A small Texas town was having a big problem with pesky squirrels. The three churches in town, Presbyterian, Methodist, and Episcopal, were especially affected with these squirrels, so much so that it was an item of business in all three church councils.
The Presbyterians decided the problem was predestined and that they shouldn’t interfere with the squirrels, so of course the problem didn’t getter any better for them. The Methodists decided the squirrels were a part of nature and should be returned to the woods. But the squirrels came back.
The Episcopalians had the most creative solution. They said, “Let’s baptize them. That way we’ll only have to deal with them on Christmas and Easter!”
That’s kind of a cynical view of what happens at baptism, don’t you think? Our hope, of course, is that those who are baptized today will be fully immersed in their life in Christ, which begins today with their baptism.
Baptism is important in the life of a Christian. In fact, it’s what makes a Christian a Christian. Before you’re baptized, you’re not a Christian; after you’re baptized, you’re a Christian. Francis Hall, in The Church and the Sacramental System, in speaking of baptismal regeneration, says this: “Regeneration has often been confused with conversion. Conversion is a change of disposition and aim, and is moral; whereas regeneration is a change in level of being and capacity by the involution of a supernatural vital principle, flowing from the Body of Christ. Described by physical analogies it is a biological change. For this reason, it can be, and frequently is, accomplished once for all by the Spirit in unconscious infants, before they are able to make any moral response…It means that they come to the task of working out their salvation as having the vital capacity and status as members of Christ’s Body and children of God by adoption and grace.”
In the midst of pretty technical language, did you hear what he said? Baptism is a biological change. Through baptism we are grafted onto the Body of Christ, made children of God by adoption and grace. That change in being takes place through baptism by water and the Spirit.
In the first reading from Genesis we heard how God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was covered with water and the Spirit of God moved over the surface of the water. Later on, the other parts of creation were able to take place once the water was moved so that dry land could appear. Thus, water in the very beginning was a symbol of chaos. Still later on, when God decided to destroy his creation, he used water. The flood was a return to the uncreated chaos.
Obviously, we need water to live. It’s basic to life. Yet it has a tremendous power to destroy as well. When John the Baptist prepared the way for the Messiah, he did so with baptism by water for repentance of sins. This time, water was used to destroy the effects of sin. The destruction is a good destruction. That is part of what happens to us in our baptism into thje Body of Christ. We are given the forgiveness of sins. Water thus becomes a powerful tool for good. There’s a sermon in that somewhere, too. God can use even those forces that have the power to destroy for good.
In the second reading from the Acts of the Apostles, we heard that when those who had been baptized by John were baptized later on by Paul in the name of the Lord Jesus, they received the Holy Spirit. That is another aspect of what happens to all who are baptized. We receive the Holy Spirit, God present with us through his Spirit, to give us strength, and to guide us into all truth.
Finally, in the Gospel, we see Jesus presenting himself to John for baptism for the repentance of sins. The question many have asked ever since is, “If Jesus was without sin, why did he need to be baptized?” Jesus’ baptism is a sign that his ministry is to and for all humankind. He came to this earth to take the sin of all people upon himself, ultimately to die as a sacrifice for that sin. Jesus’ baptism is a foreshadowing of his death on a cross. His going down into the water symbolizes his death and burial, and his coming up out of the water symbolizes his resurrection from the dead. St. Paul tells us that we are likewise baptized into the death and resurrection of Christ. Our baptism symbolizes our death to sin and our rising to new life in Christ.
Yes, we are made Christian through our baptism, but our life continues to be a process of conversion into the people God created us to be. That means a daily dying to self that Christ may live in us. While I am a Christian, I still have far to go in that process of conversion into a person who is totally Christ-centered. That is the goal for each of us as Christians—to be totally Christ-centered. That’s why I continue to receive the Sacrament as often as possible. That’s why I continue to pray daily and to read the Holy Scriptures. That’s why I give of my time, talent, and treasure for the spread of the Kingdom of God. And yet, as that conversion takes place, it is not me, but the Spirit of God working in me, enabling that conversion to take place. And so, whatever little progress I make toward that goal, I cannot take credit for it, for it is God himself, through his grace, working through me.
For those who are to be baptized, we pray that they won’t be like those pesky squirrels baptized in the Episcopal Church so they’ll only come to church on Christmas and Easter (Of course, we know squirrels can’t be baptized anyway!). We pray that this will truly be the beginning of a life of conversion into the holy people of God.