Matt. 3:13-17       “Touch of the Master’s Hand”

     Although today’s Gospel reading is rather short, only 5 verses in length, it is nevertheless a fascinating story and one that raises some questions for us.  Probably the first question that pops into our minds is why Jesus submitted himself to baptism?  Who of us hasn’t wondered why the Messiah, the anointed one of God, came to be baptized by John in the Jordan River?  After all, we know that John’s baptisms were for forgiveness of sin, a message that John preached with consistency.  Yet, the Scriptures tell us that Jesus was like us in every respect except that he was without sin.  Since Jesus had no sin, he certainly had no need to repent.

     Or was Jesus baptized to somehow become God’s son?  We know that’s what happens to us when we’re baptized.  We become children of God.  But that doesn’t really fit for Jesus either.  For when the angel announced the birth of the Messiah, the Lord, he proclaimed that God himself had come in human form.  And so the angel gave no doubt as to the identity of this child.  He was the one for whom all Israel had been waiting.

     Still, we’re left with the question: Why was Jesus baptized?  And not only is it a puzzling question for us, but it certainly was for John as well.  When Jesus approached John for baptism, John’s first words were, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?”  In other words, John seems to be saying, “What’s going on here?  Why?”

     This one touched by God, this one on whom the Spirit rested, this one proclaimed by God to be his beloved Son, submitted to a baptism he didn’t need so that you and I might benefit.  Jesus stepped into the river for sinners and to, yet in another way, completely identify with us and our need for connection.  As we see in his entire ministry Jesus became the bridge between Almighty God and us.  As the chosen one in whom the Father took delight, Jesus was the Servant-Messiah who would suffer and die as he served God and fulfilled his mission of atoning for sin on behalf of humanity and to bring us back to God.

     Baptism is the means by which we are brought into relationship with God.  We’re connected to God as his children, a connection vitally important for our eternal salvation.  It’s a connection by which we know that no matter how much we may sin, no matter how far we may stray, we’re still part of God’s family.  We’ve been touched by his grace and are held securely and safely in his loving arms.

     Back on January 21, 1930, the most far-reaching broadcast up that time was scheduled.  It was King George’s message at the opening session of the London Arms Conference.  For the first time, the entire world was to be brought together with the sound of the king’s voice.  However, here in America, we almost missed it.  A few minutes before the king was to speak, a member of the control room staff of the Columbia Broadcasting System tripped over a wire and broke it, breaking the connection.  Harold Vivian, then chief control operator, grabbed one of the broken wires in one hand and the other wire in his other hand, and forced them together, restoring the circuit.  Two hundred and fifty volts of electricity shot through his arms and surged through his whole body, but he held on, and the king’s message went out to all America through the tingling body of that technician.

     That’s what our Lord and Savior Jesus has done for us.  He connects us – finite, fragile human beings – with the infinite and all-loving God.  You see, the circuit is broken until Christ makes the connection, with one hand reaching down to a lost and needy world, and the other reaching up to an all-powerful Creator God.  Then the circuit of his healing and grace flow to us, his children, and hopefully through us to others.

     In our baptism Christ makes the link and connects us to God.  We are claimed as God’s own.  We belong to him not because we made it that way, but because that’s the way God wanted it.  Through baptism we experience the touch of his loving hands.  And when we’re touched by God, we are changed and made new.  We are wonderfully different.

     Hanging in the dining room of my home is a beautiful saying that recognizes this touch of God on our lives.  Some of you may recognize it as a song made popular by Wayne Huston several years ago.  It’s called “Touch of the Master’s Hand” and it goes like this:

‘Twas battered and scarred, and the auctioneer thought it scarcely worth his while

To waste his time on the old violin, but held it up with a smile.

“What am I bid, good people,” he cried.  “Who’ll start the bidding for me?”

A dollar, a dollar, now two, only two; Two dollars, and who’ll make it three” … but no!

From the room far back a gray-haired man came forward and picked up the bow.

Then wiping the dust from the old violin, and tightening up the strings

He played a melody pure and sweet, as sweet as an angel sings.

The music ceased and the auctioneer, with a voice that was quiet and low, said, “What am I bid for the old violin?”  And he held it up with the bow.

“A thousand dollars, and who’ll make it two … two thousand, and who’ll make it three?”

“Three thousand once, three thousand twice, and going and gone,” said he.

The people cheered, but some of them said, “We don’t quite understand – what changed its worth?”

Swiftly came the reply, “The touch of the Master’s hand.”

And many a one with life out of tune, and tattered and torn with sin

Is auctioned cheap to a thoughtless crowd, much like the old violin.

He is going once, and going twice, he is going and almost gone, but the Master comes, and the awestruck crowd never quite understands the worth of a soul – and the change that’s wrought … by the touch of the Master’s Hand!

     May we be reminded today and always that God’s touch is ours.  May we live in the baptismal love God has given us.

                                                AMEN