Category Archives: epiphany

January 9, 2012

Nothing to Lose: The Baptism of our Lord

By Keith Anderson


Baptism of Jesus by Leonardo da Vinci

“You are my Son, the Beloved, with you I am well pleased.” These are powerful, life-changing, live-saving words.

In our Gospel reading this morning, Jesus comes to baptized by John when he is around 30 years old. In Mark’s Gospel this is the first we see of him. From the other Gospels we know that he was born in Bethlehem, immediately fled to Egypt to escape Herod’s slaughter of the first born sons of Israel, and that, according to Jewish custom, when we was twelve years old he was presented at the Temple in Jerusalem, where he stayed late to school priests on the fine points of theology. That’s all we know about the first 30 years of Jesus’ life.

So, when Jesus comes to the Jordan, he is an unknown. He hasn’t done any teaching, healing, nothing else the Gospel writers thought it was necessarily to chronicle. This is his first public event and the inauguration of his public ministry.

Jesus wades into the water, is plunged down by John. When he emerges from the water, the heavens break open, the Holy Spirit descends and rests on him, and a voice, that voice, comes down from the sky,

“You are my Son, the beloved, with you I am well pleased.”

This one sentence, these twelve words are a big deal. God, Jesus’ Father, claims him – “this is my child,” in front of everyone declares his love for him – “my beloved,” and says how proud he is of Jesus, “with whom I am well pleased.”

God says, “Everyone, this is my child, whom I love more than anything in the world. I am so proud of him.”

How To Save A Life
These are powerful words. And you know that if you ever had someone say them to you. When you hear words like this, you know you are safe, loved, secure, that you belong. It is a foundation from which to dream dreams and pursue them. There are many of you who never heard those words from a parent – and you too know how powerful these words are (perhaps even more so) – because they are words you have longed to hear, but haven’t. You know how much it would mean to hear these words – and I hope you have heard them from an aunt or uncle, spouse or partner, sister or brother, friend. (And, if from no one else, hear them from God this morning. “You are my child. My beloved.”) Continue reading

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February 28, 2011

The Trouble With Worry

By Keith Anderson

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink…what you will hear.  Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?”

Usually when we read this morning’s Gospel lesson in 21st century America we read it as a critique of consumerism, of our accumulation of clothes, food and drink.  It exposes the American paradox that even as we worry about not having enough, we have shows like Hoarders and obesity is an epidemic.  And we certainly need to be open to that critique.

At the same time, we are in the midst of this great recession.  People are very worried, and rightfully so, about what they will eat, what they will wear, where they will live – and I’m not going to tell anyone in that situation that they shouldn’t worry.  Saying “just trust God” when everything is falling apart doesn’t seem like much comfort.  “Be like the lilies and the birds” just doesn’t seem cut it.

And so, this line of interpretation really strains without too much pushing, which leads me to believe that there’s something more, something that transcends our economic situation, that transcends first century Palestine and 21st century America.

And here’s the thing … Jesus isn’t telling us to worry about the right things. He’s telling us not to worry (at all).  As I read this text, for Jesus, worry itself is the problem. Continue reading

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February 20, 2011

Revolutions of the Heart

By Keith Anderson

The events that we have witnessed in Egypt over these last three weeks have been simply incredible and one of the iconic images of the Egyptian revolution is this photograph taken on January 28th in Cairo, following clashes between anti-government protesters and police, who fired rubber bullets and tear gas, in one of the most violent and chaotic scenes of the revolution.

This photo is of an old Egyptian woman kissing one of the riot police officers.  The woman is old with a plump face, wearing a brown knitted hajib.  The officer, a young man, is in full riot gear with a helmet and clear plastic shield.  The woman’s right arm is extended across the chest of the officer, passing between him and the plastic riot shield. Her hand is holding the side of his helmet, pulling him toward her.  Her weathered and round face is pressed up against the soldier’s cheek.  Her eyes are closed as she kisses him.  But the real power of the photograph comes from the way the soldier looks straight into the camera as it takes this picture.  He betrays little or no emotion as his face is pressed in between the woman’s hand and face.  The look he gives the camera is hard to dicipher.  It is almost emotionless.  Steely.  And yet, there is some flicker of emotion.  Perhaps a look of humiliation – at being kissed and having it captured on film.  Or maybe there is something inside that welcomes it.

We can only guess, but it is an image that, for me, captures the spirit of the revolution and the spirit our Gospel reading today. Continue reading

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