Coming Up Out of the Water

Genesis 1:1-5

In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth,

the earth was a formless void

and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters.

Then God said, "Let there be light"; and there was light.

And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness.

God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.

Mark 1:4-11

John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.

Now John was clothed with camel's hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey.

He proclaimed, "The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals.

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 just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him.

And a voice came from heaven, "You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased."

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The Christian calendar really does roll along. Last week we celebrated Epiphany Sunday, when the Magi came to pay homage to the baby Jesus. Today is the Sunday we remember the Baptism of The Lord. But it was not an infant baptism, the way so many baptisms happen today. It was the day that the adult Jesus showed up at the river Jordan, where John the Baptist was baptizing all who came to him.

So why is the Christian calendar so compressed? Well, the reason has to do with the dates we have chosen to celebrate Christmas and Easter. Christmas is at the start of winter, and Easter is at the start of spring. There’s only a few months between one and the other, and of course - Christmas - comes first. If we celebrated Jesus’ birth in April, … and the resurrection in December, …there would be more time to stretch out the church calendar to reflect Jesus’ life in more chronological order.

But as it is, we acknowledge certain key points in Jesus’ life during the few weeks between Christmas and Ash Wednesday, which is the start of Lent, which is the 40 days before Easter, and which this year falls on Feb. 18. Which is just five weeks away.

I was bringing all my Christmas decorations from various parts of the house to the dining room table, so I could box them and put them away for another year. And as I was carrying one of my three sets of manger pieces over, looking down at the sweet little baby Jesus that was part of it, and probably because I was also thinking about Jesus’ baptism, I began to think with some amusement about what it must have been like the first time Mary and Joseph gave baby Jesus a bath.

Those of you who have raised children from infancy perhaps remember what giving that first bath was like. I had one of those large sponge things with a portion carved out so the baby could lay in it. That sponge thing actually looked like a lot of the mangers do in our nativity scenes – maybe that’s what made me think about it.  Then that spongy thing went into a larger plastic thing, angled so the baby’s head was up, and that could either go into the kitchen sink or into a bathtub, to keep just the right amount of warm, soapy water around the baby.

I don’t imagine Mary and Joseph had anything like that.

Anyway, that whole contraption looked pretty sensible and workable in theory, but the reality of a soapy, slippery, surprised, squirming and often screaming baby was another matter altogether.

But I digress.

The adult Jesus shows up and enters the water to be baptized, according to Mark’s gospel.  As he comes up out of the water, he sees the heavens being torn apart.”

The heavens are torn apart.

They are not neatly opened like a curtain.

They are ripped apart.

Mark uses the same word here that he uses when Jesus dies on the cross, and the curtain in the temple is ripped apart. It is the same word as used in the book of Isaiah, in the reading we heard on the first Sunday of Advent, when Isaiah said,

“Oh, that you would tear open the heavens and come down!”

God is born to us as a baby. The Word becomes flesh and pitches his tent among us. God tears open the heavens and comes down. God’s Son takes up residence on earth, and in so doing, God is revealed to us in a new way, a transforming way. God cannot bear to be separated from us anymore. The heavens are torn apart, and God enters the world in a whole new way.

As he comes up out of the water, Jesus’ identity is affirmed by God. “You are my beloved Son; in you I am well pleased.”

Now, it’s really no stretch for us to believe that Jesus was God’s beloved Son before this baptism ever happened, and that God was well pleased in him before he came up out of the water. It wasn’t about that particular moment or event.

God was pleased with Jesus, acknowledged Jesus as his Son before he was ever born, much less baptized. Do you agree? Can I get an Amen to that?

Well, we, too, are God’s children before we are ever baptized. From the beginning, we are God’s beloved.

God loves us from the moment we are born, and with a steadfast love. God is faithful. And that is indeed Good News! Can I get an Amen to that??

When he came up out of the water, Jesus didn’t stick around for long. The Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. He immediately headed straight into a place of great temptation. And from there immediately into his public ministry.

In the same way, we come up out of the waters of baptism.

We don’t stay there. We go forward from there to live new lives as followers of Christ. We discover how we are called to serve, in ways that are big and small and are matched to our abilities and the needs of the world. We are given opportunities every day to obey, and to reveal God’s forgiveness, grace and mercy to others, in each of the moments we spend with them.

So we are reminded in baptism that God is still in the world, working in new ways that are constantly being revealed. We are reminded that we are God’s beloved children, and that God’s love is steadfast. And we are reminded that we are we are called into lives of discipleship in Jesus Christ – to go out from our baptism into the rest of our transformed lives, serving God by serving others, loving others, unconditionally.

Several of you have asked me questions about what Presbyterians believe about baptism and how it is different from other forms of Christianity. To answer that, I turned to our PC(USA)’s constitution – the Book of Confessions is the first part of it, and the Book of Order is the second part. In the Book of Order there is quite a bit written about the Sacrament of Baptism. Presbyterians, by the way, celebrate two Sacraments – Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. That is one distinction we have from other forms of Christianity, some of which celebrate additional Sacraments beyond that.

We celebrate these two because Jesus did them, and Jesus also told us to do them. These are the only two that fall in that category.

I am not going to read to you from the Book of Order, although if you have an interest in learning more about what Presbyterians believe about baptism, it is a very good learning tool for that. I will summarize some of the things they explain, all of which are based upon scripture and the Book of Confessions.

First of all, it is Jesus Christ who calls us to faith and to participation in his body, the church. The Sacrament of Baptism is the visible sign of the call and the claim that Jesus Christ makes on our lives.

Some denominations only baptize adults who are seen as being capable of making the choice to accept Jesus’ call. The Presbyterian Church baptizes children as well as adults. In baptizing children, we bear witness to the truth that God’s love claims us before we are able to respond in faith. And, in baptizing adults, we bear witness to the truth that God’s gift of grace calls forth from us a response of faithfulness.

Baptism is the sign and seal that we are part of the Body of Christ.  Even though Jesus had no need to repent and be cleansed of sin through the waters of baptism, Jesus through his own baptism identified himself with sinners, with us. Jesus in his own baptism was identified as the Son by the Father, and was anointed with the Holy Spirit, and from that moment when he came up out of the water, he took on the role of the servant, which was reflected throughout the rest of his life, in his sufferings, his death, and his resurrection.

As servants of the living Christ, we can also expect that in this life there will be suffering for us, and there will be death of our bodies, but also that the resurrection waits for us, because of the saving love of Jesus Christ. We actually participate through baptism in Jesus’ death and resurrection, since in our baptism, we die to what separates us from God, and we are raised to new life in Christ.

Throughout our whole lives, we are called both to be disciples and to make disciples. The risen Christ assured all of his followers of his continuing presence and power, and he commissioned them to “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always to the end of the age” (Matt. 28:19, NRSV).  So, as disciples, we are empowered by the Spirit to take on a life of service, and to be an inclusive community of worship, sharing in a common life, abounding in love, justice, and mercy.

Baptism is a mark of identity. It signifies that God is faithful, that our sin is washed away, that we are reborn into new life as children of God, that we are adopted into the covenant family of the Church, the body of Christ, and that this covenant is sealed by the Holy Spirit. We are assured that the light of Christ will always be with us, and that the resurrection in Christ saves us.

There is one Baptism. There is one body, the body of Christ, and baptism is the bond of unity between us all in Christ. It unites the people of God with one another and with the church of every time and place. It transcends and overcomes all barriers of race, gender, status, age, nationality, history, and practice. It enacts and seals what the Word proclaims: God’s redeeming grace, which is offered to all people.

As there is one body, there is one Baptism. (Eph. 4:4 6)

The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) recognizes all Baptisms with water that are administered by other Christian churches in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Baptism is done once for all time; there is no need to baptize again.

I heard a news story this morning about a young American doctor who is caring for Ebola patients in Sierra Leone. He made an audio recording of his reflections as he worked, day by day. He spoke of an infant who died, and also of a young man who was cured. This man received what they called “the double negative” – that is, two tests 48 hours apart that showed a negative result for the presence of the Ebola virus. This meant he was cured. The next step for him and anyone with a double negative is to go to a transition area between the “hot” and “cold” treatment areas – between quarantine and the regular hospital – and take a shower. They call this the Glory Shower, and he said that when you come out of that shower, there is music and drums and singing and dancing - and you are reborn – - to new life.

And that is Baptism, with the added benefit of the Holy Spirit, who enters in and walks with you the rest of your life, supporting and strengthening you for the work of the Lord.

In a few minutes we will take part in a liturgy to remember and reaffirm our baptisms. Whether we are baptized or not, this liturgy is also a remembering and reaffirming that from the beginning, each and every one of us are beloved children of God, and that God is faithful, God is steadfast, God eagerly calls us into unity in Christ.

At the appropriate time in the liturgy, you will be invited to come forward to the baptismal font and receive a sign and a blessing in remembrance of God’s love.

Then as you go back to your seats by the side aisles, you will pass by a bowl of water on either side. You are invited to dip your hand into the water and take a glass bead as a remembrance of your baptism and of God’s love in calling us into unity in Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Let us always remember that we are beloved children of God, and that God is faithful, is always there for us, and will never let us go. Let us remember that we are called up out of the water to go and to serve in the name of Christ, all of our days. Let us remember and be joyful!