Isaiah 42:1-9 New International Version (NIV)
1 “Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him, and he will bring justice to the nations. 2 He will not shout or cry out, or raise his voice in the streets. 3 A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out. In faithfulness he will bring forth justice; 4 he will not falter or be discouraged till he establishes justice on earth. In his teaching the islands will put their hope.”
5 This is what God the Lord says—the Creator of the heavens, who stretches them out, who spreads out the earth with all that springs from it, who gives breath to its people, and life to those who walk on it:
6 “I, the Lord, have called you in righteousness; I will take hold of your hand. I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people and a light for the Gentiles, 7 to open eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness.
8 “I am the Lord; that is my name! I will not yield my glory to another or my praise to idols. 9 See, the former things have taken place, and new things I declare; before they spring into being I announce them to you.”
Matthew 3:13-17 New International Version (NIV)
13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. 14 But John tried to deter him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?”
15 Jesus replied, “Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.” Then John consented.
16 As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. 17 And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”
For some reason this week I was thinking back to my high school years and my time in the Future Farmers of America, better known as the FFA. Being a part of the FFA gave you a few benefits, such as being able to drive a tractor to school one day a year, and taking part in the annual barbeque. People didn’t even mind buying our fundraisers, as the FFA was known to sell some of the best fruit in the area.
The first-year members of the FFA are given a title: they are called “greenhands.” I have no idea why they are called greenhands, but I assume it has something to do with getting into agricultural studies for the first time. They were still a bit green. In my school, there was an initiation for all the greenhands. There wasn’t hazing or anything like that. Well, maybe a little hazing, but all in good fun. And participating was entirely optional; you did it by your own choice. Upon entering the FFA, all greenhands were required to put one of their hands into a bowl of water colored with green food coloring. This caused a temporary, but very noticeable stain on the person’s hand.
For the next 24 hours or so, everyone at the school knew something was different about that person. For the upperclassmen who had been around a year or two, they recognized the greenhanded person to be a new member of the FFA. They had seen this before, so they instantly connected a person with a green hand as a new member of the FFA. The freshmen among us didn’t know what to make of these kids walking around with a strange skin disorder. So they asked questions. They asked each other what was going on. And when their fellow freshmen didn’t know, they would go to the person sporting the green hand and ask them. This offered an opportunity to share with others the right of passage and initiation into the FFA.
I was never very active in the FFA. My experiences ended with the local chapter, which was my high school. But there were additional levels, districts, state and national conventions. One’s experience with FFA could take them to places, such as Kansas City, Missouri and Louisville, Kentucky.
I thought of the FFA this week when I read our New Testament text for this morning. This is the story of the baptism of Jesus. I think of baptism as an initiation, kind of like the initiation a greenhand might experience when entering the FFA. Baptism isn’t meant to be hazing, but it is meant to be voluntary. It is also meant to be visible, an act done so others can see. And it brings us into a part of a larger body.
What I would like to do today is look at how our Anabaptist ancestors understood baptism as voluntary, what it means to be visible, and the community into which we are baptized, a community that proclaims and affirms our beloved nature.
Voluntary. This is one of the major differences between our Anabaptist ancestors and the established church of the 16th century. The state church of nations like Germany and Switzerland, where the Anabaptist tradition began, required that every baby born be baptized and registered. There are a number of theories about why this was required, but many claim that registering a child with the state was linked to taxing the child when they grew older. But the Anabaptists claimed that one needed to make the decision for their self to be baptized; it must be a voluntary decision. Baptism was to be a decision made by the person being baptized, not by the state mandating it, nor could it be the church or the parents’ decision.
There are stories in the history of Christianity where leaders marched their troops through rivers as a baptism, thinking this made them Christians and therefore prepared to battle in the name of God. Others have forced their enemies to undergo baptism or be executed. I don’t think this is what baptism is meant to be. We must choose baptism.
Visible. The early Anabaptists often performed their baptisms indoor, in part because it soon became illegal to be baptized again. But it was never done alone. I’ve done baptisms in a number of situations. I have baptized people right here in the church by having them kneel as we pour a few tablespoons of water over their heads. I’ve baptized people in outdoor services at lakes and ponds. Some churches have intricate baptismal founts and pools. I remember going to a large church once where the floor of the stage opened up like the gym floor in “It’s a Wonderful Life,” exposing a baptismal pool underneath.
Which way is right? None of the above! Jesus was baptized in a river, so we should be, too! No, we are never given specifics in the Bible for how to baptize. And we don’t know how baptisms were done in the Bible. Was Jesus completely immersed in the waters of the Jordan, or did he have water poured over his head while he kneeled there? We don’t know. And if it was really important, I think the writers of the Bible would have spelled out exactly how to perform this act.
So we in the Mennonite Church don’t sweat over things like whether or not someone needs to be immersed in water or if sprinkling is okay. Some churches require being dunked three times forward, others three times backwards. There may be symbolism in these acts. Matthew 28 says to baptize in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. But I believe that it is just that; it is symbolic.
But if people want to be baptized in a certain way, I’m usually happy to accommodate. We can do baptisms right here, but some of the most memorable experiences I’ve had with baptism involve going to a natural setting like a lake. We’ve done baptisms at Lake Todd and Sherando Lake. And we usually have a church picnic along with those events, which may be one of the reasons I enjoy them so much.
In each of these instances, our worship services are open to the public. Anyone is welcome to wander into our church during a baptismal service, and when we baptize outdoors, people are welcome to wander into our group, sing along, and welcome new members into the church.
This past summer my family spent a weekend at a state park right along a river. As my children were playing in the water, a Latino church group began gathering in a nearby gazebo. It was fun listening to their singing and guitar playing, even though I understood very little of it. Then they brought the service to the river, and began baptizing about a dozen people, right beside our children. I was a little worried Hadley might wander into the group and get baptized by accident, but was a great experience to witness the family of God growing in different cultures and languages. And they let me stand there and sing “sublime gracia” along with the rest of the church.
Baptism is meant to be a visible sign of a decision someone has made voluntarily. And it is a weird thing to do, especially in a public setting. I always feel strange signing and baptizing in public, but it’s okay to feel strange. It is like that greenhand initiation. Those who know what is going on will recognize this as a baptism service, whether they are Christians or not. You see people dunking one another in a river while they are wearing clothes and everyone else sings, you know it is a baptism service. But for those who don’t know what is going on, for those who have not experienced such a service before, this is a chance for them to ask questions and an opportunity for us to share why we do this strange thing.
Finally, I want to say that baptism is about entering something bigger, but also recognizing one’s preexisting status. I mentioned that when I was a member of the FFA, I didn’t do anything outside my own school. But my brother did. He participated in regional events and I believe he went to a state convention. A few of my neighbors were state officers, so they traveled to the state and even national gatherings.
This is a lot like the church, but on a smaller scale. For some people, the church will be their local chapter, the congregation. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this, and for most people throughout history, that’s all they ever knew about the church. But our church is also a part of a conference headquartered in Harrisonburg, and stretches into Washington, DC, Tennessee, Kentucky, North Carolina, and West Virginia. At my last count, we have 67 churches or church plants right now in Virginia Mennonite Conference. Our denomination, Mennonite Church USA, is made up of 17 area conferences. And by being a part of MC USA, we are included in the Mennonite World Conference. Mennonite World Conference, as of last count, included 2.13 million members in 86 countries, with over 1/3 of all Mennonites living in Africa. Around 2/3 of all Mennonites today are in African, Latin American, or Asian countries! And we are only a small portion of the 2.18 billion Christians in the world today.
So while most of us will never have a personal connection with a member of a church in Sudan or Indonesia, know that you are a part of a world-wide organization connected through our shared belief. Baptism is your initiation into this hodge-podge group of men and women, red, brown, yellow, black, and white, speaking every language under the sun. But baptism is more than an initiation into this group. It is also a reminder that you and every other person in the world are a part of a preexisting group. A group of beloved people.
Our scripture for today tells the story of Jesus coming to John for baptism. John questions this because he feels that things should be switched. Jesus should be baptizing John. But after some convincing, John performs Jesus’s baptism. Then all heaven breaks loose! Verses 16-17 say, “As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, ‘This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.’”
Mark puts it slightly different in his gospel. In chapter 1, verses 10-11 we read, “Just as Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: ‘You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.’”
Notice that in Matthew’s version, the voice from haven is making a proclamation for all to hear. “This is my Son…” In Mark’s version, this isn’t as much a proclamation, but an affirmation. Mark’s version isn’t for all the rest to hear, but it is meant for Jesus. “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”
Now, the difficult question: when did Jesus become God’s son? When did God start loving Jesus? And when did God become well please in him?
There is a weird tradition in my wife’s family (just one J). I should also preface this by saying I have the strange ability to be offended by compliments. Like when someone tells me “Nice sermon today, pastor” after church, but doesn’t say that every week. In my mind I ask, “Does that mean that all the others are bad?” In my wife’s family, on your birthday, you get to eat off the red “You are special today!” plate. So my critical side says, “Does that mean that 364 days a year I’m not special?”
I never said it was easy living with me.
I think of the words spoken from heaven during Jesus’s baptism are kind of like this plate. God calls out from heaven and declares Jesus’s role as a beloved child of God. Was Jesus beloved before his baptism? Was he beloved after his baptism? And did he need to be baptized in order to be a beloved child of God?
The beloved nature of Jesus does not begin or end with his baptism, just as I am special on days that are not my birthday. The red plate is simply a way of marking that today is a day to recognize my specialness among my friends and family. And a part of baptism is acknowledging a person’s status as a beloved child of God.
You were beloved before you were baptized; you were beloved after you were baptized. You are beloved if you never have been baptized. You are beloved if you never plan to be baptized. Baptism doesn’t make you beloved, baptism is a celebration of your beloved nature.
And I emphasize the word “nature.” You have done nothing to become beloved, and you can do nothing to get God to stop loving you. As the Psalmist and others write, God knew you before he knit you together in your mother’s womb. Our God who is love, created you out of love, so that you can express God’s love to the world.
Baptism should be voluntary and visible. It is our way of joining the millions of other Christians around the world in proclaiming our beloved nature, and inviting others to recognize that they, too, are beloved.
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