As you all are mostly aware, I believe, I was a member of the school band all through Junior High, High School, and college. I also played basketball a couple of years for my Junior High team, but I ultimately had to choose between basketball and band because I didn’t have time to do both. In any case, when I moved up to the high school my sophomore year, I was really excited because as a part of the high school band, I could earn “letters” each year for my participation. So, for Christmas that year, I got the stylish letterman’s jacket with my name stitched on the back. I, of course, began to wear it immediately, even though I hadn’t lettered in anything yet. But I couldn’t wait until the end of the year and the band banquet where I would receive my first high school letters. And sure enough, as my sophomore year came to a close, the band had it’s annual Spring Banquet, and I received a glorious little plastic bag with a maroon and gray “O-R” inside, along with a patch with a lyre on it, representing band. I was so excited I could hardly stand it. Over the summer, my jacket went to the local sports shop where my parents had purchased it so that the letters could be stitched on. And I proudly wore it the next Fall as soon as there was a hint of cold in the air. Every year after that, I would add another bar to my letters, representing another year of participation with band, and every fall and winter I would wear my jacket proudly around the school.
But do you know what happened to that jacket as soon as I graduated from high school? As you can probably guess, it went to the dry cleaners for a cleaning, and it has been hanging in the cleaners bag in the back of various closets ever since. Because, of course, it’s not “cool” to wear your high school letter jacket in college; not cool at all! And so, what was once a proud symbol for me no longer really had any meaning or significance. What was once something I was looking forward to achieving was now just a relic of the past; relevant no more.
Interestingly, this often the way we view baptism, too. Parents bring their newborns one Sunday to “get them done,” and then they are never seen again. Or a youth goes through confirmation, makes a public profession of faith and is baptized after a lengthy period of study, only to drop out of the church’s memory only a few months later. Or an adult comes to church looking to get his life turned around. He feels Christ tugging at his heart strings, directing him to a better life, and so he is baptized. This is what he has been searching for all along; this is all he needs. But then, after the baptism, he wonders, “What now?” Sound familiar?
It’s really no wonder baptism often seems more like an ending than a beginning. It follows a profession of faith; something that God has been working in us perhaps for a very long time. It is our human sign of God’s work of salvation in our lives. And so once we are saved, we think “what next?” But one of the most important things we can learn from Jesus’ baptism in the Jordan River is that this is not an ending, but a beginning!
If you all recall, when we gathered here a week ago, we were talking about the visit of the Magi to the baby Jesus. With the exception of Jesus in the Temple at age 12, the Bible doesn’t tell us a whole lot about Jesus in the years between his birth and his baptism. So we pick up this morning with the next significant story in Jesus’ life, but now he is an adult. We can presume that in the intervening years, Jesus began studying carpentry under his father, Joseph, as soon as he was old enough to wield a hammer with some semblance of control. And then, as he grew and learned, he probably worked right alongside his father day after day. But on this day, Jesus has put down his hammer. And, Matthew tells us, he has made his way to the banks of the Jordan, where he finds his cousin, John, baptizing people. This is the beginning of the story of the rest of Jesus’ life; the most important story in all of history, and it begins with a baptism.
Did you hear that? Jesus’ baptism is the beginning; it’s the beginning of his ministry! This isn’t the sign of accomplishments past like a letter on a jacket; this is the start of something new! It was true for Jesus, and it is true for each of us, too! After Jesus was baptized, the Spirit of God descended like a dove and rested on him, and then a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son. I love him. I am delighted in him.” After his baptism, Jesus heads out into the desert for forty days to figure out what it means to be God’s son. In fact, Jesus spends all the days and years that follow that afternoon in the Jordan discovering the meaning of his baptism. Jesus gives everything—his dreams, his actions, even his life. Jesus gives all of himself to God’s people as he takes his place among the hurting. Baptism was Jesus’ commissioning to ministry.
If you don’t believe me, listen to what Jesus says the week before he dies. The leaders of the Temple have challenged Jesus, wondering under what authority he does the things he does. Jesus’ response is recorded in Matthew 21. He says to his challengers, “Was the baptism of John from heaven or not?” He answered those challengers with a reference to his baptism. Jesus declares that his authority comes from his baptism! He might have been only a carpenter before, but in the waters of baptism, Jesus heard the Spirit of God calling him to speak the truth and to live with grace. We all know Jesus didn’t die of old age, but perhaps we’ve never considered the fact that Jesus died because he took his baptism seriously. When Jesus cries out on the cross, “It is finished,” it is his baptism that is complete.
Jesus was well into adulthood on the day he was baptized. But that moment when John dipped him into the Jordan River changed the course of Jesus’ life from that point on. And Jesus embraced this life to the fullest, even to the very end. Yet, what does it mean for us to live out our baptisms? If we look at Jesus’ ministry in the three years following his baptism, then here’s what we must know: If we are true to our baptisms, we cannot make ourselves comfortable. We cannot do only what is appreciated in this world, or only what will bring us recognition. If we take our baptisms seriously, then we can never be satisfied with the way things are. Our baptism was not just the way we gave sign to our salvation, our baptism was the start of our ministry in the world, and because of that, our baptism demands that we, like Jesus, struggle with what’s right and what’s wrong, what’s important and what’s not. But here’s the thing about baptism. It’s not just that we struggle with what’s right and wrong, but that when we see something wrong in the world, we actually work for what is right!
In the famous “love” chapter of Corinthians, the Apostle Paul writes, “Now we see a reflection in a mirror; then we will see face-to-face. Now I know partially, but then I will know completely in the same way that I have been completely known.” That’s what baptism does. It opens our eyes so that we can see clearly. It allows us to “know”, even as we are completely know. Baptism sets us on this path that we weren’t on before.
Baptism is the sign that we are called and claimed by God. And the children of God are in the world, but never “of” it. The children of God tell the truth in a world that lies. Children of God give in a world that takes and love in a world that hates. Children of God make peace in a world that fights, serve in a world that wants to be served, and takes chances in a world that worships safely. When we are baptized, we are incorporated into this community called the “Body of Christ.” And sometimes it seems like a completely crazy community to be a part of because it’s so totally different from the rest of the world. The baptized community doesn’t seek success or security; instead, they make sacrifices…Every. Single. Day.
My friends, baptism is the most important beginning of our lives. It may take a long time for us to understand that and to begin living out our baptisms. But that’s why we have to be reminded of Jesus’ baptism from time to time; and our own baptism, too. Baptism is the beginning of our ministry; it is the beginning of a life lived more for others than for ourselves, a vow to challenge the status quo, and a commitment to share all that we have and all that we are with the hurting of this world.
My hope for each of us today is that as we [celebrate new baptisms and] remember our own baptisms, we will consider what this sign of water flowing over our heads really means. My hope is that we will wonder if our baptisms have really made a difference. The meaning of your baptism is seen in what you think, feel, and do every single day. Have you done anything today that you wouldn’t have done if you had not been baptized? If the answer to that is, “No,” know this; it’s not too late to start. Even if you were baptized 60 years ago, your baptism still has meaning and significance today. Just remember that your baptism was a beginning. And as we each celebrate Christ’s baptism and remember our own today, may we, too, start anew!
