The Baptism
of Jesus 1-8-23
We go from Jesus’ circumcision at 8 days
old last week all the way to his baptism by John this week.
Epiphany was Friday—commemorating the
visit of the Magi and the manifestation of Jesus to the Gentiles.
Epiphany,
along with Christmas and Easter, was one of the first three holy days of the
church.
But back to the baptism.
Just before today’s gospel lesson in
Matthew, John was proclaiming the one mightier than him was coming. (Remember,
John leaped in his mother’s womb when the Virgin Mary visited their home. John
knew who Jesus was.) And when John saw Jesus coming to him, he asked that Jesus
baptize him. But Jesus convinces John that he should baptize him.
And when he comes up out of the water, the
heavens opened and the Spirit of God descended on him like a dove and a voice
from Heaven said, “This is my son, my Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”
Then the Spirit led Jesus into the
Wilderness for 40 days to be tempted by the Devil.
On page 858 of the Book of Common
Prayer, the Catechism tells us that the two great sacraments given to the church
are Holy Baptism and the Holy Eucharist.
That seems to make them equal sacraments—but
for the most part, the Episcopal church says the Font leads to the Table.
Baptism is admission to Communion.
But I’ve always thought if the Font
could lead to the altar, why couldn’t the Altar lead to the Font?
So, I’ve always invited everyone to
receive communion. Over my years as a priest, I’ve baptized several dozen
people who wanted it after receiving communion before baptism.
Some of them choose—and it is their
choice—to stop receiving communion until they are baptized, but others don’t
want to give up the bread and wine for any time.
My own baptism was a strange trip.
I grew up in a Mountain Methodist church—very
evangelical. New England Methodists wouldn’t feel at home there.
An Evangelist came to lead a revival
when I was in the eighth grade. He scared me so bad, I went up to the altar to
be ‘saved’!
A few weeks later, Rev. Lafferty, our
part time minister and full-time coal miner, took us all to a Baptist church 10
miles away that had an indoor baptismal pool.
There he
baptized us by immersion. Thing was, I was the first one to go in and he hadn’t
told me he’s dunk me three times—Father, Son and Holy Spirit—so I didn’t hold
my breath after the first dunk and he darn near drowned me!
Then the next day in my Math Class, my teacher,
who was married to my father’s brother, announced to the class that “Jimmy has
been saved and baptized”.
It embarrassed me so badly, I dropped my
pencil and when I bent over to pick it up, I looked up Donna Comber’s dress.
Oh, no! I thought. It didn’t take!
The Episcopal church recognizes the
baptism of other churches, so when I joined the Episcopal Church in collage, I
was not rebaptized. So, I guess it did “TAKE”!
The English word “baptism” comes from
the Greek “Bab-tis-mo”—which means, literally, ‘to dip’.
It’s the word used to describe ‘dying a
fabric’.
You dip the fabric into the dye until it
is the shade you want.
After baptism, the priest anoints them
with holy oil and says, “you are sealed by the holy Spirit in Baptism and ‘marked’
as Christ’s own forever.”
So, the person has been ‘marked’, dipped
and dyed their true color.
Baptism is the most joyous thing I get
to do as a priest.
I love it when people of all ages come
to the font.
It gives me great satisfaction to cover
their heads with water and smear them with oil.
Spend a few moments with me in silence
reflecting on your thoughts about baptism. (silence)
God says to you, “you are my beloved, in
whom I am well pleased”. Amen and amen.
