The Baptism of Christ

A long long time ago, I saw a movie called 'the order.'  You can tell it was a decent length of time ago, because it was starring Heath Ledger (too soon?)  Anyhow, the plot of 'The Order' was that there was a rogue group of priests who were known as sin-eaters.  And what they would do, is they would wait until someone was about to die, and then they themselves would eat that person's sin, and take it into themselves, leaving that person to die with a clear conscience, while that priest just accumulated vast amounts of sin on himself.  I bring this up, of course, because the film seemed to suggest that the whole point of the Christian faith was to go to Heaven, even if you had to find loopholes and plot holes to get there.  Even for the most mean and covetous sinner, there would be a loophole to get you there somehow.    Now the movie wasn't great, you understand, it was lacking in a few key areas, but that plot is at least semi-notable for dealing with the endgame more than anything else.
And that leads us quite happily to baptism.  It leads us to baptism, and to the modern idea that baptism can consist of just getting the kids done.  They can get baptized, and then they're all good for life.  It's a thing you do, and it functions as sufficient 'fire insurance' to get you out of all sorts of trouble.  Essentially, it functions as hedging your bets, being sure that you can get away with something if you need to.

But if the entire benefit of baptism is going to heaven, which is certainly part of it, the question comes up, does it offer any other benefits?  Martin Luther certainly thought so.  if you wouldn't mind dusting off your catechism from the seven inches of dust that it's lying under, and turn to the section in the small catechism on holy baptism, you will see this:
  'Baptism works forgiveness of sins, rescues from death and the devil, and gives eternal salvation to all who believe this, as the words and promises of God declare.'

Okay, fantastic, and Luther goes on, stating 'the Old Adam in us should by daily contrition and repentance be drowned and die with all sinsand evil desires, and that a new man should daily emerge and arise to live before God in richteousness and purity forever.'

So this movement of baptism isn't just a terminus movement.  It isn't something that gets you to heaven only, though that is part of it.  Rather, it is a matter of equipping you for life as well as for death.

The book 'Jesus Mean and Wild' talked about this in one of its chapters.  The chapter in question dealt with not just the baptism of Christ, but also what happened immediately after.  For Christ our Lord stood at his baptism, the heavens were opened, and the Spirit of God descended on him like a dove, and a voice from heaven said 'This is my son, in whom I am well pleased.'  It's a great moment, to be sure, a great moment where you see the entirety of the trinity together, and you see them all , arrayed and bedecked before you, like we're living in a stained glass window.  But what happens after Christ has been baptized?  What's the next step?

The Gospels tell us.  And this is one of those situations in which all the Gospels agree.  From Matthew: 'Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.'  From Mark: 'The Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness.'  From Luke: 'And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned fro the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness for forty days, being tempted by the devil.' The only Gospel that doesn't talk about that immediate transition is John's Gospel, obviously, and that Gospel is the one where John is recounting the events of the baptism to us.

Of all those Gospels, I like Mark's the best, because Mark's Gospel carries with it a sense of immediacy, carries with it the idea that as soon as Christ was baptized in the Jordan, he went to work to do battle with the devil.  Right after his baptism, right after he went down into that sweet water, then he went out to be tempted, harangued, and beset by Satan.  So, for Jesus, we know that his need for baptism didn't cover his sin, because he didn't have any.  He was conceived without sin, born without sin, and lived without sin as well.  He was just fine, and didn't need that forgiveness of sins.  But did he get the other benefits of baptism?  Sure he did.  He was equiped to do battle with the devil through his baptism.  It was the start of his ministry, the beginning of what he would do in the world, and it was the start of his war with the devil, who would assail him either directly or indirectly for the duration of his ministry.

Your baptism functions in the same way, you know.  Your baptism functions in the same way, giving you a passport to heaven, clearly, but more than that.  Just as Christ was equipped to do war with Satan through his baptism, so you are too.  Your baptism equips you to, as Mark's Gospel says, immediately go out into the wilderness to be tempted, and to overcome.

Your baptism is the means through which your Old Adam is drowned, and the new man emerges.  Paul describes it in our Epistle reading from Sunday as being dead to sin, and alive to Christ.  It describes us as being dead from sin, no longer subject to its whims, no longer responding to it, no longer being moved in any real direction on it, being pulled by it into doing what it wants you to do.  The idea is to resist the devil, and he will flee from you.  To be dead to sin, and alive to Christ. And that happens in your baptism.  And it's not a one-time thing, though you do only need to be baptized once. Rather, like a vaccine, you get it one time, but it continues to work throughout your life, daily protecting you, daily strenghtening you, daily equipping you for the war that you have to engage in with the devil and the powers and dominions of this world.
People forget this.  And they forget their baptisms.  They forget what it was that that they received in their baptism, and thought no more about it.  They never considered that their baptism would be vital and useful to their wandering around in the wilderness, not just for 40 days, but for 80 years.  We're going to be out in this wilderness for a long time, with the devil assailing us at every opportunity.  We will be pursued by that prowling lion, who seeks whom he may devour.  We will be plagued by the monsters from our nightmares who seek our failure and destruction.  And what do we rest on?

We rest on our baptism.  We rest on our baptism and the moment where that Old Adam was drowned and put to death.  We rest on that moment where Christ reached into human history, and bound us to him through the same waters of baptism that he and we both descended into.  That's the hope and stay in the wiles of our lives.  That's what we are dependent on, and relying on.  We are counting on that to drown the Old Adam, to destroy him so that he might be dead to sin.  No longer tempted, no longer pulled and pursued, no longer interested in what may be before him, but altogether dead to sin.  And we also place our hopes in being fully alive in Christ, the author and perfecter of our faith, who provided us with that exchange in the waters of baptism, where our sin was washed off of us, and was taken upon him.  Like the sin eaters from 'The Order,' he took our sin on himself, taking it all away so that we could stand before God blameless and secure in our salvation through his merits.

It's funny, that the plot of 'The Order' was less interesting than the plot of the Holy Bible.  The plot that details not an order of rogue priests running around eating sin and taking it on themselves, but the descent of God our Lord in human form, living and dwelling in his creation.  The story of the word of God made flesh, the story of the magnificent force of creation becoming part of creation, and at the moment of baptism, you leave your sins in the water and he takes them away, drowning your fiercest enemy, and restoring you to grace.

It's a good story.  But don't take my word for it.

The book is better.