First Sunday after the Epiphany: The Baptism of our Lord, Year C, January 13, 2019
Isaiah 43:1-7; Psalm 29
Acts 8:14-17; Luke 3:15-17, 21-22
St Thomas the Apostle
The Rev’d Leo Loyola
I can make a claim that most of you can’t.
I was baptized twice in my life.
The first time happened when I was barely three months. I obviously don’t remember anything about it.
But I do remember the second time quite well.
It was a Saturday afternoon at a beach in Waikiki. My church friends huddled around me, as we prayed and sang.
My college roommate Cord who had been discipling me for months led me through the crystal-blue waves. He stopped, and asked me again, “Are you sure you want to do this?”
I said “Yes, let’s do this!”
I pinched my nose and contorted my face, as my roommate dunked me back-first into the cool ocean.
I was underwater for what seemed a half minute. But he probably kept me submerged longer to impress upon me the importance of my baptism.
And when my roommate sensed I was ready, he suddenly pulled out. My friends off in the distance cheered and whistled for me, as I gasped for air. I knew then that I was a new man in Christ.
At this point, I’m sure you are all wondering: “Leo, why did you get baptized twice?”
I’m glad you asked!
As crazy as it sounds, it all had to do with the Internet.
Keep in mind that the nineties were a time when people truly believed that whatever was on the Internet had to be true.
I was a freshman in college, and my roommate had just welcomed me to his church friends. He helped opened my eyes to how exciting and life-changing Scripture could be.
Our circle of friends lived, breathed and devoured Scripture every free moment we had together, all while my dad worried I just became a member of a cult.
One day I was scouring the Internet on everything it had to say about baptism, when I came across a webpage entitled “How People are Being Misled About Infant Baptisms, and Why They Are Going Straight to Hell”.
Obviously I was intrigued.
So I read through whole article, as it made its argument, pointing out what was normative among true Christians, while throwing Scripture quotes here and there. After a few minutes of reading, I became quite concerned.
If what that article had to say was true, then my baptism didn’t really count.
If what that article had to say was true, then all the Christian things I had been doing— going to church and reading my Bible regularly, all my tithing, my service to the church—all that ultimately didn’t matter in the eyes of God.
Back then, I was committed to Christ, and I wanted my life in Christ to mean something.
Whatever the truth, baptism was so important to me. And so I decided to hedge my bets and felt it necessary to get baptized again.
If the website was right, my second baptism would be a course correction.
If the second baptism was unnecessary, no harm, no foul.
Today, of course, I know better. But my stewing over the necessity of baptism did raise another question I’ve always wondered: “Why did Jesus need to be baptized?”
As Christians, we are a part of a worldwide family of believers. Sure, it’s a family that might include the crazy uncle or unbearably judgmental aunt, here and there. But we are still a family united under one God through the saving power of Christ.
We aren’t simply born into this family. There are no yearly dues necessary to be counted as a member. We become a part of this church family through baptism.
But, as far as I can see, Jesus didn’t need to be baptized to become a part of us. Scripture tells us that Jesus was already one with God, Our Creator. By association, he was already with us at the Creation.
Baptism is really designed for us, so we may be in union with Christ, not the other way around.
Even John the Baptist was confused by this. In our Gospel, he talked about how great Jesus would be:
“I baptize you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals.”
The one that John spoke of, he saw as one with God’s full authority to judge the living and the dead.
By Jesus’s very nature—both human and divine—his baptism seems just as unnecessary as me being baptized twice.
And yet, even when John the Baptist tried to deter him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” Jesus replied, “Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.” And John consented.
For Jesus, his baptism was necessary.
He did it as a clear sign from God to the faithful:
When Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”
For the faithful who witnessed this glorious event, Jesus’s baptism was a sign that their endless prayers for justice and mercy had been heard. They were not ignored. God was listening. God was not some cold and distant parent, but was fully present with them.
So, yes, Jesus’s baptism was, indeed, necessary. Not for him, but for us who yearn to know God’s loving grace. That God is real.
Now let me take a step further and say that his baptism is also a reminder of our own baptism.
Yesterday, Mother Joy, your vestry and I yesterday got to meet our new Bishop Wayne Smith, the retiring diocesan bishop of Missouri. And if I may speak for them, he is the warm, caring and accepting presence you can want from a Bishop.
And in our time together, he shared a hope he had for the future of Saint Thomas. And it is this: Go beyond your walls.
That by our baptism, we aren’t just to love Christ and one another. But we are to share and spread this love with the world for whom Christ died. Don’t coop Christ’s love in a box we call the Episcopal Church of Saint Thomas the Apostle.
What I got out of Bishop Smith’s words, that when we take our mission as Christ’s Church seriously and not just an option or something low in ranking on our to-do lists, everything we are concerned about the future of this parish will work itself out.
On this Feast of the Baptism of Christ, may we be inspired by it, may we be emboldened in our baptism in Christ, may we in this new age of Saint Thomas be an inspiration to the rest of this Diocese on what great things Christ can do through us.
It is, indeed, necessary.
