Romans
6:3-11
Based
on Chapter Nine of Discipleship by
Bonhoeffer
Have
you ever wondered when the apostles were baptized?
After
all, it is not recorded that Jesus baptized Peter, James and John,
or
Levi when he was called from the tax booth.
This
seems to contradict the doctrine of the church that baptism is necessary.
If
it wasn’t necessary for the apostles,
why
is it absolutely necessary for us?
But
Eberhard Bethge, a student of Bonhoeffer’s who became his best friend,
wrote
in his study notes on the call of Levi,
“By
being called, Levi has become a ‘baptized disciple.’
The
encounter with Jesus is what happens in Levi’s call and in our baptism.
The
same Jesus who met Levi at the tax booth
is
risen and meets us in Word and Sacrament.
If
in his call, the incarnate Jesus ‘baptizes’ Levi,
then
in his church’s baptism he calls us.
Baptism
is not something we offer to God;
it
is something that God offers to us.
Just
as none of the disciples could ‘choose’ to become a disciple,
but
were called to follow,
so
none of us choose baptism,
but
are chosen.
Those
who are infants are chosen, those who are adults are also chosen,
for
it is never a matter of us nominating ourselves,
no
matter our age.
[This
is why it is problematic for peo[ple to say
that
we need to make a ‘decision’ for Christ.
In
Baptism Christ decides for us,
he
is always the subject of the active verb.
It
is also problematic for well-meaning parents to say
that
they won’t raise their children in the church
because
they want them to ‘decide’ when they’re older.
No
one, whether child or adult, can follow Jesus
without
the call of Christ,
and
children are called just as they are;
there
is no age of reason for disciples.
Indeed,
children may well be more faithful than parents.
Finally,
it is problematic when we teach
that
when infants are baptized, it is the parents’ decision,
and
that when teenagers are confirmed, it is their decision.
We
want to give children a sense of responsibility –
but
actually we let both children and their parents off the hook.
We
are not glorifying Jesus,
but
the decision-making independent self.
Whereas
if we had taught rightly,
we
would have taught that in baptism,
Christ
has called us by his own name,
and
we are never independent from him;
our
God-given freedom is to be used for him.]
Just
as Levi was called from the tax booth,
our
baptism into Christ calls us out from the world.
Baptism
implies a break between the old life and the new.
It
is not a chronological break,
as
if before baptism we were one self
and
after baptism we are another.
This
helps us to understand why an infant is baptized for sin not yet committed,
and
why an adult must still struggle with sin even when the new life has begun.
The
old life is the life of self-interest that clings to us throughout our lives,
and
the new life is the life in Christ which we are given by grace,
in
which we may love God and neighbor.
In
the old life we relate to other human beings, money, time, talent,
nation
and community on our own,
but
in the new life Christ always is involved in the relationship.
It
is never just my life, but my life in
Christ.
The
old life and the new life are always at odds,
but
Christ is constantly at work in us to drown the old and to bring forth the new.
Baptism
is death for the old self and life for the new.
Just
as Jesus’ call required a public act of following in front of everyone,
so
in our baptism we are called to follow publicly.
Our
faith is personal but never private.
Baptized
people become visible in the community of the church.
In
the service of baptism, the parents are instructed
to
bring the children into the community of the church.
In
the service of affirmation of baptism,
the
first thing we are asked if we will ‘continue to live among God’s faithful
people.’
The
life of baptism is neither merely an assent to certain truths
nor
is it simply a vague commitment to doing good deeds.
Rather,
it is to associate with Jesus,
and
that means to be a visible participant in the Church of Jesus Christ.
In
some places in the world, that visibility can lead to physical death.
But
the break with the world in baptism requires and causes our death,
whether
or not we are given the grace of martyrdom.
Bonhoeffer
writes, ‘Every call of Christ leads to death.’
It
means that in baptism we live under God’s word,
seeking
his will and dying to our own,
and
we are commanded to bear the cross,
that
is, to deal with and bear others.
If
they wish to maintain community with Christ,
Christians
cannot wall themselves away from others,
whether
they are secure in their posh resorts
or
living in whatever fantasy they can afford,
but
must encounter the other
who
makes claims on their time, energy, and resources.
That
too is death of the old self.
But
this death is a gift of grace,
it
is not a punishment.
It
is a gift because we are with Jesus,
who
is the way, the truth and the life,
and
if we are with him now, we are with him for time to come.
If,
in Jesus’ call of the disciples, they were baptized,
then
in the baptism of the Church, we are called.
This
baptism is God’s grace which we receive.
Baptism
liberates us from serving the world
or
making the world serve us,
and
calls us to serve Christ in the world
Baptism
requires public identification with
and
participation in the Church.
And
baptism puts to death the old self-seeking person
and
brings to life the one who seeks God alone.
‘Having
taken their life from them,
[Jesus]
now sought to give them a life that was full and complete.
And
so he gave them his cross.
That
was the gift of baptism to the first disciples.’
And,
may I add, his gift to us as well.
Amen
