07 Jan SUNDAY, JANUARY 7, 2024
By all accounts, our gospel reading today makes it sound like there were two types of Baptism in Jesus’ day: one of repentance for the forgiveness of sins and one which caused the Holy Spirit to descend and land upon the individual being baptized. Let’s look at a few similarities between the act of Baptism then and now.
Initially, John asked people to confess their sins and repent or turn away from a tendency to commit, or dare I say, recommit particular sins. The process required each person to acknowledge wrongdoing and a personal need for forgiveness. That’s why every Sunday, we reenact confession and forgiveness. Doing so is a reminder that the need for both confession and forgiveness is ongoing, that repentance involves almost a constant turning, and that God’s forgiveness is offered on behalf of Jesus Christ time and time again, whenever needed. 
Even back in Jesus’ time, the use of water was a sign of ritual cleansing. Washing with water was a common symbolic means of religious purification according to Jewish law. Only Jesus pointed out that ritual cleansing accomplished little if by washing a person’s exterior the interior remained unchanged.
The same may be said of baptism. It’s not a whitewash job, an insurance policy, a coat of cheap paint or chalked lime used to quickly give a uniform clean appearance, though we still traditionally see babies wearing white. While there’s a tremendous amount of symbolism in the elements of Baptism, what actually happens during Baptism is what counts.
Here’s how it was explained to us in seminary. Through a combination of the Word, capital “W” meaning God’s Word, and water with a small “w”, God, with a capital “G” acts on our behalf. It’s not the person baptizing or even the pastor at work, it’s God.
John himself, hinted as much, by saying that it was not he who had the primary role. He proclaimed the need for confession and repentance and did a good job communicating that Jesus, not him, was stepping up to make things happen.
Another thing John accomplished was representing how God is willing to act by making himself available. Think about what we know of John. He was a guy who probably lived most of his adult life as an introverted loner. We don’t read Bible stories about him and Jesus playing games together as cousins growing up, chasing each other around Joseph’s woodshop or bugging John’s father Zachariah in the temple.
John, if he was part of any community, was probably part of a fringe group or outlying religious sect in the region of Qumran. So for John to invite crowds and gather followers meant that John really had to put himself out there. It would take a lot for an introvert to become the leader of a movement, proclaim the need for baptism and be willing to personally facilitate the repentance and forgiveness of the entire Judean countryside. 
For a period of time, the larger Church, capital “C”, argued over the validity of baptisms performed by priests who after baptizing folks (for whatever reason) fell from grace. The Church erroneously emphasized the qualifications of the baptizer or person assuming that role and insisted on judging whether candidates required rebaptizing or not. In a similar vein, the church hasn’t laxed a bit on keeping the names of persons duly baptized documented in indelible ink on separate lines in big red register books securely held within archives for centuries.
Did you notice that Jesus was not baptized as an infant? He was thirty years old at the time. There was no Jewish ritual to baptize infants. Jesus was taken by his parents as a baby to be dedicated, circumcised, and named in the temple, but there was no provision or mention then of original sin, church membership or being anointed with the Holy Spirit. These are medieval doctrines and policies incorporated into modern times. Dedication and naming are included in church baptismal ceremonies today as part of traditions established way back in Jesus’ day.
Fortunately for the sake of Lutheran liturgy and worship, wisdom prevailed in the larger Church, and it was decided that God alone baptizes an individual through a combination of Word and water. It was agreed upon that Baptism would become one of only two holy sacraments recognized by our denomination. And in case you’ve forgotten, a sacrament is something instituted directly by Christ himself.
Christ did it or said we should do it, so we continue doing it. In the Lutheran faith, those two things deemed sacramental amount to Baptism and celebration of the Eucharist, a thanksgiving meal that remembers Jesus’ sacrifice for our salvation and becomes for us a means of grace.
Baptism is also a means of grace. I know, that’s a catch phrase that doesn’t sound as self explanatory as someone once hoped. Think of what constitutes “a means”. A means is one thing that helps us achieve or obtain another thing. Like if we go ahead and do “A”, it makes getting “B” possible. Like going to work hopefully results in getting a paycheck and going to school hopefully leads to passing onto the next level or grade.
I’d never heard the phrase “a means of grace” before becoming Lutheran. I just knew in my heart and spirit that there were certain things I experienced in church that made me feel better, feel closer to God, that felt personal or “good for me”.
John said it best. “There is one more powerful than I who is able to baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” Baptism, in a nutshell, is about identity. In Jesus’ case, he bore no sin, original or otherwise, in need of forgiveness. Jesus had nothing to gain from Baptism except confirmation of who he already was, a beloved Son of God, with whom God is well pleased. He agreed to be baptized to fulfill all righteousness, to do what God commanded as a public gesture of religious proclamation to God’s authority and concern for humanity’s fate.
Confirmation of who Jesus already was was meant as reassurance that Jesus did indeed belong to God and was claimed by God. The event of Jesus’ Baptism confirmed John’s calling too. It meant that John’s life’s work had led him exactly to where he aimed for, the place where he found himself in the perfect present moment.
The sight of a descending dove was yet one more symbolic gesture, another visible sign that heaven had indeed come to earth. The audible voice was God’s, too. It spoke full acceptance of Jesus and to those being baptized without regard to their performance or with misgivings of their worth.
Baptism is an act of God that reveals who God is, that God can be trusted, and how God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit are one. They act in concert, harmoniously together in pursuit of common goals, cooperating to achieve whatever it is they set out to do: to include us in their plan of sharing eternal life together. Eternal life where there is, as the psalmist sang, “beauty in holiness, splendor in God’s voice, power, strength and glory in what God does, where a nation’s people skip like calves and young wild oxen, where lightning and thunder shake things up while in the temple of the Lord, all cry, “Glory.” The Lord does sit enthroned above as king forevermore, above floods and all forces of destruction, always willing and able to give strength to His people and to give them the blessings of peace.
If you hear nothing else today, know that God, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, are willing and able, present and ready to give you whatever it is you need. Perhaps you didn’t even realize what you needed when you arrived in church today. Perhaps it could be strength or peace, forgiveness, a sense of belonging, or affirmation that you are a beloved child of God. Could it be belief that God loves you without condition, or that you have arrived exactly at the place where God hoped you’d be.
Let us pray. Dear Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Sometimes what we need isn’t clear to us or we don’t always know what’s best. So we ask you to have your way and do your will in our lives so that we too may experience the fulfillment of righteousness, satisfaction at knowing we pursue what will bless not only ourselves, but others. Help us find meaning and purpose, the ability to discern, hear and follow your voice. May your Word, water and the anointing of your Holy Spirit continue to make our identity known among the people of this world. Bind us together as one, as you are one. In your holy name, the holiest of all names, we pray. Amen.