Baptism of Our Lord B: A Bigger Baptism
Dear Partner in Preaching,
I’m sorry for the late post. It’s been a week, as I know it has been for you. So… very briefly, just a couple of thoughts for Sunday.
I wonder how our folks will hear the story of Jesus’ baptism. In particular, I wonder if it will occur to them what an odd thing it is that Jesus is getting baptized. As you’ll remember, this was a huge question and challenge, and even a problem, in the early church. Why, after all, does the sinless Son of God need a baptism for forgiveness? These stories were among the verses Arius and his followers used to show that Jesus wasn’t the “truly God” (as the Creed eventually confessed) but rather a creature adopted by God.
Without digging into fourth century Christological controversies, we might take this verse not as a challenge to Jesus’ divinity but instead as a challenge to a limited, at times truncated, view of baptism. Yes, baptism promises the forgiveness of sin. But… it also offers the constant blessing of God’s affirmation of us as a beloved child. And can we extend that blessing to our folks, reminding them that the words from the voice in heaven addressed to Jesus are also addressed to us: “You are my child, the Beloved. With you I am well pleased.” It these words that start Jesus’ ministry. These words that equip him to deal with temptation. These words that orient his mission and anchor his ministry. These words that give him an unassailable identity that makes, well, everything else possible.
And the same can be true of us. I would write “is” true, except that baptism is one of those things that has both an objective and subjective quality. Objectively, we are absolutely God’s beloved child; this is the promise of Baptism. But subjectively, we may or may not know that, may or may not believe that, may or may not even think of that. And subjectively, baptism becomes so much more important to us as we remember that and put it to use.
Baptism grants us an unassailable identity as well. Whereas so much else in our life describes us – our occupation, our race and ethnicity, our gender and sexuality, our life experiences both good and bad, our passions and interests and commitments – our status as God’s beloved children defines us. It’s not that these other things don’t matter. They do! But it’s that none of these things is as important as our identity as God’s beloved child.
This is true in our family lives, which might be a good place to take people to. I have two children who are different in so many, many ways, and those differences are interesting and wonderful and sometimes challenging, but it does not affect just how much I love each of them. And if there’s anything that will get them through this life, it is not any of those distinctive characteristics – which are so important – but rather knowing that they are completely and fully loved and accepted for whom they are, including, and sometimes even in spite of, those differences.
Once we’ve rooted our folks in the promise of Baptism, we might then move on to say that as powerful as that blessing is, it comes with a responsibility and invitation – to see others as also beloved of God and treat them accordingly. The responsibility is that we may not always want to see others as beloved children of God, particularly when they are different from us in any of those important but merely descriptive attributes. And this is particularly the case when we’ve let those important but merely describe attributes not just describe us but define us. But it’s not just a responsibility. It’s also an invitation to realize what a larger and more interesting family we have when we see others also as God’s children!
As I watched the events of this past Wednesday unfold, and as I’ve reflected on the last few months and, to some degree, that last four to five years, it’s occurred to me that we are suffering an acute identity crisis. We’ve let regional or political or ideological commitments – which are important – define us to the point that it is so very easy to see someone who differs from us along any of these lines as threatening. We are at a cultural place and moment where the question for the citizens of this country is, “Can you differ with another person on important issues and still see this person as an American?” And for Christians the task and calling is even greater: “Can you see someone who differs from you on important issues as a fellow child of God?”
Much hangs in the balance of how we answer. But lest we feel daunted by the challenge, we might remind each other that, regardless of whether we get confused about our identity, and though we will regularly fall short of God’s desire for us in how we regard and treat each other, yet we are still God’s beloved children. And that grants us the grace and gives us the strength to try again.
So go forth and preach, Dear Partner, knowing that your words matter, that they are needed, that they will never be all you want them to be or feel sufficient to the moment, and that you will get to try again soon. And do all of this knowing that you are God’s child, the beloved, with whom God is well pleased!
Yours in Christ,
David
David, the roots of the problem goes back much farther than the last 4-5 years even and has multiple causes. As we struggle with these basic questions of being in relationship with those we disagree with on important issues I also struggle with an increase among fellow believers and our own colleagues who have basically said if you cannot see the things I see, cannot admit to truths as I know it, then relationship is no longer possible. Many are nuancing this in ways that I cannot argue with- that often there is no real dialogue in that relationship any more but instead a restating of those very things that have led to rupture of relationship.
While I understand the need to escape from abusive relationships, of the wearying task of trying to engage in dialogue with those who see no need, I worry… because it is the lack of relationship, the lack of seeking to understand something we find incomprehensible, to continue in relationship with those created in the image of God who hold some fundamentally different views from ours that leads to the ease in which we dismiss one another. That leads to the ease with which we strike one another down in word and deed. That leads to violence and destruction because these no longer matter.
I continue to pray for discernment in this, for myself and for others. In the meantime, I lean on these things- we all bear God’s image and are deserving of love and respect for that reason if no other; some of us are made family through the waters of baptism and are called to forgive one another without end, to strive for reconciliation always; all of us should strive to follow the 8th commandment which calls on us to look at what others do in the best possible light, to give them the benefit of the doubt.
Thank you for your contribution to the conversation.
THANK YOU for this post! This post is so interesting and while reading brings with it a certain hope.
And I find the first comment by Brian also VERY interesting and hopeful!
Thank you, both!