Worship & Prayer
5th SUNDAY IN LENT: PASSION SUNDAY AND THE BAPTISM OF CHARLIE CLARKE.
29/03/09
Christian baptism marks the beginning of our spiritual journey. We start having to acknowledge that God is a mystery, too big for our human understanding, but we can glimpse God by looking at the person of Jesus and in particular the relationship that Jesus had with his heavenly father.So today, Charlie Clarke, the baby with the coolest name, stands with the Greeks, from our gospel story of 2000 years ago and makes the statement, “I want to see Jesus.” I want to start a spiritual journey. Who is this Jesus, I want to understand him.
So ,what picture of Jesus does our reading give Charlie this morning.
For me, I see a man who was on a mission. He had a plan, he knew what it involved; he had to be steadfast in carrying it through and he had to remain in charge of events.
Our Bible reading is set at the point where Jesus is about to set out for Jerusalem knowing that he is reaching the climax of his mission. It’s like the last half hour of the action movie where you have a sense of everything culminating in a final push. Jesus was moving towards carrying out the ultimate task that his heavenly father has called him to fulfill.
We don’t fully know if Jesus knew the step by step sequence of how Holy Week would pan out, but from this reading there is a strong sense that he was aware that he would meet his death and that it would be painful.
And it was in that knowledge that he stirred himself to meet his destiny. He talks in pictures of wheat dying to release seeds that new life might begin. He talks of being lifted up. He clearly knew what was going to happen and he was trying to prepare his friends for the events that awaited them.
But this was no fatalistic final push, like the troops who were forced to go out from the trenches in the First World War, with no purpose or hope rather just following a command. Jesus was pursing the path set before him because he knew it was part of a larger plan and he had total trust in his father in heaven in what it would achieve.
It was not however like Jesus was some sort of super hero, where he was able to walk through these events without them touching him with the full physical and emotional pain of betrayal, violence and death – somehow almost detached from what was happening to him. He was fully human as well as truly God.
And he would have faced the events that awaited him, with as much dread as we would if we were the central character in the events of Holy Week.
What enabled him to do this, was the degree of connection that he had with God and his trust and understanding of God’s plan for our salvation – which was his motivation. He was not doing this because he had too - but because he loved us.
So what has this to do with Charlie this morning?
Well yes, it does show him Jesus, just as the Greeks desired in our bible reading. But it also, has something to convey to Charlie and his parents about the commitment made today at the start of Charlie’s own spiritual journey.
Rest assured Justin and Rachel, I do not think that your son is being tasked to save the world again. However, what this story shows us is the importance and power of putting our lives in God’s hands as you have done with Charlie today, and the choices we make in following God every day.
It is interesting to note that there are 3 accounts of God speaking to Jesus during his time on earth. The first was when Jesus himself was baptized in the River Jordan and God confirmed him as his Son in whom he was well pleased; the second is an account half was through his ministry when his disciples see Jesus shining with the Glory of God, and God tells them to listen to his Son.
And finally, in our reading today, where God confirms to Jesus, that what lies ahead is part of his glorious plan for salvation.
Each of these 3 events, are significant points on Jesus’ journey to assure him of God’s presence with him and that he is part of God’s purposes. So it is today for Charlie and for each and every one of us when we are baptized, that God affirms he is with us and that we are part of his purposes.
As we follow God many of us have found him speaking to us to encourage and sustain us when we reach critical moments on our journey. It does not assure us that we will all live life without challenges loss or sorrow. But we are assured that God is with us in all and Jesus’ own experiences on earth, particularly during Holy , give us confidence that God understands what it is like to face the hardest of hardships.
Over the last couple of weeks, a number of lads from Boys Brigade, have been exploring what it is to have a personal relationship with God through making Pizza and Puddings.
When talking about what God meant to them, 1 of the lads said that he felt God protected him. The other lads rounded on him, and said that bad stuff still happens. The lad however said that he knew that, and that he wasn’t immune to bad stuff happening to him. The sort of protection he meant, was knowing that he was not alone in facing it.
Charlie you are not alone now or throughout the whole of eternity. God is with you. AMEN
Rev Julia Monaghan (28.03.09)