The Charismatic Disciple

The Rev. Whitworth Ferguson III
Manassas Presbyterian Church
Manassas, Virginia
March 22, 2009
Fourth Sunday in Lent
Reaffirmation of the Baptismal Covenant

The Charismatic Disciple
Matthew 3:13-17

We all know this story.
The baptism of Jesus is one of only a handful of stories
that appears in all four of the gospels.
Jesus is about to begin his ministry.
He starts his journey on the banks of the Jordan,
in the company of John the Baptizer
and the crowds who flocked to John
to do something that was rather new:
wading into the river
and being baptized,
repenting and being washed clean of sin.

Matthew is the only one who records
the hesitancy John had when Jesus approached him.
Jesus seeks to be baptized
but John wonders: why does Jesus need to be baptized?
“I need to be baptized by you,
and do you come to me?”

Jesus doesn’t argue, doesn’t demand.
Even now, two thousand years later,
we can hear the calm voice of our Lord
as he looks at his cousin
with his piercing, luminous eyes,
“Let it be so now,
for it is proper for us in this way
to fulfill all righteousness.”

Any of us might have had the same question John had:
Why Jesus would seek baptism.
He was the Son of God,
perfect, sinless;
he certainly did not need to be washed clean of sin,
not even symbolically.
Jesus came up out of the water just as clean,
just as sinless as when John submerged him.

But then there is the next part of the story,
with that wonderful image:
the Spirit of God descending upon Jesus
in the form of a dove.

The gospel writers wanted their readers to understand,
to have no doubt that Jesus was the Messiah,
that he was the one the Scriptures pointed to long before.
We remember the passage from Isaiah that we hear
at Christmas time that is only one of many
that foretell the coming of the Messiah, the Christ:
“A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse,
and a branch shall grow out of his roots.
The spirit of the Lord shall rest on him,
the spirit of wisdom and understanding
the spirit of counsel and might,
the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.”
(Isaiah 11:1-2)

Jesus himself would reinforce this
when he would say,
“the Spirit of the Lord is upon me…”
(citing Isaiah 61:1ff)

Now when we baptize,
we may not see the manifestation
of the Holy Spirit,
but it is there,
just as certainly as it was with Jesus.
We take on faith
that it is at our baptism that we receive
the gift of the the Holy Spirit.

In the baptismal prayer I offer
you hear me say,
“Pour out your Holy Spirit upon
[the one who is to be baptized]
that he or she may have the power to do your will,
and continue forever in the risen life of Christ.”
“Pour out your Holy Spirit upon them” --
upon each man, woman and child
who comes up out of the waters of baptism:
you and me, all of us.

In our baptism we not only become members
of Christ’s holy catholic church,
the church universal,
we become spiritual people,
spiritual men and women,
spiritual girls and boys.

We Presbyterians are not terribly comfortable
with that word, “Spiritual”.
But we cannot deny the fact, the reality:
in our baptism we become spiritual people, you and me.

And, we are not only spiritual
but guess what else we are?
We are “charismatic” --
another word we Presbyterians do not readily embrace.
We are charismatic Christians,
charismatic disciples of Jesus Christ.

Being a charismatic Christian,
a charismatic disciple, has nothing to do
with emotional outbursts of faith,
as we may sometimes think when we hear the word.
Being charismatic is simply recognizing that
we are spiritual people.

The word “Charisma” means we have been favored,
given a gift from God,
the gift that is the Holy Spirit.
Charismatic disciples have not just been graced by the Holy Spirit,
they recognize the gift,
acknowledge it,
embrace it,
thank God for it,
live the gift fully, completely.

Being Spiritual, being Charismatic
means that we are attentive
to the presence of the Spirit within us,
attentive to the Spirit’s call to us.
Being Spiritual, being “Charismatic” means
we live our faith with vitality,
a lively faith,
without fear,
trusting in the Lord.
Jurgen Moltmann, the German theologian
writes that being charismatic, being spiritual
is simply to “delight in living in the joy of God.”
( The Spirit of Life, 178)
It is as simple as that.

Charismatic life --
life in the Spirit is springtime:
it is a daily re-awakening to God,
and to our calling as disciples of the living, resurrected Christ.
It is a daily blossoming
like the buds on the cherry trees
that are just beginning to emerge.

It can be demonstrative or ecstatic;
but it can also be quiet and dignified,
decent and in order.
But even quiet and dignified,
it is always joyful.

I think Loren Mead of the Alban Institute
captured it well when he wrote,
“The Holy Spirit has always represented something unruly
to the people of the church.
People who love God and love the church
are always discovering that the Holy Spirit
paints outside the lines we draw to order our church life.”
(the Once and Future Church, 311)

The Holy Spirit does not call us to unruly lives,
but the Spirit does call us to paint outside the lines,
when we paint lines that are too narrow, too confining,
when our lives as disciples
are too “wintery” and not reflective of spring.

When you come up in a few moments to take your stone,
look upon the stone as a physical reminder
of the charismatic gift,
the grace-filled favor you received in your baptism
when you were filled with the Holy Spirit -
the very same Spirit who descended like a dove
on our Lord.

Keep the stone as a reminder that
you have been filled with the breath of God,
that God’s refreshing wind blows through your life constantly
to chase away the stale and the worn,
to chase away fears and worries,
to chase away winter,
and bring the spring of
resurrection hope into your life – each day.

Keep the stone as a reminder of your spirituality,
your charismatic discipleship,
as you continue your faith journey
following the one who is
“the foundation stone,
a tested stone,
a precious cornerstone,
a sure foundation” (Isaiah 28:7)
Our baptized Lord,
Our Spirit-filled Lord,
our Living Lord: Jesus Christ.
AMEN