Baptism of Jesus

I was reading recently about a New Testament professor from Princeton Seminary who visited a high school youth group. After the professor finished speaking about the significance of Christ's baptism as a revelation of God's presence in Jesus, one of the students said without looking up, "That isn’t what it means."

Glad that the student had been listening enough to disagree, the professor asked, "What do you think it means?" "The story says that the heavens were opened, and the Spirit of God came down, right?" "That's right."

The boy finally looked up and leaned forward, saying, "So it means that God is on the loose in the world. And it is dangerous." After his baptism, Jesus went into the wilderness, and it was dangerous. Jesus taught in the temples, and it was dangerous. Jesus healed on the Sabbath, and it was dangerous. Jesus confronted the authorities and turned over the tables, and it was dangerous.

I suspect if we are asked to define something about baptism, whether Jesus’ baptism, or our own, or baptism in general, one word we will not use is dangerous, but actually I think the student was making a good point – because baptism, very simply, represents all of God’s love and mercy poured out onto an undeserving world.

Yesterday in the Church calendar was the Feast of Epiphany – the day when we celebrate the manifestation of God in human form, as the wise men went and worshipped the new born king, the Saviour of the world. Today we move on very quickly as the Church calendar designates this day as the celebration of the baptism of Jesus.

Jesus had no need to be baptised – John the Baptist couldn’t understand why Jesus wanted to be baptised, but in that action of accepting baptism by John, Jesus was declaring himself ready to be used by his father in whatever way necessary to ensure salvation for as many people as would call on him.

He was beginning his ministry by declaring that he, God in human form, perfect and sinless in every way, was ready to accept all that humanity could throw at him, by being human himself. Jesus was aligning himself with the people he was desperate to call his followers.

And today we are challenged to align ourselves with Jesus, and if we do that, then our calling is indeed a dangerous one, because God is wanting to use us to share out his power and his love on a world that desperately needs him.

The story is told about the baptism of King Aengus by St. Patrick in the middle of the fifth century. Sometime during the rite, St. Patrick leaned on his sharp-pointed staff and inadvertently stabbed the king's foot, which you wouldn’t have thought was an altogether wise thing to do. After the baptism was over, St. Patrick looked down at all the blood, realized what he had done, and begged the king's forgiveness. Why did you suffer this pain in silence, the Saint wanted to know. The king replied, "I thought the pain was part of the ritual."

Baptism is a wonderful gift of God which we rightly celebrate and enjoy, but baptism is also an acceptance of commitment to God, and with the joy and benefits of commitment, so often comes pain – it is a lesson that the members of the early Church knew all too well as they faced up to persecution for their faith – but it is a lesson that is often forgotten in our comfortable Churches and society.

Baptism is the beginning of a new life, whether it is administered to a child who will make up their own mind later on, or whether to an adult, making a fresh commitment for themselves – this new life is as part of a family that spans countries and people and generations, with Jesus as our head. And Jesus through his own baptism was identifying himself as part of that family.

And the Holy Spirit descended on him at baptism we are told – the gift of the Holy Spirit is one that is given to all Christians, but it is a gift that we so often ignore, seeking to do out own thing rather than God’s, seeking to follow our own will, make our own decisions, worry about things we can do nothing about…

There’s an apparently true story about someone who wanted to be a writer from an early age, but when he went to college, his mother took him aside and said, "I know you want to be a writer, but I have a better idea. Why don't you be a brain surgeon. You'll keep a lot of people from dying, and you'll make a lot of money." But the son replied, "No mum, I want to be a writer."

Sometime later his mother spoke to him again and said, "I know you want to be a writer, but listen to me. Be a brain surgeon, they keep a lot of people from dying, and you will make a lot of money." Again the son replied, "I want to be a writer."

And the conversation went on throughout his college years until, at the end, his mother in desperation again said, "you're wasting your time. Be a brain surgeon. You'll keep a lot of people from dying, and you'll make a lot of money."

Finally, the son exploded, "Mum, I don't want to keep people from dying. I want to be a writer and show them how to live!"

The gift of baptism is God’s invitation to join his worldwide family – it is God’s way of saying that he doesn’t care what we have done or failed to do, he still loves us and wants us, and the gift of the Holy Spirit takes us on from there, as that is God’s invitation to see how we can live – fully, abundantly, joyfully and peacefully, surrounded and protected by his love.

May we each open our lives to the Spirit of God, and allow ourselves to be used to pour out his love and his power to all people. AMEN