01/15/23 - The Risky Business of Baptism - Westminster Presbyterian Church Westminster Presbyterian Church | Serving God and others with open mind, hands and heart - 01/15/23

01/15/23 – The Risky Business of Baptism

RISKY BUSINESS OF BAPTISM

January 15, 2023
Baptism of the Lord
Isa.42:1-9; Ps. 29; Acts 10:34-43; Matt. 3:13-17
Rev. Denise Clark-Jones

I once heard a Presbyterian pastor say: “baptizing your child is the most dangerous thing you can do. You never know where it will take them.” At the time her daughter was serving as a missionary in Central America when thousands of people “went missing,” including clergy and other church workers. I have never risked my life for my faith, but my faith has taken me to some places I never expected to be, like seminary …and Peoria, IL. Today, as the Church celebrates Jesus’ baptism, we are called to remember our own baptisms, to trace how it has shaped our lives to this point, and to discern how we will live out our baptism in the future.

Our first scripture reading was from one of the four Suffering Servant songs of Isaiah, which has a strong tie to our gospel reading from Matthew. The author of Matthew took great pains in the writing of his gospel to show the continuity between the message of Israel’s great prophets and Jesus’s teachings; and, between Israel and early Christians. In Luke’s gospel, Jesus uses passages from Isaiah to announce his identity and mission for the first time in his home synagogue in Nazareth. Jesus quotes the book of Isaiah more than any other book of the Hebrew bible.

At the time our passage from Isaiah was written, the kingdom of Judah was occupied by a foreign power, the Babylonian Empire, and the best and the brightest of its citizens who would have served as leaders in their communities were marched to Babylon to live in exile. The temple had been destroyed and Jerusalem lay in ruins. Without a Davidic king, they could not see a way forward. It would be like Roman Catholicism without the Pope and the Vatican. Isaiah spoke God’s Word to people who needed assistance, assurance, and a new vision of themselves and their future.

In this scenario, God promised a servant leader. But who was this person? Biblical scholars have debated this question for a long time. The majority believe that this servant was not a new king, but the whole people of Israel. Without a temple for those who remained in Israel and without a homeland for the Babylonian exiles, their faith was challenged to find a way to be God’s faithful people with nothing but the Scriptures, their trust in God’s promises, and their commitment to follow God’s laws. In other words, they had all they needed to be God’s faithful people with whom God would take delight. Without a geopolitical nation and without a temple, they were still God’s people.

The hallmark of this Suffering Servant in Isaiah’s poetic description would be the servant’s commitment to restoring God’s justice and peace. Their success would be marked by lifting up the downtrodden – the poor, the afflicted, and the prisoners. The servant would strive to submit to God’s will and to lead others to God, not by domination, but by service. Peace and justice for all would be their mission. God was calling a new spirit within the whole people of Israel.

Hundreds of years later, God’s chosen people were living on their land, but once again their land was occupied by a foreign power, this time the Roman Empire. It was in this world that Jesus, born in a Jewish province, was reared in his parents’ Jewish faith. The sacred scriptures he knew were contained in the Hebrew Bible.

Christians have looked back at Isaiah’s Servant Songs and seen a description of Jesus. In that Matthew’s gospel was written decades after Paul began establishing Christian churches, the author may have also been addressing the qualifications for Christian discipleship, in the same way, that Isaiah addressed the whole people of Israel. Matthew’s story of Jesus’ baptism has unmistakable ties to Isaiah’s Suffering Servant. Both are recipients of God’s spirit, who act as God’s servant and thus engender God’s delight.

Matthew’s description of Jesus’ baptism addresses the theological concern that early Christians had with Jesus. Why would one without sin be baptized by John who was baptized for the forgiveness of sins? Typical of his concise and succinct writing, Mark gives no explanation; and in Luke and John, Jesus appears to baptize himself with John present in John’s account; and not present and in prison in Luke’s account. Matthew explains that Jesus submitted himself to baptism according to God’s will – “to fulfill all righteousness” are his words. And John the Baptist goes to great pains to admit his inferiority to Jesus. John differentiates the baptisms he performed from what a baptism in Jesus’ name would do. It was customary for people to wash in running water to ritually cleanse themselves after confession of sin. John the Baptist, however, explains that Jesus will baptize with spirit and fire.

Now, fire sounds terrible to us, especially with the recent unprecedented fires in California last summer. The rapid rise in heat nearest to the two poles of the earth is a frightening warning for the future of our planet. By forgetting that we are mere stewards of our sovereign God’s creation, praised in the psalm for today, we have treated the earth as though its sole purpose is our pleasure and profit. Destruction by fire is an unwelcome reminder we are not in ultimate control. In biblical times, fire also had a positive image. The fire was cleansing. Under fire, metals were polished, making them more beautiful, useful, purer, and stronger. Fire-cooked food fended off the cold in homes and provided light in the darkness.

In the same way, water can be both destructive and saving. Like fire, water is cleansing. Water is life-sustaining but can also be life-destroying. In the story of Noah’s ark water was destructive. In the story of Moses parting the Reed Sea, water saved the fleeing Hebrew slaves, but destroyed the Egyptian army pursuing them. We see today the devastation of the former drought-stricken regions of California experiencing unprecedented flooding. With the rise in temperatures increasing more rapidly than ever before, more water is flowing into areas of dry land.

In our reading from the Psalms, the life-sustaining properties of water are recalled with “God’s voice” repeatedly invoked. Matthew tells us Jesus is baptized in the Jordan River, the same river the Israelites crossed to escape slavery in Egypt and to enter the promised land. Water is a powerful metaphor in the scriptures. It can bring life, but also great risk. So too, our faith, declared in our baptism, is life-giving and life-risking.

Isaiah speaks to both the saving and destroying properties of fire and water. In the next chapter of Isaiah, chapter 43, God assures:

“O Israel: Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name,
you are mine. ²When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and
through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through
fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. ³For I
am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.”

Note that Isaiah says “when,” we will pass through the waters and fire, not “if.” The fires and floods of life are unavoidable. We will have pain. We will endure hardships. There will be cancer and broken relationships, Alzheimer’s disease, and acts of violence. But, God promises we will not be consumed by these fires and floods of afflictions. This is the promise of Christmas and the Epiphany seasons — God has always fulfilled the covenant to be with us.

Christian baptism means many things. It is an initiation rite into the kingdom of God. It is the cleansing away of sin that clings to us in a way that saps us of the abundant life God intends for us. It is a symbol of God’s reaching out to us in love and acceptance through no merit of our own. One might say infant baptism is the ultimate sign that God reaches out to us with pure grace. Before we can do anything to make ourselves worthy, God comes to us. In Christ’s baptism, we see the reflection of our own. In our baptismal liturgy, we say we are buried through baptism into his death and raised with him into new life. Like John the Baptist, we become messengers and witnesses to the Savior God sent for us. God reaches out to us in love and the Holy Spirit falls upon us in an embrace.

Matthew’s gospel does not use Jesus’ baptism as the origin of Christian baptism. In the final chapter, Matthew supports this sacrament on the basis that the Resurrected Jesus commanded his disciples to be baptized like Jesus. In the final chapter of Matthew, Jesus commands his disciples 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, ²⁰and teaching them to
obey everything that I have commanded you.” (Matt. 28:19-20)

Our baptism opens a new reality in the world. The Protestant Reformer, Martin Luther, claimed he woke up every morning by joyfully declaring: “I am baptized!” For him it was a reminder of who he was and to whom he belonged, that God was saving him by grace through faith and nothing would separate him from the love of God. This declaration is also a charge. We are to live out our baptismal vows daily. Our baptismal vows may take us out of the water and into the fire, but in Matthew’s gospel, Jesus ends his commandment to go out and baptize others with the promise: “I will be with you until the end of the age.” This was the solace for another Martin Luther, Martin Luther King Jr. He lived out his baptismal vows walking through the fires of racism and white supremacy to bring peace and justice. He acted as a Suffering servant to his Lord to demonstrate God’s love for all God’s children — the kind of inclusive love Peter spoke about when he baptized the gentile Cornelius.

Today we celebrate another sacrament born of Jesus’ commandments to his disciples. Today we come to Christ’s table as his disciples did at his last supper before his crucifixion when he commanded his disciples to continue to eat and drink at his table to remember him. Again, the promise to be with them.

These two sacraments, baptism and the Lord’s Supper (originally referred to as “The Eucharist,”) are what St. Augustine declared are “visible signs of invisible grace.” We are given a trinity of blessings: assurance of pardon, a sign of hope and the promise of divine presence, especially when our baptismal vows take us to places of risk for the sake of God’s kingdom on earth.

Amen!

My Story

“As a newcomer to Westminster, I’ve found it to be a most welcoming fellowship. I look forward to going to services and events and find the warmth of the congregation to be most helpful to a newcomer to the entire area. I find sermons challenging … music beautiful and well prepared … and a dignity in the worship that is all too lacking in most Protestant congregations. Mix this with an open atmosphere where it is OK to question and still be seen as a good Christian, and I know I’ve found one important ‘home’ in Central Illinois.”