About three years ago I was watching a
video with a confirmation class in which a very cool dude took us on a quick
tour of Holy Land sites. I’ve never been
myself so I was quite interested also.
The longest scene was at the supposed
site of Jesus’ baptism. The guide took
us down some stairs to the water and walked right into it. Before I could react, the teenagers let out
with an “Eeeewww! Gross!”
The water was very muddy. Aside from that, it did not look like
anything I had imagined or seen in movies.
It was muddy (and it apparently is muddy most of the time) and it was
narrow. It looked more like a deep spot
in a creek.
The consensus of the teenagers was
that they would never be baptized in that water, and they were somewhat
impressed that Jesus did. “He must have
wanted to get baptized pretty badly,” one of them said.
He must have wanted to get baptized
pretty badly. Well, yes, and that
instinct was not just about the water.
Jesus’ decision to be baptized by John in the muddy river was a significant
decision, and marked a turning point in his life, dedicated to solidarity with
the whole of humanity.
Think of the people who had probably
gathered there (and Luke seems to be telling us that there were a large number
of people). Who was there? Probably not the very religious, or the
political elite. Both of them react
negatively to John, and the political elite eventually removes his head.
No, I think at that river were mostly
people who had nowhere else to go. They
were sinners or the impure, or those labelled as sinners or impure, who had
been cut off from mercy by all the regular channels.
And Jesus, coming upon them and
observing them, made a decision. He got
in line with them to take his turn. He
did not choose to stay aloof from this crowd of desperate, guilty, wounded,
struggling people. He got in line with
them.
I think we often hear the words said
over Jesus—You are my Son, the Beloved;
with you I am well pleased—as an indication that God was pleased with how
he had grown up and that he was now ready to deliver the message for his divine
Father. What if it was getting in line
with the desperate that pleased God?
Martin Smith, an Episcopal priest and
one of my favorite writers, puts it this way:
God is well-pleased precisely in
Jesus’ self-emptying assumption of our identity….In the muddy river Jesus was
taking on the role of representing Humanity, of being its suffering Heart and
Self before God….Can you feel and see yourself as part of that crowd of
humanity in the muddy water…and experience the entry of Jesus into our condition,
into our needs? He chooses to plunge
into it and make it his own.[1]
Now we gather here as people who have
also been baptized, although, I suspect, none of us in a muddy river. In fact, most of us cannot remember our
baptism at all. But it is crucial that
each of us develops what I would call “a baptismal memory,” not as in a
photograph, but as in a spirituality, a way of being in relationship with God
and with one another.
Our spiritual baptismal memory is best
formed by the experience of the baptism of other’s, and that is precisely why
we only baptize publicly, when the whole mass of the parish is present. We actually baptize individuals, but the rest
of us have this baptismal memory of which I am speaking formed and re-formed.
Most crucial are the words said to us
in the Spirit after our baptism, just as those words spoken in the Spirit over
Jesus were so crucial to him. They are
no exactly the same, but they may as well be.
We say, as we anoint the newly
baptized with holy oil, You are sealed by
the Holy Spirit in Baptism and marked as Christ’s own for ever.
These profound words echo what is
happening in the story of Jesus’ own baptism.
They proclaim (and claim) Jesus’ solidarity with each and every one of
us, for all time, no matter what. The
seal cannot be broken even if we think we have broken it.
The instructions for Holy Baptism in The Book of Common Prayer are just as
explicit:
Holy Baptism is full initiation into
Christ’s Body the Church. The bond which
God establishes is indissoluble.[2]
We are baptized into Christ, marked as
Christ’s own for ever into an indissoluble bond. This means also that we are joined with
Christ’s solidarity with all of humanity.
Baptism is less about individual salvation than it is about universal
solidarity with humankind, and not just the humankind of our choosing. Former Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold was
fond of reminding us that
Baptism catches us up into
solidarities not of our choosing.[3]
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