Do you ever wonder where things come from? Say the flag. Who decided that the stars and stripes were the right emblem for our country? The stop sign. Why eight sided and red? Why not six sides and purple? What does a thumb being stuck out have to do with wanting a ride? Numbers and letters. Why does an “a” look the way it does and an “8” look the way it does? What would happen if we swapped one for the other? Would their meaning change? Sometimes things mean what they mean simply because we have agreed about it. On the other hand there are certain symbols which make sense in and of themselves. An outstretched hand with the palm extended signifies stop in any language. A finger to the lips tells you to pipe down. Two fingers held up simply means two until we impose another meaning upon it like victory or peace. There are certain natural symbols – symbols that simply make sense. In the Bible, one of those natural symbols is water. Using water is, of course, the way we clean ourselves when we are dirty. The Bible instructs the Jewish people to use water for symbolic, for spiritual cleaning as well. In order to be purified before practicing certain prayers an orthodox Jew will have a ritual bath, known as a mikvah. “Immersion in the mikvah represents a change in status in regards to purification, restoration, and qualification for full religious participation in the life of the community.” After the mikvah the participant is cleansed and belongs once again. Using that same logic, immersion in water was required for converts to Judaism as part of their conversion experience. They would be cleansed, purified by entering the mikvah, the ritual bath, of all those things that polluted their lives before their conversion to Judaism. All of which serves as background to John the Baptist. His baptism was in one sense an extension of common Jewish practice. The difference was the purification after his baptism was not merely related to prayer and practice. His baptism sought a purification, a cleansing of one’s very life itself. Instead of being something that needed repeating like a mikvah, his baptism symbolized a complete change – you are one way before baptism, you are another way after baptism.
With that background let’s look at the story of the baptism of Jesus and what that says to us today. The before of Jesus’ baptism is the story of a mild-mannered carpenter in a small, village shop who was only known and loved by family and friends. After Jesus’ baptism he is on a mission to bring good news to the poor, to bring healing and wholeness to a hurting world, to live and promote peace. Baptism was the moment a pivotal turn took place for Jesus. What about for us? There is something about the very physical act of entering into the water and having it wash over you that mattered to Jesus and matters to us. In fact, we are at the heart of what it means to be a Christian here. All religious people of whatever persuasion know that prayer is important, that having the right thinking is important, that faith is important. But for us as Christians, the importance of a life in God must take physical form. If God loved humanity enough to share body-ness with us, then being a body, having a body, using our bodies matters to God. In the act of baptism we are putting our bodies on the line. By presenting ourselves for the ritual entry into the water we are saying that God is more than an idea, that prayer is more than talking to myself, that faith is something that involves all that I am. The physical action of baptism is making God as concrete and as real as bathing, as drinking, as washing, as sweating. Salvation for Christians does not imply that we have souls which are immortal. Rather, as we confess in our creeds, it means that our bodies themselves will be raised up. Jesus was baptized because it would be with his body hung upon the cross that redemption would be won. We are baptized because in our flesh we too will embody what it means to be the people of God. And, of course, that means that our faith as baptized people will take concrete, physical shape in our lives just as it did in the life of Jesus. Faith is more than an idea or a feeling. It is embodied.
Notice that baptism provides the occasion for God to claim Jesus (and us) as beloved children. Jesus heard the heavenly voice say, “This is my beloved son, with whom I am well pleased.” At our baptism we too are claimed for God. We are given the name of Christian, other Christ, beloved child. God is well pleased in having us as his own. What Jesus was by nature, we become by adoption – a child of God. Notice that this declaration on the part of God occurs in the third chapter of St. Matthew’s gospel – before Jesus has done anything. He hasn’t cured the sick yet. He hasn’t delivered any sermons. He hadn’t been “doing good and healing all those oppressed by the devil” yet. No, he is “beloved Son” because of who he is not, but because of what he does. And, it is because he knows himself as beloved that he is subsequently able to do all the loving things which characterized his life after baptism. The same is true with us. Our baptism is God’s naming us as beloved children. God loves us first, before we’ve ever said a prayer or obeyed a commandment or gone to church. It is because God loves us that we do those things. Think how parents love their children. Do they love them because they mind what they say? Or because they help around the house? Or because they are doing well in school? No, they love simply because they are theirs. And children respond to that love by becoming loving. At our baptism we are enfolded into the circle of God’s care as members of the divine family. That is what it means to be beloved of God. That is what it means to be a Christian. That is why we love God and our neighbor.
