Our Redemption Story
January 12, 2025 Baptism of the Lord
Ladue Chapel Presbyterian Church
Isaiah 43:1-7Luke 3:15-17, 21-22
“Our Redemption Story”
Melissa K. Smith
Ebenezer Scrooge has one of the best redemption arcs in literary history. He was a scrooge; he was so stingy with his money that he cheated Bob Cratchit out of fair pay – and his lack of Christmas cheer was in danger of being contagious. On Christmas Eve, his old work partner, Jacob Marley, came to him as a ghost and the rest of the story is spent on Scrooge’s possible redemption: to confront his past, present, and future self and see the consequences of his actions. Perhaps he could learn and avoid the same fate as Marley – with potentially even heavier chains weighing him down.
After he was visited by the Ghost of Christmas Past, the Ghost of Christmas Present, and the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, he sees the error of his ways and pleads for redemption. The next morning, he wakes up on Christmas Day a changed man – he was redeemed.
Redemption arcs are helpful tools when telling a story – they help bring a villainous character, a complex character, or even just a misguided character into a changed reality. It brings the reader hope that perhaps they too can experience such redemption.
We have the opportunity to experience redemption through Jesus Christ, giving us our own and a communal redemption story. It might not be as dramatic as Ebenezer Scrooge, but the chance is there: to turn away from our wayward path, to turn away from our wrongdoings, to turn away from any storyline or plot that could paint us as the villain or as a misguided character.
Today we celebrate the Baptism of the Lord – it is a day to remember our own baptisms, to reaffirm our baptismal vows, and to remember that Christ went before us in baptism. It is, in a real way, our way of remembering that through Christ we have a redemption story.
God is the ultimate author of redemption stories. He has been in the redemption business since he created humanity. Every time God made a covenant with his people – with Noah, with Abraham, with Moses, with David, God was redeeming his people. He promised them a better future, hope, and restoration.
The prophet Isaiah speaks to God’s redemptive plans: “But now thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.” These words call us back to creation, to God’s careful, loving, and intentional creation of humankind. It brings us back to a time before the Fall, before sin entered the world. God is the creator, he formed us in his image and likeness.
Nothing can separate us from the love of God, not even sin – so we do not have to fear, for God has redeemed us. He has called us by name.
In baptism we are called by name – we are seen as the creation we are: very good and deeply loved. We are called out and baptized. God is a redeeming God.
Isaiah continues, “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.”
We hear echoes of God’s people’s safe journeys through the Red Sea and the Jordan River – journeys that were a decided end to misery and pain and the walk through the sea and the river were steps into the redemptive arc, into the redemptive story. Crossing the Red Sea was critical to the exodus: it permitted Moses and the Israelites to travel to the other side while the Egyptians were swept away. The Jordan River was the last boundary between the wilderness and the promised land. God was with his people in Egypt and in the wilderness, he provided a way through the waters, and his people were redeemed and saved from their circumstances into a new life with new hope. Our God is a redemptive God.
Isaiah continues to say, “For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.” This is our God. Our God is the one who saves. Our God is the one who redeems. Our God is the one who is with us through every trial and invites us into new life.
These themes cannot be missed as we read Jesus’s baptism story and see him traverse into the Jordan River – the mark of stepping from the wilderness into the Promised Land.
God authors incredible redemption stories.
Jesus’s baptism story is an invitation into redemption, and the Sacrament of Baptism serves as a sign of God’s work and a seal of his promises, namely, his promise of redemption.
Jesus’s ministry began after he was baptized – and in a sense, our lives begin anew when we are baptized.
Luke tells us Jesus’s baptism story: “When all the people were baptized (by John) and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved, with you I am well pleased.”
John the Baptists’ baptisms were for repentance – they helped cleanse people of their sins. However, it differed from the baptism Jesus calls us to practice by asking for a confession of sins rather than a confession of faith and it was not done in the name of Jesus nor did it offer the gift of the Holy Spirit. It was all that the people had at the time, so they practiced it.
Jesus received this baptism – a baptism he did not need because he was a sinner but because he was identifying himself with us, with those he came to save.
In Jesus’s baptism we see the Trinity: God the Father speaks to Jesus and names him as his son, we see the Holy Spirit descending upon Christ, confirming he is the Messiah whom we have waited for, and we see Jesus humbling himself and praying to God while he is being baptized.
It is at this moment that baptism changed. It is no longer a simple cleansing, but it is a sign of God’s redeeming acts through Jesus Christ and a seal of God’s promises. In Baptism we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit and no longer hear only the echoes of Isaiah 43’s “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you…” but rather we experience this promise knowing that God is with us by his Spirit.
I keep saying “redemption” – what do I mean? Redemption is the action of being saved, of being freed, and of being cleared of a debt. For example, God redeemed his people of Israel by saving them from Egypt and freeing them from captivity.
Jesus Christ redeems us through his death and resurrection – he cleared our “sin” debt and freed us so we can live and glorify God. …but his ministry hadn’t begun yet at his Baptism, so how is baptism this sign?
The waters of baptism are deeply symbolic and theologically rich. In Christ’s baptism we are invited into his redemption story – and we then take the next faithful step and continue to turn the pages of our Bible, reading stories of Jesus’s ministry and how he healed the sick, provided for the poor, looked sinners in the eye and offered them a new way of life. We hear Jesus’s teachings and learn about how he is the fulfillment of the law and he challenges us to live upright and just lives. And then we read of his passion – his journey to the cross. Jesus came into this world to save the world and he died to save the world. Jesus rose from the dead and he defeated sin and death – he saved us.
In Baptism we are joined with the Body of Christ by the Holy Spirit to participate in the life Christ set for us. In Baptism we remember the promise of redemption. The act of Baptism itself is not salvific – rather it points us to the one who is. In Baptism we are “born again” and can experience new life. In Baptism we die to our sins and are alive in Christ. Whether you were baptized as an infant, a child, or an adult, these promises are available to you.
We also believe in only being baptized once – the promises of God and the gift of the Holy Spirit do not go away. But to help us remember our baptismal vows and to continue to live into the baptismal promise we reaffirm our Baptismal vows and remember Christ’s baptism story.
For those of you who have been baptized, I invite you now to join me as we renew our baptismal covenant. For those of you who have yet to be baptized, I invite you to join us still – this is not your baptism, but it is an opportunity for you to take these promises to heart and prayerfully consider your baptism.
Please join me as we reaffirm our Baptismal Covenant:
Trusting in the gracious mercy of God, do you turn from the ways of sin and renounce evil and its power in the world? I do
Who is your Lord and Savior? Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior
Will you be Christ’s faithful disciple, obeying his Word and showing his love? I will, with God’s help
Do you promise and covenant to work toward the reconciliation of the world? I do promise and covenant to be Christ’s presence in the world.
Our God is in the redemption business. Jesus Christ is our Lord and Savior and through his death and resurrection we are able to turn from the ways of sin and renounce evil and its power in the world. As baptized children of God, in communion with the Body of Christ, we commit to being faithful disciples and obeying God’s word and showing his love. We commit through covenantal promises that we will work toward the reconciliation of the world, helping to establish the Kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven. May this day remind you of your baptism and the ways we are free to live redeemed lives.
Perhaps our redemption stories aren’t as dramatic as Ebeneezer Scrooge. Maybe they are stories of being raised in the church, surrounded by a family of faith who has always reminded you of your redemption in Christ.
But as we go about this year – as we step out of worship each week and go about our lives, we need to remember that redemption stories don’t stop at the moment we have been redeemed. Charles Dickens knew that Scrooge’s redemption story would not be convincing if we didn’t believe he lived a changed life. Dickens ends his book telling us that Scrooge changed his ways and he helped others.
He was not helping others to earn his redemption, rather, he was living out his redemption.
Having reaffirmed our baptismal covenant, remembering our baptism stories, and celebrating the redemption story we have in Christ, let us live redeemed lives and continue our redemption story.
Thanks be to God.
Amen.
Ladue Chapel Presbyterian Church
Isaiah 43:1-7Luke 3:15-17, 21-22
“Our Redemption Story”
Melissa K. Smith
Ebenezer Scrooge has one of the best redemption arcs in literary history. He was a scrooge; he was so stingy with his money that he cheated Bob Cratchit out of fair pay – and his lack of Christmas cheer was in danger of being contagious. On Christmas Eve, his old work partner, Jacob Marley, came to him as a ghost and the rest of the story is spent on Scrooge’s possible redemption: to confront his past, present, and future self and see the consequences of his actions. Perhaps he could learn and avoid the same fate as Marley – with potentially even heavier chains weighing him down.
After he was visited by the Ghost of Christmas Past, the Ghost of Christmas Present, and the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, he sees the error of his ways and pleads for redemption. The next morning, he wakes up on Christmas Day a changed man – he was redeemed.
Redemption arcs are helpful tools when telling a story – they help bring a villainous character, a complex character, or even just a misguided character into a changed reality. It brings the reader hope that perhaps they too can experience such redemption.
We have the opportunity to experience redemption through Jesus Christ, giving us our own and a communal redemption story. It might not be as dramatic as Ebenezer Scrooge, but the chance is there: to turn away from our wayward path, to turn away from our wrongdoings, to turn away from any storyline or plot that could paint us as the villain or as a misguided character.
Today we celebrate the Baptism of the Lord – it is a day to remember our own baptisms, to reaffirm our baptismal vows, and to remember that Christ went before us in baptism. It is, in a real way, our way of remembering that through Christ we have a redemption story.
God is the ultimate author of redemption stories. He has been in the redemption business since he created humanity. Every time God made a covenant with his people – with Noah, with Abraham, with Moses, with David, God was redeeming his people. He promised them a better future, hope, and restoration.
The prophet Isaiah speaks to God’s redemptive plans: “But now thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.” These words call us back to creation, to God’s careful, loving, and intentional creation of humankind. It brings us back to a time before the Fall, before sin entered the world. God is the creator, he formed us in his image and likeness.
Nothing can separate us from the love of God, not even sin – so we do not have to fear, for God has redeemed us. He has called us by name.
In baptism we are called by name – we are seen as the creation we are: very good and deeply loved. We are called out and baptized. God is a redeeming God.
Isaiah continues, “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.”
We hear echoes of God’s people’s safe journeys through the Red Sea and the Jordan River – journeys that were a decided end to misery and pain and the walk through the sea and the river were steps into the redemptive arc, into the redemptive story. Crossing the Red Sea was critical to the exodus: it permitted Moses and the Israelites to travel to the other side while the Egyptians were swept away. The Jordan River was the last boundary between the wilderness and the promised land. God was with his people in Egypt and in the wilderness, he provided a way through the waters, and his people were redeemed and saved from their circumstances into a new life with new hope. Our God is a redemptive God.
Isaiah continues to say, “For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.” This is our God. Our God is the one who saves. Our God is the one who redeems. Our God is the one who is with us through every trial and invites us into new life.
These themes cannot be missed as we read Jesus’s baptism story and see him traverse into the Jordan River – the mark of stepping from the wilderness into the Promised Land.
God authors incredible redemption stories.
Jesus’s baptism story is an invitation into redemption, and the Sacrament of Baptism serves as a sign of God’s work and a seal of his promises, namely, his promise of redemption.
Jesus’s ministry began after he was baptized – and in a sense, our lives begin anew when we are baptized.
Luke tells us Jesus’s baptism story: “When all the people were baptized (by John) and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved, with you I am well pleased.”
John the Baptists’ baptisms were for repentance – they helped cleanse people of their sins. However, it differed from the baptism Jesus calls us to practice by asking for a confession of sins rather than a confession of faith and it was not done in the name of Jesus nor did it offer the gift of the Holy Spirit. It was all that the people had at the time, so they practiced it.
Jesus received this baptism – a baptism he did not need because he was a sinner but because he was identifying himself with us, with those he came to save.
In Jesus’s baptism we see the Trinity: God the Father speaks to Jesus and names him as his son, we see the Holy Spirit descending upon Christ, confirming he is the Messiah whom we have waited for, and we see Jesus humbling himself and praying to God while he is being baptized.
It is at this moment that baptism changed. It is no longer a simple cleansing, but it is a sign of God’s redeeming acts through Jesus Christ and a seal of God’s promises. In Baptism we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit and no longer hear only the echoes of Isaiah 43’s “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you…” but rather we experience this promise knowing that God is with us by his Spirit.
I keep saying “redemption” – what do I mean? Redemption is the action of being saved, of being freed, and of being cleared of a debt. For example, God redeemed his people of Israel by saving them from Egypt and freeing them from captivity.
Jesus Christ redeems us through his death and resurrection – he cleared our “sin” debt and freed us so we can live and glorify God. …but his ministry hadn’t begun yet at his Baptism, so how is baptism this sign?
The waters of baptism are deeply symbolic and theologically rich. In Christ’s baptism we are invited into his redemption story – and we then take the next faithful step and continue to turn the pages of our Bible, reading stories of Jesus’s ministry and how he healed the sick, provided for the poor, looked sinners in the eye and offered them a new way of life. We hear Jesus’s teachings and learn about how he is the fulfillment of the law and he challenges us to live upright and just lives. And then we read of his passion – his journey to the cross. Jesus came into this world to save the world and he died to save the world. Jesus rose from the dead and he defeated sin and death – he saved us.
In Baptism we are joined with the Body of Christ by the Holy Spirit to participate in the life Christ set for us. In Baptism we remember the promise of redemption. The act of Baptism itself is not salvific – rather it points us to the one who is. In Baptism we are “born again” and can experience new life. In Baptism we die to our sins and are alive in Christ. Whether you were baptized as an infant, a child, or an adult, these promises are available to you.
We also believe in only being baptized once – the promises of God and the gift of the Holy Spirit do not go away. But to help us remember our baptismal vows and to continue to live into the baptismal promise we reaffirm our Baptismal vows and remember Christ’s baptism story.
For those of you who have been baptized, I invite you now to join me as we renew our baptismal covenant. For those of you who have yet to be baptized, I invite you to join us still – this is not your baptism, but it is an opportunity for you to take these promises to heart and prayerfully consider your baptism.
Please join me as we reaffirm our Baptismal Covenant:
Trusting in the gracious mercy of God, do you turn from the ways of sin and renounce evil and its power in the world? I do
Who is your Lord and Savior? Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior
Will you be Christ’s faithful disciple, obeying his Word and showing his love? I will, with God’s help
Do you promise and covenant to work toward the reconciliation of the world? I do promise and covenant to be Christ’s presence in the world.
Our God is in the redemption business. Jesus Christ is our Lord and Savior and through his death and resurrection we are able to turn from the ways of sin and renounce evil and its power in the world. As baptized children of God, in communion with the Body of Christ, we commit to being faithful disciples and obeying God’s word and showing his love. We commit through covenantal promises that we will work toward the reconciliation of the world, helping to establish the Kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven. May this day remind you of your baptism and the ways we are free to live redeemed lives.
Perhaps our redemption stories aren’t as dramatic as Ebeneezer Scrooge. Maybe they are stories of being raised in the church, surrounded by a family of faith who has always reminded you of your redemption in Christ.
But as we go about this year – as we step out of worship each week and go about our lives, we need to remember that redemption stories don’t stop at the moment we have been redeemed. Charles Dickens knew that Scrooge’s redemption story would not be convincing if we didn’t believe he lived a changed life. Dickens ends his book telling us that Scrooge changed his ways and he helped others.
He was not helping others to earn his redemption, rather, he was living out his redemption.
Having reaffirmed our baptismal covenant, remembering our baptism stories, and celebrating the redemption story we have in Christ, let us live redeemed lives and continue our redemption story.
Thanks be to God.
Amen.
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