Baptized into Love (Matthew 3:13-17)

Quotes from movies:

"I sense much fear in you. Fear is the path to the darkside. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering." [The Phantom Menace]

We don't like what we don’t understand.  In fact, it scares us; and this monster is mysterious at least. [Beauty and the Beast]

Love is a force that’s powerful and strange.  People make bad choices if they’re mad or scared or stressed…throw a little love their way, and you’ll bring out their best. [Frozen]

In the week between Christmas Day and New Year’s Day, while visiting friends and family in northern California, I went and saw the movie Frozen, in which the power of fear is contrasted with the power of love.  And right away, I thought: this will preach!

For some time now I’ve known that people tend to choose one of two paths when trying to motivate others, and those are the path of fear and the path of love.

And all of these movies – and many others, including some that you can probably think of – do the same.

It seems that, more and more, the path of fear is the path that is chosen by people today.  News headlines constantly play upon people’s fears.  Here are two headlines that I took from two news websites the other day.  One website has a conservative bias, the other, a liberal bias; but they both play upon people’s fears in an attempt to lure you in, sell you their message, and – most of all – increase their ratings….

Here’s some other headlines from these websites; listen to how they play upon people’s fears:

“Teacher tells 6 year-old Jesus is not allowed in school.”  That’s an inflammatory headline designed to enrage people, a headline that ignores the bigger picture which, I’m sure, involves a lot more than the simple headline suggests.

“The perils of arming Iraq to beat back al Qaida.”  Yes, there is danger here.  There is always danger, so be afraid. Be very afraid.

And my favorite headline, written, of course, in all capital letters:  “HERE COMES TROUBLE.”  That headline tells you absolutely nothing about the article’s topic.  Its only purpose is to create enough anxiety in you that you will click on it and read the article, stay on the website longer… and generate more ad revenue.

People are so used to living in a culture of fear, and using fear tactics, that they can’t imagine not using fear to get the message of the gospel across.  The good news becomes: “God will send you to hell… unless you repent!”

When I first started out as a preacher, I sometimes thought I wasn’t a good enough preacher because I couldn’t find a way to inflict enough fear into the hearts of the people who came to hear me.  But now I realize that those who use fear tactics to get the message of the gospel across really don’t understand what the gospel is all about.

Let’s explore some Bible verses, shall we?

Do not fear, for I am with you.  Do not be afraid, for I am your God.  I will strengthen you.  I will help you.  I will uphold you with my victorious right hand. [Isaiah 41:10]

In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night.  Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.  But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid.  Look!  I am bringing you good news of great joy for all people…” [Luke 2:8-10]

Then we have today’s scripture.  “Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan, to be baptized by him.”  I have given a lot of thought to baptism over the years.  That wonderful, mysterious, sacred moment when a person submits himself or herself to the water and to the Spirit, is made a new person, and takes their place in the church.

We say that one of the reasons we are baptized is to follow the example set by Jesus, but there was baptism before Jesus.  John baptized many others before Jesus showed up.

The baptism of all those other people was a baptism of repentance.  They all lived in fear of Rome.  Because of that, they ordered their lives around Rome and what Rome demanded. 

Some compromised their beliefs and tried to appease Rome.

Others worked actively against Rome, seeking one who might lead them into rebellion.

The appeasers and the rebels were very different in their views … in the same way that the liberal and conservative websites I mentioned earlier are very different in their views.

But the one thing they had in common was fear.  And everything they did, and how they lived their lives, was because of fear.

Contrast this with the words Jesus preached after his baptism and spirit quest in the wilderness.  He began to speak, to teach and to preach, and the first words from his mouth are words of blessing…

“Blessed are the poor in spirit… blessed are those who mourn… blessed are the meek, the hungry, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers…”

And then he gives instructions for living lives of love, not fear.  “Speak kindly and compassionately to one another, without insults.  Love not only your neighbors; love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you.”

It is clear that the way of Jesus is love.  Not fear.  Jesus doesn’t use fear tactics to conquer evil.  Jesus uses love.

And all those who are baptized into Jesus are baptized into love.  Fear is cast aside.  Fear, though it may still dwell within us, is not allowed to dominate us and lead us to anger and hatred.  Instead, fear is overcome by love.

We’re so accustomed to fear.  We hear John the Baptist as well as Jesus say:  “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near!” and we see this as a message inflicting fear into the hearts of people in the face of God’s coming wrath.  But that’s not what this message means at all.

Repent means to start living a new way.  Choosing to live by love instead of by fear is one form of repentance, and in fact, it’s probably safe to say that it is the repentance that Jesus demands of us. 

And the arrival of the kingdom of heaven is not a day of wrath.  It’s a day when the world has God would have it replaces the world as Caesar would have it.  In other words, it’s a day when love replaces fear and intimidation.

It’s not always easy.  We know this.  When we gather later this afternoon in Garden Grove to celebrate the life and legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr., we do so to honor a man who consistently chose the path of love over the path of fear.  He understood that only love has the power to melt the hearts that are frozen by fear. 

If you take a heart that is full of fear, and add more fear to it, you only increase the fear.  That seems obvious.  If you toss in a little anger, maybe a dash of hatred, this will only make that hardened heart even harder.

And yes, maybe it is possible to shatter and destroy a heart that is frozen by fear.  If you take a chisel and hammer to a block of ice, it will break.  I can’t help but wonder if this is what all those news websites and radio talkshows and cable news channels are trying to do, with their inflammatory headlines written in all capital letters:  just shatter the opposition.  Destroy it. 

But if you take a heart that is frozen by fear and anger and hatred, and you add love to it… you begin the work of melting the fear and anger and hatred away.  Love is the only thing that can do that.  Compassion.  Kindness.  This is how we, as Christians baptized in the body of Christ, are called to respond.

It’s how we are called to respond to those we love. 

It’s how we are called to respond to those we hate.

It’s how we are called to respond to those we disagree with.

It’s how we are called to respond to those who oppress us.

It’s how we are called to respond to those who bully us and beat us.

When we enter the waters of baptism, we leave our fear, our anger, our hatred behind.  These things are washed from us.  And in their place, God’s Spirit fills us with love.

In the movie Frozen, Elsa, the Snow Queen, is consumed by fear.  She even says (or, rather, sings): “There’s so much to fear.”  And then, immediately after those words come from her mouth, she accidentally blasts her sister Anna in the heart with her powers, inflicting upon her a curse that is fatal … unless the fear that freezes her heart can be overcome with – you guessed it – true love.

Maybe you haven’t yet seen the movie Frozen but intend to.  I don’t want to spoil the ending for you, so let me tell you a different story, a story of two brothers named Jacob and Esau.

Jacob and Esau were twins whose sibling rivalry was the worst.  It began even before they were born, in the womb.  It continued when Jacob tricked Esau – who was born first – and stole from Esau the blessings of the firstborn son. 

This was a big deal.  When Esau realized what Jacob had done, Esau wept tears of bitterness, sadness, and anger.  And the Bible says that Esau hated Jacob because of the stolen blessing, and Esau vowed to kill his brother Jacob.

Jacob fled, and the two brothers lived far apart.  Each became the father of a great family. The Bible describes each of these families as if they were nations unto themselves.

It was inevitable that one day, these two brothers would meet again.  For Jacob, this was terrifying.  Realizing that that day was approaching, he was, the Bible says, “greatly afraid and distressed.”  He divided his company into two, so that if Esau attacked, at least one of the two companies might survive.  And he prayed to God, saying: “Deliver me, please, from the hand of my brother Esau, for I am afraid of him.  Yet you have said, ‘I will surely do you good…” and Jacob trusted in the word of the Lord, and did not allow his fear to overwhelm him.

And Jacob went out to meet his brother Esau, with gifts instead of weapons… with love instead of anger.  Picture these two brothers, practically at war with one another for all these years, walking across the plain, slowly, steadily, while the soundtrack goes all dramatic and suspenseful.  The tension builds until they are face to face, nose to nose, staring into each other’s eyes. 

Do they bring up all the times they have been wronged by one another?  Do they start throwing punches?  Do they send the signal to the men they have hidden just beyond the rise, to launch the attack?

No.  There is no attack.  They have fear, but they focus instead on love, which, on this day, keeps their fear from developing into anger, hate, and the dark side. 

And when Jacob and Esau reach one another, they embrace.  The Bible says that Esau fell on Jacob’s neck and kissed him, and they wept together.  They presented each other gifts and showed great kindness to each other.  And in that moment, their frozen hearts melted, and all their fear disappeared.  All that remained was love.