What a perfect Sunday for a baptism! What a joy it is that we will soon welcome little Cruz Hudson to the family of God through the waters of baptism. What a joy it will be for us - his family, his sponsors, and his church family - to make promises to partner with God and with one another as we help him learn and grow in faith.
The baptism scene described in the Gospel of Matthew is quite a bit wilder than what we’ve come to expect. We’re in a fancy sanctuary, and not the wilderness. My clothing is probably some kind of polyester blend - no camel’s hair in sight. We have a small marble font, not a river. We’ve welcomed a few guests, but John’s crowds come from Jerusalem and all Judea and the region along the Jordan. Sure, there may be the voice of one crying when the water is poured over Cruz’s head, but the similarities seem to stop there.
Or do they?
John calls the people to the wilderness, to baptism, with an invitation and a promise. “Repent!” John calls, “for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” John invites the people to prepare the way for Jesus so that they will see him when he comes, and so that everyone will.
The same invitation and promise are found for us in the waters of baptism as well. The invitation is to repent - to be reoriented and transformed for life in the kingdom of God. It is not always comfortable to lose the things we cling to, especially when they seem to be serving us in the present moment. It’s not always comfortable to experience (or even think about!) having parts of ourselves or our lives “cut down and thrown into the fire” or separated with a winnowing fork. But the carving and chopping and sifting is not the end of the story - we also have the promise.
What is this promise? That God is here, in these waters, and draws us into that presence. Here the word of God combines with ordinary water, bringing the kingdom near to us. Here salvation, forgiveness, and new life flow freely, signs of the nearness of God. This kingdom, this God, is all about the new life that comes forth when it seems like death has the last word. This kingdom, this God, is like the tiny green shoot growing out of the stump.
For Lutherans, baptism is not a symbolic rite of passage, not just something we do for the pictures, not “fire insurance”. No, for Lutherans, the focus in baptism is on God’s action. God comes to us in this ordinary water, combined with God’s word, even if we don’t understand how. God comes to us, not because we’ve earned it or deserve it, not because we’re children of Abraham or part of a long line of churchgoers, but because it is God’s desire to draw us near and bring us to life. We believe and proclaim that God comes to us in these waters, granting salvation, forgiveness, and new life. We believe and proclaim that in these waters, we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. We believe and proclaim that in these waters, we die.
Yes, we die. The axe, the winnowing fork, the purifying fire - in baptism we die to sin, die to the old, death-dealing ways of the world. But in our dying, we are joined to Christ in his death, and also joined to Christ in his rising. From these waters, we are raised to new life with and in God. This new life is characterized by good fruit - works of love for our neighbors, done through the empowering presence of the Holy Spirit.
The invitation is repentance - to die every day to sin and rise in newness of life, to be transformed, to see the world differently because of what God has done and is doing. The promise is the nearness of God. In the waters of baptism we are claimed by God, who comes near to us with the promise that nothing is beyond God’s forgiveness, that we will never be abandoned or forsaken. These promises are made to Cruz today, and are for each of us as we return to the waters daily, dying and rising with Christ. Repent! Rejoice! The kingdom of heaven has come near.
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| Photo by Matteo Paganelli on Unsplash |
The baptism scene described in the Gospel of Matthew is quite a bit wilder than what we’ve come to expect. We’re in a fancy sanctuary, and not the wilderness. My clothing is probably some kind of polyester blend - no camel’s hair in sight. We have a small marble font, not a river. We’ve welcomed a few guests, but John’s crowds come from Jerusalem and all Judea and the region along the Jordan. Sure, there may be the voice of one crying when the water is poured over Cruz’s head, but the similarities seem to stop there.
Or do they?
John calls the people to the wilderness, to baptism, with an invitation and a promise. “Repent!” John calls, “for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” John invites the people to prepare the way for Jesus so that they will see him when he comes, and so that everyone will.
The same invitation and promise are found for us in the waters of baptism as well. The invitation is to repent - to be reoriented and transformed for life in the kingdom of God. It is not always comfortable to lose the things we cling to, especially when they seem to be serving us in the present moment. It’s not always comfortable to experience (or even think about!) having parts of ourselves or our lives “cut down and thrown into the fire” or separated with a winnowing fork. But the carving and chopping and sifting is not the end of the story - we also have the promise.
What is this promise? That God is here, in these waters, and draws us into that presence. Here the word of God combines with ordinary water, bringing the kingdom near to us. Here salvation, forgiveness, and new life flow freely, signs of the nearness of God. This kingdom, this God, is all about the new life that comes forth when it seems like death has the last word. This kingdom, this God, is like the tiny green shoot growing out of the stump.
For Lutherans, baptism is not a symbolic rite of passage, not just something we do for the pictures, not “fire insurance”. No, for Lutherans, the focus in baptism is on God’s action. God comes to us in this ordinary water, combined with God’s word, even if we don’t understand how. God comes to us, not because we’ve earned it or deserve it, not because we’re children of Abraham or part of a long line of churchgoers, but because it is God’s desire to draw us near and bring us to life. We believe and proclaim that God comes to us in these waters, granting salvation, forgiveness, and new life. We believe and proclaim that in these waters, we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. We believe and proclaim that in these waters, we die.
Yes, we die. The axe, the winnowing fork, the purifying fire - in baptism we die to sin, die to the old, death-dealing ways of the world. But in our dying, we are joined to Christ in his death, and also joined to Christ in his rising. From these waters, we are raised to new life with and in God. This new life is characterized by good fruit - works of love for our neighbors, done through the empowering presence of the Holy Spirit.
The invitation is repentance - to die every day to sin and rise in newness of life, to be transformed, to see the world differently because of what God has done and is doing. The promise is the nearness of God. In the waters of baptism we are claimed by God, who comes near to us with the promise that nothing is beyond God’s forgiveness, that we will never be abandoned or forsaken. These promises are made to Cruz today, and are for each of us as we return to the waters daily, dying and rising with Christ. Repent! Rejoice! The kingdom of heaven has come near.
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