1 Epiphany: Baptism
of Our Lord 2016 (Year C)
I’m sure you’ll all be glad to know
that the Three Wise Men arrived safely at the manger on Wednesday after their
long traverse along the walls of the church. Wednesday, of course, being the
Feast of Epiphany—the start of the season in which we celebrate God’s
revelation in Jesus. In the case of the Wise Men, Jesus is revealed to these kings
from different parts of the world, effectively fulfilling another of the
prophecies of the Old Testament prophet, Isaiah.
Anyway, today, we’ve fast-forwarded
to the baptism of Jesus—because not only does Jesus commend baptism to all of
us who would follow him, but is also one of the places in which Jesus is
revealed as the Messiah by John the Baptist, and finally a voice from heaven.
Now, unlike many of us, Jesus was
not baptized as a baby, but is an adult when he has found his way to the River
Jordan, and is baptized by his cousin John the Baptist. As I’ve already
mentioned, John acts as a spokesperson for Jesus, pointing out to the gathered
crowds that Jesus was the Messiah that God had promised. And if there was any
doubt left to the people, a voice from heaven affirms this fact.
However, before Jesus shows up,
we’re told that there are these people standing around trying to figure out
whether or not John is the Messiah. This guy who’s come out of the deep desert,
wearing camel hair and calling everyone a brood of vipers—this is the guy that
they suspect could be the promised Messiah of God.
But I suppose that even though this
might seem like an odd conclusion, we should remember that these people were
coming out not to find an eccentric Baptist preaching. Instead, they came out
looking for a prophet—someone who would preach the truth, no matter how
difficult it might be to hear. Because, as it turned out, for these people who
were oppressed by a foreign power, oppressed by their leaders, and even
oppressed by their religion; I would expect that a fresh (even fiery)
revelation of truth would have been more than welcome. After all, sometimes
tearing-off the band aid, even though it stings a little bit, is a wonderful
relief.
And yet, there were obviously still
some in the crowd who were detractors. There were still people whose own power
and position in life were threatened by what John was preaching, and these were
certainly the same type of people who took issue with Jesus.
The strange thing is, these scribes
and Pharisees (that we hear about all the time in the New Testament) actually
held many of the same core values that Jesus and John were teaching. The
Pharisees were students and scholars of the Law and the Prophets—they spent
most of their lives studying, learning and teaching this stuff. And the scribes
were basically like scholars of the Law, and like the Pharisees, they should
have been very familiar with the things Jesus was telling people.
So, in the same way that it’s
probably a little weird to have people wondering whether or not the same wild
guy that had called all of them a brood of vipers was the Messiah; I suppose
it’s only fair that the religious leaders with the same core values as both
Jesus and John should be the very ones to persecute them and their followers.
Actually, it kind of gives me a headache trying to figure it out…and I’m a fan of irony.
But, we may ask whether or not
there is something more going on in these situations. Perhaps there are forces
that are stronger that are at work in these people, and causing them to react
and behave in such odd ways.
One thought could be this
psychological phenomenon called “Groupthink.” This is effectively something
that can happen with groups of people which cause them to—as the term
infers—lose a sense of self individuation, and begin following the group in an
unquestioning way. We obviously see this in religious cults, and even in
radical terrorist and fundamentalist groups, but some of the same antecedents
are even at work in more familiar places, as well. This can include things like
churches, social clubs, and governments.
In fact, there have been major corporations
which have gone under because of an inability to react to imminent problems, or
to address situations clearly—and these were largely due to this loss of clear
individual thought within the board. So, effectively, those things which the
people knew to be reasonable or right were overridden by the groupthink…
Some other places where Groupthink
has been identified are in the long held values of people aligned in
conservative and liberal politics, and even subcultures within sports. The
symptoms of this effect, as far as one research psychologist, Irving Janis, has
identified are as follows:
Type I: Overestimations of the group — its power and morality
1.
Illusions
of invulnerability creating
excessive optimism and encouraging risk taking.
2.
Unquestioned
belief in the morality
of the group, causing members to ignore the consequences of their actions.
Type II: Closed-mindedness
2.
Stereotyping those who are opposed to the group as
weak, evil, biased, spiteful, impotent, or stupid.
Type III: Pressures toward uniformity
2.
Illusions
of unanimity among group
members, silence is viewed as agreement.
3.
Direct
pressure to conform
placed on any member who questions the group, couched in terms of
"disloyalty"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groupthink#Symptoms
Anyway, we could probably think of
places in our own experiences where these were symptoms of an unhealthy group.
But, that’s to say, I’m sure just from a few of the challenges that the scribes
and Pharisees posed to Jesus, we can easily see that their coming from a very
insular group perspective…so much so that they’re forced not only to oppose
their own people, but even persecute and conspire to kill their own Messiah and
prophet.
I suppose given all of the external
pressures placed on them—trying to hold on to their cultural and religious
autonomy—we can probably surmise the reasons the Pharisees would be threatened
by Jesus and John the Baptist. After all, in turbulent times false prophets and
messiahs can become common danger. In fact, we even read about some of them in
Scripture.
But that’s to say, we can also see
how dangerous Groupthink can be if it is left unchecked—whether it leads to the
bankruptcy of a major corporation, or even persecuting the Son of God. However
in our own circles we won’t likely find ourselves conspiring to kill anyone
(hopefully), but we should keep in mind that a number of people being recruited
by groups like ISIS were average, educated, middle-class people. So, it may
mean more than our political leanings that are affected if we’re not attentive.
Anyway, while Groupthink may
explain groups like the scribes and Pharisees—I don’t know that it fairly
explains the rest of the crowd that gathered at the river that day. After all,
the whole reason these crowds of people were full of anticipation was because
they were still holding on to a healthy skepticism about John. Sure, they saw
him as a prophet, and prophets were known to be a little harsh. After all, how
else can we expect to woke up from our apathy and delusion without a little
jolt? So, in actuality, with all of his beckoning and strong preaching, John
actually seems a reasonable candidate for Messiahship. He certainly wasn’t afraid
to offer people a different perspective…
However, as we know, John the
Baptist was preparing the way for Jesus. Yet, like Jesus after him, John calls
out to the people to wake up and claim their birthright as world changers.
Jesus, equally calls people to wake up—whether it was teaching crowds, or
talking to individuals—he calls us to wake up and trust in God’s relationship
to us. What all of this amounts to, then, isn’t some sort of religious anarchy,
but instead calls us to take seriously what it means to be followers of Jesus.
And this is something distinctly different from Groupthink if we take it
seriously.
Because, what we find in Jesus call
to all of us, and what we continue to come back to in the promises we find in
baptism is that all of this begins with a change in our hearts. And even though
we come together to find agreement in the Holy Spirit, this is not the same
thing as uniformity. Instead we’re each called by God, with all of our
individuality and talents to be involved in the continued work of salvation in
the world. And in spite of what Christian fundamentalists will continue to
preach; in spite of what Roman Catholicism has enforced since the 12th
Century; and in spite of what we have come to believe is “expected” of us in
the Episcopal Church…the way of Jesus Christ which we follow is not a matter of
conformity to doctrine, it’s a matter of conversion of life. But this is a
thing which isn’t regulated by the Church…like, no one gets to tell you the
rules for being transformed mind and soul by the Spirit of God (Baptism is a
good start, but meeting Jesus might be a better one).
The point of is, it’s much easier
to become conformed to the mindset and beliefs of a group than we probably
think. In fact, when we’re part of a subculture that has its own stories,
traditions, initiation rites; it’s quite easy to find our own perspectives
shifting. And when we’re part of a sub-set of a larger sub-culture, like in a
local congregation for instance, it’s even easier to become a little lost in the
group identity, and even begin to agree with things, and believe certain things
that we normally wouldn’t do outside of that context.
But this is exactly the kind of
thing that our baptism calls us out from—it’s exactly the thing that Jesus
calls us out from. Because while we have joined the family of God in our
Baptism, we can never forget that we are called to our life in Jesus, and our
life in the Church because of who we already are—not what it seems like we
ought to become. The Church needs each one of us—healthy, differentiate
individuals—to continue the work God has begun in Jesus Christ.
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