Our Gospel reading today talks about two men. John the Baptizer, and Jesus, who is the Christ. Both men are in their early thirties at the time in question, somewhere around 30 AD. John has become famous, for he stood in the desert wilderness near the Jordan River, preaching to all who came by, telling them that they must repent, or “rethink” their views of what God wants of them.
At the time, just as now, there were many people who claimed to believe in God’s existence, who claimed to be good religious people, but to objective observers, there was little fruit. The people John preached to claimed to be good people – they did not murder, they did not commit adultery, they did not steal – yet in their hearts and in their daily actions, they ignored God, they assumed God was a distant power, like a man who sits at a desk in a far-off capital and is concerned with far greater things than the lives of the everyday citizen. These people were law-abiding concerning the most obvious laws – but they had hearts of stone, for they assumed that their wealth meant that God had blessed them – and they assumed that people who were poor were somehow being punished by God, and so they ignored the struggling people near them. These presumed good people were very common at the time of John – and they are very common today. They are like a crowd of people climbing on rocks at the side of a river which is rising, so concerned that they will get to the high ground that they never look back to help someone behind them.
And so John called upon people to rethink their understanding of God, to rethink what God wanted of them, to look at their neighbors and lift them out of the rushing water that threatened to carry them away.
And then, he called upon them to be baptized.
Baptism.
It is so central to Christianity, core to who we are. But what is the meaning and purpose of baptism. Why should we be baptized? Who should be baptized? When should we be baptized? How should we be baptized?
Understanding baptism begins with cucumbers…and pickles.
The word baptizo is a Greek verb that first appears about 150 BC in a discussion of cucumbers and pickles. You see, you take a cucumber and baptize it – and this is how the cucumber turns into a pickle.
Notice the subtleties of the action. The cucumber is dipped in the vinegar and remains for some time. When the cucumber is removed from the vinegar, it has changed – not just a surface change – it isn’t just a washing, but a deep change has happened in the cucumber. In fact, it is no longer a natural cucumber, which would quickly decay and rot. It is now a pickle, which will be preserved much longer than a cucumber. It tastes differently. It has a different texture. It is something new and different than the original cucumber.
A hundred years later, the term baptizo was applied to the act of changing the color of cloth through dye – but in several ways. The cloth could be dipped into the dye and the cloth would take on the new color. Or the cloth could be lain on a table and the dye poured onto it. Or the cloth could be hung and the dye sprinkled onto it. All of these actions used the word baptizo.
Now, since the time of Moses, the Jewish Law had stated that washing in water was a manner of purification. Unlike most cultures of the day, Jews washed their hands before meals and before worship to purify themselves. And they purified other things with water. In Mark 7, verse 4, we see that
“When [Jews] come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they have washed. And there are many other customs they have received and keep, like the washing of cups, jugs, copper utensils, and dining couches (or tables)”
The word translated here as “washing” is the word baptisontai, meaning literally, “They wash” or "They baptize".
Clearly, they might have baptized their cups or jugs or copper utensils by immersion, but they would have sprinkled or wiped down their dining couches.
And so, by the time of John, baptism had become to mean a purification by immersion, pouring, or sprinkling, usually with water, but the idea of baptizing something with vinegar or even fire for purification was also present with the word. Baptism isn’t just getting something or someone wet – it is a purification.
John told his listeners to repent – rethink – and be baptized to remove their sins. His listeners were wondering if John was the promised Messiah – high praise indeed! For the Messiah was the future Prophet/King of Israel, the godly man who would be known as the Son of Man – a supernatural person who looked like a man – who would restore Israel, freeing Israel from the pagan Romans, providing justice to the average man and woman. John’s listeners considered John to be so holy that they wondered if he was the Messiah.
But then, John ominously promised that another One more powerful than John was coming. This man who was even more holy than John was so holy that even John wasn’t worthy to be his lowest servant, untying his sandals for him, the sandals that in that day were always covered with dirt and the filth that comes from walking down a road behind donkeys and oxen. John considered himself unworthy of even that task, which was performed by the lowliest servant.
And John declared that this One to come would baptize the people. He would purify the people not with water like John was, but instead with the Holy Spirit and fire.
And then John used an analogy that all the people of the day would understand. Every fall, the 95% of the people who were farmers would cut their wheat, take it to a place with a hard-packed clay floor and thresh it. In threshing, they would dance on the wheat stalks, with the wheat grains falling to the ground and the chaff, the stalks and the loose covering over the grains blowing away. The winnowing shovel or winnowing fork would be used to toss the mix into the air and the wind would blow the light chaff away to the side while the heavy, dense grain fell down. And then, the shovel would be used to collect the valuable grain into the barn, while the chaff was collected up and burnt, because it was worthless.
John told the people:
Clearly, they might have baptized their cups or jugs or copper utensils by immersion, but they would have sprinkled or wiped down their dining couches.
And so, by the time of John, baptism had become to mean a purification by immersion, pouring, or sprinkling, usually with water, but the idea of baptizing something with vinegar or even fire for purification was also present with the word. Baptism isn’t just getting something or someone wet – it is a purification.
John told his listeners to repent – rethink – and be baptized to remove their sins. His listeners were wondering if John was the promised Messiah – high praise indeed! For the Messiah was the future Prophet/King of Israel, the godly man who would be known as the Son of Man – a supernatural person who looked like a man – who would restore Israel, freeing Israel from the pagan Romans, providing justice to the average man and woman. John’s listeners considered John to be so holy that they wondered if he was the Messiah.
But then, John ominously promised that another One more powerful than John was coming. This man who was even more holy than John was so holy that even John wasn’t worthy to be his lowest servant, untying his sandals for him, the sandals that in that day were always covered with dirt and the filth that comes from walking down a road behind donkeys and oxen. John considered himself unworthy of even that task, which was performed by the lowliest servant.
And John declared that this One to come would baptize the people. He would purify the people not with water like John was, but instead with the Holy Spirit and fire.
And then John used an analogy that all the people of the day would understand. Every fall, the 95% of the people who were farmers would cut their wheat, take it to a place with a hard-packed clay floor and thresh it. In threshing, they would dance on the wheat stalks, with the wheat grains falling to the ground and the chaff, the stalks and the loose covering over the grains blowing away. The winnowing shovel or winnowing fork would be used to toss the mix into the air and the wind would blow the light chaff away to the side while the heavy, dense grain fell down. And then, the shovel would be used to collect the valuable grain into the barn, while the chaff was collected up and burnt, because it was worthless.
John told the people:
“His winnowing shovel is in His hand to clear His threshing floor and gather the wheat into His barn, but the chaff He will burn up with a fire that never goes out.”
And the people understood that John was talking to them, about their lives, about whether they were valuable wheat or worthless chaff. How about you? Have you been fruitful, doing the work that God wants or have you been worthless for God, chaff that needs to be burnt up in an everlasting fire?
Then, as now, most people were distracted by the ordinary cares of life and began to worship other things than God. They worshiped their clothing, they worshiped their animals as we worship our vehicles, they worshiped their nice homes, they worshiped their sports, they worshiped their piles of money as we worship and feed our 401K plans.
They believed that God was only responsible for the miraculous good or the tragic bad. They forgot that every day God provided them with bread to eat, that every day God provided them with something safe to drink, that every minute God provided them with air to breathe, that every second God kept the gravity of the earth functioning and the sun providing light and heat, that God kept the laws of the Universe functioning so our brains and hearts continue to function.
I jump to something that we are only today beginning to realize. You may remember that electrons orbit the nucleus of atoms. You may remember that the electron is negatively charged and the nuclei of atoms are positively charged. So why don’t the electrons quickly spiral into the nucleus and all the atoms of the Universe collapse in a fraction of a second? Physicists will tell you that the rules of quantum mechanics keep it from happening, but if you ask them why the rules of quantum mechanics are the way they are, they will tell you they don’t know. "It’s just the way things are!" It is God who keeps the electrons circling – and keeps us from dying before we even knew we were in trouble.
Why does God keep us alive?
He has no need for us. Nothing we can do will affect God. God does not need our money, our animals, our work. No, God keeps us alive simply because God loves us as His creatures. He loves us.
Many years ago, a Presbyterian preacher named Jonathan Edwards talked about how dependent we are on God’s good will.
Edwards talked about how we are like terrible, loathsome, ugly spiders on thin lines of spider silk dangling above a fire, ready to fall into the fire – but God keeps us from falling. He does not need to throw us into the fire, he only needs to let go and we will fall.
And so, as John the Baptizer asked so many centuries ago, Good People, will you continue to go along in your assumption that you are good, that God will take care of you because you are good – or will you rethink your relationship with God, will you recognize the great debt you owe God, will you read and study God’s scriptures to understand what God wants of you, will you reach a hand out and down to those you considered not so good because you have finally realized that you are not as good as you thought, you are not so self-sufficient as you thought, that your position on the side of the rising flood waters is not as high as you thought? Will you ask God what people you are to go to and bring the good news that God truly loves them, as God loves you?
One day, while John was preaching, his cousin Joshua came to the riverbank and asked John to baptize him. John was in awe of his cousin – his cousin was a much better, more holy man than John, and so John said he did not need to baptize his cousin. But his cousin insisted, and so John baptized his cousin Joshua, the man the Romans called Jesus of Nazareth. And when they were finished, the clouds opened up, the Holy Spirit descended upon Jesus like a dove, and a voice came from Heaven – “You are My beloved Son. I take delight in You!”
And, as they say, the rest is history.
Will you be baptized?
Once is all that is necessary, for when we are baptized, God changes a setting in our hearts, allowing us to do good for the sake of being good, where before we might do good, but it was for selfish reasons. God purifies us – we don’t do it, the water doesn’t do it, the pastor doesn’t do it. God purifies us.
We don’t need to know what it means, we don’t need to understand it, we don’t even need to agree to it ourselves – our parents or guardians can give that permission, just as a parent can save your life by giving permission for a vaccination. You don’t need to know what it means, you don’t need to understand it, the vaccine just works.
And so, in the United Methodist Church we never baptize a second time, for we believe that God purifies us – we are not able to purify ourselves, no matter how old, no matter what we understand, no matter what. To re-baptize is the height of arrogance, assuming that we are the ones with the power, rather than understanding that God has the power.
Then, as now, most people were distracted by the ordinary cares of life and began to worship other things than God. They worshiped their clothing, they worshiped their animals as we worship our vehicles, they worshiped their nice homes, they worshiped their sports, they worshiped their piles of money as we worship and feed our 401K plans.
They believed that God was only responsible for the miraculous good or the tragic bad. They forgot that every day God provided them with bread to eat, that every day God provided them with something safe to drink, that every minute God provided them with air to breathe, that every second God kept the gravity of the earth functioning and the sun providing light and heat, that God kept the laws of the Universe functioning so our brains and hearts continue to function.
I jump to something that we are only today beginning to realize. You may remember that electrons orbit the nucleus of atoms. You may remember that the electron is negatively charged and the nuclei of atoms are positively charged. So why don’t the electrons quickly spiral into the nucleus and all the atoms of the Universe collapse in a fraction of a second? Physicists will tell you that the rules of quantum mechanics keep it from happening, but if you ask them why the rules of quantum mechanics are the way they are, they will tell you they don’t know. "It’s just the way things are!" It is God who keeps the electrons circling – and keeps us from dying before we even knew we were in trouble.
Why does God keep us alive?
He has no need for us. Nothing we can do will affect God. God does not need our money, our animals, our work. No, God keeps us alive simply because God loves us as His creatures. He loves us.
Many years ago, a Presbyterian preacher named Jonathan Edwards talked about how dependent we are on God’s good will.
Edwards talked about how we are like terrible, loathsome, ugly spiders on thin lines of spider silk dangling above a fire, ready to fall into the fire – but God keeps us from falling. He does not need to throw us into the fire, he only needs to let go and we will fall.
And so, as John the Baptizer asked so many centuries ago, Good People, will you continue to go along in your assumption that you are good, that God will take care of you because you are good – or will you rethink your relationship with God, will you recognize the great debt you owe God, will you read and study God’s scriptures to understand what God wants of you, will you reach a hand out and down to those you considered not so good because you have finally realized that you are not as good as you thought, you are not so self-sufficient as you thought, that your position on the side of the rising flood waters is not as high as you thought? Will you ask God what people you are to go to and bring the good news that God truly loves them, as God loves you?
One day, while John was preaching, his cousin Joshua came to the riverbank and asked John to baptize him. John was in awe of his cousin – his cousin was a much better, more holy man than John, and so John said he did not need to baptize his cousin. But his cousin insisted, and so John baptized his cousin Joshua, the man the Romans called Jesus of Nazareth. And when they were finished, the clouds opened up, the Holy Spirit descended upon Jesus like a dove, and a voice came from Heaven – “You are My beloved Son. I take delight in You!”
And, as they say, the rest is history.
Will you be baptized?
Once is all that is necessary, for when we are baptized, God changes a setting in our hearts, allowing us to do good for the sake of being good, where before we might do good, but it was for selfish reasons. God purifies us – we don’t do it, the water doesn’t do it, the pastor doesn’t do it. God purifies us.
We don’t need to know what it means, we don’t need to understand it, we don’t even need to agree to it ourselves – our parents or guardians can give that permission, just as a parent can save your life by giving permission for a vaccination. You don’t need to know what it means, you don’t need to understand it, the vaccine just works.
And so, in the United Methodist Church we never baptize a second time, for we believe that God purifies us – we are not able to purify ourselves, no matter how old, no matter what we understand, no matter what. To re-baptize is the height of arrogance, assuming that we are the ones with the power, rather than understanding that God has the power.
And just like giving your children a vaccine against a dread disease, parents, do you want your children to like forever, to have life eternal? If so, have your young children baptized.
Baptism with water is only part of the ceremony, though…
There is the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Notice our reading from the Acts of the Apostles.
When the apostles who were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had welcomed God’s message, they sent Peter and John to them. After they went down there, they prayed for them, so the Samaritans might receive the Holy Spirit. For He had not yet come down on any of them; they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then Peter and John laid their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.
Whenever we baptize in the United Methodist Church, after the water has been applied, we lay hands on the person being baptized and we ask for them to receive the Holy Spirit. This is a key, important part of baptism, for when the Holy Spirit arrives in someone, they are able then to connect with God.
It is like a person lost out in the woods trying to connect to the Internet. Unless there is a cell tower or WiFi signal nearby, the phone is not worth much. But when the phone is able to connect with a cell tower or a WiFi signal, all the knowledge of the planet, every person on earth, all the answers are made available at your fingertips.
The Holy Spirit is the internet of the Trinity, connecting us with the wisdom and knowledge of God, the power of the Creator, the love of Christ. Jesus said of the Holy Spirit: He will lead you to all knowledge. And this Holy Spirit usually arrives with the laying on of hands during the baptism ceremony.
How about you?
Have you been baptized? Have you felt the Holy Spirit speak to you? Or are you still lost out in the woods, trying to connect with God’s love?
The first step toward living an abundant life is to believe that Jesus was God’s Son, part of God Himself walking upon the earth, speaking on behalf of God the Father, having the power given by God the Father, fully God and fully human, sharing our human problems yet having the holiness of God. Do you believe, even a little bit? Do you believe?
The second step toward living an abundant life is for us to rethink our relationship with God, recognizing that God loves us intensely, so strongly that Jesus was sent to be the ultimate sacrifice upon the cross, to pay all the penalties for all the things we’ve done wrong over the years, a God who loves us enough to sacrifice God's own Son, not because of the good we’ve done, but despite all the bad we’ve done. Do you recognize that God loves you and has already been gracious toward you by letting you live and understand who Jesus is?
The third step toward living the abundant life is to be baptized. Someone asked me the other day how old a person should be before they are baptized. I replied, “eight days old”, because that was when Jewish custom circumcised infants. I would baptize a newborn less than an hour old, but generally speaking, I will baptize anyone as soon as they can be brought to church. It does not matter if they need an interpreter because they cannot speak or hear, It does not matter if a guardian must give assent because they cannot comprehend what is being said because of mental deficiency. And it does not matter if they are too young to speak or understand what is going on, for God knows and God will not make a mistake. God purifies us – we don’t.
At a later date, in their early teens, we will give our young people the chance to take upon themselves the vows to follow Christ. This is our Confirmation process. And we will be starting a Confirmation class the last Sunday in January at Mount Clare for all eleven year olds and higher – including adults – who are ready to consider making a full profession of faith. We will talk about Christ, the Church, and what it means to be a Christian – and a United Methodist. If there are those would like to do this at Calvary, let me know and we may have a class at Calvary also.
As part of the baptism, I will lay on hands so that the one being baptized will receive the Holy Spirit. We can baptize here in the church by sprinkling or pouring a pitcher of water on your head, or we can go down to the creek at Center Branch and baptize in the creek. It is your choice. Let me know if you wish to be baptized, or for your children to be baptized.
It is difficult to live in Christ without the Holy Spirit. And it is uncommon to receive the Holy Spirit without being baptized first to have your sins washed away, to have your relationship with God changed by God’s action upon your heart.
And so, to experience the joy of living an abundant life in Christ, it begins with baptism. It begins when you, a cool cucumber are turned into a pickle, changed completely from something that was quickly turning rotten into a new creation that will be preserved, have better taste, and will be beloved of God.
See or call me to be baptized. Amen.
Baptism with water is only part of the ceremony, though…
There is the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Notice our reading from the Acts of the Apostles.
When the apostles who were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had welcomed God’s message, they sent Peter and John to them. After they went down there, they prayed for them, so the Samaritans might receive the Holy Spirit. For He had not yet come down on any of them; they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then Peter and John laid their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.
Whenever we baptize in the United Methodist Church, after the water has been applied, we lay hands on the person being baptized and we ask for them to receive the Holy Spirit. This is a key, important part of baptism, for when the Holy Spirit arrives in someone, they are able then to connect with God.
It is like a person lost out in the woods trying to connect to the Internet. Unless there is a cell tower or WiFi signal nearby, the phone is not worth much. But when the phone is able to connect with a cell tower or a WiFi signal, all the knowledge of the planet, every person on earth, all the answers are made available at your fingertips.
The Holy Spirit is the internet of the Trinity, connecting us with the wisdom and knowledge of God, the power of the Creator, the love of Christ. Jesus said of the Holy Spirit: He will lead you to all knowledge. And this Holy Spirit usually arrives with the laying on of hands during the baptism ceremony.
How about you?
Have you been baptized? Have you felt the Holy Spirit speak to you? Or are you still lost out in the woods, trying to connect with God’s love?
The first step toward living an abundant life is to believe that Jesus was God’s Son, part of God Himself walking upon the earth, speaking on behalf of God the Father, having the power given by God the Father, fully God and fully human, sharing our human problems yet having the holiness of God. Do you believe, even a little bit? Do you believe?
The second step toward living an abundant life is for us to rethink our relationship with God, recognizing that God loves us intensely, so strongly that Jesus was sent to be the ultimate sacrifice upon the cross, to pay all the penalties for all the things we’ve done wrong over the years, a God who loves us enough to sacrifice God's own Son, not because of the good we’ve done, but despite all the bad we’ve done. Do you recognize that God loves you and has already been gracious toward you by letting you live and understand who Jesus is?
The third step toward living the abundant life is to be baptized. Someone asked me the other day how old a person should be before they are baptized. I replied, “eight days old”, because that was when Jewish custom circumcised infants. I would baptize a newborn less than an hour old, but generally speaking, I will baptize anyone as soon as they can be brought to church. It does not matter if they need an interpreter because they cannot speak or hear, It does not matter if a guardian must give assent because they cannot comprehend what is being said because of mental deficiency. And it does not matter if they are too young to speak or understand what is going on, for God knows and God will not make a mistake. God purifies us – we don’t.
At a later date, in their early teens, we will give our young people the chance to take upon themselves the vows to follow Christ. This is our Confirmation process. And we will be starting a Confirmation class the last Sunday in January at Mount Clare for all eleven year olds and higher – including adults – who are ready to consider making a full profession of faith. We will talk about Christ, the Church, and what it means to be a Christian – and a United Methodist. If there are those would like to do this at Calvary, let me know and we may have a class at Calvary also.
As part of the baptism, I will lay on hands so that the one being baptized will receive the Holy Spirit. We can baptize here in the church by sprinkling or pouring a pitcher of water on your head, or we can go down to the creek at Center Branch and baptize in the creek. It is your choice. Let me know if you wish to be baptized, or for your children to be baptized.
It is difficult to live in Christ without the Holy Spirit. And it is uncommon to receive the Holy Spirit without being baptized first to have your sins washed away, to have your relationship with God changed by God’s action upon your heart.
And so, to experience the joy of living an abundant life in Christ, it begins with baptism. It begins when you, a cool cucumber are turned into a pickle, changed completely from something that was quickly turning rotten into a new creation that will be preserved, have better taste, and will be beloved of God.
See or call me to be baptized. Amen.
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