Deacon Larry

   July 29, 2007

All this talk about Baptism, and burial and death and rising- what can it mean?  Well, consider this.  When you were younger, you lived in the world and for the world.  You wanted to choose your own destiny.  At first, life was all about your dreams- what you wanted to do; what you wanted to be.  And off you went, trying as hard as you could, to make it all happen.  You were going to be president; you were going to be a movie star; you were going to be a millionaire.  There probably wasn’t a whole lot of thought about God then.  That could wait till later.   Now, some of you may have succeeded in some measure.  Others of you were thrown life’s curves sooner than others.  Then confusion and uncertainty settled in.  You found yourself just living life- the job, the children, the house, all the demands of society.  They consumed all your time and energy.  So, the day came when you all of a sudden you realized that life was never going to be all that you wanted.  You simply found that you were not in control.  Society calls this “mid-life crisis”; but it can happen earlier or later in life.  For some people, this crisis results in a restart- the dreaming process begins all over again and there’s a new plan, a new career; a new spouse; a new or different slant on life.    Chances are that they will just end up in another such crisis again.  Eventually, if you are smart, you’re going to conclude that the things of this world are not what life is all about.  In fact, life in this world is not what life is all about.  

Jesus’ Baptism is symbolic of that realization.  Jesus died and was buried to this world in his Baptism.  He was reborn to do God’s will through God’s spirit that flowed into him at Baptism.  The same is true in your own Baptism.    In your Baptism, you committed to the same death and burial to this world in order to be resurrected as a spirit filled person who is committed to do God’s will.  That’s what life is all about.   It is then that we give glory to God and share in Christ’s resurrection.  That’s how we become part of the Kingdom of God- by becoming one of God’s subjects.  

In the Gospel, Jesus taught the disciples the “Our Father”.  When you say the words-    “Thy Kingdom come; thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven”, on whose behalf do you say them- for others, or for yourself- for yourself- of course.  Thy Kingdom come for me; thy will be done by me, on earth as it is (and will be for me) in heaven.  That’s what you want, isn’t it?  You want a share in an eternal Kingdom where you will be happy forever.    A plan for yourself based on the things of this world, Is just never going to happen.   Any happiness which is just of this world, ends.  But God’s will for you- which gives him Glory, assures a place for you in His Kingdom- forever.    Now we just heard the story of Sodom and Gamorrah.  Not even 10 good people were found.  But, think of it this way: God answered Abraham’s request, and promised to save those who loved and served him, no matter how many bad people were out there,  and no matter what the bad was that they did.  God kept agreeing to save the few good despite the many who were evil.  In other words, God wants you, he wants all of us to succeed.  But we have to meet him on his terms.     

Paul tells us that our sins are forgiven- nailed on the cross with Jesus.  So, our sins, are not the issue.  Sure, we must seek forgiveness for them.  But having done that, God wants something else from us   He wants us to live out our baptismal promise.  He will help us with that.  Jesus tells us at the end of the Gospel that God will give us his spirit to help us do his will if we ask for it because he loves those who have a relationship with him, and because he responds to our persistence- like the friend who opened his door and gave the loaves of bread.

It turns out that our Baptism takes a lifetime.  We must be buried with Christ in Baptism, so that by the end of our lives, we have risen with him, part of the Mystical body of Christ, to do his will, now and forever, for the greater glory of God.   

This entry was posted on Sunday, July 29th, 2007 at 7:12 pm and is filed under Westminster Tower. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.