Epiphany: Baptism!

Baptism of Christian Grant Cole

The Epiphany: Sunday, January 6, 2013

Holy Nativity Episcopal Church, Panama City, Florida

The Reverend Tom Weller, Priest Associate

I shall speak to you of the Grand Epiphanies of the Gospels. In the Name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

Luke 3

15 As the people were filled with expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah, 16 John answered all of them by saying, “I baptize you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 

21 Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened, 22 and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, “Thou art my beloved Son,  with whom I am well pleased.”

The gospels offer us two Grand Epiphanies that are actually theophanies -- the showing of God’s own self. The first of those is the Baptism of Christ when the voice from heaven declares “You are my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.” And speaking of “beloved son,” we are baptizing Christian Grant Cole this morning, and I will tell you, you should see the adoration in Christian’s eyes when he looks at Frank, this is truly a daddy’s boy. 

The second Grand Epiphany is the Transfiguration on the Mountaintop when again the voice from heaven proclaims, to Peter, James and John, “This is my beloved Son: listen to him.” 

Indeed, though we in the Western Church observe The Epiphany as the coming of the Magi, “WeThree Kings of Orient,” in the Eastern Orthodox Church the Epiphany is the Baptism of Christ, as it originally was throughout Christendom. I share that with you because we are baptizing Christian this morning, and he is being baptized by Grandfather Tom who, because we started very early together, feels like the little boy is almost my own, and loves him just that way!

Baptism is a strange event in which we invoke the Holy Spirit into the midst of us, pray God to infuse water with the Holy Spirit, and pour water over us in the Name of the Blessed Trinity. If you remember your catechism, the outward and visible SIGN is water. The SUBSTANCE is the Holy Spirit taking up residence within our bodies, the temple of the Holy Spirit. The SIGNIFICANCE is that we are admitted to full membership in Christ’s Body the Church. And the TICKET! The TICKET is that every baptized person gains an inalienable right to the Sacrament of Holy Communion. Finally, the JOY is that every Bible story becomes your own personal property at your baptism, including today’s gospel story of the coming of We Three Kings.

Christian, you are six months old today, and you will not have to sip the wine, but I shall make it my business henceforth, that you leave the Altar rail with a Communion wafer to munch on at your pleasure. The body of Christ, the consecrated Communion wafer cannot be tossed, so if you don’t munch it all away, your mom or dad will have to finish it.

Jesus was baptized in the River Jordan. If you are aware of the interesting differences in the Synoptic Gospels and the very spiritual Gospel according to John, you know that Mark, Matthew and Luke give reliable accounts of Jesus’ baptism. But John’s gospel is hesitant about admitting that John the Baptist baptized Jesus, a reluctance to acknowledge John having any power or authority over Jesus. But we know that Jesus was baptized in the River Jordan, and today as always we have Jordan River water here to baptize Christian. Also as always, once the water is sanctified by the Holy Spirit and Christian is baptized, he will share his Holy Water with you as we walk down the aisle together. So you should expect to get wet.

Christian, your name declares what you are, and this Holy Day of Epiphany we shall make it so. 

The candidate for Holy Baptism will now be presented.