“The Mystery of the Bogus Baptism”

Jim Malcom 21/02/2021

Readings - Isaiah 43:1-7;  Luke 3:15-17, 21-22; Acts 8:14-1, Genesis 9:8-17; Mark 1:9-15:1, Peter 3:18-22

In January 1995,26 years ago, I had the privilege of taking a service here and although the set readings were different from those set for today the theme was exactly the same, the baptism of Jesus. My wife will tell you I do not have the best memory, but I did remember the title of my sermon on that day – The Mystery of the Bogus Baptism.

Remarkably, I was able to dig out the text of my sermon and, when I read it I thought I might rehash it today. However, I’m asking for your co-operation. Like with all good mystery stories, it is important that you don’t give away the ending. So, if, unlike me, you can remember that sermon don’t give away the punchline. OK?

Today’s gospel reading recalls a day on the bank of the Jordan River where John was dragging the people in and baptising them. Jesus came up and asked John to baptise him.

It’s interesting, isn’t it? The gospels are about Jesus and his ministry, not John. But they don’t dismiss John as deluded or on the wrong track. They don’t suggest he was inadequate, just that he was a precursor, a preparer. The announcer introducing the main act.

And what an intro it was, with doves, voices from heaven – the whole bit! It obviously made an impression on the disciples – each of the gospels has the account and they are remarkably consistent.

And each of them mentions the ministry of John the Baptist, but there’s where I came across a problem. John’s message was “Turn away from your sins and be baptised, and God will forgive your sins.” The letter to the Hebrews tells us that Jesus was “tempted in all points like we are, but without sin”, so Jesus didn‘t have anything to turn away from. For him it can’t have been a real “repent and be baptised” baptism, so why did he do it? That’s why I’ve titled this talk “The Mystery of the Bogus Baptism”.

Now let’s go on a search for clues and see what we come up with. The first place I looked was among your good selves. [Here I must explain that this happened 26 years ago and I didn’t record the names of the people I asked, so you’re all off the hook.] I asked a couple of people “Why did Jesus have to be baptised?” and I got a couple of interesting answers.

The first idea was that Jesus was baptised as an example. An example to us to show how important baptism is. I’m afraid I felt less than satisfied with that answer for three reasons.

For a start it sounds a bit like suggesting that God can’t do anything with you unless you’re baptised. While I certainly believe that God can be found in symbolic acts like baptism, I don’t believe that God is constrained by those man-made symbolic acts. God is God of the baptised and the unbaptised and uses both. The gospels and the Acts are full of learning and relearning not to put limits on what God can do through committed people.

Secondly, I’m really uncomfortable with the idea of Jesus going through a bogus baptism, sort of acting out a lie, just to give us a good example! There has to be a better reason.

Thirdly, from the accounts of John’s ministry he seems to have turned the spotlight on baptism. Jesus did take up the idea, but with some interesting limits. Remember the time when he sent out the twelve apostles as itinerant preachers? Here’s their job description according to Matthew – “Go and preach ‘The Kingdom of heaven is near!’ Heal the sick, bring the dead back to life, heal those who suffer from dreadful skin diseases, and drive out demons.” – quite a list, but no mention of baptism.

And again, when he sent out the seventy-two Luke tells us they were to “heal the sick in that town and say to the people there “The kingdom of God has come near you.” Again, no mention of baptism.

If baptism was so important that Jesus would go through a bogus baptism just to show us, why didn’t he get his disciples to baptise when he sent them out on these preaching expeditions? Following John’s ministry, they would have expected it, but no. It was OK for them to bring the dead back to life, but not to baptise?

No, it seems clear to me that whatever Jesus was on about when he had himself baptised it was much more important that just to say, “Come on in, the water’s fine!” And, since he clearly didn’t need to repent, there has to be a very good reason for him to be baptised – unless it was all a charade.

The second suggestion that was offered to me related to the state of the water. The river Jordan was not a clear fresh mountain stream, it was grotty and muddy. Way back in old testament times Naaman wasn’t too keen to wash in it – he said the rivers back home in Damascus were much nicer. And between then and Jesus day it would have got worse – more erosion, more mud, more manure.

The suggestion was that Jesus, in being baptised, wanted to show not how important baptism was but how fully he was immersing himself in the grot of life. He was prepared to be alongside us in the hard and unpleasant places, He wasn’t just there for the sunny sermons on the slopes of Sinai.

That idea has a bit more going for it. When you think of it, Jesus started life in a cattle stall. It would have been a grotty place. Not just the animal smells, but Mary and Joseph dirty and sweaty from their journey, with nowhere to wash but the cattle’s water trough. And into all that comes God’s son. And what about the other end of Jesus life? The death of a criminal on a rubbish heap outside the city gates.

You can see where this is leading, can’t you? It’s all a bit too much. With a start and finish like that a brief dip in a mud hole would be consistent, but it’s not really necessary – in fact it’s rather mild by comparison! So that suggestion’s a ‘no’ too.

It’s just as well that I can’t remember who offered those suggestions! At about this point I realised that not only had my faith journey moved on in the last 25 years, but my sermons had become shorter, so let me cut to the chase. While I was preparing this, Sandy said to me “Not the parable of the Drum, again!” and that’s why we had the parable of the Spaceship, but the principle is similar – if you think you’ve got God sorted, think again. Change your way of thinking. God is multi-dimensional. Look for the unexpected.

At Jesus baptism the dove wasn’t just decoration. Listen again “he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him”. Of course, there’s the usual story-teller’s hype there, but the symbolism is clear. The spirit of God was in Jesus.

This wasn’t John the baptizer’s normal ‘repent and be baptised’ – with Jesus it is transformed. Now it is a symbol of something completely different. The indwelling Spirit of God.

And from the Acts reading we see that this indwelling Spirit was a sign of the new Christians. For the writer of the Acts baptism was not enough; the new converts needed to “receive the Holy Spirit”.

Of course, I have a problem with that mechanistic interpretation. “You must do this so that God can do that”. It’s the same problem I have with the Pharisees who took issue with Jesus when he said, “Your sins are forgiven.” He wasn’t performing the act of forgiveness; he was proclaiming the good news. “I’ve got good news for you. God is a loving and forgiving God, like the father in the parable of the prodigal son. You are forgiven because that’s what God is like!”

In the same way, for me the image of the Spirit descending on Jesus at his baptism was a symbol of the presence of God’s Spirit in Jesus. But more than that, it’s a further affirmation of the message of Christmas – Emmanuel, God is with us, around us and within us. A man called Francis Schaeffer wrote a book called “The God Who is There”. I think he got it wrong. Our God is the God Who is Here!

It’s not a case of first repent, then be baptised, then receive the Spirit. The Spirit of the living God is within us, waiting for us to connect. The church has taken the ancient rite of baptism and made it a rite of passage, a condition of entry to membership.

But Jesus own baptism puts God’s Spirit centre-stage. Baptism is no longer a requirement, it’s a response to the gift of the indwelling spirit of God. An acknowledgement that we know all too well how we fail to deserve that gift. But that isn’t something that happens once in your life. It’s a new way of living each day aware of our limitations and in gratitude for the gift of God’s presence.

The Dream

A story by Jim Malcolm

I had a dream; and in my dream a man said to me, “Come, let me show you God”, and he drew from his pocket a small box. He opened the box, and inside was a beautiful gem – an amethyst.

I looked in wonder at its beauty until a woman said to me “That man is a fool, God is not in his box. Come, I will show you God.” She drew from her pocket a small box and opened it. Inside was a beautiful gem – a sapphire – quite different from the first, but equally beautiful.

I looked in wonder at its beauty until a voice said, “Look about you!”

I looked and saw many people, each with a little box, arguing about which box contained the God of the Universe.

These people were gathered in the centre of a large circular room. Around the walls of the room were many portholes, for I now saw we were in a kind of spaceship.

At some of the portholes people were looking out, sometimes singly, sometimes in groups. The voice that had called me came from one of these groups. “Come,” the voice called, “Come and use your porthole.”

“What’s it for?” I asked, “What will I see?”

“Each of us has a porthole.” the voice replied. “Through your porthole you can see God.”

So, I looked out of my porthole and I saw a wonderful, awesome view of the God of the universe. And the porthole seemed to help me understand what I was seeing. There was great beauty, surpassing the gems, and it was a living beauty.

The voice spoke again. “Come and see the view from this porthole.” And I did, and the view was equally wonderful, but very different.

I was perplexed. “Which view is God?” I asked. “Why, all of them!” came the answer. “We are surrounded by the infinite God. Each of us has only one porthole, so we can only see a little. That is why we gather to share our views and learn more of God.”

I was distracted by the arguments coming from the centre of the room. “If God is all around us,” I asked, “what are the gems in the boxes?”

“Oh, those!” said the voice, “They are rather like photographs taken from one of the portholes. But, like any photograph, they are limited in time and space.”

“But why do those people settle for a gem in a box instead of a view from a porthole?” I asked, “Don’t they have a porthole?”

“Oh, everyone has a porthole,” came the answer, “but not everyone is happy with the idea that God can be different things to different people, so they settle for a gem in a box. It’s safe and simple. Like a photograph it is truth, but it is not the whole truth.”

And with that my dream faded.

December 1995