What Difference Does Baptism Make?

Mark 1:4-11
The Baptism of the Lord
James McTyre
Lake Hills Presbyterian Church PCUSA
January 8, 2006

What difference does baptism make? Especially when the one being baptized is already without sin?

[scripture]

It’s the new year. 2006. And some of you have made resolutions. And some of you haven’t.

[time for sharing]

It’s fitting that we read about the Baptism of the Lord at the beginning of each calendar year. It’s the time a lot of us resolve to start out new. Baptism – as we practice it and understand it in the church – baptism is all about starting out new. Baptism is about repentance. It’s about washing away the sticky film of sin that doesn’t easily rub off our hands, or off our tongues. Baptism is about putting to death the dumb, stupid, disgusting, ignorant, offensive, dim-witted, mean stuff that we can’t stop doing – taking that stuff, and drowning it under water – and then about arising from the waters, new people, fresh, clean, born again. That’s baptism.

2006 is a new year, a new dawn, a new chance for a fresh start. We can put 2005 to rest. For a lot of the world (places like New Orleans, among others), burying 2005 in a watery grave would be fitting. And welcome. As the new year rises up, it has to be better. We hope.

And so at the beginning of a new year, 2006, we test our resolve. We resolve to make changes. We resolve to make the world a better place by doing this or doing that. We resolve to lose ten pounds, to quit smoking, to try skydiving. (Probably not all at the same time.) We resolve to start over. We look ahead with hope that maybe, just maybe, we can follow through on our resolutions.

You who make resolutions – you’re optimists. You’re optimistic that you really can make yourself a better person. (You have faith.) You want to change. You want to grow. You want to end 2006 better than you ended 2005. All you optimists, go for it!

And then. And then there are people who don’t make resolutions, who won’t make resolutions, because they’re tired of breaking their resolutions. Sooner or later, February always rolls around. And you’ve actually gained ten pounds. You’re still smoking seven packs a day. And you’re never going skydiving. You who don’t make resolutions – I wouldn’t call you pessimists. You’re realists. You’ve made resolutions in the past and they didn’t work out. Why disappoint yourself yet another year, right? And – gosh darn it – you’ve made it this long the way you are, what’s one more year?

Baptism. Baptism is a purely optimistic resolution, AND a purely realistic resolution. But it’s not YOUR resolution. Oh, you may decide to be baptized. Jesus did. You may decide to you’re your child baptized. Lots of early church families did. The practice of baptism may be YOUR choice, but the effect of baptism is GOD’S resolving.

Think about today’s scripture. Jesus didn’t need to need to be baptized for his sins. He didn’t have any. He didn’t need to be baptized in repentance. He didn’t have anything to repent. Same as the babies we baptize. They may have spit up on a couple of good shirts, but that’s not their fault. As adults, when we choose baptism, we’re resolving to be better people. But if we think being baptized is going to make us one hundred percent perfect, we’d better take another look in the mirror. Baptism is us, choosing to say, “I know there is evil in the world, there is sin in humanity, and I – and even my children – are part of that.” We almost take it for granted, but simply acknowledging that evil, that sin, is a monumental statement of faith. It’s profoundly realistic. And then to say, “God, please turn me away from that,” is just as profoundly optimistic. We call on God to resolve the situation, to make resolution, of what we can’t.

When Jesus arose from the waters – and we’re assuming John was a dunker, not a sprinkler (he was a Baptist, you know) – when Jesus arose from the waters, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”

We don’t expect that for our own baptisms. The preacher would have a heart attack. The situation is different, but the message is the same. Baptism is God saying, “This is my son, my daughter. I am, and I will be, a part of this life, forever.” Baptism is God’s resolution that nothing, not sin, not evil, not even all the dumb, stupid things we might do – not height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation – not even death – can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Nothing. Resolved. Seconded. Adopted. Case closed.

Does that mean the people who haven’t been baptized are pessimistically condemned? Well, if God can love you, knowing everything about you, who are you – who are any of us – to question God’s love for anyone else?

If the church resolved anything in 2006 – and by that I mean not just you and me, but all the church – wouldn’t it be great if all the churches everywhere resolved to be better neighbors to all the people who don’t look like us, or practice faith like us, or live like us? What if the church resolved never again to sing the song, “Jesus Loves Me, But He Can’t Stand You”? Could we for one year be optimistic enough to have faith that God’s love is stronger than human sin?


So. What difference does baptism make? Baptism is a sign, a holy symbol, that we don’t have to wait for salvation and heaven. Scripture teaches us that baptism is a sign that salvation and heaven can tear through the skies and descend like a dove into this so very human world. Baptism is a symbol that God’s love doesn’t wait until we clean up our act, but that when we do resolve that our acts need cleaning up, God is well pleased. God is glad.

God is realistic enough to see that we need to be washed clean of our sin, and to put to death all our problems. And God is optimistic enough to love us. And to keep loving us. God will love us in the new year. And some year, some day, some place yet to come, we will love God as purely, and as completely. And with full assurance, as clear as a bird sings, we will hear God say, “You are my beloved. Welcome home.”