Rodger Nishioka tells the story of a young man named Kyle. When he was in the fifth grade, Kyle and his family started to attend the Presbyterian church Nishioka pastored. Their attendance was irregular over the next several years and Kyle had never been baptized. Thus, Nishioka was “more than a little surprised” when he spoke to Kyle and his parents about joining the confirmation class and they said yes. Kyle’s family came to an orientation meeting and they agreed to a covenant that outlined the expectations for those taking the class: weekly sessions of study and discussion, work with a mentor, participation in a mission project, and so on.
When confirmation began, Kyle took it very seriously, rarely missing a class or event. Though he had been no more than an acquaintance of the other students, he began to develop friendships and became an integral part of the group. On Pentecost Sunday, Kyle was not only confirmed but also baptized. Nishioka remembers that day as a “marvelous celebration” for Kyle and his family and indeed for all of the confirmands, their families and their mentors.
But then, Kyle and his family disappeared. Given how involved and dedicated he had been, his absence was conspicuous. As his absence stretched from one week into two, three and beyond, his mentor and his friends from confirmation began to ask about him. Where was he? Where was his family?
Nishioka says that Kyle’s absence made him realize they had done something wrong. He recalls, “When I checked in on Kyle and his folks, they all seemed a little surprised that I was calling and checking up on them. I distinctly remember his mother saying, ‘Oh, well, I guess I thought Kyle was all done. I mean, he was baptized and confirmed and everything. Isn’t he done?’”
I imagine we’ve all seen this before: a young person is confirmed and then we never see them in church again. But this is not a phenomenon limited to traditions which practice infant baptism and confirmation. In the Baptist tradition, in which I was raised, we practiced believer’s baptism which only took place after a confession of faith, something which, in theory at least, only an older child, a teenager or adult could do. Heck, we practically made a third sacrament out of the Invitation and the act of walking the aisle to ask Jesus to come into your heart. Honestly, communion took a back seat to walking that aisle and getting baptized. But I can recall folks who walked the aisle to make a confession of faith, spent the next several weeks in a Baptismal class, were submerged in the baptismal waters, and rose up to a new life…in which we never saw them again. They seemed to think that they had, in Jesus’ words, “fulfilled all righteousness.” They had got right with God and now, like Kyle, they thought they were done. The boxes were all checked off and there was nothing left to do but to get on with their lives.
And “that,” says Nishioka, “is the problem. Despite our best intentions and all that we say and try to communicate too many people think that the baptism of the infant or the young [person] or the adult is the culminating activity of faith, and then we are all ‘done.’”
Properly understood, Matthew’s account of Jesus’ baptism is an antidote to such thinking. John has been administering a baptism which symbolized God’s forgiveness and was preceded by confession of and repentance for sin. So when Jesus comes to him for baptism, John recognizes that Jesus doesn’t need to be baptized. Indeed, John feels that Jesus should be baptizing him instead!
Nonetheless, Jesus insists. Why? Because, Jesus’ baptism isn’t about his past. It is about who he is and what he is called to do. In his baptism, Jesus is commissioned to begin his ministry of declaring and enacting the good news of God’s grace and love. It is true that Jesus is born for this task, but he must embrace it. And so, he goes to be baptized as an act of obedience and submission to God. His baptism is his declaration that he is willing to fulfill his calling. And, in response, Jesus is anointed by God with the Holy Spirit, a moment that recalls the anointing of past kings and prophets as they began their work.
More than this, Jesus’ baptism and his anointing with the Spirit are signs that his work is God’s work. All that he says and does will be an expression of God’s will, an enacting of God’s compassion and mercy, an embodying of God’s love. This is why Jesus tells John that it is proper for him to be baptized because the act will “fulfill all righteousness.” As Anna Case Winters points out, in “the Hebrew scriptures (which of course make up the Bible which has shaped the faith and practice of both John and Jesus) the term (tsedaqah) is not so much about sinless perfection as it is about right relationship and the fulfilling of covenant obligations. It is about the establishment of God’s will that justice should everywhere prevail…. God’s righteousness is seen in God’s special regard for those who are powerless or oppressed and stand in need of justice ]. Thus, righteousness is not conceived as a static quality that one possesses (what one is) but rather a matter of what one does in living life before God.” Baptism, you see, marks Jesus’ commitment to righteousness, his intent to give himself fully to God’s work. Jesus’ baptism is not the completion of anything. Rather, it is the declaration that his ministry is just beginning in earnest. When he emerges from the waters of the Jordan, Jesus is not done. He’s just getting started.
That his baptism is a commissioning is also evident in the voice that rings out from heaven as the Spirit alights upon him. God declares, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.” In biblical understanding, a child is one who is like their parent. The child is one whose character and actions reflect those of her parent. In this case, Jesus, the Son, is one who is like God: he is righteous, doing justice for the poor and oppressed, showing mercy to the sinner, welcoming the outcast. He is pleasing to God because he reveals God’ character and will by walking the path of humility before God and compassionate, gracious love for all people. [see Micah 6.8] Thus, to borrow a verse from John’s Gospel, those who have seen the Son, have seen the Father. Those who have encountered Jesus have encountered God. This statement of identity—“This is my Son”—implies a mission to not just do God’s work, but to reveal in Jesus’ own person the character and nature of God. This is a calling, that must be lived out, a task that is just beginning.
Rodger Nishioka reinforces this point and connects it to the practice of confirmation: “Jesus was confirmed in his baptism, to be sure. He was named by his cousin John as the one who was to come. In his baptism, Jesus’ identity was confirmed through heaven’s opening and the dove coming down to him and the voice from heaven naming him as God’s Son, God’s Beloved, the very one who holds God’s pleasure; but this confirmation was not the culmination of his ministry. It was the beginning of the remarkable journey that was to lead him to the cross and beyond.”
Jesus’ baptism and confirmation at the Jordan is “a prototype” for our baptisms and confirmations. When the water flowed over our heads, when we made our confessions, when the minister pronounced us children of God, we were not done. We were just getting started. We were being commissioned to share the Good News of God’s grace, to act out God’s compassion, to embody God’s love in the world, every day of our lives. We were given the Holy Spirit so that we could be like Jesus. We were being identified as and empowered to be children of God, those who reflect God’s character. Just as Jesus’ baptism was the inauguration of his public ministry, so too our baptisms and confirmations were, are, the beginning of a life-long ministry, the first step on the journey of following Jesus. In the words of an old Salvation Army slogan, we are “saved to serve.”
Rodger Nishioka was able to sit down with Kyle and his family. They were understanding, even apologetic: “I guess we just missed this somehow.” To which Nishioka replied, “And I don’t think we did a very good job of conveying this to you and to Kyle….Kyle’s baptism and confirmation was not simply about his profession of faith. It is about his continuing to grow in his understanding of what God is calling him to do as he lives out his identity as a child of God. ”
The visit had the hoped for effect. The next Sunday, Nishioka reports, “Kyle and his family came to church and were warmly greeted. They even seemed a little relieved at the realization that the journey was not over but was only beginning.” Perhaps they found some hope and purpose in the fact that there was more to do.
I’m reminded of a story the late South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu liked to tell about his early days as a priest. Tutu was once giving a Bible quiz to a group of teenaged boys. One of the questions printed on the sheet of paper asked: “What did the voice from heaven say to Jesus after his baptism?” While most of the class got the answer right, one young man provided an answer that, while technically incorrect, nonetheless expressed the truth. The lad wrote, “The voice from heaven said “You are the Son of God; now act like it!”
I think that is the lesson that Kyle and his family learned: our baptism and confirmation is a commissioning, a call to action. No matter how long ago we emerged from those waters, no matter how long ago we professed our faith, our journey is not over. It is ongoing. It begins anew every day. You and I have been claimed as God’s own; God calls each of us by name. We have been given the Holy Spirit to lead us, to transform us, to empower us, to pour God’s love out into our hearts, until our hearts overflow and that love pours out into world around us. You and I are beloved children of God. Let us go out into the world and act like it!