Romans 6:3
Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
The option of full-immersion baptism is traditionally performed by the minister cradling the convert backward into the water as if being buried in the ground and then lifting them forward as if being raised to new life.
Author King Duncan loves to tell the true story of something that happened to his grandfather, the Reverend G.F Cox, who was a lay pastor in the Methodist Church. To appreciate this story, you have to understand that East Tennessee, where his grandfather preached, is Baptist country. Even the dogs and cats are Baptists. In the early days people would join the Methodist church, but the Baptists had told them that a person could not go to heaven unless they had been baptized “all over,” meaning by immersion. Just sprinkling water on someone during the baptism ritual was not correct to Baptists.
One day, a rather tall lady came to Rev. Cox wanting to join the Methodist church, but first she wanted to be baptized by full-immersion, “just in case the Baptists are right,” she said. Rev. Cox said that would be fine. So, they scheduled a time for the church to gather down by the river for what must have been a most beautiful and meaningful occasion. What happened on this occasion, however, was a little unexpected and just a bit ridiculous.
The river was quite shallow that summer, and as already noted, the lady was rather tall. To complicate matters, she also wore her hair in a top knot, a fashionable hairdo in which the hair appeared to spiral upward on a lady’s head for another 8-10 inches – just think of Marge Simpson and you’ll get the gist. So, this lady must have approached 7 feet tall, top knot and all, and Rev. Cox was a rather short man.
So, he labored mightily as he eased this statuesque lady with the top knot backward into a shallow river. As she made her entry into the chilly waters, she did what most of us would do – she jerked her head forward until her chin nearly rested on her chest. This, in turn, kept her topknot from going under the water.
Triumphantly Rev. Cox lifted her from the water and stood her upright as the choir sang the last verse of “Shall We Gather at the River.” He had already started moving toward the bank of the river, when she stopped him.
“My hair is still dry. I’m sorry Brother Cox. You’ll have to do it again.” I guess she didn’t want to go to heaven without her topknot.
So, with a prayer for patience muttered under his breath, Rev Cox braced himself to lower her into the water again. Speculation ran through the congregation gathered on the shore as to why the baptism was being repeated. Once is usually good enough. Gently the Reverend lowered her back into the water. Again, as soon as she entered the chilly water, she pulled her head forward as a reaction to the chilly water and her topknot stuck defiantly out of the water. So, they had to try a third time. This time, the good reverend put his left hand on the lady forehead to make sure the topknot went under the water. Finally, it worked.
The people on the bank had finally figured out what was happening and were laughing really hard. They would never forget the lady with the topknot who wanted to be baptized all over.
The moral of the story-- It’s interesting,” wrote Rev. Cox, some years later, “most of us are not like that lady. We do not want to be baptized that completely. Most of us want to leave something out when we are baptized – our money, our habits, our moral inclination, whatever it may be.”
He makes a good observation. After Jesus was baptized, he was tested in the wilderness by Satan. You’ll feel the pull of going back to the self-centered life you once lived. But in your baptism, you died to your old life and came alive to the new life that reflects God’s Spirit and God’s will.
In Romans 6:6, St. Paul wrote that “our old man [or old self] was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with” (Romans 6:6). Paul also talked about putting “to death the parts of you that are earthly: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry, anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language. He says, “Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him.”
2. A second illustration of being buried with Christ in baptism in order to rise with Him--
Margaret Burks, a retired missionary from Tanzania, told of a baptism she'd watched in East Africa. Some new believers followed the missionary into a river that had nearly dried up in the summer drought. The water was so shallow, the missionary had to scoop out a place with his hands in the deepest portion of the river. There, if the converts sat in the sand, there was just enough water to lower them below the water. The ceremony continued, and Margaret watched from a distance.
When the missionary baptized a boy in the shallow water, the child came up out of the ceremony shouting, "I'm alive! I'm alive! I'm alive!"
When the missionary asked the boy what he was doing, he explained that when the missionary said people were "buried with Christ in the waters of baptism," he thought people were actually killed through the process.
Those of us listening to the story chuckled at the child's misunderstanding – until she asked us a haunting question. "That child thought that baptism would kill him, and yet he was willing to go through the process. Would you have done the same?"
I once heard a preacher who said something like, “My old man has died with Christ in baptism but sometimes the devil does CPR and manages to resuscitate him.”
Jesus did not need baptism. He did it to show us the attitude of obedience, faith and willingness that God desires for us.
Jesus got baptized to identify with us whom he came to save.
As Catholic we believe that baptism is necessary for salvation (Catechism 1257). Protestants do not believe this.
In John 3:5: "Jesus answered, 'Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit."
Don’t be tricked. Jesus does NOT say that you must be born of water THEN born of the spirit. He simply says you must be born again of water and the spirit.
As Catholics we believe that the born-again experience IS baptism.
The first Christians, as the historical record makes very clear, baptized babies when they were eight days old or even sooner.
There is no Bible verse that says “baptize infants” just as there is no Bible verse that says “do not baptize infants.” The baptizing of infants comes from early Authoritative Catholic Christian Tradition.
The real question of “Are you born-again” is really “Have you had a personal affective experience” of having spiritually met Jesus?
Be able to dunk all of yourself when temptations or traps come your way so that all of you gets buried with Christ and you can rise up and live victoriously in the Risen Lord Jesus.
Amen.
