Thoughts going in, Sun Jan 9th

13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. 14 But John tried to deter him, saying, "I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?" 15 Jesus replied, "Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness." Then John consented. 16 As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. 17 And a voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased."

Most people are unaware of the fact that the celebration of Epiphany (a word which simply means "to shine forth"), January 6th, predates the observance of Christmas in the history of the church. Indeed, Epiphany *was…for all intents and purposes…the celebration of Christmas. Originally, it seems, there was a tendency to lump the BIRTH of Jesus together with other important manifestations of Divine power/presence, such as the *star guiding the Magi; the *baptism of Christ (where the voice from heaven declares him to be the beloved son of God); and the first *miracle at the wedding feast of Cana. Only later was Christ’s birth actually broken off from these other events and given its own special day as Christmas, or more properly, the Feast of the Nativity.

Following this, Epiphany continued on with its 3-fold thematic emphasis of the Magi, the Baptism of Christ, and the first public miracle. In time, the Baptism of Christ began to stand out in importance and it was given its own Sunday on the liturgical calendar—the first Sunday after Epiphany.

There are MANY side-questions that could occupy our attention from this text—not the least of which would be the question of the MODE of John’s baptism. And, the question of proper mode of baptism (immersion, pouring, sprinkling) continues to divide the church to this day. The scriptures do not really provide a bullet-proof description of mode, yet we do know that the Jewish “mikvah” (a tank, of sorts, used for personal ritual cleansing) was big enough for complete immersion. Also, texts such as this one from Matthew (“As soon as Jesus was baptized, he WENT UP out of the water”) seem to indicate deep-water baptisms (ergo, immersions). For that matter, the oldest catechetical instruction of the church, The Didache, commends that if possible baptisms should be performed by immersion in fresh flowing rivers.

Having said all of this, one could wonder *WHY it is that Lutherans don’t immerse. And it really has nothing to do with the fact that we baptize infants—as the majority of the Eastern Christians practice infant immersion in their baptismal ceremonies.
In fact, Lutheran theology has no objection to baptism by immersion for all of the reasons already mentioned. HOWEVER, Lutheran theology also believes in taking a stand against those who say—without warrant—that it HAS TO BE THAT WAY. From Reformation times onward there has been a segment of Protestantism DEMANDING the mode of immersion to the exclusion of all other modes, and stating that other modes are *invalid. In the face of that false position, Lutherans have tended to favor pouring as a means of publicly confessing that so long as one uses water and applies it in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, the question of mode is not important.

Getting back on track with the text, the million dollar question is “what’s going on here?” Regardless of mode, WHY does the Son of God feel it necessary to be baptized? Regardless of one’s faith tradition, baptism is seen as something that applies to sinful humanity. Jesus, surely, is not PART of sinful humanity…..is he?

I’m reminded of the stories of the “Freedom Riders” of the early 1960s civil rights struggle. These were northern civil rights activists that rode interstate buses into the segregated southern United States to
challenge local laws or customs that enforced segregation on buses. The Freedom Rides, and the violent reactions they provoked, bolstered the credibility of the American Civil Rights Movement and called national attention to the violent disregard for the law that was used to enforce segregation in the southern United States. Riders were arrested for trespassing, unlawful assembly, and violating state and local Jim Crow laws, along with other alleged offenses. These *outsiders from the North were expressing *solidarity with those suffering racial discrimination in the South. It wasn’t their world, but they entered into that world for the purpose of effecting change. They walked the proverbial mile in the other man’s shoes.

In the baptism of Christ, Jesus goes from being God’s beloved Son as mere matter of fact, to God’s beloved Son in terms of duty and destiny. By being baptized by John that day, Jesus signed up to be THE FREEDOM RIDER of all time and for all humanity. It wasn’t his world….it was a world of darkness, sin and ungodliness; Yet, out of love for those languishing under such conditions, he entered into that world for the purpose of effecting change. In his baptism, Jesus enters into solidarity with the entire human race and agrees to be The Christ, The Savior. How does the Father react to this? He states for all to hear: This is my beloved son in whom I am well-pleased; well-pleased because the Freedom Ride has begun.

cheers,

TM