January 9, 2011 (Baptism of the Lord)
1. When I was a little boy, like most little boys, I loved to watch my father shave his whiskers. I liked it so much that my folks bought me a little toy shaving set. It had a little fake can of shaving cream, a hand mirror, and a plastic razor (of course with no blade!). If he was in the mood and I was lucky, my dad would give me some actual shaving cream—not just the pretend stuff—and I would take my toy razor and wipe the shaving cream off just like an adult. Shaving was fun! Nowadays, if I could get away without ever shaving I would! Come to think of it, I also had a toy lawnmower, and believe you me, lawn-mowing is no longer a fun game! But you know, my kids have these kinds of toys too. They have a toy vacuum cleaner, and a toy kitchen, and other toys that are based on real, not so fun, adult work. And so kids play house or play school or play other kinds of adult work settings.
If you watch nature programs, you know that it’s the same with animal babies. When kittens pounce on each other, they are learning hunting skills for when they are older. And when fawns bounce around and play, they too are learning the agile movements of their mothers and fathers to escape predators.
As children, it would seem we play to become good versions of our elders. We practice skills when we pretend.
2. Baptism is a bit like this. When we splash in the water, when we play with a wash basin in the middle of a church, or go out to a river, or dunk ourselves in a tub as part of our worship, we are practicing for a very big and very serious job. In the Presbyterian Church, we believe that baptism:
- initiates us into the church;
- bestows the promise of God’s grace upon us;
- assures us that God forgives our sins;
- and calls us to a life of Christian service and fulfillment.
In other words, baptism both marks our entrance into the Christian community and helps form us for the work we will need to do once we are Christians. We could hang a sign on the baptismal font that read: “Now Hiring, Will Train.” The promises we make for ourselves and for the care of others in baptism are playful rehearsals of real commitments in the mature years of our faith.
3. So, since baptism is about neophytes getting ready for the big time, it is disconcerting to us—just as it was to John the Baptist—that Jesus shows up to get baptized in the Jordan River. John realizes as soon as he sees Jesus that he, John, is out of his depth. He stutters, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” Compared to Jesus, John is the little boy with a can of fake shaving cream. He is still in training—why would he be called on to baptize the master? This scenario of tension between the Lord and the follower is one that is utterly commonplace for the Christian. We all live in this tense place where we know that Jesus is Lord and King and at the same time we know that we are supposed to be like him. He sits on the right hand of God the Almighty and is himself part of the Trinitarian Godhead. Yet, he is also our brother and friend. This tension is why I have never been totally convinced by the slogan WWJD. You know, it stands for “What Would Jesus Do?” The idea is basically a good one: before you make decisions, or when you’re trying to figure out how to act, ask yourself, “what would Jesus do?” We all ought to do this—we all ought to strive to model our own lives on Jesus’ selfless compassion and love for neighbor. But at some point, as the John the Baptist knew, the question fails. As some point, when we ask, “what would Jesus do?” the answer is, “Come to earth as God Incarnate, perform hundreds of miracles, die on the cross for the sins of the world, and rise again from the dead to bring the promise of new life to all people.” Obviously, none of us is going to be doing that, and so like John the Baptist, we realize that we are playing at being something greater than us.
But then, our brother and our God Jesus comes to us in the midst of our play and blesses what we are doing by joining us in the game. He goes under the water. He begins. He shows us the way. And, glory be, our play-acting becomes holy and the very essence of the Christian life!
4. Given this good news that Jesus is with us and Jesus guides us, there’s pretty much only one thing left to us as we splash around in the baptismal waters: Get busy!
It is clear from Jesus’ own baptism that baptism is the beginning of something, not the end.
In our own experience in the church, this is not always the case. Too often, we treat baptism (and also confirmation, which is a similar rite) as a capstone event rather than a mere beginning. Too often, someone is baptized or confirmed, and we never see that person again.
This simply should not be the case, and we should all work to embrace all the baptized into the work and ministry of the church. Likewise, those of us who are here, we need to be ready to serve compassionately and reach out in love to a broken world. Like Jesus himself, we need to find our beginning, not our end, in the waters of baptism. We need to feel the clean feeling, we need to be refreshed, we need to hear the promises. Not so we can sit back and relax but so that we can continue to do the ministry of Jesus Christ. We need to keep playing, keep practicing, as we grow and mature and grow some more as children of God. The elders and deacons who were ordained and installed this morning set a good example for all of us with their willingness and joy in serving. All of us can listen for God’s call and, like Christ, be ready to “fulfill all righteousness,” that is, to carry out God’s will in our lives and in our world.
5. And the best news of all is that God is pleased already! Before we are even out of the gate, God is pleased. Before Jesus even begins his incredible ministry, God is pleased. How much more will be God pleased and glorified when we move ahead into ministry! How much happier a parent will God be when we bear fruit, when we love each other, when we serve the needy! When all of our playing and pretending leads to the real deal! With Jesus, then, let us come up out of the water, embraced by the Spirit, to do the good work of God. Amen.
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