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The Baptism of Jesus

Acts 19
1While Apollos was in Corinth, Paul traveled through the interior provinces. Finally, he came to Ephesus, where he found several believers.[a] 2"Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?" he asked them.
"No," they replied, "we don't know what you mean. We haven't even heard that there is a Holy Spirit."
3"Then what baptism did you experience?" he asked.
And they replied, "The baptism of John."
4Paul said, "John's baptism was to demonstrate a desire to turn from sin and turn to God. John himself told the people to believe in Jesus, the one John said would come later."
5As soon as they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 6Then when Paul laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in other tongues and prophesied. 7There were about twelve men in all.

Mark 1
9One day Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee, and he was baptized by John in the Jordan River. 10And when Jesus came up out of the water, he saw the heavens split open and the Holy Spirit descending like a dove on him. 11And a voice came from heaven saying, "You are my beloved Son, and I am fully pleased with you."


I understand there is an election on. Having picked through all the turkey bones and discarded wrapping paper I found some obscure references to an election call. It seems the "government-in-waiting" got tired of waiting and forced the nation into a winter election. As we speak, countless candidates are risking life and limb to amble over mounds of ice and snow to get your vote. Perhaps they should all get seats in the House just for being such good sports.

Years ago my mother took a job as an enumerator, a thankless task that involves driving up and down endless driveways in the wilds of East Gwillimbury and knocking on doors. Wisely, they go in pairs (recalling that every long rural driveway is like a cheap horror movie) and determine, in a completely non-partisan way, the number of voters in each household.

On one occasion they knocked and introduced themselves only to be met with rejection. "We don't need you here," the woman at the door said, "we're voting for God." Without hesitating my mother's partner flipped open his book and said "that's funny ma'am, but I don't see his name on the ballot." Back to the car they went, down the long driveway, and off to the next house.

And yet, what started as a funny enumerator story has been living quietly in the back of my mind and leading me to wonder about the nature of voting for those of us who profess Jesus Christ as the Lord of our lives. Of course we would vote for God, because in the course of selecting a candidate off the ballot we would be inclined to choose the person or party that will advance the things that speak to the core of our beliefs. Think of it as the difference between "voting for God" and voting for God. We vote for God whenever we cast a ballot that is consistent with our sense of God's intentions for our community. This, of course, requires discernment, and with only 14 days to go, we better get busy.

***

Finally, he came to Ephesus, where he found several believers. "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?" he asked them.
"No," they replied, "we don't know what you mean. We haven't even heard that there is a Holy Spirit."
"Then what baptism did you experience?" he asked.
And they replied, "The baptism of John."
Paul said, "John's baptism was to demonstrate a desire to turn from sin and turn to God. John himself told the people to believe in Jesus, the one John said would come later."
As soon as they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then when Paul laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in other tongues and prophesied. There were about twelve men in all.

Educators will recognize Paul's brilliance in the way this story unfolds. Notice that he never judges them or suggests that they have made some sort of error. When confronted with the information that they didn't even know that there was a Holy Spirit, he simply asks more questions, until he has an opportunity to segue from John's baptism to Jesus' baptism and release the power of the Spirit in their lives.

One of the lessons for the church is the risk of engaging in discipleship without all the information. Discipleship is a life-long education that begins when someone introduces us to God. From there we begin to develop a understanding that must be nurtured and expanded to include a more complete picture of the Christian religion. The passage from Mark illustrates that people were gathering and practicing what they understood to be a viable faith. When expanded, and introduced to the Holy Spirit, they were transformed into a more dynamic community where they were able to speak in other tongues and utter prophecies.

The baptism they received, in Jesus Christ, links backward to two threads: the Day of Pentecost and the work of the prophets. At Pentecost, the same wind that moved over the waters of creation's birth moves among those gathered and ushers them into a new era where God will speak through every tongue to share the news of the coming Kingdom. 3000 were baptized that day, linked through the Spirit to each other and all other believers.

The work of the prophets, also alive that day Ephesus, honours John the Baptist and recalls an ancient tradition to must not be lost to the church. As Paul said, "John's baptism was to demonstrate a desire to turn from sin and turn to God. John himself told the people to believe in Jesus, the one John said would come later." John's contribution was to frame our need for repentance as we seek God and to recall that we fall short of his glory. When we can do this, we can take up the grace that is offered and embrace the fullness of the life set before us.

As a community, we listen to the voice of the prophets to remind us that God's desire is to complete a Kingdom in our midst that will be based on compassion and mercy and the desire to live for others. There is no better starting place than baptism, when we are marked as God's beloved and given the Holy Spirit and power to enact the Kingdom vision that Jesus so carefully described.

***

On January 23rd, when you enter the little cardboard booth and unfold the ballot you will not find the name of God anywhere. You will find the names of women and men brave enough to put their names forward and make our imperfect democracy work. But you will not find God. You may, like me, utter a little prayer of thanks to God for the blessing of freedom and the ability to vote, but God's name will be no where to be seen.

This does not mean God is absent, nor should be absent. Like moms and dads carrying young children with them into the voting booth, we carry God in with us and we mark our ballots recognizing that it is not a solitary act. With the God who is all things and bears all things I do not vote alone. I vote with my neighbours who experience illness, I vote with the families who use the food bank, I vote with those who feel largely voiceless except for the occasional moment they get to cast a ballot. I vote with all these people, and the little cardboard booth begins to get really crowded.

***

I want to concluded with words from Dietrich Bonhoeffer, written while he waited for death in a Nazi prison, written on the day of an important baptism that he could not attend:

Today you will be baptized a Christian...in the traditional words and acts [of the service] we suspect that there may be something quite new and revolutionary, though we cannot as yet grasp or express it...It is not for us to prophesy the day (though the day will come) when people will be once more called to so utter the word of God that the world will be changed and renewed by it. It will be a new language, perhaps quite non-religious, but liberating and redeeming--as was Jesus' language; it will shock people and yet overcome them by its power; it will be the language of a new righteousness and truth, proclaiming God's peace with humankind and the coming of his Kingdom. (Resources, p. 44)

posted by michael jacob kooiman @ 5:48 AM