Luke 3:15-17, 21-22
"Baptism" - Year C
Ah, baptism, held so dear by the church as a branding of the soul! Baptism, a sacrament of privilege and power, a sign of belonging to the in-group.
Truth be told you can pour all the water in the world or immerse to the depths of the ocean, but without belovedness awakened there is nothing but baptism’s shell.
The most beautiful of liturgy and prayer might be sung by angels or chanted by saints, but without belovedness awakened there is no baptism.
If I have the most blessed baptism, but have not belovedness . . . .
To go into all the world, baptizing, is to announce and awaken belovedness. Baptize when requested, but always, always, announce and awaken belovedness. This is an appropriate response to people’s expectation of something better in the midst of another fine mess we’ve gotten ourselves into.
http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2013/01/luke-315-17-21-22.html
The presence of the Holy Spirit is first reported in Jesus' life by Matthew and Mark in relationship to the act of baptism. Immediately as he surfaces the spirit meets him. Here in Luke the spirit is evidenced is in relationship to prayer after baptism.
In Matthew and Luke we then head immediately off to the wilderness for temptations. In Luke there is a brief interlude of genealogy as grounding before heading into a time of temptation.
John, is different, with no scene of baptism, only John's witness that Jesus would baptize with the Holy Spirit beyond John's water baptism. There is no temptation scene - Jesus/Word/Christ precedes and takes precedence over any devil or satan without having to prove it through a trial.
And we think we know what is up with all this. Read more about the United Methodist understanding of baptism.
So is your experience of baptism and prayer and temptation more Matthean, Markan or Lucan? or Johanine? or some other expression of good news?
Does your experience reflect your religious traditions? Does your experience yield new insights to old pictures? What difference does your baptism make in your faith, in your life?
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Wesley (Blogger)
To carry the baptismal image a bit further - If you have not already read it, I recommend We Were Baptized Too: Claiming God's Grace for Lebians and Gays by Marilyn Bennett Alexander and James Preston.
You can read an excerpt from the book there as well as hear a couple of reviews by readers.
How does this expand your picture of the power of baptism and have that act pull us into new relationships with one another?
http://www.kairoscomotion.org/lectionary/2004/january2004.html
Do you think Luke had a reason for adding the section that today's text deletes? It really is an awkward scene in its current location.
Why talk about John's imprisonment before the baptism of Jesus. It is as if John did not baptize Jesus. John talks about another to come, is arrested, then Jesus is baptized after everyone else.
Is it that into every life a little rain must fall? Is this precursor to Jesus' own arrest and death?
What would it mean for Jesus to have been baptized by one of John's followers, and not John himself? Would it have gotten in the way of his praying, his hearing an affirming voice, or being led into the wilderness? Just how crucial is John to the story? Just how important are any of our rituals? Can we handle meaning without a person or and event embodying it? Can we keep meaning from being trapped in such specifics and free to add to life in a number of ways?
If Jesus were baptized by a lesser light than John, would his light thus be dimmed?
How do you wrestle with baptism as a significant point of solidarity with GOD and neighbor and as a point of meaning that could be otherwise named and enacted?
http://www.kairoscomotion.org/lectionary/2004/january2004.html
Paper covers rock. Rock breaks scissors. Scissors cuts paper.
Fire evaporates water. Turns it to spirit?
Fire clears the chaff. This includes everything not repented of. This includes a desire to repent more than has been repented so far - to keep peeling back the onion of repentance, layer by layer. Eventually getting to the question of what is left when there is no more repenting to do or what new clarity is released when we stop using repentance as a key model for life.
In some sense the baptism(s) of spirit and fire are part of a good-cop/bad-cop routine.
One way of trying to clear ourselves of mechanizing baptism and sub-dividing it into component parts is to look at our involvement in the process. It is recorded here that baptisms were completed and praying was still going on. It is this praying part that may move us from baptismal technique to its potential reorientation of life.
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Let us pray.
http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2007_01_01_archive.html
So often we look at Scripture through the lens of individual heroes. Today look at the People as a collective hero. Revelations come not just through John about what it is not, but also through the People about their state of being.
Behold, more people than expected, including Jesus, came out to Brother John. This is not just a draw from John, but a push from their expectations, their hope, their need, their desire, their wonder.
In some sense it is the expectancy of the people at work here and John is but one of their focal points as they search out evidence for their hope still dwelling below the surface.
The missing verses show us Wilderness John imprisoned. The people have been imprisoned. The people ask, "Are you the one we expect?" Later John will ask that same question, "Are you the one we expect?"
Even today the question is being asked of you and me, "Are you the expected one?" Well, it is time to respond. Are you the best shoe tier where you are - recognizing who needs your support and giving them more time, energy, and resources than is practical? Claim it and support. Are you the best one around to lead those with the same passion as yourself? Claim it and lead.
Who you are not is important, but it leads to other questions about how you will live, not how you won't live. Remember it is important to be among people with expectations, that's where Jesus surfaces from in this telling. In the midst of simply doing what expectant people do, Jesus receives his recognition about himself and off he will set. In the midst of simply doing what expectant people do, may you receive your next vocational recognition.
http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2010_01_01_archive.html