Called By Name
Isaiah 43:1-7
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. 2When 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. 3For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. I give Egypt as your ransom, Ethiopia and Seba in exchange for you. 4Because you are precious in my sight, and honored, and I love you, I give people in return for you, nations in exchange for your life. 5Do not fear, for I am with you; I will bring your offspring from the east, and from the west I will gather you; 6I will say to the north, “Give them up,” and to the south, “Do not withhold; bring my sons from far away and my daughters from the end of the earth— 7everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.”
Called by Name
Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. 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. For I am the Lord your God.
Those words spoken through the prophet Isaiah are one of the beckoning invitations in all of Holy Scripture.
Do not fear….I have called you by name.
One of the most moving monuments in our nation is the Vietnam Memorial on the mall in Washington, D.C. Maya Lin, designer of the Vietnam Memorial, explaining to a TV interviewer why her remarkable work has come to have such a strong tug upon the emotions of all who see it, responded: “It’s the names,” she said, “the names are the memorial. No edifice or structure can bring people to mind as powerfully as their names.”
Do not fear…I have called you by name. In a world where people can grab their 15 minutes of fame—our names are known by the one in whose name we are marked in baptism.
Even though the words of the prophet come as comfort and promise, they also recall the terror of the first Exodus. “When you pass through the waters … when you walk through fire.”
The words are full of baptismal imagery. They recall a former life of subjection and fear. The image of passing through the waters recalls the Exodus passage through the Red Sea when they were surrounded by water and threatened by its power over life. They reminded the hearers of God’s salvation.
In the very act of baptism our name is called. There is power in naming. There is power in hearing our name. Think of all the times in our lives when we are called by name; as a child by a parent calling us home from play, as an adult in a crowded room by an acquaintance who welcomes our presence. The call of our name by girlfriend/boyfriend when young. It is a call that registers at the core of our being, our very identity.
The gospel authors appear to struggle somewhat with the image of Jesus being baptized perhaps because Jesus somehow appears as subservient to John. Mark, the earliest of the gospels, says very little about it, only that Jesus was baptized in the Jordan by John.
In Luke, John seems distant from the scene. Luke mentions that John was in prison and only after that does he write about the baptism briefly: 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.’
In the fourth gospel, John as the baptizer is mentioned but nothing is said of the baptism itself.
Further, Luke stresses when writing the book of Acts, authority was symbolized in the baptism when the Holy Spirit was given. It has been noted that in the early church there were many evangelists, but not all honorable. Therefore to be baptized one needed to be a committed follower of Jesus. Luke goes on to emphasize the communal nature of baptism: “Then Peter and John laid their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit”. It serves as a reminder the baptism is a act that takes place in the context of Christian community.
The questions we ask in the act of baptism involves the whole community of faith. It is not an isolated act. In baptism we are marked in Christ. In baptism we are named as followers of Jesus.
Having said that, our baptism is not just a static act. Baptism is an act in which we grow into every day of our lives. We grow and mature—we bear witness to Christ by the fruit of our lives.
Isaiah is realistic in his portrayal of life. 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.
In our Christian lives, we all face times of darkness, even doubt. It is said of Martin Luther that in the darkest moments of his spiritual life when doubts seemed to pervade—he pointed to his baptism as an act of God’s divine love and forgiveness and that was enough. Jesus’ baptism affirmed his identity as God’s Son. A voice from heaven sounded: “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.” Our baptism affirms our identity as children of God.
Without that identity, we are lost without Christ. Without the grace of God we are left in despair, bound by the Law and lost in our sin. But this is not our reality. We have been found by Christ. Marked as children of God we are born “into a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead..” (1 Pt. 1:3) God calls us to live life from this hope. We are caught up into the very life of God. The Triune God holds us together in the mystery of divine love. We are bathed at the font in the grace of Christ. We are fed at the table and the Spirit that feeds us with love sends us forth to live as the body of Christ in the world.
For you who come with strong faith this is good news. For those of you who come with doubts it is good news. For all of us who come as sinners it is good news. God by his grace takes these sinful unordered lives of ours and gives new life. In the Mystery of God’s grace, lives that are broken by sin find forgiveness and healing.
We are gathered together this day in worship because of the prompting of God’s Spirit. In remembrance of our own baptism, God’s epiphany of grace appears over and over. We are marked in Christ and nothing can sever us from that grace.
Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. 2When 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. 3For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.
Thanks be to God. Amen.