The Second Sunday after the Epiphany, January 12, 2025

This Sunday, dear preacher, we have the great opportunity to witness to and celebrate with our churches the baptism of Jesus.

 

Baptism appears in the Bible over and over again*: 

-Jesus was baptized by his cousin John in the river Jordan (Matthew 3:13-17, Mark 1:9-11, and Luke 3:21-22).

-The day of Pentecost, 3,000 new believers confessed their faith and were baptized (Acts 2:41)

-Baptisms of men and women in Samaria (Acts 8:12-13).

– An Ethiopian eunuch ( Acts 8:36-40).

-The Baptism of St. Paul/Saul of Tarsus (Acts 9:18 and 22:16).

-Baptisms of the household of Cornelius (Acts 10:47-48).

-Baptisms of Lydia’s household (Acts 16:15).

-Philippi jailer’s household baptized(Acts 16:33).

-Baptism of many Corinthians (Acts 18:8).

-Certain Corinthians baptized by Paul personally (1 Corinthians 1:14-16).

-Paul describes what happens in baptism (Romans 6:4, Galatians 3:26-27)

*This is not an exhaustive list.

The Miracle of Community:

According to social psychologists Jonathan Haidt and Jesse Graham, human beings have a natural inclination toward groupishness (they often use the word tribalism.) People tend to group themselves up with others who are similar to them and then use our extraordinary social and linguistic skills to work out how exactly people in the group ought to behave toward each other and other groups.

Membership in God’s family (not our individual churches) is open to anyone who, with a genuine heart, undertakes the ritual of baptism.  This means that being members of Jesus’ group runs contrary to our natural inclinations. For Jesus, membership is open to anyone who wishes to follow. Jesus does not select members like Rotary, Lions, or the Masons. Membership does not rest upon how well they fit in well together, or because we think they have something to offer us. Followers of Jesus are not people of similar worldly status, interests, priorities or financial clout.

Sadly, there are some people who insist that membership in Jesus’ church requires a narrow kind of conformity to the likeness of powerful people. That is not what God in Christ Jesus asks of us. It is not how the church is formed. God in Jesus asks us to seek and accept the differences, to embrace the otherness of others – especially the bits that prickle, bruise, or frighten us. God chooses us, we do not choose God. In Christ, we are called from separateness and cozy relationships into a wider communion, because we are, all of us, parts of the same body of Christ.

Jesus’s baptism and ours:

Why did Jesus have himself baptized?  Theologians have argued over this it seems, since the very beginning of the church. The (tentative) conclusion is that while us ordinary humans need baptism for forgiveness of sin and entry into Christian community, Jesus was already sinless and the founder of the community, so had need for these things.

Why then? Because God was calling him to identify with others; to stand with them; to be numbered with tax collectors and sinners. Jesus was called to throw in his lot with those who shared his human nature but were so unlike him in regard to sin. When Paul talks about baptism, he says that it is an incorporation into the body of Christ.  In Galatians 3: 26-27, he uses two different metaphors, “Through faith, in Christ Jesus you are all children of God. For as many of you who were baptised into Christ have put on Christ like a garment.” Regardless of the imagery we use to describe what happens, in our baptism, we who are separated from God, are placed in the new community of Christ Jesus.

Talking about who Jesus is, and what Jesus does for us in process theological terms can be tricky.  Since God is always with us, intimately involved in every moment of our becoming, what makes baptism special? I’m going to attribute this metaphor to my seminary Professor, Ron Cole-Turner (and stand corrected, if I find out otherwise). He explained sacraments like this: imagine that you and another person are supposed to meet.  The other person tells you that they will meet you at a particular coffee shop at a certain time, and their cell phone will be off until then, so they’ll see you there for this important and life changing meeting. Cole-Turner argues that the sacrament works in a similar way.  God made a promise to meet us in the sacrament of baptism. When we meet there, God, the person, and the Christian community converge to make a special kind of change in this world.  Yes, indeed, God is with us in each moment.  And, yes, indeed, certain moments can be life changing, course changing, community changing. In our baptism Jesus becomes an integral part of our internal constitution. In so doing, we are joined with all of those who are also integrally joined with Jesus – the Christian community.

Race, gender, class, are dismantled by God, declared illegitimate by Christ’s baptism and ours. We are placed together in the one body in spite of our perceived differences. A part of the meaning of baptism is that in Christ we seek the “other”, care for the “other”, respect the “other”, serve the “other,” even though we may strongly disagree on certain issues or find the other person not to our natural liking.

By this world’s standard this is contrary to what we ought to be doing, we should be falling into step, hating those “other people.”  But, what we’ve got in baptism is a supra-natural fellowship.  So, it is no wonder the early Christians were sometimes called a “second race” or a “ new tribe. While “tribalism” might be part of our makeup, it is not part of our calling.