A Reflection
for I Epiphany All Saints’ Church, Southern Shores, NC
January 7, 2018 Thomas E. Wilson,
Rector
Baptisms
Last week was New Year's Day when, over
the years, I have heard - and said myself - a lot of resolutions and
intentions to do things better from people hoping that just saying
“Sorry - won't do it again” will make all the difference. They
are tired of the past and want a new future, so they make promises
based on good intentions and their own willpower. The trouble with
resolutions is that putting them into practice can be an
inconvenience to the way we usually structure our lives. The reason
we don’t keep most of them is that they call for a change of
ourselves, our lives, and we would rather say “Sorry about that”
- it is more convenient.
Today is the first Sunday in the
Epiphany season, the Baptism of our Lord, the commemoration of the
Baptism of Jesus by John. John was baptizing people coming to him for
repentance as we see in the Gospel lesson for today from Mark. It was
inconvenient for they would have to travel to the far side of the
Jordan and during the journey, mentally go through all of the sins
they had committed, the places they had fallen short, and the hopes
they had for the future. Then they would re-enact the entrance into
the Promised Land by their ancestors, coming out of the wilderness
from their trek from Egypt. John would meet them coming across and
symbolically wash off the sins of the wilderness so that they might
start over with a clean slate. He would tell them that this was a
stop-gap measure for there would be someone in the future who was
greater who would be walking with them and sharing strength to keep
the promise they make.
This is what Paul encounters in the
lesson from the Book of Acts for today; these are people who follow
the teachings of Jesus and know about the Baptism of John, but they
are waiting for Jesus to return. For them, Baptism was about washing
away the shortcomings of their old life as a way of getting admitted
to the Christian community. They are there and waiting for Jesus to
return. Paul tells them that while we are waiting for Jesus to
return, let us begin with the necessary inconvenience of having the
Holy Spirit in our lives so that we have the strength to follow the
Christ in this world.
It reminds me of a movie—oh come on
now, we are three minutes into the reflection and you knew I was
going to bring in a movie, so I am just not letting you wait in
suspense. The movie is called The Apostle, starring, written,
and directed by Robert Duval. It starts off with a minister who, in a
fit of rage, kills his wife’s lover. He runs away from the law and
begins a new life by re-baptizing himself and promises to do better.
Baptism becomes a way of getting God off your back, a “Get Out of
Hell Free Card” in this game of life. He re-baptizes himself
because it is convenient; he changes his geography, he changes his
name, but wherever he goes he is still the same because it is more
convenient.
When I first saw the movie, I was
reminded that the reason I got my daughter baptized was not because I
thought I was going to change my life, nor did I really believe in
God, but I did believe in Dante and his Divine Comedy and his
description of the First Circle of Hell called Limbo where unbaptized
good people and babies who have not sinned were kept. Dante
describes the residents as those who live “without hope but are
filled with longing”, a “suffering without torment”. So, out
of superstition, I had her dipped by a friendly Presbyterian who was
willing to help me through my fears. It was convenient.
The Greek word for Baptism comes from
the Greek word for immersion or dip. It could be used as a
metaphorical term like someone is baptized into debt meaning they
were drowning in debt, baptized in wine meant drunk, or baptized in
misery. Getting dipped or immersed was also used by some Eastern
religions as a ritual way of washing away impurities of behavior, or
as a transition from puberty to adulthood. Sometimes water is the
symbol of death; one died to the old life and into a new through the
water.
Sometimes one would be sprinkled with
blood to get them ready for battle. Sometimes it was a way of a
commitment to a god, to become a child of that god where the water
was sprinkled as the seed of the god or pulled out of the water as
out of the womb of the goddess. Sometimes penitents would pour dust
over their heads as a sign of acceptance of their god’s judgment.
All religions of the world recognize that humans louse up, and there
are many ways to atone for that behavior. Most major religions
believe in some sort of commitment process of salvation such as
ritual, study or deeds; all of them are meant to be inconvenient.
So what is going on when Jesus comes to
be baptized? Is it the preparation for the battle against evil, or
getting rid of sins, or the humility of submission, to enter into a
community or a new life of transition as he comes out of the water
and the heavens are “torn open” (as the Marcan writer puts it),
and the voice says that he is the chosen one? So which is it? I am in
my15th year here, so you know that every time I ask, “Which is it?”
the answer is usually “Yes”.
Mark has no infancy narrative or
miraculous birth stories, and Mark knows Jesus was a human being so
he is bound to have loused up. Mark knows that the first thing Jesus
does is go into the wilderness to do battle with the demons and be
ministered to by angels. Mark knows that after that, Jesus will start
to gather a community around him. Mark knows that while Jesus is a
human, he is also the Chosen of God, the Messiah, and he will be
raised from the dead. Mark knows that when Jesus dies, the veil of
the Temple which separated the holy of holies from the human
precincts of the Temple will also be “torn apart” as the heavens
where God dwells and the earth where Jesus lives will no longer be
separate.
Mark begins the Gospel with the Baptism
of Jesus as a man who is looking for something or someone out there
and in here, and Jesus finds them both and they are one. Jesus lives
his life and dies his death as if the common soil we walk upon is the
streets of heaven, fully in the presence of God. He is not interested
in self-improvement but in serving the world, to give an outward
and visible witness of the strength and power of God working within
ordinary mortals to redeem the world from its brokenness. He is not
interested in convenience but in commitment.
Baptism is not a call to admire Jesus,
but to enter into a community to follow Jesus. Dietrich Bonhoeffer
said that we cannot find Christ outside Christian Community. Peter
Marty, the publisher of Christian Century, had an editorial
this last week called Church is Inconvenient, which concludes:
As wonderful as it
might be to have Christ apart from the hypocrisies and distractions
of other people who believe, Christ is embedded in the church. Sounds
foolish to say, but we are Christ’s body. That inconvenient claim,
that we are joined to other body parts that don’t necessarily think
or look like we do, can seem either ugly or beautiful. I find it
beautiful.
So, how are you doing with your New
Year’s Resolutions? How are you doing with your Baptism?
Baptisms
Saying “I'm sorry, won't do it
again”,
is a way to begin putting away past
but it is just the starting line at
last
coming down to put away the pain.
Buck and “sorry” gets cup of coffee,
now is that slow step by step path
which follows need to take a bath,
for that new road's tough and rocky.
Can't do it by myself. Help I'll need
entering what a new life will entail
times to succeed over times to fail
with a strength greater that I'll heed.
The heavens daily ripped open torn
as old way dies and new life is born.
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