Baptism of Christ

Baptism was nothing new. Since they had returned to Israel after the Babylonian exile baptism had become increasing frequent in Jewish circles as a means of ritual purification. The temple would have had large pools of water through which those entering the precincts would have passed to baptize themselves and make themselves pure for the hol place. Baptism had become routine, no doubt something that those who wanted to be seen to be religious would repeat often.

There would have been others offering baptism alongside John – although his baptism was not in a carefully built Temple pool but in the Jordan, even this was not unique.

This would explain why, in both Matthew and Luke, Jesus gets into a portracted and seemingly quite vitriolic conversation with the pharisees who are apprently lining the banks of the Jordan, waiting to be baptized. John had drawn a crowd, he was the “in guy” and we can imagine, much as one might, today, head for the latest shopping trend, the pharisee day out in the first century was to head to the river with the fashionable baptizer.

Jesus calls them on it immediately. Like many other things baptism had become a means to its own end – instead of being a one time ritual entry into Judaism it had become a talisman activity to protect against impurity without any necessary change of heart towards God. The pharisees have followed the crowd and are making sure they are seen to be doing the right thing – this is not enough says Jesus, not enough at all.

In the verses before the ones that were read some folk turn to Jesus, they hear his words and ask what they are to do – but this is not the pharisees – it is tax collectors, hated by most for making money from the poor in a vassal nation and the soldiers – roman soldiers no doubt whose wages were paid by the money from the tax collectors and who represented both a non-Jewish nation and the oppression of Israel.

Luke is interested in minorities, in the unlikely listener and he begins as he means to go on with the leaders of the Jewish people on show and for show and with those they despise getting the point and transforming their lives. Actions speak louder than the words of the pharisees, says Jesus, collect tax fairly and do not abuse your office.

The interest in Jesus then is palpable, he has begun to put down the mighty from their thrones and exalt the humble and meek. “Is this him?” they ask John, “Is this the messiah?” It is a question which John does not answer directly but which Luke answers with the Holy Spirit,

“You are my Son, the beloved, with you I am well pleased.”

Baptism has developed in different directions in the different places and ages of Christianity. It seems, at first, as though adult baptism was the norm, although whole households were baptized and this may have included children, we simply do not know. By the time Christianity settled into Europe there was a long period of preparation for Baptism and it was an elaborate process at Easter, walking through a deep baptismal pool and into the Church building for the first time, as a Christian. There were times when many would defer baptism until their death beds- presumably to make it stick until death and then with the doctrine of Original Sin infant baptism became increasingly popular to protect every child born from the waiting jaws of the devil and hell.

Debates still rage about baptism, we only have to look around our town to find churches which baptize infants, adults and even those that believe every baptism will be followed by a manifestation of the Holy Spirit if it is real. It is important to think it through but more important to take on board that baptism marks a change and a new beginning, the new definition of ourselves in relation to Christ and a new determination to live for and with God – this determination will manifest itself in a changing and transforming life if it is to mean anything at all.

Later in Lukes Gospel Jesus mentions his baptism again – but not in the context of the Jordan but rather in the context of his continuing ministry and the coming of the kingdom. It certainly seems that in Chapter 12 that Jesus is talking about baptism as his own death – this cleansing is not just ritual, it is actual and one for which Jesus will have to die and rise again.

Luke's Jesus is not the Jesus of a children's story book, he is a man of considerable passion, anger and feeling. Pay attention is the constant cry of the Gospel, see what is here, yes, but see what is coming as well. This, of course, is particularly poignant in light of the utter destruction of Jerusalem which happened in 70AD – even in those moments of calamity those who have passed through death to life, the baptised in Christ must pay attention to the signs of the kingdom and live as those who can see beyond the horizon.

This call then, this call of baptism, is no small things. When we baptize others we are not creating some sort of talisman protection over them but rather calling them to a life of attentive action – the same life in which we ourselves should be engaged. I suspect if family fortunes had the category “Church” on its board – nowhere in the top five, or even the top hundred descriptions, would come the words attentive action - in fact most would probably see the Church alongside the bedecked and bejewelled pharisees worried what people are seeing and how good it looks.

But the real truth is that the church is made up of outcasts – we are the tax collectors and the soldiers – by choosing Christ we have already chosen to align ourselves with the poor and marginalized of the world against the rich and powerful – read the Song of Mary – the rich are sent empty away and the poor are satisfied – in choosing Christ we make ourselves poor and every attempt we make then to look good in the eyes of the world is somehow doomed to failure – either through lack of direction or through an accusation of false prophecy as we give away this piece and that in favour of appeasement to the gods of the age.

It is high time the Church tooks its rightful place in society, sitting at the bottom of the heap and shining like gold. We would be dazzling and highly noticeable if we dropped some of the “what might people think” and stuck to the Gospel promise of God's love.

As we walk through Luke this year I would challenge all of us to notice the Jesus we are introduced to there – the Jesus who is baptized in a muddy river, a very human and sometimes hurt Jesus who is always challenging the status quo and ready to hold onto the humble and meek. It is this Jesus, this God-man, in whom God is so pleased and it is this Jesus we are called to emulate and this is hard work and means sacrifice.

As we journey this year it would be good, I think, to really dig a bit deeper into some of those nagging doubts which all of us face – how can I really be a Christian at work, at home, in the pub. How can I have so much when others have so little, how can God allow those terrible things that happen. The Jesus of Luke reaches into those doubts if we will let him, sharing his own anger and vulnerability at the world and its often painful journey.

As the Church we really cannot get ourselves into a much stickier mess or be more ridiculed than we are. It really is not funny and I, for one, am sick of blanching at every headline. But our news is not for newspapers full of money and gossip, our news is for our friends and neighbours – stuff what the tabloids think – we have bigger fish to fry and perhaps if we got on with the work of noticing the kingdom of God around us we would remember that the girl from Bethlehem risked local, not national, disgrace by saying yes to this outrageous God, this outrageously loving God who makes Mary the most important, someone who all will call blessed by letting go of expectation.

Lord Jesus help us live into your death and resurrection that we may be your Church, your beloved and that you will be pleased in each and all of us. Amen.