Today Is The First Day Of The Rest Of Your Life
Isaiah 42: 14, 6-7; Titus 2: 11-14; 3: 4-7; Luke 3: 15-16, 21-22
Do you read the funny papers? I think most people do. For some people, the comic strips are the first thing they turn to when they look at the morning newspaper. Somehow they feel that after a cup of coffee, and after reading the wit and wisdom contained in comics, they are now better able to accept whatever grim reality they may encounter as they turn the pages of the newspaper back to page one. Sometimes, if the wit or wisdom of the strip is particularly meaningful to me, I’ll cut it out and save it for future reference. Today, I’d like to share two from my collection with you.
The first is a Peanuts classic. Charlie Brown is talking with Lucy and he says to her, "Someone has said that we should live each day as if it were the last day of our life." "Aaaagh!" Lucy cries. "This is the last day of my life! I'm gonna die! This is it!" With that she dashes away screaming, "I've only 24 hours to live. Help me! Help me. I'm about to die." And then in the last frame of the cartoon, we see Charlie Brown again, this time with that sad face of his and he says, "Some philosophies just aren't for everybody."
Living each day as if it were the last day of our life is not a bad philosophy, is it? But living each day as if it were the first day of the rest of our lives is an even better one. We've put 2012 to bed behind us and now we begin a new year. The old is gone and the mistakes we made and the obstacles we have overcome are behind us and a new year has begun. We can only wait and see what it will bring!
The second one is from Broom Hilda. In it, her troll-like, naive, innocent little friend Irwin puts on a long-tailed formal tuxedo jacket, picks up a conductor's baton and walks into the woods alone. Irwin steps up on a fallen tree trunk and begins waving his arms as if to conduct. There is no orchestra, no choir, no musicians - only rocks and trees and flowers. In the last frame of the cartoon, Irwin turns to face the reader and says, "It's all in there; you just have to work at getting it out."
Both those cartoons affirm something quite important for us as we begin this new year. Three hundred and some days lie before us. What they hold, no one knows. But one thing is sure. Each of them is filled with possibilities. - "They're all in there. We just have to work at getting them out." We begin this new year in anticipation of the blessings that God has in store for us. It's up to us to uncover them.
Today’s Gospel about the Baptism of Jesus makes that very point. Jesus was beginning a new phase of his life. His baptism was the beginning of his public ministry. The blessings, the goodness, his miracles, healings and teachings all lie ahead of him. It was up to him to uncover them for us.
Some beginnings are met with anxious anticipation. Others are met with nervous trepidation. And I wonder what it was like for Jesus as he was about to take the first step out of his carpenter shop to begin the first day of the rest of his life. What was it like for him as the heavy door creak on its hinges as he pushed it open to look around the carpenter shop one last time.
Of course Scripture doesn’t tell us, but I’m sure he must have come one last time to smell the sawdust and lumber. Life was so peaceful there. Life was so ... safe. For there he had spent countless hours of contentment. On that dirt floor he had played as a toddler while his father worked. There Joseph had taught him how to grip a hammer. On that workbench he had built his first chair. Perhaps as he took one last look around the room, he stood for a moment and heard the voices from the past: "Good job, Jesus." "Joseph, Jesus, come and eat." "Don't worry, sir. We'll get it done in time. I've got Jesus to help me."
I wonder if he hesitated. I wonder if his heart was torn. I wonder if he rolled a nail between his thumb and finger, anticipating the pain one would cause him later.
But the day had arrived. It was time to go. It must have been difficult for him to leave. I wonder if there was a part of him that really wanted to stay. For you see, he didn't have to go. He had a choice. He could have stayed. He could have kept his mouth shut. He could have ignored the call of God or at least postponed it. He could have stayed but his heart wouldn't let him.
But if there was any hesitation on the part of his humanity, it was overcome by the compassion of his divinity. For his divinity heard the voices - the hopeless cries of the poor and abandoned; the dangling despair of those trying to save themselves. From the voice of Adam to the cry of the infant born somewhere in the world this very second, he heard them all.
And you can be sure of one thing: among the voices that found their way into the carpentry shop in Nazareth that day, your voice was among them. Your silent prayers uttered before they were ever said aloud. Your deepest questions about death and eternity were answered before they were ever spoken. And your direst need - the need for a Savior - was met before you ever sinned. Jesus left because of you. He set aside the security of the carpentry shop as he laid down the hammer. He hung up the tranquility of that life in Nazareth as he hung up his nail apron. He closed the window shutters on his youthful life as he locked the doors that day.
It was a time of new beginnings - the first day of the rest of his life. And as Jesus was baptized that day in the River Jordan, Jesus heard another voice. It was the voice of his Father. God spoke a word of blessing and offered a affirmation of love: "This is my beloved Son, the One in whom I am well pleased."
Before the first leper was ever healed or a single parable was told, he was loved. Before any sinner was embraced; before the crowds began to gather; before palm branches were cut; he was accepted. God’s approval came from the start - before Jesus calmed the storm, before the water became wine and before that wine was offered up for us. God’s love was present there at the beginning of the journey, long before the ending was revealed. God’s love surrounded Jesus, not because Jesus did something, or said something, or proved something, but just because he was something.
And the same is true for us. Somehow, we’ve come to believe that God’s love must be earned, and that God’s blessings, like bonuses, are carefully calculated and rationed. And that the kind of love poured out for Jesus — if it comes to us at all — should come as a benediction after a life in which we’ve proven ourselves, not a beginning. But Jesus joined us in the waters of Baptism to show us that God’s love is our birthright. God’s blessing is our gift, right from the start. Jesus plunged into the water to open our eyes - to show us that heaven has been torn apart for us. That God’s love is present for us at the beginning of our journey, long before the ending is revealed. And like Jesus, God’s love is with us, not because we do something, or say something, or prove something, but because we are something!” And because of God’s love, the good that we are able to do, the “good news” that we will be able to preach, and God’s love which we will be able to prove to the world through our example, well, there all there – we just have to work at getting it out.
Each day is not just possibly the last day of our lives. With God's blessing and promise, it is the first day of the rest of our life - a life lived here on earth and life eternal with God in heaven. "You are my child and I am well pleased with you." That's what Baptism says to us. It is God's way of telling us that we now belong to Him, a treasured member of His family. It’s God’s way of saying: “Today is the first day of the rest of your life . . . the first day of the rest of your life WITH ME.”
