raleigh, North Carolina! We always learn something and find the information of the experts very interesting.  The reaction of the antique owners is fun to watch also, as they learn the value of what they have brought in for evaluation Sometimes they are almost speechless with surprise at learning what they have!

Some people discover this only later, when the thing is no longer within their grasp.  (My younger brother and I discovered this about an ancient Korean iron firearm that our father had come across in his travels.  The primitive firearm had three barrels, each with a small hole for a fuse to ignite the explosive inside the barrel and thus discharge the iron ball within.  We have no idea where it went and only later learned it was very valuable -- after it was lost to us, with no way to reclaim it!

You may recall something or someone that has been lost to you, and the feelings you had about that.  Or you may remember something or someone precious and extremely valuable that you discovered as valuable – like a “winner” on “The Antique Road Show”.

In the group of people who had come out to see John the Baptizer in the wilderness were folks from all walks of life and all kinds of occupations.  John was urged to speak to them all and to tell them what they needed to do to be “saved”.  They had questions for which they believed he had answers – life and death questions and answers!  John urged them to repent – to turn around and change their ways and to turn again to God.  Among those soldiers, tax collectors and other people was a cousin of John, Named Jesus, or Joshua, a carpenter from Nazareth.

Did he fit in with the crowd?  Probably so, by and large.

Would we have recognized him as someone unique and different?  Probably not – at least not yet!  This Jesus presented himself to be baptized, like many others present. He  probably fit in with the other travelers, dusty and unrecognizable, especially to anyone  looking for a kingly and majestic figure..

Many of those others were there to find out if this John were the Messiah – the “anointed” one of God who was to save the people of Israel. Apparently John himself denied this, saying the Anointed One – the Messiah  -- was yet to come.  Did John recognize Jesus as someone very special?  When Jesus presented himself to be baptized by John, John is said to have declared “I need to be baptized by YOU!”  but Jesus insisted otherwise, and thus identified himself with all of us..

So here, in their midst, was an unrecognized treasure – One who would teach and heal, and would lead and reveal the character and purposes of God – including the surprise that God ‘s Messiah would accomplish God’s plan not by some obvious or military victory or spectacular miracle, but through love, suffering and sacrificial death – even his death as a criminal on a cross – forgiving those who called for his death!

John obviously believed his hearers’ lives were valuable – too precious to be misspent or wasted!  It was not just some THING he was talking about.  It was their very lives and being – what we might call their very souls and relationship with the God who created them!

The gospel lesson for Today leads us to believe that our Lord Himself came clear about His own  identity at His baptism – that He was “God’s Son, the beloved, with whom God was well pleased.”  Jesus had come to understand the role SUFFERING was to have in his life and ministry and messiahship.

It is also through our baptisms that we get answers about the secret of your identity and your own destiny as well.  It sometimes happens on the Antique Road Show that a secret “maker’s mark” is found that reveals the origin.  Now I believe our baptisms don’t  MAKE something happen.  Our baptisms PROCLAIM to the world that it has happened and we know it! 

We are declared SEALED by the Holy Spirit and DECLARED to be the chosen and precious ADOPTED sons and daughters of God – and BROTHERS of Jesus and HEIRS of our heavenly Parent.  What does that make you “worth”?

Someone has added up what the chemical and other elements in our physical make-up are worth and, as I recall, it’s something pretty insignificant like less than $5.00.  That’s one way of figuring, but if you were to evaluate the human brain and nervous system as a complex computer, our individual worth would be infinitely  and incalculably more!

There are also the roles and relationships we have with God and with others, symbolized by sayngs such as  “You mean the world to me!”  as when we lose a loved one and realize how much they really have meant to us.

You and I are PRECIOUS to God and in the heavenly family.  Some people don’t seem to know how precious they are.  They don’t seem to realize their incredible value!  That’s one of the roles of the Church – to remind us of the value we and others have to God and one another through our Lord Jesus.  At the conclusion of some of the “Antique Road Shows” those who have been on the program say what they have discovered about the value of what they have.  The tell of what they have realized!

I have known people through the Church, the Body of Christ, who have finally come to know their special worth.  Would that you here today might each have a glimpse of YOUR special value as one of God’s precious sons and daughters!  Amen.