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THE EIGHTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

Let Them Come

Mark 10:2-16

I’d like to talk about baptism today and, because it is our practice, I would like to talk especially about infant baptism.

Let’s start with some basics: First, Holy Baptism is one of two sacraments we celebrate in the Lutheran church.  What is a sacrament?  Martin Luther critiqued the practice of seven sacraments (used at the time and still used by the Roman Catholic church) by saying that there are three things that are required for a sacrament – that it has a physical component, that it has a spoken component, and that it is commanded by Christ.
In the section on baptism in the Small Catechism, Luther says, “Baptism is not water only, but it is water used together with God’s Word and by God’s command.”

Water, then, is the physical component of baptism.  The word and command of Jesus for baptism comes at the end of the gospel of Matthew – “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.”

Why do we need both a spoken and a physical element?  Why aren’t the words enough?  It is God’s Word, after all, and God can do anything simply by saying the word.  God created order out of chaos; God created something out of nothing simply by speaking.  Why do we need water, along with God’s Word, for baptism?

Let me ask you – when you express love to those closest to you, are words enough?  When you say, “I love you,” that may indeed be enough for you and may very well be appreciated by those who hear them.  But how much more are those words appreciated and understood if there is a concrete action that accompanies them?  It may be a touch or a hug; it may be a gift or a token; it may be a shared activity or simply your undivided attention.  All of these communicate more forcefully that you love them.  And, as concrete as they are, those things need your words as well, so that your intention is clear and undeniable.

So, God uses both a spoken word and a concrete action in baptism.  And this, too, is in concert with the way God comes to us in Jesus.  At the beginning of John’s gospel, we read, “And the Word became flesh and lived among us.”  Just as we celebrate God’s love made real in Jesus at Christmas, so every baptism we celebrate God’s love made real for this child or this adult.  Every baptism, you could say, is Christmas – the Word becomes flesh.

Why do we baptize?  What does baptism do?  Again, in the Small Catechism, Luther says, “In baptism, God forgives sin, delivers from death and the devil and gives everlasting salvation to all who believe what he has promised.”  Because baptism, using the words that Jesus has given us, the words “in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,” we receive the benefits of what God has done for us in Jesus.  And that benefit is forgiveness.  Forgiveness is our defense against – sin, death and the devil – everything that might lead us away from God and will bring us in the end to God.

This does not mean that baptism is a free pass to heaven or a flu shot against sin.   It is far more than a vaccination.  It is an initiation.  In baptism we are initiated into the life of following Jesus.  As I quoted from the Small Catechism last week, “Baptism means that our sinful self, with all its evil deeds and desires, should be drowned through daily repentance and that day after day a new self should arise to live with God in righteousness and purity forever.”

Baptism is a life of leaving behind what keeps us away from God and remembering each day that nothing keeps God away from us.  It is a life of starting each day in God’s love, each day in God’s grace, each day in God’s forgiveness, so that then we are free to serve our neighbor.  Every day in baptism is a dying and rising.  So, every baptism, you could say, is a celebration of Good Friday and Easter Sunday.

Why do we baptize infants?  Luther doesn’t say anything about this in the Small Catechism.  Of course, in Luther’s time, all babies were baptized.  In the wake of the Reformation, there were those who rejected infant baptism and began to practice what might be called, “believer’s baptism,” stressing the importance of a personal confession of faith prior to baptism. 

In the New Testament, there is no command to baptize infants, nor is there a prohibition against it.  There are stories about adults being baptized and there are stories about entire households being baptized, which, we assume, included children.  The evidence for infant baptism in the early church is scant.  It’s likely that, as more families became Christian and infant mortality rate was high, families wanted their babies baptized to insure their salvation.

That is no longer a problem.  But we still have the testimony of Jesus.  The 10th chapter of Mark is just one of several places where Jesus opens his arms to children.  In the discussion about divorce, children are forgotten.  It’s not just the disciples who want to shove children aside.  It is the culture.  But when the disciples do it, Jesus reprimands them.  “Don’t ever send children away from me.  Instead, bring them to me, because they are at the center of the kingdom of God.  Mark this: unless you accept God’s rule in your life with the simplicity and vulnerability of a child, you’ll never enter God’s kingdom.”

So, we baptize infants, not only for their sake, but for ours.  By doing so, we follow the command of Christ to bring children into his presence.  Even more, we witness the act of God on behalf of one who has no claim on God.  Believer’s baptism has its own strengths and makes its own witness.  There the individual’s own faith and testimony is more apparent.  But in infant baptism, the central character is clearly God.  Baptism is God’s action for us and for this child.  Paul says in Romans, “God’s love is most clearly shown in this: that, while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” 

So, if baptism is also a proclamation of the mighty acts of God for this child and for us and for the whole world, then it is also a celebration of Pentecost, when, by the gift of the Holy Spirit, the church proclaims the mighty acts of God.

In truth, children who are baptized will still make poor decisions, but that does not change the decision of God.  Children who are baptized are still likely to wander off, but God does not wander off.  God is still present.  And if it could be true for this child, could it not also be true for us, who make poor decisions now and again, who wander off from time to time, and who have not done anything to earn God’s love?  Because, if we earned it, would it really be love?

So, when we baptize, it is for them and it is for us.  It is water and word together, done because of Christ’s command to make disciples.  It is Christmas; it is Good Friday; it is Easter; it is Pentecost.  It is the whole story of God’s love for us.