The Rev. Virginia W. Nagel
Episcopal Diocese of Central NY (Retired)
Today is the first Sunday after the Epiphany, which the Church celebrates as
the Feast of the Baptism of our Lord. Many parishes will administer the
Sacrament of Baptism today, and most parishes will offer an opportunity for the
renewal of baptismal vows by all Christians.
Baptism is a kind of omnibus sacrament. It has many symbolic meanings. The
pouring of the water is seen as the washing of the soul clean from sin. It is
also a reminder of God's provision for a new start for the world, at the time of
Noah, when the great flood washed away all the terrible sinful way of life that
had become the norm, and destroyed all who made a habit of sin. The earth was
then repopulated, so Genesis tells us, with people who had descended from Noah,
the righteous man who walked with God. Hopefully, this would result in a new
kind of people, who would all be righteous from now on, and sin would no longer
be a factor. As we all know, it didn't work out that way, because we people seem
to have a desire to be self-centered, and "look out for Number One," which
always leads to sin again. And so the Jewish people made a ceremony of regular
cleansing in water, as a reminder and a symbol of making the people clean again.
John's baptism, and the Sacrament of Baptism, grew out of this ceremony.
Then, with the coming of Christ, his disciples began to baptize in his name,
and Baptism became the "doorway" into the company of believers, who were later
called Christians. We formally become Christians when we are baptized, because
that's a public ceremony in which we profess or tell out in public our faith in
Jesus. Actually, we become Christians when we first begin to believe that Jesus
is God the Son, who came to save us from sin. But Baptism is the formal
recognition of that fact.
After the first Easter, Baptism added more symbolism. At that time, Baptism
was always given by dunking the person under water. Some churches still do this
for everyone who is baptized, and other churches pour water on the person to be
baptized, but even those churches often offer the option of being immersed in
water. This immersion and then rising out of the water is a reminder that life
comes through death. Jesus died, and went down into the grave...so we go into
and under the water, and then, remembering that Jesus rose to life again, we
come up out of the water into a new life as Christians, leaving our old,
self-centered, sinful life behind.
Also, we recall that when Jesus came up out of the water, while he prayed,
God spoke from the heavens, and said, This is my beloved son, in whom I am
well pleased. At the same time, the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove
came down to Jesus. So we also are reminded that at our Baptism we are given the
gift of the Holy Spirit to guide and teach us.
After we are baptized, we are marked with the sign of Jesus' cross, and told,
Remember that you are now Christ's own, forever. We no longer
belong to ourselves. We no longer can rule our own lives in our own way. From
now on, we must live according to Jesus' teachings, because we belong to him,
forever. Permanently. Baptism cannot be undone. We cannot be baptized more than
once. Yes, we can break our baptismal promises, we can forget or ignore our
obligation to live Christ's way, but we still belong to him, and that means we
are accountable to him for our wrongdoing, our sins and our failure to obey his
teachings.
There is a great deal of meaning in that simple symbol of washing that we
call Baptism!
That is really the story behind the first reading today. Isaiah is talking to
the people of Israel who have broken their Covenant promises to God, fallen away
from their religious duties, and begun to live the way non-believers live. God
has punished them, by allowing their country to be defeated and the people to be
carried away to other countries as slaves. Isaiah tells them that God still
loves them, they still belong to him, and if they repent and clean up their
lives, they will be welcomed back, and their land will prosper again. This is
basically what happens with us when we drift away from our Baptismal
promises...we end up getting punished one way or another, but when we repent,
and come back to living God's way, God receives us back with loving, open arms.
Isaiah is talking to us, too, even though he lived hundreds of years before
Jesus was born in Bethlehem. People are still people, and we still make the same
mistakes that were made by the Jewish people long before the time of Christ.
There is something very important in today's Gospel that we all need to pay
attention to. It is John's honesty and humility. When the Pharisees came and
asked John if he was the Messiah, the person God had promised to send, John was
very honest. No, I am not the one you are looking for. But he is coming,
and I am not worthy to serve him by undoing his sandals. He is much greater than
I could ever be.
Our society today has gotten into the habit of being big-headed. We seem to
feel that we cannot tell the truth about ourselves. We pretend to be more
knowledgeable, more important, and much richer than we really are. We talk and
act like big shots. We cannot say "Oh, I didn't know that." Instead, we seem to
feel that we have to pretend to know everything everyone talks about. We become
know-it-alls, and as we are all aware, nobody likes know-it-alls. We pretend to
know all about computers after we read one magazine article about the new
software. We pretend that we know all about the war and other problems in the
Middle East, because we saw the headlines in the paper or watched the TV news.
And, if we are honest with ourselves, we know we are telling big fat lies.
We have come to the point where we do not know any more, how to be honest and
tell the truth. We feel like we have to keep a big mask in front of us. But, you
know, we are not fooling anybody by acting and talking that way. We aren't
fooling God, or other people. Maybe we are fooling ourselves, but everyone else
knows it and is laughing at us when we act that way. When we behave like this,
people know we are not being truthful, and they lose respect for us, even if
they pretend to believe us.
And John said, No, I am not the Messiah, I am not the one you are
looking for. Yes, he is coming, and he will be so much more powerful and more
important than I am...I am not even good enough to untie his sandals.
Perhaps, this New Year, we should all make a resolution. Perhaps we should
say a reminder to ourselves every morning when we get up. It might go something
like this: God has all knowledge and all power, because God is God. I am a
person God has made, and I am not God. Only God is all-knowing and all powerful,
and I know a little bit, but I do not know everything. It is a lie to pretend
that I do. Only God knows everything. I have only a little power that God has
lent me. I am not the most important person in the world and I am not the most
powerful. I am not God. God, help me to remember this, today and every day.
Amen.
