Baptizing Baby Jesus
THE FIRST SUNDAY AFTER THE EPIPHANY: THE BAPTISM OF OUR LORD
Genesis 1:1-5 • Psalm 29 • Acts 19:1-7 • Mark 1:4-11
In a little while, we are going to baptize baby Jesus. A few weeks ago, here at St. Paul’s, Ceclia Diane Johnson, our baptismal candidate, played the starring role in our Christmas pageant. And she was wonderful! Each year, as we approach Christmas, we look though the congregation for a young child about her age—seven months—who is small enough to play the role but old enough not to be too fragile for the kid playing Mary to hold during the pageant. Sometimes we get wiggly, screaming babies who miss their real mothers, and other times we get babies like Cecelia—babies who take to their stage mothers, soak up the spotlight, and seem born for their role.
But, as far as I can remember, we’ve never had the chance to baptize baby Jesus on the Feast of the Baptism of our Lord a few weeks later. Ceclia better be careful that she doesn’t get typecast at a young age. Of course, as we hear in the gospel, Jesus wasn’t baptized as an infant, but I still think the connection is too good to pass up. Each year we celebrate Jesus’ baptism on the first Sunday after the Epiphany because it was a pivotal moment in salvation history. For the first time, all three persons of the Holy Trinity were manifest to humanity—the Son is baptized; the Spirit descends; and the Father speaks. That’s a moment worth remembering. But the fact that this year we have a closer connection with the Jesus who is baptized this day—even if it’s a humorous one—gives us the chance to think more carefully about our relationship with the one who was baptized in the River Jordan all those years ago.
Why was Jesus baptized in the first place? John the Baptist, who dunked Jesus under the water, preached a baptism of repentance. He told the people to repent of their sins and be baptized as a way of preparing themselves and purifying themselves for the one who was coming after him. But Jesus was the one he had been talking about. Jesus was the one they were getting ready for. And Jesus, we believe, was without sin—perfect God and perfect human from the moment of his conception. Why did Jesus need to be baptized? Mark’s gospel account doesn’t make a big deal about it, but Matthew’s version of the story has John initially refusing to baptize Jesus, saying, “I need to be baptized by you!”
It could be that Jesus wanted to endorse John’s message as the starting point for his own ministry. After all, both of them preached that the reign of God was coming and that we need to prepare ourselves to receive it. Or it could be that Jesus wanted to give us a pattern to follow—a “do what I do, not just what I say” sort of thing. In Matthew’s version, the reply Jesus gives to John’s objection is, “Let it be so now; for it is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness.” I don’t really know what that means. It’s a fairly enigmatic statement. But it sounds important and suggests that something of eternal significance is at work. I think allowing ourselves to come closer to the Jesus who was baptized is a good way to receive the truth that those words convey.
What is the connection between Jesus’ baptism and our own? As Episcopalians, our doctrine—what we believe—is expressed primarily through our worship—how we pray. So, if you want to know what the Episcopal Church believes about Baptism, there’s no better place to look than our baptismal liturgy. When Sara asks God to bless the water before Cecelia’s baptism, she will pray, “We thank you, Father, for the water of Baptism. In it we are buried with Christ in his death. By it we share in his resurrection. Through it we are reborn by the Holy Spirit (BCP 306).” Listen to those incredible words! In Baptism, each one of us is buried with Christ, raised with him to new life, and endued with the Holy Spirit’s power. That means that, in the waters of Baptism, we become one with Jesus and all that he has accomplished on our behalf. In Baptism, we become a part of Jesus who, at the Incarnation, has become a part of us.
But how does that work? Does that mean that we must be baptized in order to be saved? I believe that God already loves Cecelia Diane Johnson as fully and perfectly as God will ever love her, even before she is baptized. And I believe that is true for every human being who has ever lived. Baptism does not change the way that God loves us. It changes the way we participate in that love. If the work of salvation belongs to God, then our work is to recognize it, receive it, believe in it, and celebrate it. In the incarnation, Jesus took upon himself our human nature. At the cross, he purified what was broken within us. In his resurrection, he restored and redeemed every one of us. Because of Jesus, we know that God’s infinite grace, acceptance, and love await each one of us in the next life. But it is Baptism that allows us to know and live fully into that love here and now.
Jesus is baptized on our behalf so that, in our baptism, we can be immersed in those waters with him—within him. Baptism is what makes God’s universal work of salvation real and personal to every baby, every child, every person who comes to the font. Baptism is what makes that salvation real and active not only in the moment of our death but in every moment of our lives. Baptism is how we as individuals and as the community of faith recognize the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus within ourselves and each other.
Because we have been baptized into Jesus Christ, he takes us with him under those waters. We emerge from the water with him and see that the way to heaven, which had been hidden from us, is now torn open and that the fullness and nearness of God is now revealed to us. We see the Holy Spirit descend upon us, and we feel its power equipping us for the life ahead. And, because we are in Jesus, we hear the Father say to each one of us, “You are my child, the beloved; with you I am well pleased.”
Jesus was baptized so that we might be baptized into union with him. That means that every child we baptize is Jesus, whether they had a role in the pageant or not. And that means that you are Jesus, too. You have died with Christ. You have been raised with him. You have received his Spirit. Therefore, you are God’s beloved child, with whom God is well pleased. Receive that truth again today—God’s truth of who you really are. And let that truth shape your life until you recognize it every time you see your reflection looking back from the water.
© 2024 The Rev. Evan D. Garner
St. Paul’s Episcopal Church – Fayetteville, Arkansas