Readings for this Sunday: Isaiah 43:1 – 7; Psalm 29; Acts 8:14 – 17; Luke 3:15 – 17, 21 – 22
A pastor
was teaching his confirmation students about baptism. They read Luke’s story of
the baptism of Jesus, and the pastor asked, “What does it mean when God says to
Jesus “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased?””
One of
the students responded, “That was Jesus’ daddy saying that he loved him.”
True
story.
Sometimes
it really does take a child to point out the truth.
Luke’s
telling of the baptism of Jesus is pretty short and to the point.
Now
when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and
was praying, the heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended on him in
bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the
beloved; with you I am well pleased.”[i]
“You
are my Son, the beloved; with you I am will pleased.” Sometimes we question why Jesus got baptized
in the first place – and one of the big reasons is that at Jesus’ baptism, God
names him and claims him.
Baptism
is about identity - who we are. The
reading from Isaiah today teaches us a lot about who we are, whose we are, and how
that identity is revealed in baptism.
God
says:
·
I have called you by name, you are mine.
o
Plain and simple, God looks at us and says, “(your name goes here), you are my child,
you are mine.” In baptism we are named and claimed as God’s children.
·
You are precious in my sight, and honored, and I love you.
o
I’m not sure that this needs any explanation. God loves
you. You are precious, valued for who you are.
o
And while I don’t think that needs any explanation, I
think we need to sit with a little bit – sometimes we gloss over it: yeah, sure
God loves us, God loves everyone, God is love… And we just plain miss the
meaning. God loves YOU - and that makes you indescribably valuable, infinitely
precious.
·
Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;
o
We get this part about baptism. Baptism is for the
forgiveness of sins, right? I mean it says so right in the opening prayer of
our baptism ritual, “
§ In holy baptism our gracious
heavenly father liberates us from sin and death by joining us to the death and
resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.[ii]
§ By water and the word God delivers
us from sin and death and raises us to new life in Jesus Christ.[iii]
o
So it’s understandable that we might think, “Okay, I’ve
been baptized. My sins are forgiven. Good to go, got my ticket to heaven.” But
that’s only a tiny bit of what baptism is about. Baptism is not a “once and done” thing. Sure
we only need to be baptized once, but God’s promises for us in baptism continue
throughout our lives.
o
God continues to work throughout our lives to help us
grow, to help us become the people God created us to be. Sin sometimes gets in
the way of that – think of sin as those things which confuse us about our
identity as children of God, and draw us away from relationship with God.
Baptism grounds us in our identity. Martin Luther encouraged people who were
struggling temptation or despair to proclaim, “I am baptized!” Remembering our baptisms is a way to remember
our identity as much loved children of God, and to turn our hearts back to our
Father.
·
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the
rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not
be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.
o
This is part of those promises that continue - God is with
us, always. No matter what. Through every place we go in life, through
every joy we experience, every tragedy we endure, God goes with us, redeeming
us, working all things to our good.
And just in case we missed it the first time, God reminds
us again:
“Do not fear, for I am with you; I will gather you to me from wherever you
go, because you are called by my name, because I created you for my glory, because
I formed you and made you and you are mine."
Baptism is about identity – about being named and claimed
as child of God, sealed by the Holy Spirit, and marked with the cross Christ
forever.
And
this is all God’s doing. God loves us,
loved us before we knew that we should love back. God comes to us – God always comes down. We just spent Advent and Christmas talking about
how God comes to us, becomes one of us in Jesus Christ. In the passage in Luke
today and the passage in Acts, we hear about how God comes to us in the Holy
Spirit.
When
I taught our confirmation students about the Apostle’s Creed, when we got to
Third Article, about the Holy Spirit, we learned:
I believe that by my own understanding or strength I
cannot believe in Jesus Christ my Lord or come to him, but instead the Holy
Spirit has called me through the gospel, enlightened me with his gifts, made me
holy, and kept me in the true faith, just as he calls, gathers, enlightened and
makes holy the whole Christian church on earth and keeps it with Jesus Christ
in the one true faith.[iv]
We
cannot do it ourselves. The good news is
that we don’t have to – God always comes down.
That’s
one of the things that we remember every time we baptize a baby - that we come
to God as helpless as a baby. And God holds us, and love us, who cares for us.
Like a loving parent, God smiles at our first steps, encourages us to walk, and
picks us up when we fall down.
It’s
a lifelong process, this growing up as a child of God, this living into our
baptism, this walking wet in the world.
A
couple of quotes I gleaned from a blog[v]
- these are from the comments -and I think they really get at what baptism is
all about:
“Baptism is a lifelong experience. It is God bathing
you, hugging you, pouring scented oils of gladness over you, dressing you and
sending you off into a baptismal life in the world.”[vi]
“What I do know is that the One Who Matters is present
and acting – somewhat aggressively, actually – to make me a beloved child of
God. And every day for the rest of my life, that identity will bless me, dog
me, frustrate me, challenge me, and drag me into relationships that change
everything.[vii]
How do
we live out our baptismal promises – how do we walk wet?
Sometimes
it helps just to have a reminder. That’s one of the great things about our
sacraments – is our first communion kids learn, we have stuff. We have water,
and bread, and wine, stuff that helps us remember God’s promises.
One
year when we did confirmation camp back home, we spent the day talking about
baptism. And at the end of the day during our worship, we talked about how
water can help us remember that God has claimed us, and forgiven us, and walks
with us, encouraging us and loving us. We talked about how when we wash we
could remember how baptism washes away sins – Martin Luther used to take a
moment in the bath and say, “I am baptized.” We take a drink of cool refreshing
water, and we could remember how Jesus is the living water. And when we played in the pool after worship
that day, we could remember how much God loves us and gives us good things. At
the end of that worship, we had the students walk through the sprinkler on the
way to the pool area, saying to them as they entered the water, “Beloved child
of God, you are marked with the cross of Christ and sealed by the Holy Spirit
forever.”
We
are going to reaffirm our baptisms in a few minutes. There will be an opportunity during that time
for you to come to the font, dip your fingers in the water, and receive a
baptismal blessing.
I
hope you’ll take the time to ponder:
How
does it change your day if you go through it remembering you are a much loved,
child of God?
How does
it change your day, to remember, you are God’s beloved child, called and sent
to make a difference in the world?
[i]
Luke 3:21, 22.
[ii]
Lutheran Book of Worship, pg 121, Holy Baptism.
[iii] Evangelical
Lutheran Worship, pg 227, Holy Baptism
[iv] .
Quoted from "Lutheran handbook" page 205
[v]
David Lose, In the Meantime, “What is Baptism?”
http://www.davidlose.net/2013/01/what-is-baptism/.
[vi] [vi]
Comment by Tom Olson, Jan 11, 2012 on David Lose’ blog post “What is Baptism?” http://www.davidlose.net/2013/01/what-is-baptism/.
[vii] Comment
by Glenndy, Jan 10, 2012 on David Lose’ blog post “What is Baptism?” http://www.davidlose.net/2013/01/what-is-baptism/.
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