Baptism of Jesus

Isa 42:1-9

Acts 10:34-43

Matt 3:13-17

It is traditional here to bless the crèche during the Christmas Eve services. This year when I sprinkled water over the manger some of the water landed on children helping me. One of them was aware that we are baptized only once and was worried that the water for blessing was a rebaptism of a type. It is traditional on this day in many parishes if there is no candidate for baptism to renew our baptismal promises and often during such events water is blessed and sprinkled over the congregation in reminder of our baptism. We are baptized once: the grace God extends to us is irrevocable.

Jesus went to the river Jordan to be baptized by John the Baptist. John tried to dissuade Jesus recognizing that Jesus was a righteous man of God while John proclaimed a baptism of repentance. You might think of this as a temptation of Jesus to omit this ritual act of baptism but Jesus persisted in doing what God wanted done. I have wondered many times about why Jesus was baptized: what is the significance of this event?

At one level it may be that Jesus is doing an exemplary act: one that we will adopt as our tradition based on his participation in it. At another level we can recognize in this scene an epiphany: God declares this is my son the beloved. The magi referred to Jesus as the “king of the Jews” a title we will see again on the cross. Genealogically, Jesus is the son of David and Abraham (Matt 1:1). Angels refer to Jesus as the savior conceived by the Holy Spirit (Matt 1:20-21), Emmanuel (God with us in Matt 1:23). John the Baptist describes Jesus as the “more powerful one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire (Matt 3:11).

In our Christian orthodoxy we refer to Jesus as sinless. Not needing to repent, born of the Spirit, declared Son of God, Jesus did not need adoption. Brian Stoffregen, suggests three reasons Jesus consents to baptism and I will add my own commentary to each one.

“Jesus is being obedient to God – doing what God wants human beings to do”. Remember that at the end of Matthew’s Gospel Jesus appears to the disciples after the resurrection and just prior to the ascension and commissions them to go into all the world, to preach the gospel and to baptize in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
“Jesus’ baptism introduces Christian baptism in opposition to John’s baptism of repentance”. It is not the water that makes the baptized person clean, it is the forgiving nature of God. We cannot earn forgiveness but we can accept it. That is why in our Episcopal tradition we baptize infants. It is not that an infant is sinful but that we affirm that the child is an adopted child of God. Our sacrament points to something beyond the event itself. The element of water is symbolic of the gift of grace. In baptism and through adoption by grace we are renewed in our relationship with God.
“Jesus consistently and deliberately identified with sinners”. Jesus did not become God’s son at baptism. What the baptism did was affirm by audible assurance that Jesus was the Son of God.

The World Council of Churches issued the Lima Document (1982) affirming those things that unite us as a “fellowship of churches which confess the Lord Jesus Christ as God and Savior according to the scriptures and therefore seek to fulfill together their common calling to the glory of the one God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.” If it were St. Paul writing this, he would simply say, we are united in Christ. The WCC is not a universal authority controlling what Christians should believe or do. It’s 300-member churches see collaboration in unity as strength. We do not do everything the same. Baptism is a good example of this diversity. Baptism is rooted in the witness of Jesus who himself consented to be baptized by John. In our acceptance of the great commission we continue to baptize in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Baptism is God’s gift.

Christians see in baptism a sign of new life in and through Jesus Christ. It unites the one baptized with Christ and all who believe in Christ. The Old Testament linked water with a rite of initiation: in baptism a person becomes a member of the household of God – the Church. St. Paul describes baptism as participation in Christ’s death and resurrection as we “die to sin and rise to life” (Rom 6;3-5). In baptism we are given new birth (John 3:5) and put on the persona of Christ (Gal 3:27). We are freed from bondage (1 Cor 10:1-2) and liberated into a new humanity in which barriers of division based on social status, sex, race, or social location are transcended (Gal 3:28; 1 Cor 12:13).

Matthew tells us that Jesus went down into the river Jordan and was baptized in solidarity with sinners in order to fulfill all righteousness (3:15). In baptism, Christians are immersed in the liberating life of Christ: our sins are buried and the power of sin is broken. I read somewhere of a child’s baptism. During the processional into the church, the father of the child carried a small coffin. The mother carried the child. In preparing for baptism, water was poured into the coffin. The child was laid in the coffin/water and brought out wrapped in a pure white towel – symbolic of new life. The congregation rejoiced as the child rose from the water joining the community in Christ.

Baptism makes us partakers in the mystery of Christ’s death and resurrection. In baptism we rejoice because we are forgiven, cleansed and sanctified by Christ. We enter into a new life under the power of the Holy Spirit. In our tradition, after the baptism with water, oil of chrism is used in making the sign of the cross on the forehead of the recipient, marking him or her as Christ’s own forever. This is not the persons’ first or last encounter with the Holy Spirit. God’s sprit nurtures us in faith all of our lives, brings us to the moment of baptism and affirms us as adopted sons and daughters of God.

Being members of the Body of Christ by virtue of baptism, we are brought into union with Christ. We are individually and collectively called to confess and serve Christ in every place and in all people. We are one in Christ: there is one baptism, one God and Father of us all (Eph 4;4-6). When we recognize and affirm our unity as one holy, catholic and apostolic Church, we have accepted a commission from God. Guided by the spirit of God we are sent to share the good news of God in Christ.

When we neglect to recognize that it is God’s grace that is given in Baptism: not the volume of water, the confession of faith, or the repentance of sins, that make us members of God’s body, we fail to witness to the one Lord. Baptism that is not mutually recognized by variety of practice and theology clouds our witness to the world we are sent to serve.

We begin the journey of faith in some sense in baptism but the rest of our lives is devoted to living into our baptismal promises and for that we need community. Baptism is like getting your drivers license. It is a milestone in our faith journey. Beyond the water is the opportunity to grow to maturity in the responsibilities we acknowledge and vows to keep.

Baptism takes place in the church during a congregational worship experience. We no longer baptize privately because we understand that growing into the full stature of Christ can only be done in community. We need each other to affirm our struggle to be faithful. We need the companionship of other believers to help us be faithful in the apostles teaching, in fellowship and in prayers. Each of us must strive for justice and peace but we can make a bigger difference together than we can individually. In every baptism we reaffirm our faith using the Apostles creed. We promise to help each other carry on the great commission given us by Christ.

We are baptized once, made one with Christ and we continue the journey as faithful disciples of our Lord and Savior Christ. We do this in community by the power of the Holy Spirit.