"When Jesus had been baptized, just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens were opened to him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from heaven said “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased"
Matthew 3:16-17
My oldest sister gave birth to twins back in 1981. She had no idea she was carrying twins until she had them…all the more incredulous considering she was a nurse working in a hospital. Perhaps they intended to do an ultrasound in the last trimester, I don’t know, but in her sixth month Cindy went into labor and there was no stopping it. These twins were going to be born! So they wheeled her into the delivery room and waited for the child’s arrival. First came Christopher weighing in somewhere around 2 ½ pounds, and the doctor said, “I think there’s another one in there!” Sure enough, along came Nathan a short time later weighing about 2 pounds.
They were transferred immediately to the Hospital for Sick Children in downtown Toronto because at 3 months pre-mature they were not fully developed for life outside the womb. They were each placed in an incubator with their own private nurse looking after them 24/7. The incubators were wired with an alarm so if the infant stopped breathing a warning bell would sound. (All of us have built into our brains a mechanism that allows us to breath without having to think about it. Without it we couldn’t go to sleep without suffocating.) These two hadn’t developed that mechanism fully, so they kept tripping the alarms. When they did, the nurse would reach in, shake their leg and they’d wake up and remind themselves to breath again. This went on for many weeks.
Three months premature is pushing the edges of pre-maturity… they just didn’t weigh enough and weren’t sufficiently developed to survive outside the womb. They both suffered critical weight loss in their fight for survival, each losing about five ounces of their birth-weight. Nathan had the worst time of it because he was the smallest. Imagine a pound of butter in your hands and you’ve got some idea of the size of this child and the odds he faced. The hospital had never had a baby so small and so premature survive.
The doctors prepared my sister for the worst and she called our hometown pastor – George French. He came down shortly after to be with Cindy and to baptized Christopher and Nathan. Now, our hometown pastor did lots of great things for our church and for our family over the course of his ministry there – he officiated at all of our marriages, he orchestrated a massive building campaign at the church which virtually doubled our space, he even hosted weekend retreats for the youth group at his cottage (more than once!). He’s done some great things; but coming to the hospital and baptizing the twins was probably the most significant thing he did for us.
What is it about baptism that makes it so special? It certainly is special; after all, we call it a sacrament. Our Reformed tradition only has two sacraments - The Lord’s Supper and baptism so it must be special. So what is a sacrament? Presbyterian author, Frederick Buechner says a sacrament is when something holy happens. L’Arche founder Jean Vanier calls a sacrament a ‘meeting.’ We Reformers believe that whenever someone is baptized in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, God shows up in that act and there is a holy meeting.
When our pastor came down to Sick Kids hospital and baptized Chris and Nathan, it was that sort of holy meeting. That is not to say that after their baptism these two were suddenly out of the woods and on the road to recovery! They weren’t. In fact, they were baptized precisely because they were not expected to get out of the woods. But God was there with them, evidenced in the peace of mind it brought my sister, evidenced in the peace of mind it brought to the whole family. What had changed was our understanding, our awareness that God was with them through it all. Whether they lived or whether they died, they were held safely in God’s hands. The PC(USA)’s Brief Statement of Faith sums it up this way: “In life and in death we belong to God.”
So how did this connection between baptism and God get made in the first place? I think that’s what we learn about in today’s passage in the Gospel of Matthew. It explains how this connection between God and us was first established in the act of baptism. Because John the Baptist wasn’t performing a sacrament when he did baptisms in the Jordon…this was a cleansing ritual – he was washing away sins. But then along comes Jesus and he asks John to baptize him as well. John doesn’t want to do it – he knows that Jesus doesn’t need to be washed clean of sins. He’s the Messiah! So John says to him, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” But Jesus presses him saying, “Let it be so now, for it is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness.” What is Jesus fulfilling when he is baptized? Is he fulfilling the law or scripture? No, there is no law or scriptural warrant for the Messiah to be baptized? I think it is God’s will that is fulfilled here. Why would God will this? Because Jesus’ baptism is an act of solidarity…it places him in solidarity with sinners like you and me. He gets into the same grimy bath water as the rest of us. It is God’s way of saying, “Here is my very own son given for you… his ministry, his teaching, his healing, his life is given for you.” And notice that when Jesus is baptized and he comes up from the water an announcement is made: “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.” God introduces his Son to us in this baptism…and it marks the beginning of a new journey for Jesus. In fact, when Jesus steps into the Jordan River with John he takes the first step on the road to Calvary. He’s on the road to the cross.
And that may seem like bad news at first glance, but in light of the resurrection of Jesus it is actually good news; because Jesus overcame the cross, and was raised to new life. So we who are baptized into Christ have the promise of the same good news…God will raise us up with Christ. That doesn’t mean we won’t taste death…everyone dies…sooner or later death catches up with us all…even Jesus died! But thanks to God in Jesus Christ we are promised resurrection from the dead.
And baptism is not only a sign of this promise; it is also a wonderful symbol of the promise. Baptism is a dramatic reminder of our death and resurrection with Christ. In the early church when a person was baptized, they stood in the water with the pastor and renounced their sins and expressed their faith in the triune God. And when they went down into the water they were facing the west – the direction of the setting sun and the gathering dark. And they went down into the water and died to their sins and to their old way of life, and when they came up they were facing the east, the direction of the rising sun and the gathering of light and were alive to this new way of life. So the very act of baptism symbolized what was happening spiritually. They were raised to a new life in Christ.
Now much of the symbolism of baptism is lost in our contemporary way of doing it. Presbyterians usually use a baptismal font instead of a river. We sprinkle instead of immerse - (‘a little dab’ll do ya.’); and with babies that is just more appropriate. But if you listen to the words and pay attention to what is happening, it is clear that baptism is a new beginning, a new birth where the person being baptized is aligned with Christ.
The different denominations and even different churches within denominations all do baptismal services differently. But all baptismal services share three things in common and these three parts make it clear what is going on in baptism. First there are vows made. Vows are associated with many occasions that mark new beginnings: marriage, confirmation, ordination, and baptism. Parents take the vows on behalf of the child if they are baptized as infants, but even they get a chance to speak for themselves later on when they get confirmed into the church. In any case, vows are spoken – we affirm our faith in the triune God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) and promise to raise our child in the Christian faith. The congregation also stands with the parents and makes promises too, because it takes a whole village to raise a child. Parents can’t do it all alone.
Secondly, there is an introduction - the child’s name is spoken out loud for everyone to hear. I like to think that this is when God is being introduced to the child and the child is being introduced to God. And when God hears our name, God never forgets that name. We may forget God, but God never forgets us.
Finally there is the water itself…sprinkling, pouring or immersion, it doesn’t matter it is still water. And water is a sign of both life and death. People can drown in water but they also need it to survive. If you read all the stories containing water in the Bible, you’ll see that most of them hold the threat of death (Noah, Jonah, Moses and the Red Sea, the disciples on the Sea of Galilee in a storm). The Jews didn’t really like the water much – maybe that’s why they never fought to have a seaport on the Mediterranean Sea. Water holds the threat of death but in baptism God saves us from the water and restores us to new life. That’s what is happening here …like the Israelites, we are going through the Red Sea to new life on the other side! And once we do we are marked as God’s people.
I remember the day both my children were baptized. David was baptized at St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church in Qu’Appelle, Saskatchewan – a church smaller than our chapel and Rev. John Neilson, the superintendent of missions did the service that day. David wore a little one-piece tuxedo suit. We were proud parents that day and the church was proud too. The baptismal font in Qu’Appelle was dry most of the time and I don’t know if they ever used it to get one of the preacher’s kids wet. It was a special day.
Four years later Beth was baptized at Knox Presbyterian Church in Palmerston, Ontario. That was special too and I wrote these words in my diary about that occasion:
“Beth was baptized Sunday - we had a big crowd out to help us celebrate – family and friends – the whole bit. Even had Rev. John Neilson, the same fellow who baptized David back to ‘do’ Beth. It was a wonderful service and captured it on film. I had forgotten the excitement of a parent on the day of baptism. She wore her grandma’s baptismal gown.
Strange how life has its cycles – this one comes around again and you realize how time has flown since you were last at the font. And how it’s flown since my parents had me there! But there’s continuity too…the journey goes on - doesn’t look the same today but it’s the same font, same vows, same faith that bring us there. I guess in all ages and all places commitment begins the same way – at the font.”
Remember your baptism because your baptism is one of the ways we remember who we are. No matter where we go, what we’ve done, or what happens to us, we remain forever children of God. That’s why we keep the font out in plain sight even when there are no baptisms happening…its very presence reminds us that we are children of God.
Chris and Nathan were baptized as children of God…weighing in at around 2 pounds each. I’m happy to say that they both defied the odds and survived their pre-mature beginning. And today they are strong, happy, healthy young men – both married. They have other identities now – they are identified by their jobs, their gifts and their relationships and marriages. But the one identity we have that is everlasting is the one we get at the font…we are children of God…created by God, redeemed by God at measureless cost, and loved by God eternally.
Let me end with a poem I wrote about baptism some years ago:
At the Font
Take my hand little one
And join me on this journey
Come share the joy and experience, the love
Which is ours in the blessings of Christ.
Come, as we will learn the stories,
Sing the great hymns,
And share in the laughter
That is good news for all.
We will divide our sorrows
And multiply our joys
We will build a community and grow a life
That is as beautiful and mysterious
And as wonderful as you are this very day
For we are God's people
We are in charge of celebrations!
Wm. Lamont ‘99
Amen