Isaiah 42:1-9  Acts 10:34-43  Matthew 3:13-17  Psalm 29

There is a lot of activity at the bird feeder and berry-bearing bushes these days.  Birds need a lot of feed when the weather is so cold; and when the ground is frozen and snow-covered, there is little chance of finding sustenance in the usual locations.  So, the birds come, each type with the distinctive markings of classification:  cardinal, chickadee, finch, tufted titmouse, sparrow, robin, warbler, blue jay, red-winged black bird – all coming to be fed.  Each bird classification is distinguished by coloring and size, beak and facial shape, but there is no partiality in their need for food for survival.  And, there is no partiality in the food’s availability – it is available to any who come to receive the food provided.

In our lesson from Acts, Peter is speaking of God’s acceptance of all who believe; God shows no partiality.  ‘I truly understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him,’ Peter says in verse 34.

This impartiality of God for all people is an epiphany for Peter.  Peter had struggled with the acceptance of non-Jews as God’s people – as legitimate followers of Jesus Christ.  Up until the time of Jesus’ ministry on earth, anything non-Jewish – whether food, livelihood, or people – was considered profane, unclean.  Simply visiting the home of a Gentile, sharing a meal, rendered one unclean.  This was the context of Peter’s strict Jewish upbringing.

In today’s lesson, Peter is speaking to the household of Cornelius, a Roman centurion; it is understood that all in the home of Cornelius are Gentiles.  Cornelius was a God-fearing man who, himself, had had an epiphany.  In the previous verses of the 10^th chapter of Acts, we read that, as Cornelius was praying, he was instructed through a visit from an angel of God to send for Peter to come to him and speak the word of God.  Peter, simultaneously, had a vision in which a voice from heaven instructed him of God’s acceptance of all, ‘What God has made clean, you must not call profane.’  [Acts 10:15]  Thus, when summoned by Cornelius, Peter knew that he was to answer this call to ministry.

These visions by Cornelius and Peter are interlinked and greatly significant.  In concert, these epiphanies institute great changes in the lives of both men; our reflection on these events brings about our own epiphanies in our understanding of God’s unconditional impartial love for us and in our need to receive all others as God’s children – as God receives us.  Cornelius and his household would hear the words of God through Peter, and Peter would come to accept and receive all people – all “made clean” by God.

Chapter 10 of Acts continues with the account of Peter’s visit to the household of Cornelius at which time Peter spoke the words we read today.  Acts 10:44 tells us that the Holy Spirit descended upon all who heard the words of God preached by Peter that day; all were baptized in the name of Jesus Christ.

It is our baptism by the Holy Spirit and in the name of Jesus Christ that unites us as one in the Body of Christ.  All four Gospels place Jesus’ baptism at the beginning of his ministry; we know nothing of Jesus’ ministry before his baptism.  For Matthew and Luke, the baptism serves as the reentry of Jesus, now an adult, into the Gospel narratives as his ministry begins.

Jesus, himself, came to be baptized by John in the Jordan.  Was Jesus, too, seeking forgiveness of sin?  We know Jesus to be without sin.  So, why was Jesus baptized and why is it so important that we are baptized?

Our events of celebration of the Incarnation, The Epiphany, and the Baptism of our Lord – which we celebrate each year on this first Sunday after The Epiphany, are not randomly placed events.  The events represent the evolution of our own epiphanies, and it is important that we see the interconnectedness.

From the Incarnation, we come to understand that it is okay to be human – that our humanness is to be celebrated – that God himself chose to come to earth as a human in the human nature of Jesus, the Word made flesh.  Looking to the human Jesus, we affirm that our bodies are not just containers.  Certainly, our bodies are limited, at times quite frail, but our bodies allow us to carry out our ministries within the Body of Christ as Jesus’ earthly body allowed him to carry out his ministry on earth.  It’s okay to be human, and we are called to celebrate that humanness in our understanding and belief in the Incarnation, and, similarly, in our celebration of the Baptism of our Lord – the earthly baptism of the human Jesus who came to live as we live.

Because we are human, we have a need for outward, visible, tangible signs of life’s transformational experiences – in this case the water in which we are baptized.  Similarly, the wedding ring is an outward and visible sign of the sacrament of our marriage.  But, it is the inward and spiritual grace of the Holy Spirit that seals our commitment to our marriage vows.  And, it is the inward and spiritual grace of the Holy Spirit that brings about the transformation of our baptism – the cleansing and renewal – our humanness made sacred as we are commended into Christian service.

As affirmed in our Gospel account of Jesus’ baptism, it is the presence of the Holy Spirit in which Jesus is baptized and in which all are baptized – prince or pauper, rich or poor, young or old, healthy or frail – all are baptized by the same Holy Spirit.  Cornelius and his household were baptized by the same Holy Spirit.

Through the work of the Holy Spirit, we are transformed.  There is no partiality; all who come are fed.  Through baptism by water and the Holy Spirit, the humanness of each of us is transformed into the sacred Body of Christ.

Our ministry begins.