Today we celebrate a crazy hermit throwing the savior of humanity in a river, even though the hermit didn’t want to. Cheers!
Matthew 3:13-17; Acts 10:34-43; Psalm 29; Isaiah 42:1-9
Baptism is kind of a funny thing for us Lutheran types. Even though we’re quick to say that we’re saved by grace through faith and not by works, we’re almost as quick to say that you’ve got to be baptized, too. It’s a strange little paradox — We don’t have to do anything for our salvation yet baptism is really really really super duper crazy important too.
Now, the good news is we’re not exactly alone in this paradox. Peter, though keenly aware that God is the worker of salvation and not us, still has this thing about baptism. While we didn’t read that part from Acts 10, we’re going to take a little look at it now. So the chapter starts out with a centurion named Cornelius. He was not Jewish, but believed in God anyways, and one day when he was praying, an angel came to him and told him to send messengers to Joppa to fetch a man named Simon Peter. Cornelius did what the angel told him, and sent messengers to Joppa.
Around noon the next day, as the messengers were travelling, Peter was praying on the roof of Simon Tanner’s house, but he got hungry. And while he was waiting for his lunch, he had a vision of sheet being let down to earth with all different kinds of animals: those with four feet, reptiles, birds, and the like. He heard a voice say, “Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.” Peter said back, “But Lord, I’ve never eaten anything impure or unclean!” The voice replied, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.” This happened two more times, and left Peter more than a little puzzled.
Around that time, the messengers from Cornelius showed up at Simon Tanner’s and asked about Peter. Peter, having been given a message from God to go with the men, announced himself to them. They said they were from Cornelius, a God-fearing man who was respected by the Jews. The next day they headed out — Peter, the messengers, and a few others — and went back to Caesarea, where Cornelius was.
When Peter got to the house, there was a large gathering of people, and Peter asked why a bunch of Gentiles would send for him. Cornelius replied that he was told by an angel to find him, and that he wants to hear everything God has for them. So Peter starts to preach to Cornelius and those gathered with him. He tells them about Jesus, and the resurrection, and the command to preach about Jesus.
While this was still going on, the Holy Spirit came on the people who heard the message. The men who came with Peter were amazed because up to this point, almost all of the Christians were converts from Judaism. Even more amazing was that, from their perspective, God was doing things out of order. They were used to people being baptized first, and then having the Holy Spirit come on them. That’s how it worked with just about everyone else.
But with Cornelius and those with him, God did things backwards from what they were used to. The Holy Spirit came on them without being baptized with water first. So Peter, not quite sure what to do, says, “Well, they have the Holy Spirit on them just like we do, I guess we better baptize them.” So they did.
It’s a very weird conundrum that we have here. How important is Baptism really? I mean it was important enough for Jesus to have been baptized, but it’s not like God needs baptism for someone to be a believer either, as account of Cornelius illustrates. Just to make things messier, when Jesus sends the disciples out at the end of Matthew’s gospel, they’re sent to “make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.”
Baptism is a big deal, don’t get me wrong. As Lutherans, we believe baptism is one of the ways that God graces us with forgiveness of sin, redemption from death and the devil, and eternal life to all who believe. In baptism, we die to our sinfulness and are raised to new life in Christ. Luther writes that, even though we are physically baptized once, we ought to go through the process daily — we put aside our sinful desires and live our lives for God.
Yet baptism is still not something we do, but something God does. The pastor or priest who either threw some water at you or threw you in some water had very little to do with the baptism. In fact, neither the water or the person had anything to do with it, aside from being the visible sign of something we can’t see. It’s God who claims us as His at baptism; it’s God who forgives our sins; it’s God who raises us to new life in him.
It’s not the water that’s important in baptism, it’s God’s working in us. John knew Jesus didn’t need to be baptized, and at his baptism God revealed Jesus to the people as His Son — with the Spirit resting on him like a dove. At Pentecost, the disciples received the Spirit as tongues of fire. And Cornelius’ household received the Spirit and praised God. All of those things are signs of God’s work in us — of God’s presence in our lives — forgiving us, redeeming us, and giving us eternal life.