Why Baptism?

Acts 8:14-17

Baptism of Our Lord, January 12, 2025

Holy Trinity Cathedral

“Why Baptism?”

Why baptism?  Many faiths have a rite of initiation: a starting point.  Today we hear how Jesus was baptised by John in the Jordan River, and how early followers were baptized by water and the Holy Spirit.  But the big question is not how it happened, but why?  What does this mean for us today, who are looking for God in our own lives.  When we are offered an opportunity for love and forgiveness and a new beginning, baptism is our public acceptance.  It is a personal yes with communal consequences.  As we respond to God’s invitation to relationship through Jesus Christ, we know ourselves as beloved.

The story begins with the Holy Spirit hovering over the waters of creation, bringing things into being in God’s cosmic word.  Every part of the world is good.  Everything is connected to the Creator and to each other.  But the right relationships get broken.  Humanity makes choices that put them at odds with God’s intentions.  The long history of our scriptures is a record of being called back to who we were meant to be.  Prophets like John the Baptist called the people to repent and return to the way of righteousness.  As a sign of forgiveness, he offered a cleansing rite with water, a washing away of sin.  And those who came to him wanted a new beginning, a chance to be freed of their guilt and shame, their fear and despair.  The messiness of being human is too great a struggle without assurance that somebody loves them and wants them to be whole.  That’s why the crowds of sinners and religious leaders, soldiers and tax collectors come out to hear the words of John and step down into the Jordan to be washed clean.  But he warns them that hope in a Messiah is not enough.  A true baptism is coming when they recognize the Holy One of God.  His Spirit will be known in wind and fire, not just water. 

Along comes Jesus.  We can understand why people need to be cleansed so that they are ready to meet the Messiah.  But why does Jesus need to be baptized?  If baptism is only about a washing away of personal sin, this doesn’t fit with a divine Son of God.  But Jesus is also baptized by John with all the others.  He is immersed in the water of the Jordan.  And symbolically, he is immersed in our humanity.  His solidarity with the conditions of this broken and messy world marks the start of his public ministry.  It is a submersion that foreshadows his death and resurrection.  And God’s image shines through in his face and in the bodily appearance of the Holy Spirit as a dove.  When the divine voice speaks, God echoes the pronouncement once made at the goodness of creation.  “You are my Son, the Beloved.  With you I am well pleased” (Luke 3:22).  Now it is for those around him to truly see the image of God in Jesus, and respond by following as disciples. 

After Jesus’ death and resurrection, the apostles carried out the Lord’s commandment to go and make disciples of all people.  Philip travelled up to Samaria, where he shared the good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, as told in the book of Acts.  He in turn baptized those who accepted his teachings.  But for the early Church there was a learning curve.  It was not enough to know about Jesus.  Individuals also had to accept that God’s love called forth a response.  Baptism was a starting point.  Then daily living needs to reflect belief in the presence of Jesus’ Spirit active in the world.  God cannot activate the gifts within us until we are open to receiving Jesus as Lord in our daily lives.  When Peter and John are sent up to the northern towns to follow up, they lay hands on the new followers and pray for the coming of the Holy Spirit.  A mini-Pentecost follows, with further miracles and signs in the Christian community. 

This is all to say that the Holy Spirit is a part of baptism.  Water may be the outward sign of the inward cleansing and reclamation God makes in love.  But we also make the sign of the Holy Spirit with the oil of chrism to mark each person as Christ’s own for ever.  Following from our acceptance as God’s child, we are called in community to live out that covenant.  And we need the power of Jesus’ Spirit working amongst us to do that.

In the Church we have often focussed on the ceremony and missed out on what follows from the moment of decision.  Baptism is not just a naming ceremony for a child, although each of us in that holy moment is named before God as a precious and special individual.  From that time forward, we are adopted into the family of the Son of God, and we share responsibility for each other as brothers and sisters.  Baptism is not just a registration of birth, although the recognition and joy of the community over a new believer is significant.  And baptism is not just a thanksgiving for a safe delivery, even though the collective prayers of the people are part of the way we support and encourage through the Church.  The community is witness to a personal commitment to Christ and the means by which that person lives out their baptismal covenant.  There is no such thing as a private baptism.  There is no such thing as being a private Christian.  The Holy Spirit gathers us together into God’s plan. 

So our faith community is the place to practice what we have started in baptism.  It is why the Church exists.  This is a school for discipleship.  We act out our beliefs through our lifestyle, rather than words.  Although some of us may have done some preparation before we entered into baptism for ourselves or for our children, it is the whole of our lives that were created to be sacramental.  Yes, there has to be a starting point.  That is why we have the sacrament we call baptism.  In it we say “yes” to the God who has already said “yes” to us. But for the fullness of God’s Holy Spirit to come alive within us, we have to own and express the love of Jesus.  Water is just the beginning. 

This week I saw the animated film “Flow”, about a cat negotiating a world in which there has been a great flood.  Early in the story, the cat nearly drowns in the waters before it finds itself on a ship travelling across the waves with some unlikely animal companions.  At one point, the cat stares down at the terrifying depths of the sea before making a decision to jump back into the waters.  In the life and death moments that follow, its eyes are opened to the beauty and vastness under the surface.  The cat manages to hunt and swim, catching fish to share.  Through courage and kindness, the creatures build a fragile trust with the each other.  Getting wet is only the beginning of their story too. 

Although the rite of baptism is only needed once, it is not a “one and done” event.  It is the start of our journey of faith.  And although we are assured of God’s love with us, that doesn’t mean that bad things won’t happen along the way.  Christianity is not a safe choice of lifestyle.  Faith brings us into constant contact with the messiness and the brokenness of our human condition.  Immediately after his baptism, Jesus was driven by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness.  After the laying on of hands, the early disciples were challenged with the work of ministry.  And what about us?  What is the Spirit awakening within us as we live out our baptismal covenant?  The good news is that we are accompanied through wind, fire, and flood by the One who is Lord of life and death.  Amen.