Baptism Words (written in 2008)
The writer/guru James Houston reminded me that Christianity is always dialectic, meaning that once you start saying that Christianity is “THIS!”, you must always remember that it is also “that”. Any principle we hold true is itself held in tension with other ideas.
When people have preached free grace in the past, there has always been a quick response to it, a “that”, saying that “if you say grace is free, people will presume upon it-they won’t take sin seriously”. The tension. My sense now is that the message that is most predominant is the “that”, so I think we need to think about “this”.
My friend Mike preached a sermon the other evening about the baptism of Jesus. He had us place ourselves in Jesus’ shoes for a minute, imagining the impact of the Father’s words to him at that crossroad moment. “This son is my beloved. With him I am well pleased.” As I have pondered that, I have come to think that these words, humanly speaking, must have been the impetus for all of Jesus ministry from the time he stepped from the river. They enabled him to walk from his baptism to his death.
I believe there were probably other motivations. His love for us, perhaps? But I think the driving compulsion in his mission was the love of the Father. His deep connection to God. It was his sonship that constantly spoke to him and reminded of who he was and what he was about.
The shocker in Mike’s sermon was that he said that God’s words to Jesus in his baptism are God’s words to us in our baptism! “This son is my beloved. In him I am well pleased.” “This daughter is my beloved. In her I am well pleased.”
I wonder then if everything we do following our baptisms- our mission, our calling, our vocation, our living…whatever, is deeply rooted in the same connection? I am a son of God. The father’s loving joy, his pleasure in us is really the only compelling thing. It is the heart of things.
We might be compelled by other “compulsions”. Guilt. Fear. But they don’t draw us to the Father. If anything, they push us away. They may produce remorse and conformity, but not real repentance, and not love.
God’s message to sinners is “come home”. He says it over and over. Our baptism words are reiterated every week in the invitation to his table. “Children, come.” It doesn’t seem to me that he threatens his sons and daughters with being disowned if they don’t straighten up and fly right. I can’t imagine ever telling my son he can’t be a Malone anymore. How much more…?
Human nature is punitive. It is natural to want to threaten, to exclude or cut off. We are afraid to show any love to the wayward, because it feels as if we are condoning what they do, or that we might be infected by them in some way. This exclusion and shunning is intended to compel a person to change or come back. “He or she must feel the weight of what they are doing. They must taste the consequences.”
“How deep the Father’s love for us…except you.”
“There is a wideness in God’s mercy…except for you.”
Does that really soften the heart, or restore? If anything, I think it hardens. “If you preach the law, you inflame sinful passions,” the man says.
When Peter professed that he would follow Jesus anywhere, Jesus chided him. “No, Peter, before the dawn you will deny me three times.” He knew that this disciple (son) would turn on him in a matter of hours. What words would you expect to follow? On the economy above, I would think Jesus would threaten in some way. “Peter. Sorry. You’re out.” Or at least he might give him the cold shoulder for a while.
But here is how it goes. “Peter, before the dawn you will deny me three times. Do not be afraid. I go to prepare a place for you.”
What?
This is, I believe, the sequence of God’s conversation with his children:
“You are my beloved son. I am well pleased.”
“(Your name here), you have denied me by (your sin here).”
“Do not be afraid. You are my beloved son. I am well pleased.”
I believe that is this sequence of words is compelling. They soften our hearts, lead us to repentance, and draw us home to the Father. I believe that prodigals eventually want to come home, they just don’t believe that they can. Everything in them screams that they are out. The church is saying they are out. The voices in their head whisper “shame”. Their brothers and sisters say “shame”.
And Jesus says, “come”.
What does it say when the wayward are allowed to stay and hear that week after week? What does it say when the prodigal SON is allowed to take the cup to his lips, even while he is a PRODIGAL son?
How deep the Father’s love for us. Period.
There is a wideness in God’s mercy. Period.
Is this presumption? Is this audacity?
Yep.