Water Baptism

What a day it must have been for John!

I guess in a lot of ways, it probably started like any other day ... John waking in the wilderness, clothing himself in camel’s hair, enjoying a most nutritious breakfast of locusts and wild honey, and then going out to preach ‘hell fire and brimstone’ to the folks. His message is actually a simple one: Repent! The folks had thought that all they needed to be right and good was to have Abraham as their father, they had forgotten what being the people of God and His Kingdom was really all about, they had neglected the radical transformation that a godly heart should have brought into their daily living ... they needed to repent – and in fact, they did! So, then the folks did what you do after you’ve repented ... they were baptized! John dunked them all in that Jordan River ... the water was muddy and murky, but they came up out of it cleansed – their hearts and souls purified by repentance!

Maybe that’s why John was so surprised when Jesus showed up! You see, he knew the Man who stood with him in the water asking to be baptized – he knew Him as the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world ... he knew Him to be the Messiah, the Anointed One of God, even God Himself. And so in this moment, the baptizer recognizes that he shouldn’t be the one baptizing right now ... not when it’s him and the Lord. In effect, he says to Jesus, “What are you doing coming to me to be baptized? I don’t need to baptize You; I need to be baptized by You!”

But Jesus had come to be one of us, He had come to identify with us sinners ... and so even though He had no sin and certainly no need to repent, He wanted John to baptize Him. John did and the heavens opened ... literally. The Holy Spirit descended on Jesus in the form of a dove and the voice of the Father thundered from heaven, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am wonderfully pleased.” Wow! What a day it must have been for John ... an ordinary day becoming extraordinary as he gets to baptize Jesus. And, in fact, what a day it must have been for all those that stood on the banks of the Jordan that day ... to watch it all happen!

Water Baptism ... it is a most momentous occasion, isn’t it? It’s the testimony of a “new name written down in glory!” It’s our declaration of faith! It’s our initiation into the wonderful family of God! It’s the reminder that because of what Jesus did at the cross and because of what He did at the grave, my sins can be forgiven and I can have real life with Him and with His family forever. It’s the perfect picture of what Christianity is all about – the sinful man that dies and is buried under that water ... oh, but then the new creation that rises up out of it. And, I believe, whether we hear it or not, it’s the heavens opening one more time ... and the voice of our Father in heaven declaring to us, “This is my beloved child, in whom I am wonderfully pleased.”

As a pastor, I think my most favorite experiences in ministry have been those moments of standing in waist-high water with a believer who’s repented ... and decided to follow Jesus’ example and be baptized. To hear them tell of what Jesus has done and what He means to them and how they want to live for Him ... to stand beside them and then upon the confession of their faith to baptize them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost ... oh, it’s true – there’s nothing like it ... especially when you get to do all that with your own son! A few Saturdays ago, on a cold and rainy day in Harrison, I walked with my boy, Denny, out into what felt like the near freezing waters of Shingle Lake and there baptized him along with two others from our church family. What a sight we must have been that day – a rain-soaked band of folks huddled under umbrellas cheering on the few that walked out into the lake to be dunked ... anybody watching us, surely thought we had totally and completely ‘lost our minds’! But for us ... oh, it’s a day we’ll never forget! In fact, I’m so proud and even still celebrating the occasion I thought I’d share it with you. Enjoy it!



And oh, by the way, if you haven’t been baptized yet ... what are you waiting for? The next time there’s a water baptism service, you be the first in line – I’m convinced ... Wow! What a day that will be for you!