Retreat
In
Genesis we read the Account of creation. There was perfect harmony in nature; and
man lived in the company of God.
In the beginning God
created the heavens and the earth. God made the wild animals according to their
kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move
along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.
Then God said, “Let us make
mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in
the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals,
and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”
So God created mankind in his
own image. God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in
number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the
birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”
Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of
the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it.”
Now the LORD God had planted a
garden in the east, in Eden. The LORD God took the man and put him in the
Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. And the LORD God commanded
the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must
not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from
it you will certainly die.
Man lived in harmony with the
nature ruling over the whole creation and enjoying the company of God. The devil
could not tolerate the blissful state of man. It decided to break man relation
with God. So he approached the woman to tempt her.
He said to the woman, “Did God
really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” The woman
said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but
God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the
garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’ ” “You will not
certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when
you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing
good and evil.” When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was
good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom,
she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her,
and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they
realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings
for themselves. Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD
God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from
the LORD God among the trees of the garden. But the LORD God called to the
man, “Where are you?” He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was
afraid because I was naked; so I hid.” Then man was banished from the
Garden of Eden.
Thus sin entered into the life of man. It breached
his relation with God. It alienated him from God. Every descendant of Adam
began to bear the weight of the first disobedience.
But God did not give up man. He sent prophets to
call man to come back. Finally He sent his son Jesus to reestablish the harmony
that existed between God and man. We are incorporated into this chosen race of
God’s people through the sacrament of Baptism.
In Old Testament some similar rites were performed. But the
term "baptism" is not used to describe the Jewish rituals, the
purification rites in Jewish law and tradition, called tvilah, have some
similarity to baptism, and the two have been linked. The tvilah is
the act of immersion in natural sourced water, called a mikva.
In the Jewish and other Jewish texts, immersion in water
for ritual purification was established for restoration to a condition of
"ritual purity" in specific circumstances. Immersion is required for
converts to Judaism as part of their conversion. Immersion in the
mikvah represents a change in status in regards to purification, restoration,
and qualification for full religious participation in the life of the
community, ensuring that the cleansed person will not impose uncleanness on
property or its owners.
John the
Baptist, who is considered a forerunner to Christianity, used baptism as the
central sacrament of his messianic movement. Christians consider Jesus to have
instituted the sacrament of baptism. Baptism, as a sacrament,
had its origin when Christ commissioned His Apostles to baptize, as narrated in
John.The earliest
Christian baptisms were probably normally by immersion, though other modes may
have also been used.
In Catholic Church Baptism is held to be necessary.
This doctrine is grounded on the words of Jesus. In John He declares:
"Unless a man be born again of water and the Holy Ghost, he cannot enter
into the Kingdom of God."
The baptism of
Jesus is described in the gospels of Mathew, Mark and Luke.
Then Jesus came from Galilee to the
Jordan to be baptized by John. But John tried to deter
him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?”
Jesus replied, “Let it be so
now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.” Then
John consented.
As soon as Jesus was baptized, he
went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the
Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And
a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am
well pleased.” (Mat 3:13-16).
What is the relation between the baptism
of Jesus and our baptism - First, it reminds us that we are members of God’s
family. We are reborn as children of God, therefore, we can call upon God as
“Abba, Father!” At Jesus
Baptism heaven was opened. In the Garden of Eden when man disobeyed the command
of God, he was thrown out and the doors of paradise were shut before him. But
in baptism we are again admitted into the company of God. It is true that most
of us received baptism as infants. But, when we take our infants to baptism,
whenever we participate in the baptism ceremony and whenever we renew our
baptismal commitments we are made aware of this fact.
There
is a joke about a Pentecostal baptismal service. A drunk stumbles across a
Pentecostal baptismal service on Sunday afternoon down by the river. He
proceeds to walk down into the water and stand next to the preacher. The minister
asks the drunk, “Are you ready to find Jesus?” The drunk says, “Yes, I am.” The
minister then immerses the man under the water and pulls him right back up. The
preacher asked, “Have you found Jesus?” The drunk said, “No, I didn’t!” The
preacher then dunks him under for quite a bit longer, brings him up and says,
“Now, brother, have you found Jesus?” The man replied, “No, I did not.” The
preacher in disgust holds the man under for at least 30 seconds this time then
brings him out of the water and says in a harsh tone, “My God, have you found
Jesus yet?” The drunk wipes his eyes and says to the preacher... “Are you sure
this is where he fell in?
Baptism
is not a means to find Jesus. But in Baptism Jesus is opening the doors of
heaven to each individual and admitting us into the company of God’s people.
Secondly,
Jesus teaches us a valuable lesson about the importance of baptism to our
redemption and life as Christians. We are marked with an indelible spiritual
character that we belong to Christ.
A
Baptist and a Catholic were discussing the different ways their churches
baptized people: total immersion or just pouring the water over the head.
The Catholic
said, “Well, just how much water do you need? Knee deep?
-“No, more than
that.”
“Waist deep?”
-
“More”
“Up to the chin”
-“You need more
water than that!”
“Over the head?”
--“Yes that’s
right.”
Here you go.
That’s where we put it!”
Baptism symbolizes the believer’s total trust in and total
reliance on the Lord Jesus Christ, as well as a commitment to live obediently
to Him. It also expresses unity with all the saints (Ephesians 2:19),
that is, with every person in every nation on earth who is a member of the Body
of Christ (Galatians
3:27–28). The symbolic act will not have
any meaning if there is no spiritual commitment. Before we are baptized, we
must come to believe that we are sinners in need of salvation (Romans
3:23). We must also believe that
Christ died on the cross to pay for our sins, that He was buried, and that He
was resurrected to assure our place in heaven (1
Corinthians 15:1–4). When we turn to
Jesus, asking Him to forgive our sins and be our Lord and Savior, we are born
again by the power of the Holy Spirit. Our eternal salvation is guaranteed, and
we begin to die to ourselves and live for Christ (1
Peter 1:3–5). At that time we
are scripturally qualified to be baptized.
If this spiritual conversion does not take place baptism
will remain just a human action without any spiritual impact.
John,
an alcoholic, went to the church to find a solution for his drinking problems.
The priest, after a long talk, asks: Are you baptized?
No
Well then, I'll give you the holy baptism and you'll be a new man.
The priest plunged John 3 times in the water and says:
You are now a new creature! There will be no more alcohol in your life! You're not John anymore, you'll be Joseph instead, a new clean and healthy man!
Joseph found the method odd but really liked the experience. So Joseph went home, directly to the fridge, took a bottle of brandy and dipped it in the water saying:
You're a now new creature! You're not brandy anymore, you're now orange juice.
The priest, after a long talk, asks: Are you baptized?
No
Well then, I'll give you the holy baptism and you'll be a new man.
The priest plunged John 3 times in the water and says:
You are now a new creature! There will be no more alcohol in your life! You're not John anymore, you'll be Joseph instead, a new clean and healthy man!
Joseph found the method odd but really liked the experience. So Joseph went home, directly to the fridge, took a bottle of brandy and dipped it in the water saying:
You're a now new creature! You're not brandy anymore, you're now orange juice.
Brandy
will remain brandy only. So also without inner desire and resolution external
symbols will not change any one.
Third, we are freed from
original sin, and we are enabled to live fully our vocation to holiness, and to
inherit eternal life, brought by the resurrection of Jesus. We just heard about
the account of creation and how man got alienated from God. The waters of
baptism symbolically represent a burial ground. The word baptize is
from the Greek verb baptidzo which means “to immerse.”
Immersion is a picture of burial.
Water baptism symbolizes the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus
Christ and the identification of the believer with Him in those events:
“Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like
as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we
also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together
in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his
resurrection: Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that
the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin”
(Romans 6:4-6).
Fourth,
the reception of the sacrament of baptism has lots of juridical effects. For
example, since it is the door to other sacraments, it gives us the right to
receive them: Without baptism, we cannot validly receive any other sacrament.
Finally,
the baptism of Jesus invites us to renew our baptismal commitment to live as
the children of God - We became children of God by our baptism. St John’s first
letter (3:2-10) mentions the difference between the children of God and the
children of the devil. By baptism, “We are God’s children now… Everyone who
does what is righteous belongs to God and whoever sins or anyone who does not
love his brother belongs to the devil.”
Giving
name is a very important part of baptism. Names are very important in the
Bible. They are more than just ways to identify a person. They are
closely bound up with a person's identity.
As
names carry meanings and can carry mental associations, it's important we avoid
using ungodly words as names. Proverbs 22:1 tells us that it is important we live
in such a way that our own name makes people think of good things.
Now
instead of giving a meaningful name we go after fashion and novelty.
There
is a story told by a Bishop. A mother who was
on the lookout for a good name for her child saw on the door of a building the
word "Nosmo". It attracted her, and she decided that she would adopt
it. Then she saw the name "King" on another door. She thought the two
would sound well together, and so the boy was baptized, "Nosmo King
Smith". On her way home from the church where the baptism had taken place,
she passed the building again. The two doors on which she had seen the names
were now closed together, and what she read was not "Nosmo King," but
"No Smoking".
Dear
brothers and sisters it is the duty of the parents and grandparents to enkindle
the faith that they have given to their children in baptism.
TS Eliot wrote in Four Quartets:
“In my beginning is my end”
In
other words, the input of parents into the early life of a child will generally
determine the pattern of life for years to come.
In
the Baptism of Jesus His Ministry was introduced to the world–he was no longer
going to be a carpenter, but he was now going to build his kingdom that would
never end. This was an exciting day, this was the announcement that the
ministry of Jesus Christ was beginning.
Our
baptism is the announcement that we belong to Jesus Christ and our ministry
starts from this point on as members of the chosen race.
As
we reflect on the Sacrament of Baptism we should make sure that the Baptism we
received as infants is renewed in our daily commitment. And the Baptism we have
given to our children is fostered throughout their life. It will help us to
make our parish a gathering of Gods people, like the early Christian community.
Satish