Read: Matthew 3:13-17
And when Jesus had been baptized . . . (v. 16 NRSV)
Baptism. As followers of Jesus, we do it in different ways. Some of us dunk; others sprinkle. Some baptize infants while others insist it must be done only to adults. However we understand it, we all agree baptism involves water.
Crazy John the Baptizer was hanging out by the Jordan River, a scrawny excuse of a river that supplied people with much-needed water in an arid place. John the Baptizer, wandering the desert of Judea preaching that people must turn to God, was wearing camel’s-hair clothing and eating locusts and honey. And yet many Jews sought him out to be baptized in the muddy Jordan.
So it was that Jesus sought John out and asked to be baptized. John at first refused. Then, after a word from Jesus, John relented and did as Jesus requested. We know the result. The thin veil between earth and heaven is torn open and Jesus (and John?) sees the Holy Spirit descend on him like a dove and Jesus (and John?) hears a voice from heaven announce that he is God’s Son, the Beloved.
So also in baptisms today. Water signifies that we are part of God’s grand family. And the veil is thrown open and for a moment we see things as they really are—all things uniting in Christ the Beloved Son.
As you pray, ask God to remind you of your baptism, and rest in the knowledge that you are marked as God’s forever.
Steve Bouma-Prediger is the Leonard and Marjorie Mass Professor of Reformed Theology at Hope College in Holland, Michigan. A graduate of Hope College, his Ph.D. is in religious studies from The University of Chicago. His most recent book is Earthkeeping and Character: Exploring a Christian Ecological Virtue Ethic.
When not teaching or writing, he spends as much time as possible canoeing or backpacking in his favorite places in North America or simply hiking among the magnificent trees in southwest Michigan parks.
