January 11, 2009

"The thing that is really hard, and really amazing, is giving up on being perfect and beginning the work of becoming yourself." -- Anna Quindlen

One of our local pastors said she received a call one day asking if she "would do my kid." The parent wanted the child baptized. Baptism isn't something we " get done" and that's it. Baptism is only the beginning. We become new people (water) and receive the Holy Spirit (anointing) to live our lives as followers of Jesus, to say and do what he did.

In our gospel reading this week, Jesus is baptized by John the Baptist. John had been calling people to repent of their wrongdoing and turn their lives around. The word for this is metanoia -- to turn 180 degrees and go in a totally opposite direction. Jesus had not needed to be baptized, so why did he? One answer is it signaled the beginning of his public ministry. Another is that it demonstrated his submission to whatever God the Father would ask him to do.

A third answer is that Jesus was telling us that he is one of us, that he was becoming a part of our community and to let us know he wanted to share in our lives. The people of the Old Testament were waiting for a savior who would establish God's kingdom on earth. By Jesus' baptism, he was saying this new era they were waiting for was now present in being close to him.

Another way of looking at it is like comparing it to raising our children. When they are young, we give them rules to live by to protect them. When they mature, they see the value of the rules but now live a good life for its own sake. When we were young in our faith, we were given rules; and when we mature in the faith, we live the life Jesus told us to live because of God's love for us. Jesus wants us to live in community with him and each other, empowered by the Holy Spirit. So, let's pray for each other and live as beloved sons and daughters of God.