Can you remember your baptism?
Are you able to put together the pieces of your baptism? If baptized as an
infant, maybe a memory comes from the stories told by parents or grandparents
or maybe even from that little paper certificate. If older, perhaps you remember
some of the details: the coolness of the water or the oil on your head. Maybe
you remember your child’s baptism – the response when the water hit their head;
what they were wearing; who was there. Maybe a memory of baptism is fresh and
new or maybe it is older and little clouded by the years. The water may have
been poured over your head or maybe you were immersed and then raised up out of
the water.
I have some favorite images of
baptisms. I remember the baby who, upon the water hitting his head, fell
promptly asleep. I remember another baby who decided at the moment the water
was poured to relieve his bladder. And his mom thought the gown would look
better without a diaper. I remember the little girl who decided to splash
Father John back. I remember the older lady whose simple reply was, “Oh, my.”
Apparently, the water was a little chilly. So many memories of baptisms.
Jesus joins the crowd at the river Jordan.
His cousin John has been baptizing people with water – the water of repentance.
Only a few weeks ago in Advent, we heard John tell those gathered at the river
that one would come – whose sandals John was not worthy even to hold – who
would baptize them with fire and with the Spirit. That day John hurled at the
Pharisees and Saducees, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the
wrath to come? Even now the axe is at the root of the tree!”
Back then in Advent, we could imagine the
excited murmurs that might have rippled through the crowd. “Baptize with fire?”
“Someone so great John won’t hold his sandals?”
“Someone who will wield an ax to cut down –
what? Maybe the curse of the Roman occupation?”
We wonder whom they thought they’d see. “Oh,
let’s hope someone powerful and mighty – maybe on a horse.”
Then Jesus joins the crowd at the river Jordan.
His cousin John is there and only he can pick Jesus out. Only John recognizes
the greatness of the Messiah. “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to
me?” No flourish, no parade of horses, no axe, no fire, nothing different. Yet.
In Sunday school, many of us may have asked at
one time, “Why did Jesus need to be baptized if he didn’t have any sin?” We
learned that baptism is initiation. Forgiveness of sins is only one part of the
grace of baptism; but more, baptism is the sacrament by which God adopts us as
children and makes us members of Christ’s Body, the Church, our catechism says.
So Jesus, by being baptized, was showing his
solidarity with his community, his willingness to be counted among these people
of God. The Word Incarnate was again showing that God was content to pitch a
tent among the people and live with and like them. As the gospel tells us, by
doing this, being baptized by John, Jesus was fulfilling all righteousness. So,
the folks then might have wondered, where was the fire and Spirit? It’s not
what they may have expected. This was just the beginning. There was, of course,
a little excitement – the heavens were opened and he saw the Spirit of God
descending like a dove and a voice declaring, “This is my Son which whom I am
well pleased.” Jesus is baptized and anointed with power and the Spirit, more
will come. For Matthew, this is the point at which Jesus’ mission and ministry
begins.
After this, various scripture passages bring us
back to baptism. In the reading from Acts today, Peter explains to new
followers that the spreading of the message of peace preached by Jesus Christ
began in Galilee after Christ’s baptism. We know other stories, such as the
baptism of the Ethiopian eunuch by Phillip and the baptism of the prison guard’s
whole household by Paul, and of course, the baptism of more than 3,000 after
Pentecost. Baptism is critically important to our understanding of who we are
as a people of God.
For too long we understood baptism only as the
sign that original sin was washed from our souls. For centuries people put off
baptism until moments before their death, believing that with baptism their
sins were washed away and they were guaranteed heaven regardless of what kind
of life they led. Fortunately, the liturgical renewal of the 1950s onward
restored our understanding of baptism as an initiation – a recognition of our
status as children of God.
When we consider our baptism we might think more
consciously about that beautiful verse in Genesis 1: “So God created humankind
in his own image, in the image of God he created them.” Yes, we believe baptism
cleanses us from sin, but even more, it gives us power and grace to accept our
own ministry and mission as offered to us by God.
It’s tempting to compare our baptism with Jesus’
baptism and for us to come up wanting. He was anointed with power and the Holy
Spirit. He went on to preach, teach, heal, and collect a vast number of
followers. He suffered, died, and rose again. He was, after all, both human and
divine. And us? Our baptism surely must be less. We aren’t divine. We can
accept baptism and then go on to live ordinary lives, forgetting perhaps even
the day of our baptism. Or can we?
Absolutely not. The church reminds us every year
at this time about Jesus’ baptism. That should be a clue that our own baptism
is vitally important. We should remember the day. We should celebrate the fact
that we too were baptized with power and the Holy Spirit – the same Spirit that
descended on Jesus like a dove. We might not get the visual of the dove and the
sky broken open, but we are equally graced, filled with the Spirit, adopted as
God’s own, and given a ministry and mission for our lives. It is just that
important.
Baptism should be life changing. Imagine what
the church might look like if each baptized member grasped hold of and used the
power that is freely given us by God in our baptism. In Isaiah today we heard
these words of the Lord: “I have taken you by the hand and kept you; I have
given you as a light to the nations, to open the eyes that are blind, to bring
out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness.”
We know these words were used in Isaiah’s time for his community, and we now
use them to talk about the Messiah, but we must understand that they are meant
for us too. Doesn’t Jesus constantly tell his followers, and us, that we must
take up Jesus’ ministry and continue spreading the good news? Aren’t we
supposed to care for the poor, build up the weak, and spread peace? Each
baptized person makes five promises. Each of us promises to God five things
that, if we take them seriously, could change the world. Can we recite those
promises by memory? We should be able to. It’s just that important.
Could we change the world or have we given up in
despair? The church gives us this celebration of Jesus’ baptism every year,
maybe in the hope that it will make us think again about our own baptism. Maybe
that memory will ignite the fire that smolders in our souls. That fire is
there. Baptism gives it to us, and it never goes out. We often call the people
who let that fire burn brightly “saints.” But again, imagine what our church
would look like if we all let our fire burn. Remember the words to the hymn: “I
sing a song of the saints of God ... and I mean to be one, too.”
We are created in the image of God. We are loved
beyond measure – all God’s people are loved beyond measure. Imagine the church.
Imagine it on fire with the power of the Spirit. Imagine the explosion of peace
and joy that could be ours. God says, “See, the former things have come to
pass, and new things I now declare; before they spring forth, I tell you of
them.”
This is our anointing. This is our
baptism.
No comments:
Post a Comment