Rewriting the Meanings of Baptism

1 Epiphany A      January  8, 2017

Is.42:1-9         Ps. 89:20-29

Acts 10:34-38     Matt. 3:13-17

 

  History is about re-writing the past and making it something different than when it actually happened.  Why?  Because history is always written after the past events.  History is written from the point of view of "insider" information.  We know what happened and so we write and try to pretend we don't know the aftermath when we write about a past event.  But it is impossible to deny what we already know.

  You and I were baptized.  And we are still writing about the meaning of our baptism because our baptismal results, meanings and ministries are not yet over.

  One of the major reasons why you and I have been baptized is because Jesus was baptized.  And if it was good enough for Jesus it is good enough for us.  And we have departure command of Jesus to make disciples, baptizing them in the name of Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

  But I will tell you that I think that history the baptism of Jesus was re-written to have more meaning than it did when it originally happened.

  The Gospel is proof that the life of Jesus was re-written with different meanings than his life had when he was actually living it.

  The Gospel writers knew more than people who lived at the same time of Jesus.  The Gospel writers lived after the death of John the Baptist and so they knew more than John the Baptist about the life of Jesus.  The Gospel writers wrote about the baptism of Jesus because they knew the church had become successful and had baptized many members into the church.  The Gospel writers knew that Jesus had died and reappeared to his disciples.  The Gospel writers knew that the life of Christ continued in their lives even when they could not see him and so they re-wrote the life of Jesus knowing the outcome of his life within the church.  They re-wrote the Gospel believing that the Risen Christ was inspiring how they wrote and told the story of Jesus.

  Let us look at the baptism of Jesus and see how it might have been understood differently.

  If we try to pretend that we were like John the Baptist and did not know about the outcome of the life of Jesus, then the baptism of Jesus could be understood in a very original way.  What might that be?  Jesus and John were relatives and friends.  When Jesus became baptized by John the Baptist, it meant that he respected John as a mentor and friend.  It meant that he was a willing participant in the movement and community which formed around John the Baptist.

            But what happened in history?  John the Baptist died an early death and so his community was left without its leader.  Jesus was the logical successor to the community of John the Baptist and the Gospels tell us that former disciples of John the Baptist became disciples of Jesus.

  In the writing of the history of the baptism of Jesus, it was a witness to the community of John the Baptist about the closeness between John and Jesus.  It was a witness to the kind of love respect that Jesus had for John the Baptist.  The writers of the Gospels were saying to the community of John the Baptist:  Jesus and John were so close that Jesus was the true successor to John the Baptist.  If you once accepted the baptism of John the Baptist, so did Jesus, but now you can accept being baptized into the name of Jesus Christ. The retelling of the baptism of Jesus had the purposeful meaning of convincing the followers of John the Baptist to follow Jesus.

  But Jesus did not just have a following among the Jews, he did not just have a following with the former members of the community of John the Baptist, Jesus came to have a following among the Gentile peoples of the cities of the Roman Empire.  So his baptism had to be rewritten with further meaning.  The baptism of Jesus was then seen as his accepting solidarity with all humanity.  The early church believed that Jesus was already God's Son and so why did Jesus need to be baptized?  He didn't, except the meaning of the life of Jesus was he was God taking solidarity with humanity in expressing how close God's life was to us.  So Jesus became baptized into the human family to invite men and women to be baptized into the realization of being sons and daughters of God.

            Today, you and I are invited to have our baptismal meanings rewritten.  Why were we baptized?  Well, it is a cute little rite of passage that we have for infants as a family celebration.  Well that's what mom and dad wanted.  That's what we were taught about how to make a public celebration of our being in the family of Christ.  And these are valid meanings of baptism but you and I are not finished rewriting the meanings of our baptism.

            When you and I have come to discover our gifts and talents and shared them.  When we've felt God's grace and love go through us to others by the words and deeds of our lives, then we have come to rewrite the meanings of our baptisms.

  And what does this mean?  It means that there are many more meanings of our baptisms that we have yet to experience.  God in Christ is not done with what God wants to do in and through our lives. 

  Today is stewardship Sunday and we are committing the time, talent and treasure of our life towards the ministry of the church.  This is how we further unfold the meanings of our baptism, meanings which we did not know we had until we have been given the invitation and the discovery of our ministries in this time and place.

  The longer the church experienced the Risen Christ, the more meanings his baptism came to have for them.  The future will always add more meanings to the past.  The original event is the seed that becomes known differently when it became the full-blown plant or tree.

            There are many people who have been baptized and who don't even know it.  There are many people who have forgotten that they were baptized.   There are many people who have not been nurtured in knowing the meaning of their baptisms.  There are many people who have denied or been denied the knowledge and the release of baptismal grace to change and renew their lives.

  If Jesus had not gone on to do all of his wonderful works, if he had not died and re-appeared to be known and active in the lives of his disciples, both the birth and baptism of Jesus would have been forgotten seeds in infertile soil.  But the birth and the baptism of Jesus was fully released and activated as fully divine ministry and so his birth and baptism came to have incredible meanings for the church and the world.

  Let it not be said about our baptisms today that they were seeds that fell in infertile soil and so they did not germinate and grow and find release to become the fruit bearing plants of ministry.  No matter what our age today, the meanings of baptisms are not yet finished.

  Let us during this New Year of 2017 finding new meanings for our baptisms.  And how are we going to do this?  By offering ourselves to receive the grace of ministry to surprise ourselves to know that God has given us some gifts that can only be fulfilled through us in this place.

  As we celebrate the baptism of Jesus today, let us rejoice that his baptism was but a ministerial beginning to an incredible life resulting in us knowing that God is very near to us.  Let us be thankful that the baptism of Jesus attains new meaning today for each of us as we are inspired by it, inspired to remember our own baptism and to stir up within ourselves the gifts of ministries that God wants to complete through us.

            What will be the accrued meanings for the baptisms of the people of St. John's in this New Year?  The meanings of the baptism of Jesus accrued as they were released in a full life and afterlife of ministry to his followers and to the lives of those who came to know the Gospels.  Let us commit today to see more meanings of our baptism arise this year through our ministries.  Let not our baptisms be forgotten or locked in baby pictures of us wearing cute little white gowns; let the meanings of our baptism be rewritten this year with new discovery of mission and ministry as we share the Good News of God that in Christ people can know that God has come very close to them.  Amen.