Sometimes the oldies are the besties. Taking a trip in the way-back machine for this one.
Luke 3:15-22; Acts 8:14-17; Psalm 29; Isaiah 43:1-7
How many of you have heard of dihydrogen monoxide? If you have, bear with me; if you haven’t let me tell you about this incredibly dangerous substance. This is one of the most horrifically damaging substances known to man. When even a small quantity is accidentally inhaled, it can actually cause death. Prolonged exposure can lead to sever tissue damage. It is the major component in acid rain. When in it’s gaseous form, it causes severe burns. It contributes to soil erosion, as well as corroding many metals. It can short circuit electronics and decrease the effectiveness of brakes in your car. This substance is used as an industrial solvent, in nuclear power plants, as a performance enhancing substance in sports, as a fire suppressant, as an additive in food, in oven cleaners. Yet even with all these troubles, it’s as dangerous to have too little of this substance as too much.
If you haven’t figured it out yet, the horrible substance that I’m talking about is simply water. My list comes from a satirical website that made its rounds several years ago basically seeking to mock the overreaction of news shows with regard to the “’chemical of the day’ that is in everything but may slowly be killing you – and we’ll tell you what it is later in the newscast.”
But it does highlight this interesting thing about water: we need it to live, but it’s also rather dangerous. Anyone who has ever been around water knows that a flood can be a devastating event; and a relatively small amount of water can, over time, create something as enormous as the grand canyon.
So while water can bring destruction, it also brings life. Plants and animals, including we people, need water to live and grow. Floods are also what bring nutrients to the soil so that plants can grow. If you look at patterns of human settlement throughout history, cities and towns were almost always built around sources of water. Water brings death, but it also brings life.
So isn’t it fascinating that God picked water for use in baptisms? In baptism we believe that we die to sin, but rise to new life in Christ – the water, with the Holy Spirit, “kills” our sinful self and gives life to our new, Christian selves.
What’s interesting about baptism, specifically John’s baptism, was that it only had part of the equation. John’s baptism was one of repentance – it was an outward sign of a person’s return to God – at least until John’s cousin showed up one day.
When Jesus was baptized, he didn’t need to repent; Jesus was sinless. In the other gospels there’s actually a discussion involved between Jesus and John where John says, “I shouldn’t be baptizing you; you should be baptizing me!” but Jesus essentially responds, “Do it anyways.” But remember what John was saying about Jesus, “I baptize you with water. But… he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.” Jesus is about to change what baptism is about.
Ordinarily when folk were baptized by John, they got a little damp in the Jordan River and that was about it. There wasn’t any light show; it was just a dunking in the river, along with the repentance that was the whole point. But when Jesus was baptized, things went a little out of the ordinary. Heaven opened, and the Holy Spirit, in the form of a dove, landed on him. Then a voice came from heaven and said “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”
It was different; it was new. There was still water, but this in a lot of ways set the stage for the Baptism that Jesus would tell his disciples to do. It was no longer just about repentance, but about something else.
It wasn’t until after the resurrection and Pentecost that this “new thing” at baptism really came into its own. There was a link between baptism and the Holy Spirit – having one meant you needed the other. If someone showed evidence of the Holy Spirit in their lives, the disciples would baptize them; if someone had been baptized but didn’t have evidence of the Holy Spirit, like in our reading from Acts, the disciples would pray for them that they’d receive the Holy Spirit.
Paul continued this idea in Romans 6, saying that it is in Baptism that we are united with Christ’s death and resurrection. And yet it’s still so like God to use something as simple and versatile as water to be an outward sign of his work in a person’s life. So today, even while we remember Jesus’ baptism, it’s also a chance to remember our own.
I decided to do this after the bulletin was done, but I want to do things a little out of order today. Instead of singing the hymn of the day before the Creed, I’d like to take the time now to remember all of our baptisms – when we turned from sin, received the Holy Spirit, and were united with Christ’s Death and resurrection – through a part of the Affirmation of Baptism service on page 199 of the LBW. So, if you’d please stand, we’ll profess our faith together: