Today we celebrate Rachel's baptism. This is a very special and important day for her. As Rachel is baptized today this brings into focus her faith in Jesus Christ and what that will mean for her life. It also does that for each us. Today we are all reminded that we too have been baptized into Jesus Christ, submerged in him, his death and resurrection, and joined to his community, the Body of Christ. We are all asked if we are living as those who have been baptized, those who confess that Jesus Christ is Lord and live as if that is so.
A question very relevant for today stands out from our Gospel reading: who do we say that Jesus is?
Today's reading is a pivotal moment, halfway through the story. Jesus has been around for a while. People have seen what he does, the healing and new life he brings, and the authority of his teaching about God, and about how we should live. The division between those who embrace him and those who reject him is becoming clear. And now the question that has been in the air from the beginning comes to a head, and Jesus asks: 'Who do people say that the Son of Man is?' Who do people say I am? And there are different answers: some say this; some say that.
Then Jesus asks: 'But who do you say that I am?' He drives the question home; it cannot be left at a safe distance. The disciples must answer for themselves. Peter steps forward and says: 'You are the Messiah (the Christ), the Son of the living God'. Peter sees and declares the truth that will become the foundation of the Church, the community of those who call Jesus 'Lord', who see in Jesus the presence of God among us in this world, in a human being. He is not just another prophet; he is God made flesh, the beyond in our midst. Jesus is fully God and fully human. He reveals God and brings God's love to us; at the same time he shows us true humanity, the life we were made for, our true identity as beloved children of God. Jesus, uniquely, has lived that identity out fully, and he draws each of us into it, as God's beloved children with him.
This is all there in essence when Peter says: 'You are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God'. But Jesus now says a strange thing. He does not say: 'Well done, Peter, ten out of ten, promising theologian, come to the top of the class.' He says: You are blessed to know this, Peter. But flesh and blood did not reveal this to you. You did not get this, you did not work it out, through your own or anybody else's human effort and intelligence. Seeing this truth about me is a gift from my Father in heaven.
That may trouble us. Don't we have to think? Don't we have to work it ourselves? Is faith just given to some, like Peter, but not to others? And if so, what then...?
And yet Jesus does ask a question, implying we must think and answer for ourselves: But who do you say that I am? Think, says Jesus. Think about this. Look at me, listen to me, and think. Think as if your life depends upon it, because it does. We must all answer that question: Who do you say that Jesus is? And yet faith in Jesus Christ is the gift of God to us through the Holy Spirit.
This is a paradox, a mystery that we have to live into. We didn't work it out that Jesus Christ is Lord. God has made it known to us, just as God did to Peter. And yet we are never so free as when we see this truth and confess it. To recognize Jesus as Lord is not our achievement; it is God's gift to us. Jesus says to the disciples: 'You didn't choose me, I chose you'. And yet we do think, we do choose, we do believe, we do confess our faith. He calls us; and yet we must come to him. And we are never so free as when we do come to him, to be his servants.
So on this day, as Rachel is baptized, we think, with her, about the heart of the faith that we confess: that Jesus Christ is Lord. We give thanks that God has made this truth known to us; but, with Rachel, we must confess this truth for ourselves. We rejoice that through Christ God has called us and brought us to himself, brought us home. But we must turn, we must come.
And as those who are baptized, who have turned to God in Christ, we seek to live as God's children, to live like Christ. In our reading from Romans, Paul describes this as offering ourselves to God as 'living sacrifices'. In response to all God has done for us through Jesus Christ, his death and resurrection, and the giving of God's spirit to us, in view of all God's mercies, we are called to offer ourselves, our bodies, all that we are, to God as living sacrifices. That means that our lives and the gifts God has given each of us are no longer really our own but are claimed and used by Jesus Christ. The essence of it is to ask ourselves, day by day, how to obey the two great commandments that Jesus holds before us: love God with all that you are, and love your neighbour as yourself. Our lives are to be consumed by God's love, burned up by that love, so that we are transformed and become something beautiful in God's sight, increasingly like Jesus, living for God and for others. That is the journey to which Jesus calls us all, the journey to which today Rachel publicly commits herself, and the remarkable gifts God has given her.
As we follow this way that begins in baptism, God gives us fellowship with one another to encourage and sustain us. At the heart of our fellowship is the sacramental meal we share, the Eucharist or Holy Communion, food for the journey. The host is Jesus, the Lord of the journey. Wherever we are on the journey, whether our spirits are high or low, whether we feel we are making progress or making a mess of our lives, Jesus constantly calls us to this meal. Here we recognize Jesus again as our Lord; and at this meal he gives himself to us and he gives us to each others as sisters and brothers on the journey together. As we pray after communion every Sunday, we offer ourselves as living sacrifices, and God sends us out in the power of the Spirit, to live and work to his praise and glory.
Revd David Marshall