THE BAPTISM OF OUR LORD
Mark 1:4-11
Today I want us to think about baptism in a specific way. There are many ways to think about baptism: one is to think of it as a new birth. It’s forgiveness of sin; it creates and strengthens faith; another perhaps is a moment that you mark as a time when you seek to re-set what defines your life. Baptism is all of these things, but I want to talk about the way that baptism can be an ongoing reminder of God’s love. And maybe we can think about it not in the sense of before and after, not in the sense of life versus death, or sin versus grace—not as a choice between two possiblities, but as one wonderful pronouncmenet: that we are God’s children, and that we’re loved.”
We celebrate baptism as a moment of entry into the church. In the gospel, we have droves of people turning out each day at the river to confess their sins and to be washed in the water. All these people approach John the Baptist with the realization that their lives need to be turned around, need to be defined in a new way. They want to go toJOhn to announce, perhaps to themselves, perhaps to others, that their life is defined by something new. Defined by a story other than the life that they had been leading. You might think, from watching thse people, that baptism is a simple case of before and after. You approach the water to receive God’s favor, and so when you get around to baptism God finally looks down on you with favor. I don’t think that’s true though. Jesus was baptized , too, and it’s not that God started loving Jesus at his baptism. God loved Jesus the whole time. Instead there’s this line in the gospel that gives us a better sense of what’s happening here: jut as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart tand the spirit descending like a dove on him. And a voice came from heaven, :You are my son, the beloved with you I am well pleased.” It seems to me that the most meaningful piece of baptism come in the words of God: you are mine; you are dearly loved; you bring me great joy.”
And I think these words work as a reminder, not only to Jesus, who needs the reminding of God’s love even as he approaches the cross, but also to all those seeking forgiveness in the water and all of us who have either been baptized or are yet to be baptized. Baptism itself is a pronouncemnet of work that God is doing, has already done, is always doing—that God loves us, that God cares about us, that God is with us. And from the point of baptism, it does nto promise that pain or hardship will never happen again, or that we will always be faithful. Instead, baptism promises that it is always true that God’s favor, God’s pleasure, is in you.
There is no requirementt for our knowledge of baptism. There is no point that we understand fully what our baptisms mean for us. I think today we have the best example of how this is true. Today a young lady named Lillian was baptized, and she’s only been a part of this world for a few months. I’m not sure that she knos a whole lot right now about what her baptism means. She’s still learning that people don’t disappear when you can’t see them anymore. She’s still learning the faces of the people that love her the most. But in these years that she grows into a young woman, she will learn day in and day out what her baptism means to her. She’ll learn how it matter sto her life as she lives it. Jake’s baptism is a little different. He knows a bit about baptism and faith, he knows about Jesus and he knows a bit about why God’s love makes a difference in his life. He might know that he does. We each know differently what baptism means because we each lead our different lives in the world. And we won’t ever know the fullness oof our lives in baptism because we haven’t yet lived the fullness of our lives.
Baptism is our reflection of the work that God is always, already doing. Baptism is not the starting point of God’s love for us. God has loved Jake every moment of his life, and God has loved Lillian every moment of hers. God has loved you every moment of your life, whether you’re baptized or not. When we gather here, together, in this place, we celebrate that love together, as the people of God in the world. When we gather here, together, in this place, we celebrate that God’s grace enters into our world at each moment, in every time. When we gather here, together, in this place to celebrate this sacrament of baptism, we
A few years ago I was in a relationship with a woman that I thought I was going to spend the rest of my life with. We met at school and spent all of our time together, and we dreamed about trips that we’d take and things we wanted to do. We sort of built our lives together up in our mind. And I think it came to be the center of our lives or, at the very least, of mine. For me, this was the relationship that was going to last, this was the beginning of the fairy tale. And all this excitement made it so much worse when it didn’t work out. I minimize it now, but at the time, it felt like the world was over. It felt like there was nothing in front of me anymore. Any negative thought that I could imagine went through my head. I tried to apply all my energy, all of myself, to figuring out what went wrong, and when I couldn’t figure it out—when I couldn’t make it work—I felt like nothing. And in the course of this prolonged death of the relationship, I lost a ton of weight, I was sick all the time, I couldn’t focus. I had fallen into a pit and had no idea how to move forward. I walked into a regular Thursday night worship service, an evening prayer that was a weekly thing at school, and my entire body gave away that I was broken. And so, before the service, my pastor took me aside for a prayer. And he took me into the church office, and he grabbed me by the shoulder and told me in a voice that was filled with nothing but love and acceptance, “Dan, you are loved. You are baptized. And nothing can change that.”
Not defined as someone who’s rejected by someone they love. And you’re not defined as someone who’s lost a loved one. And you’re not defined as someone who hasn’t held down a job. And you’re not defined as someone whose kids are in jail, not defined as someone who has an illness, or is disabled, or is incapacitated. Your baptism is a reminder to you that at your center, in your heart, at your core, you are a child of God. And that is something no one can take away from you. They might be able to make you forget. You might find yourself distracted from that fact. But luckily there are reminders. Water is an easy reminder to come across. When you wake up in the morning and wash your face, you can remember your baptism. When you’re in the middle of soccer or swim or football or track or any kind of practice and you’re thirsty, you can remember your baptism. As you’re making dinner, or at least sipping on the water before they serve it to you, you can remember your baptism. When you’re lying in a hospital room and you have that bag of saline solution hanging beside you, you can remember your baptism. The point is this: don’t let yourself forget your baptism. Because baptism is the thing that reminds us who we are: which is this.
We are God’s children, gathered together, worshipping and praying and hoping and living out this gift of life from God. Look around the room. You don’t have to make eye contact, though that’s nice too. But take a look around. All of these people are loved by God. All of them. Every single one. [Etc.]
AMEN
The Rev. Daniel Kuckuck + January 8, 2012
St. Paul Lutheran Church in Davenport, Iowa
