What on Earth Is
Baptism for?
Reflections on
Matthew 3.13-17
The Baptism of the
Lord
8 January 2017
Saint Faith’s
Anglican Church
3.13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at
the Jordan, to be baptized by him. 14
John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do
you come to me?” 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. 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. 17 And a voice from
heaven said, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”
Today’s
reading from the Gospel according to Matthew is familiar to most of us. Throughout the centuries Christian artists
have portrayed the scene at the River Jordan in many and various ways. But despite our familiarity with the story
and the number of artistic renderings of it, there is a theological mystery
that biblical scholars, theologians and liturgists have tried to plumb in many
and various ways. The mystery is found
in a simple question: Why did Jesus,
whom we teach was sinless, go to the River Jordan to be baptized by his cousin
John for the ‘forgiveness of sins’? For
me the key to the mystery is found in three words: solidarity, identity and mission.
Solidarity. Behind the Christian confession that ‘when
you meet Jesus of Nazareth, you meet God’ is the claim that God comes among us
in the fullness of our humanity. As the
nativity story reminds us, Jesus is ‘Emmanuel’ which means ‘God is with
us’. We dare to believe in the real
presence of God in time and space, a presence which is as physical as our own
physicality. Matter, the created stuff
of the universe, matters to God. Rather
than remain beyond the confines of the time and space we inhabit, God draws
near to us and joins us in the joys and sorrows we experience. Among the sorrows is the reality of human sin,
a reality that even the truly innocent among us know far too well.
Identity. One of the fundamental questions that every
human being asks at least once in her or his life is ‘Who am I?’ In his baptism Jesus experiences the public
affirmation that he is God’s ‘Beloved’ in whom God is ‘well pleased’. No matter what happens in the days, months
and years that follow, Jesus knows who he is.
Mission. John’s ministry in the wilderness of Judea
has a purpose: the preparation for the
coming of the Messiah. With the baptism
of Jesus John’s mission comes to an end and a new mission, Jesus’ mission,
begins. It is not insignificant that
Matthew the evangelist moves from the baptism to Jesus’ temptation in the
wilderness. Rather than ‘temptation’
perhaps we should ‘testing’. It is in
the wilderness that Jesus orients himself to the work that lies before
him. His baptism is a baptism into God’s
mission of reconciling human beings to God and to each other. Jesus’ baptism is the first stage on his
journey to Jerusalem and the cross.
What
is true about the baptism of Jesus is equally true of our baptism as the
disciples of Jesus. What on earth is
baptism for? Solidarity. Identity.
Mission.
To
be baptized is not about being set apart from other human beings. On the contrary, to be baptized is choosing
radical solidarity with those who are denied justice, radical solidarity with
those who are denied loving-kindness, radical solidarity with those who are
trapped in their delusions of self-importance and privilege. Such radical solidarity is, quite frankly, a
work in progress, two thousand years in progress. For that reason we continue to baptize
people, old and young, male and female, from every nation and people. We baptize in order to live out our vocation
to be the one human society that exists primarily for whomever might be the
‘other’ or the ‘stranger’.
To
be baptized is to learn who we truly are, God’s beloved children. Every human being is a beloved child of God,
but, if the truth be told, then I must say that not every human being knows
this. Some do not know their true
identity because they are oppressed by ‘the evil powers of this world which
corrupt and destroy the creatures of God’. [i] Some deny their true identity and cooperate
with ‘Satan and all the spiritual forces of wickedness that rebel against God’.
[ii] Some do not know their true identity because
they have confused our culture’s counterfeit ‘gods’ with the God who comes
among us in Jesus of Nazareth.
Baptismal
solidarity and baptismal identity find their life in our participation in the
mission God began in creation, renewed in Jesus of Nazareth and continues
through the work of the Holy Spirit. Our
mission is
- to persevere in resisting evil
- to proclaim by word and example the good news of God in Christ
- to seek and serve Christ in all persons
- to love our neighbours as ourselves
- to strive for justice and peace among all people
- to respect the dignity of every human being
- to safeguard the integrity of God’s creation
- to respect, sustain and renew the life of the earth.
What
on earth is baptism for? In a word: Survival.
In Jesus of Nazareth we see what it means to be truly human, made in the
image of God and called to live into the likeness of God. If humanity is to survive, then our future
depends upon a solidarity, an identity and a mission that is Jesus-shaped. We who are baptized have been commissioned as
agents of God’s on-going mission to save humanity from itself. After all, we know who we are, God’s beloved
children. We are sent from this place
and all those like it throughout the world, so every human being may claim the
glorious freedom of the children of God.
It is the birthright of every son of Adam and daughter of Eve.
