Adopted by God (Reflections on the Baptism of Our Lord, Year B)



There are lots of different ways to be family.

“And a voice came from heaven, 'You are my Son, the beloved; with you I am well pleased.'” (Mark 1:11)

In the waters of baptism, Jesus was declared the Son of God. This illegitimate peasant, raised by a blue-collar worker from a hick town, became kin with the divine and the eternal.

Some time ago, I had the honor of officiating at the baptism of an adopted child whose mother I had baptized as an adult some years before. After the mass I invited the family and sponsors back to my office to sign the baptismal documents. Some of my confirmation students were milling about my office door to ask me a question about their latest assignment. One of the visiting members of the baptismal family noticed the students and asked me, “Pastor, are these your children?”

For a brief moment I found myself ready to answer, “Why, yes! Yes, they are!” I have no biological children of my own, you see. But, having been pastor of Faith Lutheran Church as long as I have, and having watched these children grow up from infants, I feel as if they are somehow a part of me. I never imagined that I would ever feel this kind of love for children, but in the family of God this love just sort of comes.

For me, this is one of the great promises of the sacrament of Holy Baptism. It is the promise we all inherit in the water and the Word of God which makes us, like Jesus, part of the family of God. The sacrament promises, as Luther 's Catechism reminds us, forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation. But it also confers upon us identity. It is this sacrament which makes us Christians. And this is the powerful source of who we are as human beings. All that we are comes out of our baptism.

Of course, there are plenty of misconceptions about this sacrament. Even in the early church, folks didn't always quite get what it meant to be washed in the same water as our Lord Jesus. In the second lesson assigned for this Sunday (Baptism of Our Lord, Year B, in our Common Lectionary), Saint Paul encountered some well-meaning baptized Greeks who had only a partial knowledge of what it means to be baptized (Acts 19:1-7). They understood that baptism conferred the forgiveness of sins as John the Baptist had promised, but they didn't know what it meant to live as part of the Holy Spirit of God.

Here in Northeast Philadelphia, I suspect that there are plenty of other misconceptions about the sacrament. We bring our children to the font for various reasons, including but not limited to the following:

Fire insurance: This is for people who aren't sure if there really is a hell, but—just in case—they don't want their kid to go there. This is treating the sacrament like it's something we do to appease an angry God rather than something God offers to promise us love and wholeness. Such an understanding is really more superstitious than religious.

Please the baby's grandparents: No explanation for this is needed.

An excuse for a party.

A ticket to Roman Catholic parochial school.

Personally, I never feel comfortable refusing to baptize a child—even though I've learned through experience that many of the non-member baptisms which I officiate will be for children whom I will probably never see again. Nevertheless, I want to offer these children membership in the family of God, and I want to preach to their parents, godparents, and extended families the truth of the gospel: Once, the almighty God loved us enough to wash in our dirty bathwater and take on all of our pain, pettiness, loneliness, anger, guilt, frustration, grief, and torment. He loved us enough to die in shame and torment and then rise in glory so we would know that we are part of the Holy Spirit and we are promised eternal life, forgiveness, and wholeness. God is telling us, "You are my beloved child, and you will never fall far enough away that my love can't reach you." Everything that we do, everything that we are, comes out of this revelation. We can claim no identity—no nationality, no ethnicity, no rank, no social status, no club membership, no denominational affiliation, no family name—which is as meaningful as our identification as baptized members of the family of Jesus Christ. We are baptized only once, but we live in the truth of our baptism every day of our lives and on into eternity.

My prayer will be that I will live a life worthy of this beautiful, wonderful gift given to me when I was washed into adoption as a small child. May the thoughts of my heart, my words, and my deeds bring honor to you, my fellow family members, every day of my life.

Thanks for being part of the family, and thanks for visiting. Leave me a comment when you get the chance.