Rev. Tom Sorenson, Pastor
January 9, 2005

Scripture:

Let us pray: May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O God, our strength and our redeemer. Amen.

This morning’s Gospel lesson is Matthew’s version of Jesus’ baptism by John the Baptist. All four Gospels recount how John baptized Jesus. That apparently undeniable historical fact was a problem for the early church. After all, Jesus was the Messiah, right? Shouldn’t he have baptized John, not the other way around? Yet clearly that’s not what happened. Matthew deals with the problem by having John first object to baptizing Jesus and then consenting to do it only after Jesus instructs him to do it with the enigmatic statement that it was right because it is proper to fulfill all righteousness.

I have no idea what that’s supposed to mean, but this morning I’m more interested in something John says in his initial objection to baptizing Jesus. He says: "I need to be baptized by you." Now on one level that’s pretty easy to understand. John is acknowledging Jesus’ priority. He is acknowledging that Jesus is the one we need, not John. He is acknowledging that Jesus is God’s Anointed One, the Christ, and not John himself.

All of that is as it should be; but John’s statement raises another question for me. He doesn’t say that he needs Jesus, and he doesn’t say that he merely desires that Jesus baptize him. He say says he needs to be baptized by Jesus. The question that his statement raises, or rather the one out of the several questions this statement raises that I want to look at this morning is: Do we need baptism? And perhaps as it will come as no surprise to those of you who know me that my answer is: Yes and no.

First the no. There used to be a widespread belief in Christian circles that an unbaptized soul could not get into heaven. That notion is simply false, and only the most rigid fundamentalists cling to it today. God’s grace does not depend on any human act; and, although we certainly believe that the Holy Spirit is present and active in the sacrament of baptism, baptism itself is a human act. It is a rite one human performs for another human. It is pure hubris-sinful human pride-to say that God’s saving grace is conditioned on such a human act. So no, in that sense we don’t need baptism.

But in another sense we do. To understand how we do, we need to understand what baptism really is. In the United Church of Christ, baptism is not about being washed clean from sin, and it is not necessary before God can forgive a person’s sins. Rather, it is the sacrament through which one officially becomes a Christian, a member of the church universal. It is a sacrament of reconciliation, a sacrament of union, or perhaps better of reunion. Our denomination’s Book of Worship puts it this way: "‘Through baptism, Christians are brought into union with Christ, with each other and with the church of every time and place.’" It is the sacrament of Christian identity. In that sacrament, the person makes certain vows; or, if the person is a child, someone makes those vows on the child’s behalf. Those vows are, in essence, a commitment to living a Christian life and to following in the way of Christ.

Today we, or those of us who wish to, are going to renew those baptismal vows. This ritual-it isn’t a sacrament-is a wonderful opportunity for us, an opportunity to re-affirm our commitment to Jesus Christ, to striving, in reliance on God’s grace, to follow in the way of Jesus, and to living in Christian community, in this church or, if not here, then in some other Christian fellowship. I find it a moving experience, and I know that many of you did too when we did it here two years ago. I hope to make it an annual part of our life together.

So, in a few minutes, when I invite you to come forward, I hope that you will. You’ll get a little wet. Baptism, and baptismal renewal, use water, if only a little sprinkle; but I trust that you will find it a meaningful and spiritually renewing experience. Use it as a time to consider what being a Christian means to you. Consider what it means for us to be in Christian community in this place. Consider how you are being called to follow in the way of Jesus.

So, do we need baptism? No, not in the sense of it being a condition on God’s grace. That grace has no conditions attached, not even baptism. Nonetheless, baptism is an important part of the Christian life. It unites us to Christ, to one another, and to the saints of all times and places in an unbroken line back over the millennia to Jesus himself. Today we will renew our commitment to the Christian life, and we pray that God will be with us as we do. Amen.