Changed Hearts and Lives (Luke 3)

 

Baptism

On the Sunday after Epiphany, the lectionary always gives us a baptism scripture. So today, it’s not just me preaching about baptism; it’s thousands of preachers all over the world, all preaching on baptism today, which is kind of cool. It’s just another reminder that the church isn’t just our small community gathered here; it’s millions of believers all over the world.

It’s good for me to preach on baptism, because doing so is a challenge. I never feel that I quite fully understand the significance of baptism. 

But that’s not necessarily a bad thing. It means I’m always asking questions, always looking to grow in my understanding. 

I have a lot more questions now than I did when I was a kid. When I was younger, I didn’t know what questions to ask. When it comes to baptism and almost any theological issue, maturity comes not from finding all the right answers, but from finding the right questions.

What does baptism mean? What is its purpose, its significance?

I thought I knew, on the day I was baptized. I was about twelve years old, and I had attended a baptism class with other youth my age, led by our pastor Ken Scovill. 

That class was mostly about learning about the church; I remember learning about deacons and elders and what they did. I remember memorizing the books of the Bible, and earning a prize when I did so. And there were other things we learned, like what it means to believe in Jesus, but, strangely, I don’t remember those lessons as well.

And then, on Easter Sunday, we were baptized.

But in the 39 years since that day, I’ve continued to ponder these things. What does it mean to be baptized?

Repentance

In seminary, I read about how theologians had different ideas about baptism. Many said that forgiveness comes about through baptism; others (like Alexander Campbell) argued that we are already forgiven, but baptism provides us the assurance of that forgiveness. 

And of course we discussed how some believe that infants should be baptized, while others believe that baptism should take place only after one is old enough to confess their faith. “Infant baptism” and “believer’s baptism.” One emphasizes the work of God in baptism; the other emphasizes a person’s response and affirmation to the work of God. And actually, baptism involves both: an act of God, and a person’s response.

For those who baptize people once they are old enough to confess their faith, we say that baptism into Christ is a baptism of repentance and forgiveness. This comes straight from how baptism is described in the gospel. Luke, chapter 3, verse 3, describes how John the Baptist proclaimed a “baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.”

But the Common English Bible leaves out that word, repentance. Instead, it uses the phrase, “changed hearts and lives.” And that’s one of the reasons why I like the Common English Bible. Churchy words like “repentance” have acquired so much baggage over the years; but the original meaning is often quite simple. Repentance, for example, simply means a “change in one’s heart and life.”

Biblically speaking, to repent means to change one’s heart and one's life.

Changed Hearts and Lives

The scripture presents some clear examples of this happening.

First, notice how today’s scripture began by describing what authorities were ruling over the people at the time, how it was “in the fifteenth year of the rule of the emperor Tiberius—when Pontius Pilate was governor over Judea and Herod was ruler over Galilee, his brother Philip was ruler over Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias was ruler over Abilene, during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas…”

All these rulers, including the high priests, were servants of Rome, and they ruled not only over the kingdom; they also ruled the hearts and minds of the people. Hearts and lives were concerned with one thing: how to survive, how to get by, in the Roman world. And the ideals of Rome governed everything, including one’s heart and one’s mind.

But John the Baptist came along and reminded people that there is another way to live one’s life, another mindset by which one could live, and a different set of ideals one could follow. In other words, another kingdom. 

To live this alternative life, to adopt this alternative mindset, and follow the ideals of this alternative kingdom required a complete change of one’s heart and mind.

 And as a symbol of this change of heart, John invited people to be baptized.

People accepted that invitation. Tax collectors, whose very occupation supported Rome and its ideals, changed their hearts and lives, and were baptized. And soldiers, whose entire lives were committed to serving Rome and its ideals, were baptized, symbolizing a shift in their allegiance from the kingdom of Rome to the kingdom of God.

I’m sure there were tax collectors and soldiers and people from all walks of life who decided that this type of change was just too drastic, or too risky; but evidently there were some who were ready to make the change, and who were willing to be baptized.

And among those who came to John to be baptized, there was one question on their minds: “What should we do?”

The crowds asked, “What should we do?”

The tax collectors asked, “What should we do?”

The soldiers asked, “What about us? What should we do?”

In other words, how do we live out these changed lives that we are now committed to?

And John said: Whoever has two shirts must share with the one who has none. Whoever has food in abundance must also share. And to the tax collectors and soldiers, John said: don’t harass or cheat anyone. Stop oppressing people for your own gain. Instead, do what you can to care for people…

Because then, as now, a lot of people who are in positions of power and authority sought out those positions for their own gain and their own benefit. But now, with changed hearts and lives, they are to exercise their authority for the benefit of others.

Because in the kingdom of God, there is an emphasis on making sure those who have been deprived of resources, those who have been oppressed, those against whom the economic system is rigged,... there is an emphasis on making sure that they are treated fairly, justly; 

…that they who have been cast down by society are lifted up and exalted, while those who have been lifted up and exalted in society humble themselves for the sake of the kingdom…

that all people are treated as humans, loved and cared for because of their inherent, God-given goodness.

In the kingdoms of earth, we talk about what makes a person worthy. People are so concerned about giving help to those who, in their eyes, don’t deserve it. Who deserves health care? Who deserves a living wage? Who deserves the right to vote? Who deserves to be welcomed in, and who still needs to prove themselves and prove their worthiness?

But in the kingdom of God, all people are worthy of love, worthy of care, worthy of a place in society, simply because they are human.

Understanding all this is part of the change of heart that comes with baptism. Because once we are baptized - once our hearts and lives have been changed - we no longer see a distinction between them and us. Those divisions are broken down.

So, those are some answers. I guess that’s a lot to think about. And I still have questions. After all, when we’re talking about changed hearts and lives, there are a lot of implications. 

A baptism story…

I came across a story this week I want to share with you. It’s told by Scott Cormode of Fuller Theological Seminary. He says:

“I once heard a man explain why Presbyterians emphasize baptism’s communal nature. He talked about the baptism of his daughter and how part of the service called for the congregation to make vows. The congregation promised to proclaim the faith to the children just as the parents promised to raise the child in the way of the Lord. 

“The man went on to describe what happened many years later, after his child had grown. One night she called him from Denver, where she had gone to live. She told her father that she was in trouble. She had gotten into drugs and made a series of choices that she now regretted. She called asking him to help her turn her life around. 

“But the man did not have a lot of options, a lot of resources. Circumstances were such that he could not move to Denver and she could not move back to his home. What was he to do? 

“That night he called an old friend who now lived in Denver, a man who had been a part of the congregation that had promised at her baptism to proclaim the faith to her. He reminded his friend of that vow. And he asked his friend to honor that vow. He asked his friend to be the family of God for his daughter that night and in the months to come. 

“His friend dropped what he was doing and attended to the girl and proclaimed the love of God to her when neither her father nor the institutional church could. When this man called on his friend he was drawing on the sacrament of baptism as a resource.”

Remember Your Baptism

It’s a cool story. The friend who responded helped a complete stranger, because of the change in his life brought about by baptism.

But I still have questions. Because doesn’t the love we as Christians are called to share extend even to those who haven’t been baptized? How do we live out that love to strangers, people with whom we have absolutely no connection? And doesn’t that last question contain a lie, since there’s no one to whom we aren’t connected? Aren’t we are all connected simply by virtue of being human? Didn’t Jesus call upon us to love even our enemies? How do we change our hearts and our lives so that that becomes possible?

Martin Luther - the 15th century reformer, not the 20th century preacher - believed it was important to remember one’s baptism. He was baptized as an infant, so he couldn’t do that literally, but he could remember that he was baptized, and ponder the significance of that - and that’s something he tried to do on a daily basis.

For me, asking these questions is how I remember my baptism. And the conversation continues… but not right now. I have a few more thoughts on baptism, but I’ll save them for next week. Right now, it’s time to enter into a time of prayer…