First Sunday After The Epiphany | Baptism of Our Lord
On the Christian Calendar, this particular Sunday is known as the Baptism of Our Lord. It occurs the first Sunday after The Epiphany, which is always on January 6.
Baptism is a faith community event. I personally struggle with “private baptisms” because they deemphasize community. Baptism is a public event because it is initiation into the family of God locally and the family of God universally. Jesus People should always desire to witness someone being baptized.
The baptism scene in the movie, “O Brother, Where Art Thou?”, has a wonderful line that might describe the experience of many. Drawn by the heavenly singing of “Down in the River to Pray” the three main reprobates of the movie – Everett, Delmar, and Pete – wander down to the water and come upon a host of people lining up to wade into the river to be baptized. Delmar and Pete take the plunge, but Everett stays on the river bank. Delmar tries to coax him into the river with this line: “All of my sins have been washed away—come on in, Everett, the water’s just fine!”
The water, in which I was baptized in August 1966, was just fine. I would imagine that the water, in which most were baptized, was just fine too. I hope you can remember it and if, by chance you can’t, whenever you witness a baptism, be reminded that you were baptized at some point in your life and allow that picture of what is happening to become a picture of you being buried with Christ and raised to walk in the newness of life.
Each of the three Synoptic Gospels – Matthew 3:13-17; Mark 1:9-11; and Luke 3:21-22 – reports Jesus being baptized. His baptism is implied in the Fourth Gospel, according to John 1:29-34. He sets an example for His followers. Luke notes that John the Baptizer’s baptism is one of “repentance for the forgiveness of sins” (3:3b). Obviously Jesus has no need to “repent.”
Jesus’ baptism made some Christian writers in the second century AD very uncomfortable. Ignatius of Antioch stated that Jesus was immersed not so that the water would purify him, but so that he might “purify the water.” Justin Martyr explained that Jesus was baptized “solely for the sake of humanity.” In short Jesus is baptized by John to demonstrate His submission to the Father as a Son and to symbolize what would happen at the end of His ministry – death, burial, and resurrection. Baptism, as we practice it, is a perfect picture of those three items – death, burial, and resurrection.
Luke intends for Jesus’ baptism to be a model for the baptism of Jesus’ followers, and so he emphasizes Jesus “praying” (3:21b). None of the other Gospels stresses “praying.” The song is appropriate, then, from that scene in the movie, don’t you think? “As I went down in the river to pray…” Of course it is.
May the baptism of Christ, your own baptism, and the baptism of anybody be a reminder that you are to be a “praying” person. The water of prayer is just fine!
Jimmy
Alison Krauss sings “Down to the River to Pray” (also known by a few other names). It is two minutes fifty-three seconds.
The University of Notre Dame Folk Choir sings a song about baptism titled “You Have Put on Christ.” It is three minutes twenty-eight seconds.
The sermon I’ll be preaching this morning at Garden Lakes Baptist Church in Rome, GA, where I am Senior Pastor, is titled “To Do and Not to Do: The Pastor’s Biblical Task” and is based on various passages in the Pastoral Epistles of 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus. There are two worship offerings: 8:45 a.m. in The Chapel and 11:00 a.m. in The Sanctuary. Also join us for Bible Study at 9:45 am.
