Since before Christmas, we have been particularly
concerned about water. Not whether we
have enough, to be sure, but rather in what form we will experience that
water. Will it be a foot of snow beginning
on Saturday night and blowing its way into Sunday, so our youth Christmas
service is cancelled? Or will that water
inundate us in the guise of an ice storm, so we have to postpone the Christmas
cantata? Or will it be rain – buckets
and buckets of rain on top of the ice on top of the snow?
Water is a potent force in our world. Think about it! Over millions of years, the persistent power
of water that covers 70% of our earth carved geologic features from winding
riverbeds to natural bridges. Today, it
is water that is a prime indicator of the health of our planet. Rising sea
levels along with arctic melting are ways that we measure the descending spiral
of global climate change.
If
water is critical to our planet, so it is also to our physical wellbeing. Did you know that our body weight is made up
of about sixty percent water? Science
and experience has validated that a person can survive without food for about
three weeks. However, humans can only survive for about three days without
water.
No wonder then that water has always been
an archetypal religious image – not only in Christianity, but also in Buddhism,
Hinduism, Judaism, and Islam as well, just to name a few. For us as Christians, water is an oft-used
image in Biblical stories. There was
Noah and the flood, of course. Likewise,
we remember Moses and the Hebrew slaves crossing the parted waters of the Red
Sea to escape from Egypt. And how about
the Samaritan woman at the well with whom Jesus had a delightfully theological
discussion? Come to think of it, people were always meeting at wells. Coming to
fetch water seemed to be where men went to find wives. After all, Isaac came
across his wife, Rebekah, at a well, and that is where Jacob met his wife,
Rachel, too.
And, of course, this powerful and
persistent image of water and the sacrament (or holy time) of baptism go hand-in-hand. Maybe that is why each year near the
beginning of the season of Epiphany, we set aside a Sunday to recall the most
important baptism of all, that of Jesus.
And because we never look only to the past around here, we use this
worship time to also remember the meaning behind our own baptisms.
The Synoptic Gospels, which are
Matthew, Mark, and Luke, all tell the story of Jesus’ baptism. That alone says something about its
importance in our Christian story.
However, each Gospel author includes slightly different details. In Matthew’s version of the tale, which we
just read, we find that, as Presbyterian pastor Scott Black Johnston tells the
tale, “a lot of people were heading down to the Jordan to listen to sturdy
preaching and to pray that God would forgive their sins. (“Come on sisters,
come on down, down to the river to pray.”)
It is the original revival - a preacher
stands by the bank of a river clamoring for repentance, then one by one
contrite sinners step forward; and trusting themselves to calloused fingers
which pinch their nostrils shut, they are plunged - every bit of them - beneath
the moving waters. (“Come on brothers, come on down, down to the river to
pray.”)
It is a straightforward, modest
ceremony, nothing more than a bath in the river really; and, yet, something
about this washing beckons to people, pulling folks from their busy lives to
make a trip down to the Jordan.” (“Come
on mothers, come on down, down to the river to pray.”) John then is
baptizing as a means of purification – a kind of self-cleaning, a symbol of
one’s commitment to repentance, to turning one’s life around. (“Come on fathers, come on down, down to the
river to pray.”)
And then we see “Jesus picking his way
through the crowds, slowly moving down the embankment seeking his cousin, the
wild-eyed preacher, and the waters of Jordan. On seeing Jesus approach, John
protests, "I need to be baptized by you. Why are you coming to me?"
John's confusion makes sense. He has
just been telling us that baptism is about repentance, so why would the Messiah
want anything to do with it? (After all, by the time this Gospel of Matthew was
actually written, early church doctrine had rapidly developed to the point that
Jesus was purported to be less like you and me and more like one without
sin.)
The stainless one doesn't need to be
washed, right? It's a difficult question. Why does Jesus request baptism at the
hand of John? It concerns John deeply.”
For the author of the Gospel of Matthew,
the answer is so that Jesus can “fulfill righteousness,” that is, can do God’s
work of justice, can reflect God’s passionate commitment to set things right in
a world gone wrong, can declare his readiness for the holy revolution, can
affirm the endless possibilities of God’s love.
The authors of Luke and Mark, interestingly enough, are not all that
concerned about the situation.
Now we could spend our time here reflecting
on the whys and wherefores of the differences among the three Gospel versions
of Jesus’ baptism. However, rather than getting
down and dirty with such Christology this morning, let’s look at the ways these
stories are similar. I think if we focus on how they are the same,
we are more likely to find meaning in our own baptisms and more likely to
discover the relationship between our baptism and the way we choose to live our
lives.
In all three Gospel accounts of Jesus’
baptism, two similar features are clear.
First, as Lutheran pastor David Lose notes, “Jesus' baptism is
accompanied by the giving of the Spirit….by a voice from heaven pronouncing
Jesus' God's beloved Son, a child with whom God is most pleased. Whatever else
Jesus' baptism may mean, therefore, it certainly is the place
where he learns definitively who he is in relation to whose he
is. At his baptism, Jesus is given the intertwined gifts of identity and
affirmation.” In short, Jesus is named:
“You are God’s beloved Son.” And a
sacred declaration is made about him:
“With you I am well–pleased.”
Though in our imaginations, we often
picture a dove gently lighting on Jesus’ shoulder with this message, in reality
this was neither a gentle gift of the Holy Spirit nor a milquetoast proclamation. After all, some Bible translations tell us
that God tore open the sky. Others say
that the heavens cracked. This was a
gift and an affirmation of power, one not to be used lightly and certainly not
one to be ignored or abused.
The second similarity among the three
versions of this story is that Jesus is baptized just before his ministry
begins. If we continue reading in
Matthew, we will find that Jesus immediately goes off into the wilderness by
himself, there to get his bearings, to focus his ministry even as he wrestles
with Satan, and to prepare himself for the mission that will ultimately lead to
his execution three years later. Jesus’ baptism and his ministry are deeply
intertwined.
Sometimes I think that we – all these
thousands of years after the very compelling baptism of Jesus – see this same ritual
through a very narrow lens. And I have
to ask myself – given what we know about Jesus’ baptism, why does baptism mean
so little to us?
Really - the number of phone calls I
have received over the years from parents who want their child baptized – to
have him or her “done” is often the term used - is quite remarkable. People who have no ties, or intentions of
creating ties, to a faith community still want their child baptized as if
baptism was a magical, protective, good luck charm that I (being ordained and
all) can dispense.
However, it is not just first time
parents, who let go of their religious ties years ago, that fail to see the
relevance, import, and power of baptism.
Even we, each of us having chosen to be part of this faith community, tend
to take baptism pretty lightly and interpret it narrowly.
Congregations these days love a baptism
because it is an opportunity to see a cute little baby and possibly a chance to
integrate parents with young children into an aging church family.
Likewise, too often, we understand
baptism only as a ceremony that miraculously removes our sins and gives us a
first class ticket to heaven. That line
of thinking goes that if we are baptized, we are saved – whatever that means. We are done – no need to worry or care much
about the here and now.
To me those explanations are shallow
and self-serving – hardly giving the waters of baptism their due. Baptism is so much richer. The waters flow so much more potently and
with so much more meaning.
And so, when we are tempted to push the
baptismal font to the side because it takes up too much room in an already
overcrowded sanctuary, we – each one of us – ought to take a sharp look at
Jesus’ baptism and ponder what it means for us as Christians today. We need to remind ourselves – perhaps over
and over again - why baptism is such a holy time, why it merits the designation
of a sacrament.
Going forward then, let’s remember the
two things that the story of Jesus’ baptism tells us about our own baptisms. First, just as baptism affirmed Jesus as a
person by naming him as God’s beloved son, so baptism affirms each one of us as
a beloved child of God.
What’s the big deal with that, we might
ask? What’s in a name? Well, take a
moment to remember the more difficult names you have been called in your life,
the names that no matter how long ago they were uttered still endure and give
you that same creepy, haunted feeling: Stupid, Geek, Fatso, Ugly, Nerd, Loser.
And as you recall them, hear God respond,
"No! That is not your name, for you are my beloved child, and with you I
am well pleased. I affirm you, and you are baptized into endless possibilities
of love and service."
And second, just as baptism marked the
start of Jesus’ ministry and his spiritual journey, so baptism marks the start
of our Christian ministry and spiritual journey as well.
There is a story of a drunk who
stumbled upon a baptismal service one Sunday afternoon down by the river. It
was down south, and this guy walked right down into the water and stood next to
the Preacher.
The minister turned and noticed the old
drunk and said, "Mister, Are you ready to find Jesus?"
The drunk looked back and said,
"Yes, Preacher. I sure am." The minister then dunked the fellow under
the water and pulled him right back up.
"Have you found Jesus?" the preacher
asked.
"No, I haven't!" said the
drunk.
The preacher then dunked him under for
a bit longer, brought him up and said, "Now, brother, have you found
Jesus?"
"No, I haven't, Preacher."
The preacher in disgust held the man
under for at least 30 seconds this time, brought him out of the water and said
in a harsh tone, "Friend, are you sure you haven't found Jesus yet?"
The old drunk wiped his eyes, gasping
for breath, and said to the preacher, ..."Naw preacher, are you sure this
is where he fell in?"
Baptism is not where you find Jesus; it
is what you do once you have found him.
You are a beloved child of God, and you
are baptized into the mission of Jesus. You
are a beloved child of God, and you are baptized into revolution. You are a beloved child of God, and you are baptized
into endless possibilities of love and service. You are a beloved child of God,
and you are baptized into God’s dream of a just world. You are a beloved child of God, and you are
baptized into the journey of a lifetime.
Baptism is a sacrament because it is
indeed a holy time. It is a time when
God touches each one of us. It is a time
when the heavens crack and the sky is torn apart. It is a time when, if we really listen, we
might even hear God’s voice reminding us who we are and whose we are.
Do not take your baptism lightly. Baptism is powerful, powerful enough so you
can face the challenges and unlimited possibilities of being named a Christian,
powerful enough so you to take on this mission you have chosen, powerful enough
so you can make a difference in the world because you are God’s beloved child.
by Rev. Nancy Foran, Raymond Village Community Church UCC, Raymond, Maine
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