When I do baptisms for parents of babies to be baptized, they say, I’m going to ask four questions. And so I say, question number one. What is baptism? After all, you’re requesting it. And if they’ve been to R.E. or to Catholic school, one of them will say it’s washing away sin, washing away original sin. So very good.
We get that from Paul’s letter to the Romans. And he Paul says, you know, when you wash up in the morning, you’re washing away dirt. So he looks at that and says, you know, baptism is probably like that is washing away dirt. So it’s going to be a washing away sin. Second question what is baptism? I say, don’t give me the same answer.
And it’s more. And so I give him the hint. What was the first time anyone saw you? Like naked and all wet. In his day they baptized naked. And so the. Well, that was when I was born. Exactly. Paul looks at baptism, says, you know, it must be like a rebirth, a second birth. The first time was into human family.
Second time into God’s family. Very good answer. Then third question. What is baptism? And then they’re looking at me. Now I say, in church we always have these little holy water fonts by the door, because in the ancient world you always had to wash up a bit before you entered. And so it’s the entrance into a building, because you always had a wash in the ancient world.
So Paul looks at that, says, you know, it must be like entering a building. It’s entering the church. And so this is the fourth question. What is baptism? This one really gets some. But again, it’s Paul to the Romans. And he he looked at that and said, you to when they’re plunged into the water and in his day they baptized by submersion, it’s like being put into the grave, and the water represents the dirt going over your head.
But then you come back out. It’s like resurrection. And so he said, baptism is death and resurrection. So what is it? Is it washing away sin? Is it being born into God’s family? Is it entering a building? Entering the church? Is it death and resurrection? It’s all of them. And probably a lot more. And so when we’re celebrating the baptism of Jesus, or, you know, even in his day, they’re saying, why is he being baptized?
Because it is so rich and so wonderful and so deep and so profound. I think our call is to live all this. We enter the church to make the church, you know, our home. We are dead to sin, alive for Christ. We are washed. Sin is washed away. Let’s try to stay sinless. And, it is a new birth.
We’re born again. Every day is a new day. So I think that’s what we celebrate when we celebrate baptism. And when we celebrate the baptism of Jesus.
