Contemplating Baptism

Like most religious practices, the church has long debated and even divided over the sacrament of baptism. I will avoid those debates here and instead consider the meaning of baptism in light of the symbolic use of water in biblical imagery.

In the opening lines of Genesis, the created world emerges out of the chaotic waters. These waters represent disorder and death — a dark chaotic void where life cannot thrive. Only after God creates light and divides the waters is life able to emerge. The Spirit of life that hovered over the waters during creation is breathed into humanity who open their eyes with new awareness of life.

Despite this gift, humanity turns against the Spirit of life and brings widespread corruption to the world. In a dramatic act of purification, the world is baptized in a flood as the chaotic waters once again cover the earth and the divine Spirit is withdrawn the world. Creation is undone. Death, chaos, and disorder return, but out of the water emerges a remnant of life. Humanity is given a new start and a chance to put their prideful violence and selfish corruption behind them. As the chaotic waters subside, the Spirit is again described as hovering over the water ready to bring new life. A repeating theme emerges in the Hebrew Bible as the Israelites pass through water and leave an old way of life behind: the flood, the exodus through the Red Sea, entering into the promised land through the Jordan River, and the various purification rituals that precede entrance into the temple.

As the gospel narratives begin, the writers tell of a man named John who was baptizing people in the Jordan River and telling them to repent (which means to change their mind and turn back). People were still rejecting the Spirit of life, choosing instead exile and disorder. Just as Joshua had led Israel across the Jordan River from the wilderness into the promised land, John was again asking them to turn back from the barren wilderness. John's baptism brought them out of the water and opened their eyes to see the goodness around them and within them. Has was calling them back to their true purpose and identity. When John baptizes Jesus, the Spirit is seen descending like a dove — which recalls the Genesis flood story when the world was baptized in water and a dove marked the beginning of a new era.

Jesus ushers in an era where the Spirit will be poured out on all people - a flood of living water rather than chaotic water. John said that Jesus would baptize with the Spirit and fire. After Jesus' death, people from every nation were gathered together on the day of Pentecost. The author of Acts tells of everyone being filled with the Spirit and speaking with "tongues of fire". In a reversal of the Tower of Babel story in which the people were divided in language and scattered across the earth, now all of the nations are brought together and unified through this baptism.

On the most basic and practical level, ritual cleansing ceremonies like baptism were simply a bath used to clean someone before performing a sacred task. On a deeper level, however, they also symbolize inner purity and holiness. Literally and figuratively, water washed away impurities in order for one to present themselves to God in their most authentic and pure state. As baptism developed into a sacrament, it came to represent a permanent transition into a new life — a life free from the baggage of the old. Baptism represents a chance to wash away an old identity that no longer represents who we really are.

This new life embraces an identity that extends beyond ourselves. It involves dying to the old self-focused way of seeing the world — a way of division, self-preservation, and disregard for others. This false self which cannot see beyond its individual identity is laid to rest in the water, and a new life emerges. Through baptism we are born again to a new way of seeing — a way of mutual self-offering love and common good. Like a newborn baby, our eyes open for the first time to see all humanity united by one divine Spirit. The waters of baptism wash away our facades and false identities to reveal what is true about us. This new identity emerges like a precious metal purified from dross through fire. It's an identity that was always there, even if we couldn't see it. Once blinded and imprisoned by our ego, we are now free to see divine life moving like the wind through every living thing.

With our eyes open and aware of the divine life filling our lungs. perhaps we too can sense the divine words spoken at Jesus' baptism and hear them for ourselves, "You are my beloved child; with you I am well pleased." May we keep our eyes open to see the goodness around us and within us. May we remain fully aware of the divine life flowing through us and connecting us to the world in which we live.