The Kitchen Sink
An occasional piece of paper
January 9, 2011
Vol. 14 no. 02
Given the temperatures today and the frozen lakes, we are not usually in the mood for baptism, although this 9th day of January has been designated the Baptism of Jesus for quite some time. The Biblical account of John the Baptist’s ministry at the River Jordan offers no clues about the chronology of Jesus’ baptism. No holy brrrs shudder out of the text. Maybe not being distracted by other events we can focus now on what it means to be baptized.
The origins of baptism are obscured, and like a lot of Christian practices they are not invented, but borrowed and refashioned. The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls told of a reclusive Jewish sect known as the Essenes. They abandoned wicked Jerusalem for the wilderness and developed an almost monastic life-style. John the Baptist has been linked with the Essenes, though we will likely never know for sure. Once a year the members of the group engaged in a ritual bath, washing off their sins from the past year. John the Baptist took it a step further, making it a once and for all cleansing of sins as a sign of one’s commitment to God.
Baptism in the early church was no minor event, being regarded as a resurrection: you are lowered into the water as into a grave, then raised up sputtering to New Life just as Jesus was raised up on the Third Day. Heated debates have concerned whether baptism is only for adults or open also to infants. We perform both kinds of baptisms, seldom by immersion though definitely permissible. Our perception is that God is performing the baptism, not ourselves, and an infant surely does not comprehend what is going on. Baptism is just once, but we should keep reaffirming our vows.
Knox-Metropolitan United Church
Regina, Saskatchewan