Claimed By God - Luke 3:15-17, 21-22




It’s an Atlantic Beach morning ritual.  If we are going down to the beach, I head out first.  Our family week at Atlantic Beach is the week of July 4th.  Everyone knows how crowded the beach can get the week of the Fourth.  I will head down to the sand anytime between 7:30 and 8:30 in the morning and set up our umbrellas and chairs.  Heading out that early, there is usually plenty of space to choose from, as many folks are still lying in bed, sound asleep.  By getting out that early, we claim a small area to be able to enjoy through the day, or at least until we are ready to head back to the air conditioning of our unit.  On the other hand, if we are planning on spending the day at the pool, Anita heads down first and claims our space poolside, preferably at a table with an umbrella where I can sit and read in between trips to the water.

There are a lot of things that folks seek to stake their claim on—to say, “this belongs to me, no one else.”  The Weather Channel has a show called “Prospectors” which follow several groups of prospectors as they work their claims, mining for precious gems.  They can become very protective of their territory, wanting to make sure no one else is trying to mine their tract of land.  Cattle ranchers are known to “claim” their livestock by either branding them or tagging them to make sure that no neighboring rancher could work them into their livestock.  There is also the 2001 Volkswagen Jetta commercial where the husband is talking to his wife on the phone, waiting for a salesperson, and seeing another customer heading toward the car with a salesman, stakes his claim on the car by licking the door handle.  People try to stake their claim on all sorts of things.  Sadly, there are even some who will attempt to stake a claim on a church pew, either making visitors uncomfortable, our outright asking them to move, if they have chosen to sit there.

John had chosen a spot in the wilderness alongside the Jordan River.  John was proclaiming the people’s need to repent of their sins and prepare for the One that God was sending into their midst.  As folks would come to him, repentant of their sin, he would take them into the Jordan River, submerge them in the water, baptizing them for the forgiveness of their sins.

Many who listened to John preach, and witness the number of folks who were coming to him, recognizing his special connection to God, began to question whether or not he might not be the Messiah for whom they had been waiting.  That was not a title that John had any desire to claim.  He quickly responded to the rumors by saying, “Hey, I only baptize you with water.  What I am doing is purely a symbolic ritual.  The One who is coming after me, He is the One you are waiting for, the One you are expecting.  You think that I am special, but I am not even worthy to untie His sandals, I am not even worthy enough to be His servant.  I might use water, but He is going to truly cleanse those He baptizes, because He is going to baptize, not with water, but with the fire of the Holy Spirit.”

It was not too long after John spoke these words that the One whom John spoke of came and entered the waters of the Jordan.  John’s cousin, Jesus, stood before him, seeking to be baptized.  When Jesus rises from the water, He hears the words of the Father falling upon His ears from Heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”

Luke and Matthew differ on whether or not only Jesus heard the words, or whether the entirety of those gathered by the River heard the words, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”  It really doesn’t matter, though, these words were the Father’s claim upon His Son.  In a sense, it was the affirmation of the ministry that Jesus on which Jesus was preparing to embark—if there was any question, any uncertainty for Jesus, it was clearly answered there in the midst of the River.  Even if there wasn’t any uncertainty, it was the affirmation that Jesus belonged to God, and nothing else could lay claim on Him.  That claim would soon be proved as satan, in the wilderness with Jesus, sought to claim Jesus as His own, tempting Jesus to bow before him, yet Jesus, having heard the claim of God upon His life and ministry, and having been filled with the power of the Holy Spirit, resisted each temptation.  Later when many, including His own family, tried to silence Jesus, He remained faithful to the claim that God had placed upon Him, and continued to heal, to teach, to offer forgiveness, and to reflect God’s love upon all He met.  Not even the cross, nor the tomb could lay claim on this One whom God had claimed.

What does this mean for us, then?  It means everything.

Remember the promise of John that the baptism we receive through Jesus is not simply a baptism of water, but a baptism of fire and the Spirit.  Here then these words of Paul, “For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.  For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption.  When we cry, “Abba!  Father!” it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirt that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ….”[i]

Did you hear that my brothers and sisters?  Did you hear what Paul said?  I don’t mean hear with your ears, I mean hear with your mind and your heart.  Paul said that we are heirs with Christ.  Paul said that we are the adopted children of God.  Paul said that we are brothers and sisters to Jesus, the Son of God, Himself.  Paul said that we are sons and daughters of the Father.

Do you know what that means?  That means that the words to Jesus as He came up out of the waters at His Baptism become the words of God to us through our baptism.  It means that through our Baptism, whether we were baptized as infants, teenagers, or adults, God says to us, “You are my son, beloved,” and “You are my daughter, beloved.”  It means that God has claimed us, we are His, we belong to God and God alone.  No one else can lay claim on us, on our lives, on our souls.

God will not let anyone take from Him what He has claimed as His own.  Nothing in this world can steal You away from God.  Nothing in this world can claim you any longer.  Your enemies have no claim on you.  Your friends have no claim on you.  Your employer has no claim on you.  Your family has no claim on you.  Gangs have no claim on you.  Social cliques have no claim on you.  Addictions have no claim on you.  Your past has no claim on you.  Diseases such as arthritis, MS, cancer, Alzheimer’s, or SCIDs have no claim on you.  Mental illness has no claim on you.  Grief and loss have no claim on you.  Even death itself has no claim on you.  God has claimed each of you, each of us, as His own.  We are His.  He has said to us, “You are My son…You are My daughter…You are My beloved…You are Mine.”  “Nothing can separate us from the love of God found through Jesus Christ our Lord.”[ii]  Praise be to God!

This morning, as we remember the Baptism of Christ and God’s claim upon Him, we are invited to reaffirm our own faith and remember our own baptism and remember that claim that God has placed upon each of us, claiming us as His sons and daughters.  After we reaffirm our faith, pray God’s blessings upon the water, and begin singing our final hymn, you are invited to come forward, touch the waters, and remember your baptism, remember God’s claim upon your life.  In the water, you will find a stone.  You are invited to take the stone with you.  Place it somewhere you will encounter it every day…maybe on your dresser or chest of drawers, maybe where you keep your car or house keys, maybe in your pocket.  Each time you see it, each time you feel it, may it remind you that God has claimed you, and that nothing can take you from Him!  If you have never been baptized, you are still invited to come, touch the water, take a stone, know of God’s love for you and His desire for you to acknowledge that He is your Parent, and for you to know His claim upon your life as a son or daughter…and if following today’s service, you are at the point of making that decision, I welcome you to talk with me after the service that we might schedule a time to discuss the steps toward baptism.

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.



[i] Romans 8:14-17a
[ii] Romans 8:39 paraphrase

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