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What God Has Done in Baptism
Luke 3:15-17, 21-22; Isaiah 43:1-7
Rev. Karen A. Goltz
During Jesus’
post-baptismal prayer, the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form
like a dove, and a voice from heaven (presumably God the Father’s) said
to him, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.” I
don’t know about you, but I’m pretty sure nothing that dramatic happened
at my baptism. At least my parents never mentioned anything
about it, and I think they probably would have. And I know
nothing like that has ever happened at any of the baptisms I’ve presided
at as pastor. Things like that just don’t seem to happen anymore. At
Jesus’ baptism, there was no question whether it ‘took’ or not. He got
almost immediate assurance that it did. Not so for the rest of us.
We’re left to wonder, especially those of us who were baptized as
infants with no say in the matter and no memory of the event, did I
really receive the Holy Spirit? Was my baptism enough? Did it take?
Part of the problem is the fact that
many of us aren’t really sure what baptism is. Some are taught that
it’s what gets you into heaven, and you can’t get into heaven at all
without it, no matter what. I’ve heard of one woman, about ninety years
old, who’d had an older sister born terribly ill and who died at only
three months of age. The child’s grandmother had baptized her at home,
but the pastor refused to hold the funeral in the sanctuary of the
church because she had not been ‘properly’ baptized. Ninety years later
this woman still feared for the eternal soul of this sister she’d never
met, because of what she’d been taught about baptism.
Others are so comfortable in the fact
of their own (properly conducted) baptisms that they honestly believe
that that one-time event serves as a kind of ‘get out of hell free’
card, and they don’t need to go to church or pray or even think about
God, because they’ve been baptized and are automatically going to
heaven.
Other arguments about baptism abound.
It has to be done by ordained clergy verses it can be done by anyone.
It has to be done in a certain denomination verses baptism is baptism,
regardless of the flavor of Christianity that administers it. It can
only be done once verses it can be done over and over, as many times as
you want to renew your relationship with God. It only works if the
water is sprinkled on the person, or poured on the person, or if the
person is fully immersed. It doesn’t count if the person doesn’t make a
decision to commit their life to Christ, so it can only be effective
after a certain age. And on and on and on.
And all of that misses the point. Baptism is not about what we do. It’s
about what God does. [continue]
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