A Sermon by Rev. Lillie Henley
Baptism has been a religious act for thousands of years. Many religions have required ritual cleansing and washing. The priests, as well as the worshipers, had to be cleansed of the impurities of daily life before they could enter the temple.
The difference between the baptism of John the Baptist and the historical baptism of ancient religions is that his baptism was an act of repentance and remission. John preached the coming of the Messiah. He believed it meant the end of time and God’s judgment of humankind. He preached repentance of one’s sins. If a person was truly regretful of his failure to live as Yahweh would have him live, and if he would demonstrate his repentance through the act of baptism, his sins would be remitted.
Remission is not complete forgiveness, it is a “lessening,” which meant to John and his followers, they would be in a better position to face God’s judgment than those who had not repented and been baptized.
Jesus’ first public act as the radical revolutionary was not preaching or miracles, but his baptism by John. In the light of John’s perspective on baptism, why would Jesus need to be baptized if he was the Messiah?
The authors of all the Gospels recognize his baptism as problematic. And that is why all four Gospels tell the story of the Spirit descending upon him like a dove and a voice from above saying this is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased. In other words, they had to make his baptism "all right!"
After his baptism, Jesus went into the dessert to pray and meditate on what happened and prepare himself for his ministry to come. He also, had to find out for himself what Yahweh wanted of him.
Scholars cannot tell us the definitive meaning of baptism was for these very early Jesus-followers. We do know Jesus did not baptize his followers, although his followers did baptize. We do know that Paul writes in first Corinthians 12:13 that the Spirit “is the power at work” [Lars Hartman, The Anchor Bible Dictionary] in baptism. Paul, more than the Gospels, talks about baptism, and he claims baptism as part of the faith experience.
For Paul, becoming a Christian was to express one’s faith, be baptized in Christ, and then demonstrate this new relationship with Christ and God by living differently than one lived before.
It was Paul, not Jesus, who defined baptism for the early church. We know it looks different now than it did in the early church, and we know it looks different to different churches.
I am not suggesting that we begin baptizing each other. We have a Universalist tradition of Christening; although there have been Universalist baptisms, including baptisms for UNMC members, and there may be baptisms in the future!
The meaning baptism has for us today lies in Jesus’ baptism. The act itself and what it represented.
We have to consider that it was his first appearance to others as one who is seen as God’s son. He was special, not divine, because in those times, those who witnessed the baptism believed they were all children of God—chosen—to be blessed and disciplined by Yahweh. Jesus’ baptism represented a choosing; chosen among many for a special purpose; why else would the Spirit descend upon him?
Chosen for what? A ministry to his people that later became another religion. How, why, all those questions, can be answered in terms of human behavior and in many future sermons; nonetheless, Jesus was special in his own way.
In the kind of baptism we know of John, it was immersion.
I'll never forget the story of the young, Baptist minister, who said, "I have seen many baptism, been baptized myself, but I had never done one."
"So, the first Sunday night baptism I did at my first church, I forgot to tell the women not to wear any wigs. Well, I'll never forget that, and to tell you the truth, I have to tell the men the same thing!"
Immersion is being held, falling back into the water, going under the surface, and then coming out of the water. It is, and was to Jesus, a physical act symbolic of the spiritual baptism which was to come in the dessert. Jesus, alone, faced many dark nights there and returned a different man.
His baptism represents the spiritual journey of everyone who makes a conscious decision to change. Oh, life makes us change sometime, even when we don’t want to, but that change is not always positive and healthy. Baptism represents the change that is fearful, full of anxiety on one hand, and hope on the other.
It is the going under, the fear of the unknown, and the coming back a changed person. Joseph Campbell tells us that if we are to reach out full potential as human beings, we have to face this change, go through this baptism.
Have we been baptized in the Spirit? John said, there is one coming who will baptize in the Spirit. Have we felt that Spirit, faced the unknown, the fearful, gone down into the dark muck of ourselves and allowed God’s Spirit to touch us, change us?
Emily Dickinson’s “Love’s Baptism” tells us about this kind of baptism. She says she was baptized as an infant, “With water, in the country church.” Now, as an adult, she chooses baptism “But this time consciously, of grace.” “With will to choose or reject / And I choose” are her words.
What does she choose? Her own path, her own relationship with God. Not a relationship someone says she must have. Not a relationship someone else defines. Her relationship with God. A relationship that will allow her to reach her full potential as a human being and as a child of God.
What is our relationship with God? Have we chosen willfully, intentionally, embracing the “going under” and the “coming up” as a changed person. A person in which others can see the change, can see the Spirit.
When other see us, do they see God in us?
Called to my full, the crescent dropped,
Existence’s whole arc filled up
How full is our life with God? Is our existence one defined by others when we were young, or have we dropped the crescent and allowed our whole existence to be filled up with God’s love?
Whenever I think of baptism, I think of the Spirit come down. I am always reminded of the song “On the Wings of a Dove.” “He sent his pure sweet love, a sign from above, on the wings of a dove.”
God’s Spirit will come to us on the wings of a dove, all we have to do is choose, symbolically, baptism.
Amen and Blessed Be.
Opening Words
As we gather in the holy quiet of this hour, let us remember the journey of the Magi so many years ago, drawn to Bethlehem by the star over the manger. May we be inspired by their faith, and ourselves draw closer to God who bestowed the Holy Spirit on Jesus through John the Baptist in the River Jordan, and who calls to us to open our hearts to His spirit and his will.
Call to Prayer
Officiant: We thank you, Almighty God, for the gift of water.
Congregation: Over it the Holy Spirit moved in the beginning of Creation.
O: Through it you led the children of Israel out of their bondage in Egypt into the land of promise.
C: In it your Son, Jesus, received the baptism of John the Baptist and was anointed by the Holy Spirit as the Messiah.
O: In the water of the River Jordan, Jesus was anointed to lead us, through his death and resurrection, from the bondage of sin into everlasting life.
All: Almighty God, as we celebrate the baptism of Jesus, make us ever mindful of your loving forgiveness of our transgressions, and help us to open our hearts to your love and your grace.
First Reading – Mark 1:7-11
And he preached, saying, “After me comes he who is mightier than I, the thong of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And when he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens opened and the Spirit descending upon him like a dove; and a voice came from heaven, “Thou art my beloved Son; with thee I am well pleased.”
Second Reading – Love’s Baptism, by Emily Dickinson
I’m ceded; I’ve stopped being theirs;
The name they dropped upon my face
With water, in the country church,
Is finished using now,
And they can put it with my dolls,
My childhood, and the string of spools
I’ve finished threading too.
Baptized before without the choice,
But this time consciously, of grace
Unto supremest name,
Called to my full, the crescent dropped,
Existence’s whole arc filled up
With one small diadem.
My second rank, too small the first,
Crowned, crowing on my father’s breast,
A half unconscious queen;
But this time, adequate, erect,
With will to choose or to reject.
And I choose – just a throne.
Offering
As we prepare for the morning offering, hear these words from Second Corinthians:
They that soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and they that soweth bountifully shall also reap bountifully. Let everyone give according to the purpose in their hearts, not grudgingly or of necessity, for God loves a cheerful giver.