January 8, 2012

The Seditious Rite of Baptism

Mark 1:4-11

 

A teacher asked the class to name some of the benefits of the age of the automobile. After a long silence, one boy spoke up, “Well, it stopped horse stealing.”

I come from a family of outlaws. I had a great-uncle who killed two people in his life, once in a bar fight, once a trespasser. I had a great-grandfather who spent a few years in prison for killing his son’s attacker. But the one that stands out in my mind is my great-great-grandfather Watson, who left the Appalachians due to unmentioned criminal activity (although the rumor is that he was horse thief), and who settled in the wilderness of West Texas.

            If one is wanted by the law, one migrates to a place where the odds of capture are less likely. I suspect this is one reason why John the Baptizer “appeared in the wilderness,” as Mark writes in the first chapter of his Gospel. I’m not saying John was a horse thief, but he wasn’t exactly an upstanding law-abiding citizen of the Roman Empire and Palestinian territory either! The Gospels refer to him as “John the Baptizer” as if he should be on a Wanted Poster. The “Baptizer” label is added not because he was famous for baptizing folks. It was added because he was infamous for baptizing folks.

Baptizing folks outside of the Temple in Jerusalem was seditious behavior because it was an act of rebellion. Only the priests who manned the Temple had the authority to forgive sins. This was the Temple religion’s gravy train, so to speak, and John was robbing their train. Mark says that “people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him” for baptism. This is probably an exaggeration, but it was true enough to eventually warrant John’s capture and beheading.

I think we too easily forget that the two most important people in the movement that became Christianity were executed—John the Baptist and Jesus of Nazareth—followed in subsequent years by most if not all of the original disciples.

Mark, the writer, found it important enough to tell us what John wore and what he ate: he was clothed with camel’s hair and a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. When you are evading the authorities you will live a very primitive lifestyle. John knew that what he was doing was outside of the law, but Mark presents him as one who seems to have known he was merely kick-starting something much more revolutionary. “The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thongs of his sandals.” In other words, he feels he is not even worthy of washing the feet of the one who is coming. He even differentiates between his practice of baptism with water, which is a symbolic gesture, and baptism with (or in) the Holy Spirit, which is by definition more than just symbolic. The Holy Spirit denotes power and energy and breath. It will give life to this nascent movement out in the wilderness.

One day, as the story goes, Jesus of Nazareth, John’s cousin according to the Gospel tradition, arrives at the Jordan River to be baptized by John. How much did Jesus know about his cousin’s outlaw ministry? How much did he agree with John? Did Jesus know that something special was about to happen or was it a surprise? We don’t know the answer to those questions. But what is portrayed at Jesus’ baptism is something you don’t see every day. The heavens or sky tore apart, like a rent curtain I suppose, and the Spirit descended on him “like a dove.” This is a visual phenomenon, but then comes the audio: A voice from the sky says, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”

Two things are happening here. First, this is God’s endorsement of John’s ministry. Second, and more importantly, this is God’s endorsement of Jesus’ identity. God pronounces what is happening here “good,” just as God pronounced all of creation “good,” according to the writer of Genesis chapter one. In my view, baptism is a ritual re-enactment of the creation story. In Genesis 1 the Spirit of God “swept over the face of the waters.” At Jesus’ baptism, the Spirit descended “like a dove” on Jesus as he is “coming up out of the water.” The implication of the baptism story is that something new is being created here. When the Spirit of God hovers over water, something big is about to happen! A new identity is created for Jesus, and God pronounces it good: “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”

Baptism gives us a new identity as well. Baptism is a ritual re-enactment of our creation. Just as we came out of the water of a womb, in baptism we emerge from the living water to become a new creation. It is an act of rebellion, a rebellion against our natural identity. It is like putting on of a mask. The outlaw’s mask is our anchor image for this Epiphany season. The word “epiphany” literally means to “show forth.” To use a mask for an image of Epiphany is extremely ironic because we usually think of a mask as something that conceals or covers up someone’s identity.

Traditionally, Epiphany is the season in which we celebrate the revealing of Jesus as the Christ to the gentiles. Epiphany is the season we celebrate the unmasking of Jesus to the gentiles. But it is also a season for us to put on the mask of a Christian, a follower of Jesus, a member of his outlaw gang if you will. One way to think of baptism is that it is like a gang initiation rite. I know most of you would never think of yourself as members of a gang, but bear with me for a moment …

Think about it this way: Baptism is the only requirement we have for membership in the Christian church. This is standard practice within all of Christianity. Some Christians have attempted to eliminate baptism as a requirement for church membership, to make room for people who don’t agree with the theology of baptism. But that’s probably an unwinnable fight. The rite of baptism is too solidly ingrained in the history and practices of Christianity. It is the initiation rite of the Christian faith.

Initiation rites have probably been a part of human culture ever since people began organizing groups and there were those who wanted to join. There are clubs, organizations and secret societies all over the world that require prospective members to go through some sort of initiation. An initiation may be something as simple as learning a set of rules and regulations and then reciting them in front of the membership. Or at the opposite end of the spectrum, the initiation may require the individual to endure some hardship that will cause pain … or create pain for others. College hazing is an unfortunate example of the latter.

Street or prison gangs also use initiation rites as a requirement to join their groups. These initiation rites are usually not something you or I would want to do, to state the obvious. Gangs use initiation rites as a means of determining if the prospective member is mentally and physically strong enough to be worthy of membership. In other words they want members who have “heart” and who will not run at the first sign of trouble. Gang members frequently refer to joining a gang as “Blood in—Blood out.” This is particularly true of prison gangs. “Blood in” requires the prospective member to shed the blood of someone by assaulting them or murdering them. “Blood out” refers to the only way a member can leave the gang—either by his natural death or his death at the hands of the gang. One can see how the severity of this initiation serves the purpose of keeping out infiltrators or imposters!

By comparison, I don’t think the church is asking too much by requiring the initiation rite of baptism as a prerequisite for membership. And although I disagree with the “Blood in” initiation rite of street and prison gangs, I do feel a kind of affinity with the notion that we should be looking for people who have “heart” and who will not run at the first sign of trouble. Faithfulness and loyalty are not bad attributes for members of a group.

As we remember our baptisms this morning, we should reflect on the outlaw nature of the original act, that which John the Baptizer practiced in the wilderness, away from the law-abiding institution of his day. Jesus of Nazareth, the one who was declared God’s beloved son, willingly participated in this seditious act. Therefore, we belong to a religion that should not be comfortable not being an illegal religion. Sorry for the double negative! The point being … A revolution began that day. John and Jesus were both executed for the cause, as well as many of their followers over the years. And yet today we sit in a comfortable environment, with no fear of persecution or arrest, with the flag of our secular government standing in a visible spot, and with very little intent or perceived need to put on a new mask. Let’s see how this turns out …