Sunday 11th January 2009

There is a lot going on in our readings today – it is almost as though the whole of Scripture has been condensed into the microcosm that is these 14 verses.  What do I mean by this?  In a sense, John represents the old, the past, the prophetic – continuity and memory and hope within the Jewish tradition; the encountered-Christ is empowered for his ministry and the passage from Acts tells us something of the birth pangs of the infant church, the history of which brings us right up to the present.  Indeed, had we used the suggested OT reading, we would have heard Genesis 1.1 – 5, and been reminded that that the Spirit which hovered over Christ and which empowered the early Christians was the same Spirit which brooded over creation at the beginning of time.  In a sense, the Spirit is the overarching theme which draws together the panorama of our readings and which fills out the challenges of the present.  I read these passages – including the verses from Genesis – and I sense anew the unbroken continuity of the plans and purposes of God which encompasses our present and beyond.  In baptism and profession of faith, Grace acts not so much as a link in a chain, but as another step in a continuing journey.  I hope that we all sense this… her journeying, her sharing, her praying, her hoping will form a part of the as –yet unwritten history of the people of God.  Broad themes indeed manifest themselves in today’s Scripture… and we cannot possibly do justice to all that is said.

I acknowledge a debt to Susan Durber, who has written a bible study on the gospel reading in this month’s issue of ‘Reform’.  She writes, ‘the baptism of Jesus by John is one of the surest things that we know about Jesus’, and this struck me: in the fuzzy, often inarticulate times in which we live, in Christian circles there is still a place for ritual which symbolises and challenges.  We do not observe things as archaic memory – instead we celebrate them in recognition of the fact that it is still possible to speak of commitment in an age which many shy away from commitment, whether in relationships or at work or in  any undertaking which brings good to the wider community.  For me, it is deeply humbling to acknowledge that these things still have power… and, as such, they do continue to enrich, indeed, empower the wider Church.  This is not simply about ritual and law; I suspect that one of the underlying issues in the passage from Acts 19 is the fact that Paul encounters a group of early disciples of John, following his baptism of repentance without perhaps knowing anything of Christ and the gospel. Ritual is in place, but something is missing: Christ’s disciples are not complete without acknowledgement of the work of the Holy Spirit, for this is what enables people to move on as God-inspired, God-empowered, God-led.  Again, this we celebrate today:  though some might disagree with us with good reason, in baptism we are not reiterating our faith in arcane ritual… we are giving testimony to the fact that God has not yet finished with his people, and continues to move still in ways which surprise and affirm and delight.

So – baptism as a central fact in the life of Jesus.  We have then to ponder the fascinating relationship between Jesus and John: an era changes… and nothing this big can happen without there being a degree a tension.  Indeed, we know that in the years which followed, the disciples of John and the disciples of Jesus did not always get on; even the gospels bear witness to a degree of bickering and suspicion, and the premature deaths both of John and Jesus cannot always have helped the situation.  We tend to think of Jesus and John as very different, perhaps because their followers ultimately followed very different paths:  Jesus’ followers were denounced as worldly, whereas John’s were regarded as austere and remote.   Susan, however, reminds us that, ‘Jesus was so like John that some people thought that he was John come back from the dead’.  Whilst the transition of eras was sometimes a bumpy one, as I hinted a few moments ago, there was also unmistakeable continuity – the Spirit broods over all – and Jesus and John were more alike than is sometimes acknowledged.  Susan again: ‘…we think the only way we can… honour Jesus is by emphasising his originality, whereas the biblical writers tend to assume that fulfilment is what gives honour to God… we make John the Baptist someone to whom we can attach the pieces of the Jesus tradition that we find it most difficult to accept; the rigorous holiness, the strong call to repentance, the sense of approaching judgement… But all these things are part of Jesus’ teaching too’.

I welcome these comments and find them highly appropriate for a baptism in the 21st century: the call to a holy way of life continues, deeply unfashionable though this might sound in an age of disposable relationships and at a time when self-indulgence is proclaimed as deserved reward; not everything ‘goes’ – we cannot blur the boundaries to the extent that everything becomes ‘right’, and in the light of this there will be words and thoughts and actions, commissions and omissions which have to be brought before God; baptism does not take place in a vacuum… for against the backdrop of the eternal, there is always the knowledge that the God who starts is also the God who completes, however hazy our understanding of this ‘completion’ might be.  Baptism comforts, yes, but baptism challenges also.

As for Acts 19… well, I don’t wish to rehash old debates on  baptism allegedly bereft of the Spirit and baptism filled out by the Spirit; suffice to say that the New Testament is not always consistent… save in the clear fact that we cannot talk of baptism without acknowledging the necessity of the presence of the Spirit.  When Paul meets young Christians in Corinth, they seem only to know of the baptism of John and ‘have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit’ who appeared at the baptism of Jesus.  Surprising, given the presence of the Spirit as an unbroken thread in the Old Testament, but I will let it pass for now…  When Paul lays his hands on them, this again marks the conferring of the Holy Spirit.

The story from Acts reveals how the gift of the Spirit in the Baptism of Jesus has created a new understanding of baptism for the Christian community.  It is an empowerment to do the work of God.  When John baptised Jesus, it gives baptism a new meaning: it is no longer a preparatory cleansing for the future activity of God.  Now, for Christians, it is the moment which marks their repentance; their turning to God, their shedding the old life and being filled with his Spirit of new life for discipleship and ministry.  It is wonderfully affirming:  we do not have to go it alone, either in the sense of being bereft of divine support or in the sense of standing isolated as a human being.  It is an act of solidarity; it is an expression of hope; it is a manifestation of the presence of God; it is clear evidence that not everything is done and dusted yet… thankfully.