BaptismoftheLordB, January 11, 2015, Sullivan Park Care
Center, by Sr. Annette Fricke, OP
Prepare, all
of you, the way of the Lord. That is
what baptism is all about. It is about
preparing each day and each time we gather for worship. What is the way of the Lord and how am I to
follow Jesus? Luther’s defense, whenever
he felt the wiles of the devil nipping at his heels, was simply this, “I am
baptized.” What does your baptism mean
to you? Do you know on what day you were
baptized? If so, do you celebrate it? How do you celebrate it or does the meaning
of your baptism escape you?
I must say
that I find it very odd that the gospel text assigned for today has a lot more
to say about John the Baptist than Jesus.
The Gospel of Mark goes on and on about the attire and diet of John and
what he says about Jesus, but little about Jesus. Jesus is from Nazareth of Galilee. It’s as though those sorts of details about
Jesus are not important. The focus is on
John, although John appears to be keenly aware of Jesus being greater than he
is. He proclaims that Jesus will baptize
with the Holy Spirit. Wow! The New Testament goes on to further explain
that some were baptized with John’s baptism, but had not yet received the Holy
Spirit. Acts indicates that the Holy Spirit was received by those baptized in
the name of Jesus when Paul laid his hands on them. This is one of the earliest practices of
laying on of hands associated with such rites as Confirmation or Baptism or
even just a blessing not associated with rites or sacraments. Baptism with the Holy Spirit was very
important for the early Christians because without it, one could not
participate fully as a member of the Christian community. It was considered to be central to Christian
discipleship. Thought to be passed on
from the original disciples of Jesus himself, baptism was of supreme
importance.
Baptism is
not a onetime thing. It is not something
that happened one day a long time ago.
It is God’s way of reclaiming us as God’s own. It is our anchor in life. Baptism is of God and comes from God for our
benefit. Luther saw it as a ship, that if we fall off, we must swim back to it,
clinging onto it until we are strong enough to get back on deck. With it, we are enabled to sail forward,
where we should be: close to God. Luther
goes on to say that baptism “defeats and puts away sin, daily strengthens the
new person in us, keeps functioning, remains with us until we leave our present
troubles to enter glory everlasting.”[1]
Jesus is our
model throughout our lives. He is the
one toward which John points. Even when
we look back at the Old Testament’s strong figures in the faith, we see through
the eyes of our baptismal understanding who God is and what God expects of
us. Tevye, in “Fiddler on the Roof” said
it quite well. Our identity is with God.
The material representations and physical ceremonies of the Jewish faith are
also to remind them of their commitment to God.
Circumcision, like baptism takes place only once, but both remain a
reminder of our relationship to and covenant with God. God invites us into
fellowship with God and others.
But there is
a surprise to Jesus’ baptism; something I bet didn't happen at yours. “…he saw the heavens torn apart and the
Spirit descending like a dove on him.” This
is something more than just different.
When I think of that image, I see a purposeful action of God. It is like the description of creation when
there is only darkness and a formless void.
Then, suddenly God chooses to create light, making possible a cycle of
days defined by light and dark. The contrast is unmistakable and immediate. I
have childhood memories of going to the fabric store with my mom and older
sister. I remember watching as the clerk
snipped, and then suddenly ripping the fabric at or near the exact measurement
of our order. It’s quite frightening
when you are not expecting it and you see and hear it for the first time.
Baptism, for
us, is like adding light to a dark world.
It is common in baptismal liturgies to give either the baptized or the
baptized sponsors a lit candle. The lit
candle is given with the admonition to, “Let your light so shine before others that
they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.” It is a celebration of your connection with
God and God’s connection with you, but it’s also a commitment to live into God’s
grace as you go about living your life.
It means being a humble servant before God and others. It means taking care of the earth, a living
resource that sustains us in our physical needs.
Jesus is the
one who made all of this possible. Jesus
opened the door of salvation for all.
There are no more barriers between God and us because of God’s saving
grace in Jesus. God broke through the
heavens and came to us in Jesus, a form difficult for us to comprehend. How can Jesus be both human and divine? How is that possible? To this day, it stands as an article of faith
and a mystery.
And Jesus
saw the Spirit descending like a dove.
It is important to know that this is an accurate translation of the
Greek text. It is like a dove, not a
dove. If you look at the symbolism of
the dove in the Old Testament, the dove is a bird of salvation (as in
sacrifice); a bird of hope (as in the story of Noah) and a bird of mourning
(due to its mournful call - in psalms and prophets. If you recall, the dove was
used as a proper sacrifice to God for poor people. The dove was sent out to tell Noah whether or
not there was dry land, an indication that the water was receding. A mourning dove is symbolic of what we
naturally do when someone we know and love dies. Lament serves an important function in that
respect. The whole book of Lamentations is
about the Lord remaining absent and silent throughout, with no suggestion of
the restoration of Jerusalem or its Temple.
God is with us in times of sacrifice, when times are tough for us
financially or emotionally. God is also
the bringer of hope despite our ups and downs in life. God, in many times can seem quite distant
from us. Sometimes we can see that God
has been with us only in retrospect. We
are not told what this “like a dove” is representing, but my notion is that it
is a dove of peace. It seems to
represent the peace between God and humanity.
God restores the peace that was meant to be from the beginning, the same
peace of the Spirit of God passing over the waters just before creating the
light of day. We can see it as the
person of Jesus who came to us, disobedient children that we are, in order to
make things right once again for us each and every day. Though we stumble and fall many times, may we
always allow God to pick us back up, embracing us with loving arms and say, “Welcome
home, good and faithful servant.”
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