On Baptism

Isaiah 42:1-9

42:1 Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations.

42:2 He will not cry or lift up his voice, or make it heard in the street;

42:3 a bruised reed he will not break, and a dimly burning wick he will not quench; he will faithfully bring forth justice.

42:4 He will not grow faint or be crushed until he has established justice in the earth; and the coastlands wait for his teaching.

42:5 Thus says God, the LORD, who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and what comes from it, who gives breath to the people upon it and spirit to those who walk in it:

42:6 I am the LORD, I have called you in righteousness, I have taken you by the hand and kept you; I have given you as a covenant to the people, a light to the nations,

42:7 to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness.

42:8 I am the LORD, that is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to idols.

42:9 See, the former things have come to pass, and new things I now declare; before they spring forth, I tell you of them.

Matthew 3:13-17

3:13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan, to be baptized by him.

3:14 John would have prevented him, saying, "I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?"

3:15 But Jesus answered him, "Let it be so now; for it is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness." Then he consented.

3:16 And when Jesus had been baptized, just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens were opened to him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him.

3:17 And a voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased."

===================================

I got a question last week after worship about baptism. It opened the door for a brief but interesting discussion about what Presbyterians believe about baptism. And then with this Sunday being the celebration of the Baptism of Jesus, I thought it would be beneficial to open that door a bit further, so that we could consider together not only what it meant for Jesus to be baptized, but also what it means for us.

Many people think that the most important element of this gospel story is the question of why Jesus was baptized by

John, and not the other way around. But I suggest to you that the key point of this passage is what happens when Jesus is baptized. Matthew tells it this way: “suddenly the heavens were opened to him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”

The heavens were opened; the Holy Spirit alighted on him, and God said, “Meet my Beloved! I think he is wonderful.”

 And this begins Jesus’ life of ministry. Do we think he was not beloved until then? Well, of course not. God had claimed him before he was born, had blessed him, had plans for him. God had blessed us through him, had blessed all God’s people through him.

But this baptism was both a sign and a seal of God’s promise, fulfilled in Jesus Christ, once and for all time.

The way we regard baptism is centered on this.

As Presbyterians, we describe baptism as a sign and a seal of God’s promise, of the covenant of Grace that God made through Jesus and extended to us. This promise was made before we were born, before we knew about it, before we understood it. The promise is unconditional.

Baptism is the sign and seal that God claims us as beloved children as well. It is a sign and seal that God adopts us to the family known as “Beloved”. For all the meaning we see in our genealogy, in our family history, going back generations and generations, the one family name that means more than any of this is the family name of “Beloved”. In our baptism, our adoption as members of Christ’s body, is made official. It doesn’t mean that God didn’t love us until we were baptized. It proclaims it publicly, it seals it in the same way a king used to issue a proclamation and make it official with the placement of the king’s seal upon it.

Again, I want to emphasize that there is not a before / after aspect of God’s love for us and God’s promise for us that changes at the moment of our baptism. Baptism is a sign, as John Calvin says, of our forgiveness; of our participation in Christ’s death and resurrection, and of Christ’s blessings. It is a token and proof of our cleansing from sin. Calvin says it is “like a sealed document to confirm to us that all our sins are so abolished, remitted and effaced that they can never come to God’s sight, be recalled or charged against us.”

In the song our band sometimes sings, “Grace Like Rain”, when we sing that “all our sins are washed away”, we mean “all”. For all time. We are forgiven. We have an incredibly hard time comprehending and accepting that. Who on earth would ever wipe the slate clean for us, or for all those awful people around us? Well, nobody on earth would, or even can. Only Christ. Our baptism is a sign of a grace beyond our comprehension, a forgiveness that extends to all God’s children. Our acceptance of it implies an action we must take, and that would create conditions in order to qualify for  grace and mercy. And as hard as it is to understand that, this is the cornerstone of God’s love for us. It is there whether we accept it or not. Just like rain, the grace that God freely gives falls down on all, sinner and saint, baptized and not. This is a fundamental part of the mystery of God’s love for us.

A recent article in Presbyterians Today offered answers to two common questions that arise about baptism.

First, can anyone be baptized? The answer is a resounding yes! Christ’s gracious invitation is open to all. But it is important to acknowledge that baptism is just the beginning of a lifelong process of formation in the faith.

The next question often is, can a person who is not baptized be saved? Again, a resounding yes – but this in no way diminishes the importance of the sacrament. If we were to insist on baptism as a requirement for salvation, we would be restricting the limitless sovereignty of God, implying that each of us as individuals holds the key to God’s grace and mercy. At the same time, baptism is an indispensable part of Christian life, identity, and mission – again, as the sign and the seal of our adoption into the One Body of Christ, the One Beloved Community.

So there is no need for emergency baptism, or for concern that if someone dies without baptism, at whatever age, they will be deprived of the grace of God. To this, John Calvin says, “Not at all. God declares that he adopts us as God’s beloved children before we are even born, when God promises to be our God and the God of the descendants after us.  This word, spoken in Genesis, embraces our salvation. How would we ever question that promise that God has given us by attaching human restrictions and requirements to it? For us to claim that all who are not baptized are lost is to place us under a greater restriction, even, than God’s Law! This would be contrary to the abundant, unearned, undeserved grace of God.

Another question that often comes up about baptism has to do with the difference between adult and infant baptism. As Presbyterians, we practice both adult and infant baptism. Baptizing infants is a tangible expression that it is God who chooses us for faith, discipleship, and salvation; without God, we have no power to claim these things for ourselves. But we also affirm that people come to faith at different stages of life, and we also recognize the baptism of older believers as an equally valid expression of the sacrament.

Some people wonder about whether they need to be re-baptized when they join the Presbyterian Church. We recognize one baptism for all time, so if they were previously baptized with water in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit by another Christian Church, then they are baptized, regardless of any other specifics of how and when it was done.

So baptism is an outward sign of an inward grace, a public seal that makes it official that we are part of the Body of Christ. It doesn’t make it happen, but it publicly proclaims it. Because of this, Presbyterians celebrate baptism as a communal act of public worship. It takes place in the presence of the community, the body of Christ. In the Middle Ages, baptism became an increasingly private, family affair, separated from worship. The Protestant Reformation sought to change that, arguing, as we heard in  Calvin’s words, that the power of baptism did not come from the act itself, but from its connection with the promise of God that conveyed in Scripture. That’s why Presbyterian baptism is always accompanied by the proclamation of the Word, in the context of public worship. Martin Luther and John Calvin also insisted that baptism be followed by ongoing instruction in the faith. That is why, when we baptize infants or children, our liturgy continues this question for the congregation:

“Do you, as members of the church of Jesus Christ,

promise to guide and nurture these children,

by word and deed,

with love and prayer,

encouraging them to know and follow Christ

and to be faithful members of his church?”

So the child or the adult becomes, officially, part of the family named Beloved, and as with Jesus at his baptism, God is well pleased.

And this is one world family. We are all family to each other – even to those who have not yet received the official adoption papers. Even those are Beloved to God, Beloved Children of God, with a place reserved in the body of Christ, the one Beloved community. This is a family that transcends all our other family ties. So as a family, we are responsible for one another. This is the basis of Christ’s commandments for us to love one another, for all the ways Christ has instructed us to leave judgment up to him, and to just – love – one another. Like family.

I invite you this morning, as we celebrate the other sacrament of the Presbyterian Church, the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, to also acknowledge your place in this Beloved community, your adoption into the One Beloved Family, by reaching into the water, and taking a seashell as a reminder of what baptism means, whether or not you have been baptized.

The symbol of the seashell has been associated with baptism since the first centuries of the Christian church. We know this from paintings on the walls of the catacombs where early Christians worshiped which depict people being baptized with water poured from a seashell. That artistic theme has been carried down through the centuries, so that we now find seashells on church banners related to baptism, in stained glass windows, incorporated into the design of baptismal fonts and printed on baptism announcements. Sometimes the shell is pictured with three drops of water, an allusion to the Triune God in whose name we are baptized.

The seashell also reminds us that, in baptism, Christ calls us to discipleship, even as he called the first disciples from along the shore.

So remember your baptism, and be thankful! Let the shell and the water be for you, a continuing reminder that you are one of the family of the Beloved Children of God, and that there is nothing you can do to earn that, and nothing you can do to be removed from it.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.