Saint Luke's Lutheran Church

Today the church remembers the Baptism of our Lord. This was a significant event in Jesus' life - more significant for Mark than even his birth. There is no Christmas story in Mark. This Gospel begins with Jesus dripping wet as he steps out of the water and the Spirit of God descends him like a dove and the voice of God says, "You are my beloved Son, with you I am well pleased."

Today Christians also remember their own baptism. Of course, we do this every week. Every Sunday we begin our worship by turning toward the baptismal font and making the sign of the cross in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Still there is a lot of confusion about baptism - confusing about what it does and about what it means. Not all Christians have the same understanding about this Sacrament, as is illustrated by a conversation between a Baptist pastor and an Episcopal priest.

The Baptist was insisting that a person needed to be totally immersed in baptism, not just have a little water poured on his head. "Do you mean to say," the priest asked, "that if someone were standing up to their knees in water to be baptized, that wouldn't be good enough?"

"No sir," says the pastor, "that's not immersion."

"Well, what if he were in water up to his chest?"

"Nope, not good enough," the pastor replied.

"Well, if the water came right up to his forehead?"

"Still not acceptable!"

"And if it were just over the top of their hairdo, that would that do it?" asks the priest.

"Absolutely!"

"See," says the priest, "that's what I've been trying to tell you: it's the little bit of water on top of the head that makes all the difference!"

The differences on Baptism go much deeper than how water should be applied. It has to do with our fundamental understanding of what baptism is and what baptism does. When we have baptisms here at St. Luke's, we invite the younger people in the congregation to come forward and sit on the floor in front of the font. They watch as we pour water from a pitcher. They watch as we take a child into our arms and splash water on her head three times - once in the name of the Father, once in the name of the Son, and once in the name of the Holy Spirit. They watch as we dip our thumb in the oil and mark his forehead with the sign of the cross. They watch as we light a candle and give it to the baptized with the instruction to "Let your light so shine before others that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven."

Yes, they watch all of this with eager eyes, taking it all in. They want to see what we are doing and to understand. The problem is that they cannot see what is really going on - for the real action, the essence of baptism, happens "behind the scenes." It is spiritual, not physical. It is hidden, not visible. It is mystery, not science. And yet what happens in baptism is very real, very powerful, very significant. In fact, just because it is spiritual, just because it is mystery, it is more real not less real; it is more powerful not less powerful; it is more significant not less significant.

The hidden, spiritual, and mysterious nature of this sacrament leaves room for confusion, and this confusion goes back a long way. When Paul arrived at Ephesus, he met some disciples there who had not received the Holy Spirit. That surprised Paul, because the Holy Spirit was the hallmark of discipleship. So he asked them, "Then what baptism did you receive?" And they replied, "John's baptism." Paul immediately knew what the problem was. John's baptism was not Christian baptism. John's was a baptism of repentance, not a baptism of forgiveness. John's baptism was only with water, not with water and the Spirit. John's baptism was something that the believer did, not something that God did. John himself knew the difference. He said that he baptized with water, but the one who would come after him, the one who was more powerful than he, would baptized with the Holy Spirit.

The confusion about baptism in the church today comes from the fact that some Christians get their understanding of baptism from what John the Baptist did, and others get their understanding of baptism from what Jesus promised. When Jesus ascended into heaven, he told his disciples to go to Jerusalem and to wait until they were filled with the power of the Holy Spirit. Christian baptism always involves the Holy Spirit. Without the Holy Spirit, it is not Christian baptism.

Ever once in a while, I meet someone who asks me whether I have been born again. I always answer, "Yes." There is usually a follow-up question which asks, "When did it happen?" I say, "November 30, 1946." Then I see the skepticism growing in their eyes, as they ask the qualifying question: "Well, how old were you when it happened?" "Three weeks old," I say. That's when they dismiss me and my baptism, saying something to the effect that being baptized as a baby doesn't really count.

For them, infant baptism is simply an outward ritual, a promise of things to come. It is something parents do to dedicate their child to the Lord and to promise to raise their child in the Christian faith. You see, to them, baptism today is more like John's baptism - a baptism of repentance, something that we do to confess our sins and to confess our faith, something that we do to accept Jesus as our personal savior. But the New Testament makes it pretty clear that Christian baptism is different from John's baptism. Christian baptism is not so much about repentance as it is about forgiveness. Christian baptism is not so much about making a confession as it is about receiving the Holy Spirit. Christian baptism is not us accepting God, but God accepting us.

There are those who add to the confusion by distinguishing between baptism with water and baptism in the Holy Spirit - as if these two can be separated, as if they can happen at two different times. For them water baptism is only the first chapter in God's dealing with us - a relatively insignificant beginning which needs something more. They have a two-tiered hierarchy in the church family: with those who have been baptized in the Spirit being full-blooded children of God, having their spiritual PhD's; while those who have only been baptized with water are still spiritual under grads or stepchildren. But in the New Testament, water baptism and Spirit baptism go together. There are only two times when these occurred separately. When that happened the disciples immediately recognized that something was wrong and they immediately took steps to correct it.

When we are baptized, God says to us the same thing that he said to Jesus: "You are my child, whom I love." Baptism is when God adopts us into the holy family and makes us children of God. We are all adopted, but in the eyes of God we are all full-fledged children. God has no stepchildren.

Does this mean that we do not need to repent? No. We repent because we are forgiven. It is the love and forgiveness of God that makes it possible for us to honestly confess our sins. Does this mean that we do not need to publicly confess our faith? No. We confess because we have been given the Holy Spirit. It is this Spirit, Paul reminds us, who makes it possible for anyone to say, "Jesus is Lord." Does this mean that we don't have anything to do? No. Because we are part of God's family, we all have household chores. We are called to be servants, not freeloaders. Jesus told his disciples to wait until they were filled with the Holy Spirit because they needed the power of that Spirit in order to carry out the mission of the church.

When I was in high school, Greg and I would often do things together on the weekends. I usually got to use my mother's car and so I would drive over to Greg's house to pick him up. I remember that as we left his mother would always say two things to him: 1) "I love you." and 2) "Remember who you are."

That's what God says to us today. "I love you," and "Remember who you are." Remember your baptism. Remember who you are, and remember how you are called to live and what you are called to do - in the name of Jesus. Amen.