Baptism, Jesus and Us

This Sunday's text, if you're following the lectionary, is Luke's account of Jesus' baptism.

John's baptism was one of repentance and spiritual cleansing.  It was a practice that wasn't unique to John and had been a tradition for generations prior to Jesus' arrival at the banks of the Jordan.  This was a first century revival and the whole community would show up.

Many would wade out to the water and allow the water to pass over their bodies.  This symbolized the washing of sins, and as the river continued to flow, those sins were carried further and further away.  What a liberating feeling that must be!  (Unless you live downstream)

This time of year, I often get asked why Jesus came for baptism.  After all, he was the perfect, sinless Son of God, right?  Jesus had to reason to be cleansed.  Early Christians supposedly justified this act as Jesus' attempt to please Mary.  Like many will be baptized today to please a parent, spouse, or other person that insists on it.  After all, what could a little water hurt?

Other theories have emerged throughout the last 2,000 years.  Even the great William Barclay has his ideas.  His commentary says, essentially, that Jesus was baptized because he was figuring out who he was.  At 12, Jesus is found in the temple with the teachers.  At 30, he's ready to begin ministry and goes to John in order to invoke the voice of God - the voice that would confirm his identity and his calling.

I believe that both explanations are at best limp and inadequate.  Try this one on for size:

Jesus, at the beginning of his ministry, took an old ritual and transformed it into something new, giving it new meaning.  After all, he had a habit of doing these sorts of things throughout his ministry (and his death - he took a cross meant for human destruction and turned it into a symbol of hope and salvation).  Jesus taught and worked from his own paradigm.  His viewpoint was unique and sometimes we put ourselves into the sandals of Jesus too much.  Which one of us can truly relate to Jesus enough to know what he was thinking or feeling?  His disciples - of course - but Jesus - not necessarily.

Jesus came to the river and immersed himself that day, not to be cleansed of sin or to make someone else happy or to hear the voice of God (I believe he could already hear that quite clearly).  Jesus came to the river and was publicly claimed by God.  That day, he started something new - a new movement if you will.

Many of us today acknowledge that salvation doesn't come through baptism and unless you're Baptist theologically, you recognize that the cleansing of sin doesn't come through immersion in water but rather the sacrifice of the Christ on the cross.  So if God has changed the rules, why would WE need to be baptized? 

After the model of Jesus, our baptism in God's claim upon our life.  Jesus emerged from the banks of the river and God claimed him as his beloved Son and expressed his pleasure in Jesus.  Each time another person is baptized, I believe that God does the same - he publicly claims the life of that person.  Thereby, we are bound together under this baptism, making us a member of the Church.

From here, we could talk about the legitimacy of infant baptism (Why deny initiation to the young or anyone uncapable of choosing that for themselves?  Would you deny your infant American citizenship until they're old enough?) or the illegitimacy of re-baptism (Would God need to claim us more than once?  And if we believe its truly a sacrament - the work of God - re-baptism would be like saying that God didn't do a good enough job the first time, right?), but for now, let's focus on the purpose of baptism.  Baptism gives us identity in the Kingdom of God.

In a world where we are defined as individuals by the clothes we wear, the car we drive, the part of town we live in, the job we have, the degrees we have on the wall, who we married (or didn't), and how our kids turn out - the world tries to give us worth based on what we have achieved.  If we ever allow those things to give us identity, we have forgotten our baptism.

Like Jesus' baptism, God claims each of us as water is sprinkled on our heads, poured over our bodies, or we are immersed under flowing waters.  We are not cleansed of sin or granted forgiveness in the act - those things come through faith.  Instead, we are declared to be God's beloved children, welcomed to the family (and put under the care/supervision of that family), and the favor of God shines on us.

This Sunday, our congregation will have the opportunity to reaffirm their baptism.  They'll come up, place a hand in the water, maybe touch that hand to their forehead, and pray.  I'll say to them, "Remember your baptism and be thankful."

My challenge to each reader and listener this week: remember your baptism and be thankful.  Remember that God has claimed you and you bear his likeness and are charged with his mission.  Don't let the world tell you otherwise.  Find your identity and purpose in the sacramental waters.