Today
is the first Sunday in probably the least known season in the Christian
year. . . . [H]ardly anyone knows much
about Epiphany.
If
you have ever heard of Old Christmas or Twelfth Night, then you actually do
know something about Epiphany. Epiphany falls on January 6, which if you count
forward from December 25, adds up to twelve days.
The
word Epiphany means manifestation or appearance. It is during this season that
we celebrate the many manifestations of Jesus as Messiah. Clearly, what
occurred at his baptism is one such manifestation. A voice from on high
claiming him to be the Beloved could be inferred as proof positive. Yet the
very fact that Jesus was baptized in the first place has perplexed many since
the day of its occurrence.
.
. . We may not want to think about it, but baptism is about sin. Even infant
baptism is about sin. And even Jesus’s baptism was about sin, which brings me
to the reason this event has caused me such theological angst for much of my
ministry.
– Ruth Harper Stevens
Baptism is much confused in the minds of both church members
and the society at large. It is not a naming ceremony, although the one who is
baptized is named. It is not just a bath or a moment to be in the spotlight
with family and friends gathered around. Notice I used the word “just” as in,
it is not just one thing or another.
Baptism is a bath and a gathering-round, but it is also
enlightenment, receipt of the Holy Spirit, forgiveness, entry into the body of
Christ, becoming a member of the church, belonging to the ekklesia, the called-out-ones. Throughout the entire history of the Christian church, baptism has been the rite of initiation into the community of faith.
This Sunday is a preacher’s opportunity to give the assembly
a much-needed glimpse of the depth of baptism.
In our time, baptism has received short shrift as more and
more congregations welcome people to the meal of Jesus’ body and blood, whether
or not they are baptized. In some churches, this issue is receiving needed discussion; in others, no one notices a question begging to be addressed.
Because Jesus was baptized, we might wish to notice why it is the sacrament he sent the disciples out to do. "Go... make disciples.. baptizing..."
Mark 1:4-11
One reason for baptism to have fallen out of favor as
entry into the faith community (actually, the sign by which God gives faith!) may have to do with the
imagery of dying and rising. Sin is death, and in our culture, sin is a downer.
I know an Episcopal priest who has removed the renunciation of sin from the baptismal
rite.
The relationship between our sin and our dying to
rise again in Christ leads to questions about Jesus and sin.
What
does the church do with the fact that Jesus, who was without sin, asked to
receive ‘‘a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sin’’ (Mk 1:4 NRSV)?
In addition, what do we do with the fact that John baptized Jesus, who was far
greater than John was? Matthew’s Gospel has John acknowledging that it should
have been the other way around (Mt 3:14–15 NRSV). These issues have confounded
believers since the church’s inception. . . .
Jesus
had no sin that needed confessing. The apostle Paul wrote, ‘‘For our sake he
made him to be sin who knew no sin’’ (2 Cor 5:21a, NRSV). When Jesus stepped
into the baptismal waters, which were teeming with sin, Jesus took upon himself
the sins of the whole world. He thereby took responsibility for our sins, both
individual and corporate, and bore that responsibility all the way to the
cross. . . .
Through
his baptism, Jesus took responsibility upon himself for the sins of the world.
Through our baptism, we also share in taking upon ourselves the sins of the
world.
– Ruth Harper Steven
Genesis 1:1-5
Think of the baptismal water as the “deep” covered by
darkness before time began. Think of primordial wind and the “formless void”
into which God spoke a word and created all things. All that the one being
baptized is and will become are owing to that word from God. Baptism is the
infusion of God’s word into that single human being.
Acts 19:1-7
The twelve who were baptized by Paul “in the name of the
Lord Jesus” receive the Holy Spirit as a sign that this washing, this prayer over
them, this laying-on of hands is deeper and richer than what they had
understood. So it is with many of us.
Where there is no profundity to the baptismal rite – where
it is perfunctory or slapdash – the message is that this is a fairly
inconsequential moment.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
Renew the baptismal mystery in the congregation you serve by
asking:
[W]hen
we baptize others, how do we celebrate that we are forgiven because we need
God’s cleansing? How do we remember that we too, like Jesus, need God’s Holy
Spirit to come into our lives to lead us on the mission that God has for us?
Ruth Harper Steven is retired after 30 years of ministry in the United Methodist North Carolina Conference.
Phyllis Vos Wezeman, a Presbyterian in the PCUSA, has long been involved in programs that nurture Christian faith through education and has published many books and articles.
Homily Service 42,
no. 1 (2009): 87-96.
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