Water and Grace

Yeah, I'm seriously behind in getting my sermons on the blog. I apologize to those who actually want to read them. Below is my sermon from 1/8/12. More to come soon.

In our scripture today, we revisit John the Baptist, or John the Baptizer. John was a popular preacher. According to our text that we will read today, people from both the city and the countryside came to be baptized by John. The Jewish historian, Josephus, also wrote about John’s popularity. He actually wrote more about John than he did about Jesus. According to Josephus, Herod killed John because he feared his popularity. He thought John might use the crowds he attracted to start a revolution.

Let’s read again what Mark wrote about John the Baptizer.

Mark 1:4-11

Jesus’ baptism brings up some interesting questions. Mark tells us that John claimed a baptism of repentance.  If that is true, then why would Jesus need to be baptized? Jesus, we’re taught led a life free of sin. Some scholars think that Jesus might have been one of John’s disciples. After Jesus’ baptism and the temptation in the wilderness, Mark tells us that Jesus “came to Galilee proclaiming the good news” after John’s arrest. Maybe to continue the teachings of John. But he did much more than continue John’s teachings.

And what about the opening of the heavens, the dove, and the voice? Did everyone present hear and see this or was it just Jesus or Jesus and John?

Baptism has an interesting history. Jewish law contained provisions for ritual purification called “tvilah”. This was a similar ritual to baptism. The participant would immerse their entire body in water. There were some pretty strict requirements. The water had to be from a natural source and it had to be deep enough for the person to walk in and completely submerge their entire body. This process was used for ritual washing. It had nothing, or very little, to do with sin or repentance. If you became unclean, by touching a corpse or coming in contact with blood, you had to undergo “tvilah”. Definitely before you could enter the Temple for worship and prayer and probably before you could rejoin the community at all. When Josephus wrote about John the Baptist, this is what he said John practiced, the ritual cleansing of the body.

In the early Christian church, baptism became related to repentance and a washing away of sin. In the book of Acts and in Paul’s letters we read several instances of new believers being baptized. It was used as a sort of initiation into the church. It was seen as a symbolic dying and rising with Jesus. It was the rebirth of the believer as a new creation, a child of God.

Later baptism was even more closely linked to the washing away of sins. As time went by, baptism became something done on the deathbed. After all, you didn’t want to wash away your sins too soon, what if you sinned again? So it lost that sense of initiation into the church.

During the reformation baptism came to be seen as a means of grace. A sacrament through which God confers grace on us.

Well, many of these traditions and doctrines stuck, or made a comeback in some cases. The Methodist church believes that baptism is a sacrament, a means of grace. We also believe it is a sort of initiation into the church. It is a celebration of the new creation we become when we “put on Christ.”

In reading about baptism, I read one author who said “Baptism should be a powerful and memorable experience for participants and observers.” I thought about my baptism. We had a service in the backyard of one of our church members. There were 3 or 4 of us baptized in their swimming pool. I remember going under the water and thinking that the preacher was never going to let me come up. For some reason he’d told me to not hold my nose, so water was going in my nose. Finally he raised me up out of the water and… I don’t know what I expected. I guess I expected the sky to open up and a dove to descend and to hear a booming voice. But I didn’t. I didn’t hear anything. Maybe some clapping. I hoped I would feel different, stronger, more confident. But I didn’t really feel any different, just wetter.

My baptism was meaningful and memorable. I’m not sure I would call it powerful. Since then I’ve been a part of a few baptisms. I assisted our pastor as he baptized several of our youth in the Gulf of Mexico. I watched as both of my kids were baptized. I’ve assisted in confirmation services where kids were baptized. A few years ago, we had a church picnic at Cypress Creek and I watched as 7 people were baptized in the creek.

Those were all memorable and powerful. And I think being a part of those helped me appreciate my own baptism and to see the power of baptism, mine and theirs. It helped me see one of the most important aspects of baptism, and that is the idea of being initiated into the Body of Christ. Becoming a child of God. And that is something we see in Jesus’ baptism.

As Jesus emerged from the water, the heavens opened, but they did more than open. The heavens were torn open, or rent asunder. Torn in two. Being opened implies that it can be shut again, but to be ripped in two, that’s more permanent. Heaven and earth were exposed to one another. The Kingdom of Heaven is made available to earth. And this theme would repeat for Mark at Jesus’ crucifixion. At that time, Mark tells us that the curtain dividing the Holy of Holies from the rest of the temple, the curtain that separated God from humanity, was “torn asunder”. Through Jesus, we have ready access to God. There is nothing in our way.

Then, as the spirit descends, Jesus hears “You are my son. The Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”

In this act of baptism, Jesus receives assurance of the Spirit’s presence with him, and assurance that he is the Son of God. Assurances that he may need during the temptation he would face. That he would need for his ministry on earth. And that he would surely need during the suffering and death that he would face.

And those are assurances we have as well. Through our own baptism, we participate, somehow, in Jesus’ baptism and death and resurrection. Through that baptism, we have the assurance that through Jesus, heaven met earth. We are assured that the Holy Spirit is with us as our guide and counselor. And we are assured that we are beloved children of God. And those assurances can help us to face the temptations of life, and ministry, and possible sufferings and death that lie ahead of us.

Another author I read wondered if maybe we don’t place enough emphasis on Jesus’ baptism. He said we spend weeks making Jesus’ birth a huge important event, but that story is only present in 2 books of the New Testament. Jesus’ baptism is mentioned in 6 books. Maybe that means it is a more important event? Maybe we should place more emphasis on Jesus’ baptism. And also on our own baptisms. He suggested maybe we should publicize baptism anniversaries along with wedding anniversaries and birthdays. It’s a thought.

Baptism is not simply a washing away of sins or an initiation rite. It is the act that brings the power of the Holy Spirit and a special relationship with God. To remember Jesus’ baptism is to remember our own. And to remember that we are God’s beloved. And that through our baptism, we enter a covenant with God that says we will trust God’s grace and serve God’s church and love God’s people.