Luke 3:15-17, 21-22 January 10, 2016 WHAT IT MEANS TO BE BAPTIZED On the Christian church calendar, today is The Baptism of the Lord Sunday. On this day, we remember and commemorate the baptism of Jesus. And as we do that, we re encouraged to recall our own baptisms into the Christian faith and the spiritual importance of that event. I m pretty sure that few, if any of us, spend a whole lot of time thinking about our baptisms. Which isn t all that surprising. Most of us were infants or very young toddlers when it was done, and remember little or nothing about that event. And yet, being baptized was one of the most significant moments of our lives as Christians. In fact, baptism was the seminal moment when we were anointed into the faith and became a Christian. Because, you see, we weren t born as Christians; we were made Christians when we were baptized. I remember when I had my Ecclesiastical Council and was questioned and examined to determine my fitness (or lack thereof) to become an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ. I met with my mentor, Dick Nordgren, a few days before to prepare for that very important event in my life, and he gave me lots of helpful advice. One of the very first suggestions Dick made to me to get myself ready for my examination was to bone up on my understanding of baptism. He told me, Fred, I guarantee that you re going to get at least one question about baptism. I asked Dick why that was, and he responded, Because most ministers themselves aren t totally sure what baptism means. By the way, Dick s words were prophetic. The very first question I was asked at my Ecclesiastical Council was about baptism. So, what does it mean to be baptized? Although there are a number of ways to respond to that question, I think one of the best answers was given by William Willimon, an author and Bishop in the United Methodist Church. In Willimon s book, Remember
Who You Are: Baptism, a Model for the Christian Life, he wrote, Baptism means everything that water means. That definition seems so simple, and yet so profound. For example, in water we re washed. And in baptism, we re also washed: washed of our sins. Which means that one of the significant things baptism is about is God s mercy and forgiveness. And how wonderful it feels to be the recipient of God s mercy and forgiveness. There s a memorable scene in the movie, O Brother, Where Art Thou? in which three escaped convicts unexpectedly come across a baptism service taking place in a river. One of the convicts runs down into the river, wades over to the preacher and gets baptized. When he comes up out of the river he cries out excitedly to his friends, I ve been forgiven! he shouts. Cleansed of all my transgressions! The preacher told me all my sins have been washed away... including my robbing that Piggly Wiggly store! One of his buddies says to him, You said you were innocent of those charges. The baptized convict replies, I lied. But that s been washed away, too! Then, with the joy of forgiveness sinking in, the cleansed man opens his arms wide, grins at the other convicts and says, Come on in, fellas. The water s fine! What a wonderful illustration of one of the things baptism means. It s an invitation from God to a sparkling, brand new life. A life in which we re washed. Cleansed. Forgiven. Accepted. Loved. Come on in. The water s fine! But there is more to baptism than just forgiveness of sins. For instance (once more borrowing from the meaning of water), with water our thirst is quenched. And with baptism, our parched souls are quenched and renewed by the drinking in of God s Spirit. Can you think back and remember a time when you were incredibly thirsty? Maybe it was a triple-digit, blisteringly hot day when the temperature was so high, the tar was starting to melt under your feet. Of course, it doesn t need to be hot to become extremely thirsty. My most recent experiences with intense thirst happen when I m working out at the gym. After peddling on the elliptical machine and lifting some weights for an hour or so, my sweaty body is craving fluids. So when I get home, I pour myself a glass of icy-cold water. Then I lift that glass to my lips, close my eyes and drink deeply. 2
I m telling you, as that liquid refreshment makes its way down my parched throat, it s like a religious experience! Those experiences with extreme thirst help me to understand what the psalmist meant when he wrote, O God, you are my God. I seek you; my spirit thirsts for you... as in a dry and weary land where no water is. That kind of intense thirst helps me to better comprehend what Jesus meant when he told the Samaritan woman he met at the well, Whoever drinks of this water I give will never thirst. The water that I give will become in you a spring of living water, welling up to eternal life. The psalmist was thirsty. The Samaritan woman at the well was thirsty. After working out vigorously for an hour or so at Planet Fitness, I m thirsty and kind of smelly, too. I ve truly come to believe that every human being, every living soul, having been created by God to be in relationship with God, is thirsty for the living water that only God can offer. And that living water comes to us Christians, and we drink of it, through a relationship with Jesus Christ, which begins at our baptisms. So I invite you to think of the baptismal font as an oasis for those that are thirsty for God; and how receiving the spiritual water of baptism is the first opportunity to drink of the living water that quenches our parched souls. Okay, so in water we re washed. With water our thirst is quenched. But there s another dimension of water that we can t overlook. Under water, we die. We all know that we can drown in water. But did you know that, according to the Apostle Paul, drowning is one of the main points of baptism? Paul, in his letter to the Roman church, wrote, Don t you know that all of us who have been baptized with Christ were baptized into his death?... Our old self was crucified with him so that the sinful body might be destroyed and we might no longer be enslaved to sin. So, in effect, Paul was saying that we re to drown we re to submerge under the waters of our baptism all of our belligerent attitudes and destructive habits and behaviors, the things that have no place in the Kingdom of God. I guess that s why, as I once read, the early church s baptisteries where those who wanted to be baptized were submerged were made in the form of a grave. That grave image symbolized how those who experienced baptism were drowning their old, sinful ways of life under water and dying to them. Under water, we die. If that symbolism is too macabre or depressing for you, the good news is, our death beneath the waters of baptism is followed by a glorious 3
glorious resurrection. Having been buried with Christ through our baptism, we re then raised up to new life just as Christ was. The Apostle Paul said and much when he wrote, If we have been united with Jesus in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. In other words, if it s true that under water we die, it s also true that out of the water we will be lifted, raised up, resurrected, born anew. One last thing I want to say about baptism. And that is, when we re baptized and born anew, we receive a new name. Remember how, when Jesus was baptized, a voice from on high spoke to him and declared, You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased. Well, likewise when we re baptized, we re given a new name by God that we should always remember. And that name is, Beloved. Do you know what it means to be beloved in God s eyes? Many people I ve had the privilege of ministering to don t. Some have experienced years of emotional abuse, being told they re stupid and worthless. After a time they believe what they ve been told, even though it s a bald-faced lie. Others have physical imperfections although often those imperfections exist only in their minds. But even though those seeming flaws don t actually exist, the negative influence is still extremely powerful. And every time they look in the mirror and see their reflection staring back at them, they believe they re ugly. Or fat. Or somehow defective. And when they meet someone new they feel overwhelmingly self-conscious and uncomfortable, and are convinced that what that person seeing them for the first time is thinking must be negative or disapproving. If you asked such people to describe themselves in one word, beloved definitely wouldn t be the first thing that came to their minds. But perhaps, if they only remembered their baptism and the new name God has given them beloved their self-image and their spirits might be raised. When we re experiencing times of trial and difficulty, or we re being very hard on ourselves and believe we re not worth a whole lot, it can be a great source of comfort and peace to remind ourselves that we belong to and are loved by God. The father of the Protestant Reformation, Martin Luther, who often experienced times of doubt and dark nights of the soul, would habitually touch his forehead and reassured himself by saying, Martin, be calm. You 4
are baptized. What if we were to do the same? In our own personal times of doubt, inner turmoil, despair and helplessness, what strength and peace it could bring us to touch our foreheads, where the sign and seal of our baptism was made, and remember our baptisms. To remember how, by God s immeasurable grace in Jesus Christ, we were claimed as God s children, forever and ever; and when we were baptized God named us as one of God s beloved. So, my friends, what does it mean to be baptized? Being baptized means we ve been washed, cleansed, and forgiven by God. Yes, forgiven even for that. Being baptized means our thirst for God will be quenched, because God s Holy Spirit now resides in us. And all we need to do is tap into that presence of the Spirit and drink of the spiritual refreshment God so willingly provides. Being baptized means we have died to our old ways of life ways that are contrary to God Kingdom and we have been resurrected to a new way of life that s in alignment with God s will, and will ultimately lead us to Eternal Life. And being baptized means that God has given us a new name to go along with our new life and spiritual rebirth. Beloved. And that means we re very special to God. Probably more special to God than we are to ourselves. So, my dear brothers and sisters in Christ, as we move forward into this brand new year, 2016, let s get off on the right foot by remembering our baptisms, the significance it has for our lives, and the good news it reveals to us about ourselves and about our gracious, loving God. Amen. 5