This was the opening sermon in a preaching series on baptism. Each week, we will focus on one aspect of baptism. This sermon focused on the fact that Jesus chose to be baptized. I don't think I had ever reflected on why he chose to be baptized. It made for an interesting sermon. I loved the story about Sam Houston's baptism. I enjoyed preaching this sermon.
“Baptism: Jesus Did It” January 7, 2024; St. Andrew Presbyterian Church; Baptism series; Mark 1: 4-11
John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. Now John was clothed with camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. He proclaimed, “The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”
In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”
Introduction: Read an article this week in "Presbyterian Outlook" by a minister commenting on all the baptisms she had done. I was struck by how similar her list of different baptisms matched up with mine.
Over 30 years of ordination, I have baptized approximately 225 people, give or take a few, I say give or take a few because based on my assumption that I have not kept very good records before coming to St. Andrew when Christy Purser took over and got them all recorded)
and that in my time at St. Andrew Lisa and I both participate in most baptisms - not sure how to technically count the baptism if Lisa does the water and I don’t.
I read through the list of baptisms this week: funny, how my memory is not always supported by the records. I had a quadruple baptism in my memory, but turns it out the parents were baptized one week and the two kids a few weeks later.
there were more adult baptisms than I remembered. None in the first church I served, but quite a few in my second call.
I was reminded of the adult twin sisters I baptized. Identical twins. I had to learn to tell them apart to call them by name, so I used a mnemonic device and remembered that Cara had a little mole on her kisser (right by her mouth) so I could call each one the correct name.
several baptisms by immersion
at least one person whom I baptized as a child, confirmed as a young adult and then officiated at her wedding.
there was the 2-year-old that screamed blood murder when I tried to walk him around the church. I couldn’t even hear myself talk.
I baptized two of my daughters. my middle child was baptized by a good friend and colleague from seminary. Any success she has he claims as coming from his baptismal touch!
the baptism that was not really a baptism and never got recorded. It happened while I was doing hospital chaplaincy. I held the mother’s hand as she prepared to induce the 15-week-old fetus that had not survived in the womb; I held the fetus as I poured water from a sea shell the hospital provided and said words that sounded like baptism but was not.
But mostly, I read the list and the names washed over me - confirmation classes with multiple baptisms; parents and grandparents presenting their infants; and people new to the church. A collection of the people of God with whom I share a really neat part of their faith journey.
one of the privileges of ordained ministry as Dr. Patterson also will attest is getting to be part of people coming to the waters of baptism.
As we embark on our preaching series on baptism, we will have a person share in written form in the Shield and bulletin a reflection on baptism,
and each week you will have an opportunity in worship to share with others a guided reflection - an invitation, you don’t have to do it.
Our hope is that you will have opportunities to remember and recognize how God continues to be at work in powerful ways in the waters of baptism.
Move 1: We begin our reflections by noting that Jesus did it - Jesus himself was baptized.
a. The story of Jesus’ story found in all four gospels -
1. explicitly mentioned in the synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke), although told a bit differently in each one.
2. implicitly mentioned in the Gospel of John - it does not describe the baptism, but assumes the baptism of Jesus has taken place.
3. From this we learn that Jesus’ baptism was important to who he was.
4. his baptism was important for the early church and for us as we understand how God is at work in the coming in flesh.
5. but why was Jesus’ baptism so important?
b. Lots of images associated with baptism.
1. including, as our Directory of Worship reminds us: dying and rising with Jesus Christ; pardon, the gift of the Holy Spirit; incorporation into the body of Christ; and a sign of the realm of God.
linked with the waters of creation, the flood, and the exodus. Baptism thus connects us with God’s creative purpose and redemptive promise from generation to generation.
Baptism is a sign of God’s gracious covenant with the Church.
Baptism also represents God’s call to justice and righteousness, rolling down like a mighty stream, and the river of the water of life that flows from God’s throne.
2. But perhaps the image we think of most often, is the image of cleansing we associate with baptism.
3. A reflection of our need to be made clean.
4. I am reminded of a story told about Sam Houston, one of the great figures of Texas, and his baptism. As the story goes, when Sam Houston at age 61, surrounded by three ministers, was in the river being baptized, one of the ministers said, “Your sins are washed away!” to which Houston replied: “God help the fish below” Three pastors were there for his baptism. November 19,1854, a 61 years of age (http://www.itslikethis.org/the-baptism-of-sam-houston/)
b. Jesus did not need to be cleansed of his sins,
he was without sin
be he entered the waters of baptism anyway.
1. why?
2. Jesus submits to baptism to join with us.
3. in this baptism, Jesus creates the foundation for our understanding of baptism:
in baptism, we are united with Christ in his death and resurrection.
4. It is our greatest desire and deepest need to be united with Christ.
when he comes to the waters of baptism, he meets that desire and that need.
Jesus did it, was baptized to show who he was - the Son of God sent to join with us.
Move 2: We might also say that God does it, that is God baptizes, along with the Spirit.
a. as the story of Jesus’ baptism begins, God’s people have been crying out for generations for God to act, for God to speak.
1. We hear this in the words of the prophet Isaiah 64: O that you would tear open the heavens and come down, so that the mountains would quake at your presence
2. A few verses later, Isaiah asks, Isaiah asks, ‘How long will you be silent?”
3. The question that keeps lingering in the minds of God’s people generation after generation.
b. In the baptism of Jesus, we see God act, we hear God speak.
1. Mark does not elaborate as much as Matthew or Luke, but as he describes Jesus’ baptism he notes that
the heavens were torn apart;
the Holy Spirit descended;
and God spoke from the heavens, “You are my son, the Beloved…”
2. God has acted to tear apart the heavens to remove any separation from God and humanity.
the Holy Spirit has arrived.
God has spoken - God’s very own son has arrived in flesh.
3. From this depiction of Jesus’ baptism we understand baptism to reveal the Triune nature of God - Father, Son and Holy Spirit present and at work in baptism.
4. We also know with certainty that God acts in baptism - it is not something we do.
5. This is Why we only baptize once in the Presbyterian Church and why we do not make those coming into the Presbyterian Church be baptized if they have been baptized in the name of the Triune God (Father, Son and Holy Ghost).
What God has done in baptism does not need to be done again!
b. Every time we come to the waters of baptism, we announce to the world that God is still acting, that God is still speaking.
1. one of the gifts the church gives to the world is this ongoing sign of God’s continued presence and work in the world.
2. Another of the gifts the church gives to the world is the sending of the baptized people, of you and me, into the world to participate in God’s ongoing work in the world.
Move 3: So we do it, we get baptized and we are part of the church that baptizes.
a. baptism is also about our desire to join with Jesus.
1. Sara Miles in her book Take This Bread: A Radical Conversion describes her journey to the waters of baptism like this.
She is new to the Christian faith, drawn by the invitation to the Lord’s Table and its implications for feeding the hungry in San Francisco.
As Sara debates whether to be baptized and whether she is worthy of baptism, the priest draws her attention to the baptismal vows in the Book of Common Prayer. “See the first line? “Do you desire to be baptized?' All you have to do is want it” Take This Bread: A Radical Conversion, Sara Miles (124)
2. Likewise, in the Presbyterian tradition our liturgy begins with a question:
When youth or adult who come to the water of baptism, they are asked:
Putting your whole trust in the grace and love of Jesus Christ, do you desire to be baptized?
3. When an adult presents an infant or young child to be baptized, they are asked: Do you desire that your infant or child be baptized?
b. We are not told why the crowds have come to John the Baptizer in the waters of the River Jordan for baptism.
1. But we know, don’t we?
2. We know the need, the desire for something more,
for hope to cling to as we live our lives,
to be connected,
connected to Jesus Christ is in death and resurrection.
Conclusion: come to the waters of baptism!
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