All Things New

Isaiah 42:1-9
Acts 10:34-43
Matthew 3:13-17


A pastor friend was once asked in class about his very favorite part of being a Methodist pastor. His quick response was, “baptizing babies”. Having had the good fortune of watching him in action, his enthusiasm for such ministry is readily apparent. It is not something he simply does as a portion of his office as pastor; the man genuinely loves offering this Sacrament of the Church and he also has a genuine love for children. For him, it is not a duty; it is both an honor and a privilege to welcome newcomers into the Body of Christ.

For baptism to be as important a part of Christian life as it is, it is also one of the sticking points between Christian denominations that causes a great deal of conflict and consternation. The nature of the Sacrament itself does not seem to be questioned. Rather, the timing and method are points on which far too many Christians simply cannot agree.

Some insist that baptism must be done by complete immersion as is presumed by the baptism of Jesus in a “river”; nothing wrong with this. There is also the general notion of the so-called “believer’s baptism” by which one would present oneself for baptism only after confessing Christ as Savior; nothing wrong here, either, except that this notion would necessarily exclude infants because they obviously cannot speak for themselves. What we must be mindful of, however, are the “whole households” that were baptized in Acts as a result of the head of that household coming to the realization of the New Covenant.

Baptizing infants can also be problematic for some because the doctrine of Original Sin comes into play in some traditions. Very simply put (perhaps overly so), this doctrine holds forth that all of mankind is born with the sin of Adam and Eve. It is only through the Sacrament of Baptism that one is restored. There are a couple of flaws with such a doctrine, at least from my own simplistic perspective, that lend to more confusion than anything else but in the end, the Sacrament of Baptism remains an Act Of God merely administered by the hands of man. When man reduces this spiritual encounter with the Divine to a doctrinal formula, it comes near to smacking of an unhealthy superstition and has the capacity, at least in the eyes of man, to diminish the nature of the Act and what is actually taking place.

That the Sacrament of Baptism is an act of God holds true regardless of the time and regardless of the method. Each of these, of course, is an act of man in response to the Lord, but they remain acts of man nevertheless. It is for this reason alone that I believe man should put away his years-old traditions and be a little more open minded about the Sacrament of Baptism. Treat it and approach it with reverence and respect, of course, but recognize that it is still by the saving grace and restorative power of the Lord alone by which man is saved. Anything else is self-serving and, thus, futile.

Rather than focus on the disagreements we Christians have about the correct timing or method of baptism, however, I would prefer that we explore the nature of baptism in the life of the Christian and Christ’s Holy Church. I would prefer that we put aside our own personal or corporate understandings of physical characteristics of the water for instance, and focus instead on the spiritual characteristics of one who is born anew. I would prefer that we dismiss the notion that there can be only one “right” method or “right” time and focus instead on the moment when the “old” is dismissed and the “new” is ushered in.

From what we know about Jesus and His conception and birth, He would be the last One needing to be baptized; yet He insisted upon it. Prior to this moment there is nothing to suggest that Jesus is any less the Christ than He is after baptism but according to what is written in Matthew, something does occur. “And 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.” Mt 3:16-17

Gnosticism suggests that it was at this moment when Jesus became the Christ, when man spiritually aligned with the Divine and became one with Him. Even without such a notion, which flies in the face of orthodox Christian dogma, something transformative has taken place at this moment in the life of Jesus. There has been some sort of change that seems to have been visually and audibly apparent to those who were present.

It occurred to me this past week that man must never find himself static in any situation, that regardless of where we find ourselves doing whatever it is we do, we must always be mindful of velocity; it is the very nature of life itself. Forward movement. Constant and continuous evolution (and no, I do not mean Darwin’s ideas about physical evolution!). I was given a transcript of my pastor friend’s sermon this past week in which he reminded his congregation (and me) that “the moment” is never in one place, that man can and should constantly look and move and work forward because the past is gone, never to return. We can learn from the past, but we must not live there nor should we stay there. We can wish and pine for “the good ol’ days”, but spending too much time reminiscing might mean that we will miss the boat of life that is constantly moving forward.

Jesus did not need to be baptized, but the world needed to see what happened as a result of the baptism of man into the Divine; I think it may have been the “dove”. The language of Matthew speaks of the Spirit of God descending “like a dove” which would indicate more of a symbolic occurrence than the mere physical presence of a bird. It is not unlike the use of water in baptism. For being able to appreciate the truest nature of sin and all that sin represents, it would be inaccurate to suggest that any amount of water alone could wash this away.

The presence of the dove, however, goes far beyond the water and the removal of sin. The Spirit, which is represented in the dove, “alights” on the Son of Man. Since we believe that Jesus was born free from sin, the symbolism may come up far short, then, of what we think the physical act of baptism is supposed to mean for us. The act of baptism took place; this is physical. The descent of the Spirit, however, seems to have come as a result of this Act. Man is no longer alone, and the Lord has laid claim once again to His own creation that had once been separated from Him. It is the New Covenant manifest in Jesus the Christ.

“I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean. I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new Spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them. Then you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers. You shall be My people, and I will be your God. I will deliver you from all your uncleanness.” Ezekiel 36:25-29a

Amen.