Why do we get baptized? My guess is that many, even most, of us here today have been baptized, as two new young members of our church are about to be. I doubt many of us gave it much thought at the time—especially since we probably had as little to say about the decision to be baptized as these young people did.
We do know that baptism has been one of the central sacramental traditions of the church from its beginning. All of us are familiar with some sturdy conventional interpretations of the meaning of the rite—interpretations that are rooted in scripture.
In Matthew’s gospel, just before today’s reading, John the Baptist refers to the baptism he administers “with water” as being “for repentance” (Mt 3:11). Many of us have learned to associate baptism in that way with cleansing from sin. Paul, in his letter to the Galatians, tells them to consider baptism a kind of initiation rite, in which the newly baptized “clothed [them]selves with Christ” (Gal 3:27).
In the gospel accounts of the baptism of Jesus, though, Jesus gives us another way to think about baptism. Matthew’s account, which we heard today, is particularly instructive. Matthew’s is the only gospel that records a remarkable conversation between Jesus and John the Baptist. I imagine it taking place in a kind of stage whisper. John expresses real surprise: “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” Jesus replies, “Let it be so now.” He adds an assurance that this will be the way for them — for both of them —“to fulfill all righteousness.”
We know, when they had this conversation, that Jesus and John knew of each other — in all of the gospels, John the Baptist gives his followers the promise that “one who is more powerful than I is coming after me” (Mt 3:11). We have reason to believe that Jesus and John knew each other, maybe even quite well. Matthew doesn't tell us this, but Luke — the other gospel that recounts Jesus’ nativity, infancy, and childhood — tells us that their mothers are relatives (Lk 1:36). So John, who sees his baptism as one of repentance, expresses surprise. The roles should be reversed, he insists. Jesus does not need to be cleansed from sin; nor does he need to put on Christ like a garment.
So why does Jesus go to John to be baptized? What are we, the baptized and the about-to-be-baptized, to make of the example of Jesus, as we try to follow it, in this case?
I think it’s important, in trying to understand Jesus’ baptism by John, to remember that this is not just baptism with water, but baptism in a river. To be baptized by John, Jesus steps into the waters of the River Jordan.
Rivers exert a powerful pull on our imagination, still. I started to make a list, off the top of my head, of references to rivers in popular culture. I stopped counting songs after I came up with Bruce Springsteen, Billy Joel, Sarah McLachlan, Joni Mitchell, the Talking Heads. It’s the river of life, the river of dreams; it’s the river we go down to, we’re drawn to; it’s the river we want to be taken to, the river we wish we could skate away on. Anyone who grew up in my generation remembers Michael, rowing that boat ashore on the deep, wide, chilly, cold Jordan River. Fans of the Broadway musical can never forget how Old Man River just keeps rolling along.
A river forms the backbone of what’s arguably the greatest American novel, in which Huck Finn travels along the Mississippi on a journey from immaturity almost all the way to responsible adulthood, and his friend Jim makes his journey from slavery, to freedom, back to slavery, and finally back to freedom for good.
But rivers had, if possible, an even more powerful hold on the imaginations of people who lived at the time of Jesus. When I think, as a history teacher, of all the things rivers meant in the ancient world, two things stand out: A river is a highway, calling people forward on a journey; and a river is a boundary, challenging people with the prospect of what's on the other side, if only they dare to cross.
At the start of the long journey that will take him to Calvary — to the cross and the tomb and the stone rolled away — Jesus steps into the river to be baptized by John, “to fulfill all righteousness.” When he steps out of the river, a voice from heaven calls him “my Son, the Beloved.”
Jesus is calling us to follow his example in baptism. What does this mean for us? In this light, it means to embark on that journey, to cross over that river with him, to break down those boundaries—whether they separate nation from nation, race from race, or class from class.
How are we to do this? This is why the choice of today’s second reading, from the Acts of the Apostles, is so felicitous. The connection is not just that Peter mentions Jesus’ baptism by John the Baptist. Peter also gives us a powerful example of what we, as baptized people, are called to do.
Peter is such a complex, engaging, sympathetic, flawed character in the gospels. He stands for us. Witnessing the Transfiguration, his response is almost comically enthusiastic: “Lord, it is good for us to be here; if you wish, I will make three [tents] here, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah” (Mt 17:4). He fell asleep during the Lord’s dark night of the soul at Gethsemane (Mt 26:38-46). And of course, what we always remember most about Peter is that on that night of Jesus’ arrest and torture by the Romans, he denied that he knew Jesus — three times — just a few hour after insisting, “Even though I must die with you, I will not deny you” (Mt 26:35). And this from the man Jesus said would be the rock (Mt 16:18) on which he would build his church!
But here, in the Acts of the Apostles, we see a different Peter — a transformed Peter. To place today’s reading in context: Peter is on a journey to Cæsarea. He crosses over an unspoken boundary when he preaches the good news to the Gentiles there. “We are witnesses,” Peter says of himself and his fellow disciples. “[We] were chosen by God as witnesses.”
Peter and the other apostles had experienced a different kind of baptism at Pentecost (Acts 2:1-4) — not a baptism by water, but a baptism “with the Holy Spirit and fire” — the one that John had told his followers the one who came after him would bring (Mt 3:11).
Empowered by his baptism by fire, and by the experience of seeing, and eating and drinking with, the risen Lord, Peter — even weak, flawed, self-important Peter —is able to proclaim his startling message. His fear has left him. His testimony about Jesus is simple and clear: “Everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”
As it was for Peter, our baptism is not just a ritual of initiation or absolution. It is a call to us, flawed as we are, to follow Christ, and to be witnesses to his message of salvation. However we fulfill that call to be witnesses, may we have Peter’s ultimate humility in recognizing that it is a journey not of our own choosing but of God’s. May we recognize that in our baptism we are chosen and empowered by God to go on this journey, to break through boundaries beyond our imagining—we are called by Jesus to follow him, and step into the river.
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