Isaiah 58: 6-10; I Cor.2: 1-5; Matthew 5:13–16
Salt of the Earth and Light of the World
‘Jesus said, ‘Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven. Matt.5:16
Apart from the day we are born, the day we are baptised is the most important day or our lives.
Those of us who were baptised as infants, of course, have no recollection of our baptism. We only learn the importance and significance of our baptism as we are brought up in the faith by our parents and our teachers.
However you Tyler, as an adult, will certainly remember the significance of this day, with all the rich symbolism that the rite of baptism affords.
Just as by our natural birth we enter this world, so by our baptism we enter the Church and the promise of becoming an inheritor of the Kingdom of God. We are born again.
Or as Jesus says to his disciples in the gospel today, ‘you are the salt of the earth’, ‘you the light of world.’ Hearing the call of Jesus and responding to the gospel brings about in us a profound change, which he warns us we must not lose.
Nicodemus, the Jewish elder, in St. John’s Gospel questions Jesus about this. He asks, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?” Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
In the rite of baptism in the Orthodox Church, infants are baptised in the font totally naked. And instead of pouring water over the child’s or adult’s head as we do in the West, the priest solemnly and completely submerges the child three times under the water. This, of course, is accompanied with lots of yelling and screaming, which reassures their parents that the child is still alive! This symbolic drowning however makes the central and important point that in baptism we die with Christ and that we are raised again to new life in him.
‘ For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.’ is how St. Paul puts it in his letter to the Church in Rome.
Dying and rising with Christ is THE pattern which is impressed on our souls at baptism
Well I’m sure Tyler will be relieved to know that he will be allowed to keep his clothes on today as Father Trevor pours the water over his head in the Name of the Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Nevertheless, the significance of the nakedness of the infant in the Orthodox rite reminds us that we always stand naked before God. As the ancient Collect of Purity says, ‘all hearts are open to God, all desires are known to him and from him no secretes are hidden.’
Like the prodigal son in the parable we must come to know ourselves and our need for God.
Baptism is the cardinal point in our lives when we turn to Christ and repent of our sins. It marks an entirely new beginning in our lives as all the wrongs and sins of the past are washed away. And we can say as we shall in the Apostles Creed today –‘I believe in the forgiveness of sins.’
Faith in the forgiveness of sins lies at the heart of our life as Christians. As we are reminded every time we say the Lord’s prayer: ‘Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.’
To grow in repentance and faith is the way we come to know the love of God.
It is not easy. But then Jesus never promised it would be. Instead he calls us to deny ourselves and to follow him in the obedience of faith by taking up our Cross and following him.
The season of Lent is drawing near and we are reminded that the Christian life is a pilgrimage of joyful penitence. Then we are reassured in St. Paul’s words, nothing in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
And we go forward in the knowledge of those who have gone before us, the Communion of saints, who with angels, now behold the glory of God and constantly surround us with their prayers.
One final and important thing to say about Holy Baptism - Baptism is the outward and visible sign of the New Covenant God makes with those he calls to be his own people.
We are only baptised once in our lives and through his Son Jesus Christ are made the adopted as sons and daughters of our heavenly Father.
Each time we celebrate the Holy Eucharist and come to Holy Communion we are restored to that Covenant made at our Baptism. ‘Great is his loving kindness towards us and the faithfulness of Lord endures for ever’, says the Psalmist.
Tyler you will be the same person outwardly after your baptism as you were before. But inwardly your status and your relationship with God will be changed.
In Jesus we come to know God as our heavenly Father and the light of his Holy Spirit who begins to shine and enlightens us our souls.
This conversion of life, as it is called, will continue to the end of your life as you grow in your Christian faith.
St. John Henry Newman in one of his well-known prayers says : ‘I know, O my God, I must change, if I am to see Thy face ! I must undergo the change of death. Body and soul must die to this world. My real self, my soul, must change by regeneration. All will turn to good if I have Jesus with me, yesterday and today and for ever.
So Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven.
Father Andrew