Baptism: Members of One Another

Text: Acts 10:44-48

Welcome, T___. The readings for today align nicely with your baptism.

Today we heard the second of two baptism stories from the book of Acts. The two are similar. Last week a member of the Ethiopian court was baptized. He talked to the disciple Philip about Jesus, and after hearing what Philip had to say, asked him “Look, here is water. What is to prevent me from being baptized?” So Philip baptized him. And today, some folks were listening to Peter, moved, the story says, by the Holy Spirit. Peter this time does the asking: “Can anyone withhold the water for baptizing these people?” And Peter baptized them.

Baptism is particularly, but not uniquely, a Christian rite. It seems to have been invented around the time of Jesus. Maybe it was adopted from existing conversion or cleansing rituals. Maybe not. But from the very beginning of the early church, baptism and Christianity went hand in hand. It is the final instruction of Jesus to his disciples in the Gospel of Matthew: “Go ... and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit”—the words we used with T___ today and which are always used.

Baptism is sometimes imagined to be some kind of miracle consumer product. When I was growing up, Colgate toothpaste came with Gardol, a made-up secret ingredient barrier between your teeth and the world. In ads, Gardol was shown as a big invisible shield; cavity germs could not get through. For some, baptism is like that, a protective layer that keeps sin away. For others, it is more like detergent, washing away all previous sin. The emperor Constantine, who in the fourth century made Christianity politically and socially acceptable, waited to be baptized until just before his death. He wanted to die sinless, so he didn’t want to have time to sin between his holy bath and his presentation before St. Peter at the gates. He wanted to make sure he got in.

Lutherans are adamant about lots of things, but two of the most important are that, one, we are all sinners and, two, that it is not by our own goodness or effort that God favors us. The Gardol can’t keep us from sin. And St. Peter doesn’t care what kind of sin-filled baggage we bring.

When Peter, before he got the job of gatekeeper, baptizes the folks that we heard about in the story in Acts, he hangs around a bit afterward. They were all baptized, it says, and then they invited him to stay for a few days. And I guess he did. Kind of like a long coffee hour.

Baptism is an introduction into a community. It is something done in the community, with God’s presence. Though it is a sacrament, and in our denomination clergy must preside at sacraments, it requires the presence of the assembly. That is, all of you. Both who you represent—you speak for all Christians today—but also you in particular, you as an individual. You just made a promise to support T___ and pray for him. You are on the hook.

That’s why baptisms here are usually on a Sunday. Because that is when the community gathers. That’s why the church frowns on private baptisms. That’s why godparents or sponsors are an important part of the ceremony, since they are usually part of the wider community.

We are members, as the Apostle Paul seems to say, one of another. It is better than being a family. Family ties are complicated and sometimes ornate, and not everyone in a family is good to everyone else. But in the membership in the body of Christ—that is, in the membership of the followers of Jesus—that is, in the membership of one another—we are good to one another, or we are supposed to be.

This is my commandment, we heard once again today, that you love one another as I have loved you. It is no accident that in the season of Easter (and in Holy Week before Easter, too), we are reminded of this commandment over and over. Love one another. Love one another. Love one another as I have loved you. We are members of each other. We are here because this commandment of Jesus, and the person Jesus who commanded us, are important to us.

Our thoughts about Jesus and about this commandment are in us. In all sorts of different ways and in all sorts of different understandings and beliefs and doubts and experiences and resultant actions. But in all the members of the followers of Jesus, those thoughts are in us.

The admission requirements of this association are low. There are no special exams to pass and no special grades to get. Anyone who is called by the spirit can be baptized. In years past the church has spent a lot of time and effort to make sure that people were worthy of baptism. But there is no human being in the church who has the right to say whether we are worthy or not. The Ethiopian court administrator says, “What is there to prevent me from being baptized,” and Philip answers: Nothing at all. Peter asks, “Can anyone withhold the water for baptizing these people,” and he answers himself: No one at all.

This community of which we all members is a practical community. Not just a theological one. In the most simple way possible, we are with one another. We worship together, we eat together, we tell funny stories and we tell sad stories, and we laugh together at the funny ones and comfort those who tell the sad ones. Or try to. We are interested in each other, or try to be. We are compassionate, or try to be.

Someone wrote recently that in hard times people usually come together to support one another. But that instead, in these hard financial times, people have been inclined to isolate and exile one another. By shame them and by blame. But we in the church, the body of Christ, are by the commandment of our teacher not allowed to do that. Our compassion is not supposed to depend on circumstance. We know that people’s lives can be changed in a second. For ill or for good. We are with them no matter what.

Martin Marty, a contemporary Lutheran theologian, warns that we have to beware of thinking of ourselves as agents. By that, he means thinking that we are virtuous, powerful, and wise when we are rarely any of these. But especially it means thinking we are independent of one another. He wrote that one of the reasons we are in a mess at the moment is that we forgot we are members of each other. “We pretended we weren’t,” he said, “and that is where the great immorality lay.”

Lutherans recognize Baptism and Holy Communion as the two sacraments of the church. Both of these sacraments are rites of humility. They are antidotes to hubris. To pride. They are signs of obedience and dependence. In both, we humble ourselves. As we come forward to the altar rail, we admit to the world that we need this spiritual food. When we come to the baptismal font, we admit that we need each other.

So, we assemble today in humility and love for one another. We assemble to welcome T___. We welcome his as a fellow worker with us in the kingdom of God, a child of God, and a member of the body of Christ. Thanks be to God.