Someone once suggested that when adults are baptized, part of the ritual should be to have them read the newspaper. Then, after they have read all the news about the way the world is, they should be asked the question that is found in the baptism ritual: “Do you reject Satan, and all his works, and all his empty promises?” In that way, they would understand clearly, after reading the news, just what they were being asked to renounce as they become Christians through Baptism.
That’s not a bad idea. When you read the newspaper, you quickly begin to realize just who’s in charge. The newspapers describe a world ruled by sin. The stories are usually discouraging: crime, war, hunger, deceit, injustice and more. And newspapers have the tendency to capitalize on bad news. They know that conflict sells. Almost every story is framed in the context of some kind of conflict. Candidates for public office “battle it out”; businesses “struggle”; athletic events are often described as being in conflict with each other: one team “falls”; another is “smashed”; two teams “clash”. The very wording of headlines grabs our attention.
So, when an adult or someone of reason is ready to be baptized, they should be asked, “Is this the world you want to accept? Can you see through it? Can you see through the bad and to the good? Can you see what options you are being given?” In other words, do you want to be embrace the Kingdom of God or the kingdom of this world?
When the people came to John at the Jordan River to be baptized, they too, were being given choices. But to them, the choice was obvious. “Do you want to live as you are currently living: hopeless? fearful? downtrodden by your sins?” or do you want to be cleansed of all these negative realities and enter a new life?” You can imagine that many people in the first century who came to John for baptism figured they had nothing to lose. Any hope for something better was worth getting into the river. And as they were immersed into the river, they were confessing their sins. It was a symbolic washing whereby the baptized person would set aside a sinful past to be prepared for the new message that God would deliver through Jesus: a message of hope, joy, love, forgiveness and more. Who wouldn’t want that?
Then, Jesus comes to the river as well. Why? Did Jesus need a message of hope? Did he need to be told to reject sin and believe in God? Did he have sins to confess? No. But Jesus comes to embrace the entire human experience. He wanted to identify himself with the spiritual journey of so many others. He wanted the people to see that he was rejecting the way of the world and would announce a new way that would free people from the oppressive world in which they lived. And as he is being baptized, the sky opens and a spirit descends on him in the form of a dove and the voice of God is heard saying, “This is my beloved Son.”
Immediately, it becomes clear that this is what baptism does for us. The sky opens to reveal something new and wonderful. The spirit takes hold within us and God says, “You are my beloved Son; you are my beloved daughter.” Through baptism we find that we are offered a choice. We can either accept the world with its empty promises or we can accept the one who truly makes good on his promises for a new world dominated by love, mercy, forgiveness and peace.
But we need to know that baptism for a child or adult is not a magical potion for happiness. We must cooperate with the promise that is given to us in baptism. We must be willing to choose, time and time again, what is being given to us as followers of Christ. There is tension in doing this because, as promising as the Kingdom of God looks to us, we are still tempted and drawn to what the world promises us more immediately. So, even with our Baptism, we can straddle the fence and make unhealthy choices.
The movie, The Godfather, powerfully demonstrates how this choice is operative. There we see Michael Corleone at the baptism of his nephew. As he answers the questions posed by the priest, we see another reality at work simultaneously. He is asked, Do you reject Satan? “I do” he says and the camera flashes to someone being mowed down by a machine gun. “Do you believe in God” he is asked? As he says, “Yes” we see one of his rivals being assassinated in his office. As the child is being baptized “in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit” we see another of his rivals being shot through the revolving door of a building. It’s an amazing scene which shows how, even at a sacred moment like Baptism, one can still be choosing the way of the world with its tempting promises of happiness, wealth, power and more. Michael Corleone chooses allegiance to the sinful world even as he makes promises on behalf of his nephew to remain faithful to the Kingdom of God.
By our baptism we were given a choice between the world of sin and the world of grace. This doesn’t mean that all who are baptized should never sin! No, we are still sinners, but through baptism we are given the power to choose over and over again. We choose life; or we choose death. We choose mercy or we choose judgment. The choice is ours.
And what affect does Baptism have on us? How does it actually help us live the choice we make? In a sense, Baptism helps us see through the world as it is so that we have a more accurate picture of what God is promising. Again, we might use the example of reading the newspaper. When I read the newspaper, for instance, it’s very easy for me to become frustrated, saddened and to have a sense of hopelessness about the world. I imagine this is how people without any faith might read the news every day. Either that or one just cancels his or her subscription and never looks at the newspaper. But, with faith and with the blessing of my baptism, I know I can read the news with the eyes of a believer. I can read about the terrible things that are happening and still have hope in what God has promised. Someone once said that people of faith should read the newspaper in one hand and a bible in the other.
So, if I read about tsunamis, earthquakes, draught, or other natural disasters causing suffering and destruction, I know that God does not abandon his children. If I read about political stalemate in Washington, I also understand that there are some good public servants who have our best interests at heart. If I read about priests abusing children, I also understand that the Church has good priests and holy people who are doing the work of God in the world. If I read about war and the loss of lives, I also understand that God’s peace will eventually triumph.
So, as a baptized person, we are given the power and insight to read through the world to see that God is present. We don’t have to lose hope. We can know that the Kingdom of God is more powerful than the kingdom of this world. Most importantly, we can be assured that, whatever comes, we will always be God’s beloved sons and daughters.