Jesus’ demands of how to live as a Christian are not easy, are they? “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.” If you even manage to accomplish only one of these things in your entire lifetime, then I would say that you are far and away better than most. Especially today––when we live in a society that is becoming increasingly polarized, where we “cancel” people who hurt us, where it is all too easy to mock our enemies, where we relish in schadenfreude, rubbing our hands in righteous glee when something bad happens to someone bad––especially today, Jesus’ words call Christians to a counter-cultural way of living. “Love your enemies, do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return.” Bracketing the whole discussion that Jesus is not saying that we must remain in abusive relationships, because Jesus would most definitely tell people not to do that, we are still left with an incredible challenge. The Most High is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked, and so we are to be merciful, just as the Most High is merciful.
And unfortunately, it is not something we can wiggle out of. And that is because, in baptism, we committed (or were committed, if we were baptized as babies) to following Christ and living as he lived. In baptism, we entered into an irrevocable covenant with God, made possible by Jesus Christ: God committed to being our God, and we committed to being God’s children, brothers and sisters of Jesus. As we will hear in a few minutes, we committed to renouncing the devil and all the forces that defy God, to renouncing the powers of this world that rebel against God, and to renouncing the ways of sin that draw us from God. In other words, we committed to refusing to hate our enemies, refusing to do evil to those who hate us, refusing to curse those who curse us, and refusing to think ill of those who abuse us. We committed to living lives that really seem impossible.
Honestly, it does lead me to wonder why anyone would choose to be baptized, or to have their children baptized. To be brought into the Christian community, to be brought into the covenant with God through Christ, is to be set up to live very difficult lives, if we take our baptism seriously. Baptism is not a light thing. It’s no wonder, actually, that in the first couple of hundred years of the church, Emperors and kings and military leaders would wait until they were on their deathbed to be baptized. They felt that they needed to hold onto their vengeance and power for the good of the empire or kingdom, and if they were baptized, they wouldn’t be able to do that anymore.
And yet, all around the world, people do choose baptism, either for themselves or for their children. We don’t experience it as much in this country, but in other countries, people are choosing baptism by the millions. The worldwide Christian church is growing by tens of millions every year. For example, the Lutheran Church in Ethiopia, where I was the week before last, has grown to 10 million Lutherans over the last 60 years. The Lutheran churches in Indonesia number 7 million people. Every week, hundreds of thousands of people choose to be baptized and choose to take on the commitment of following Christ’s challenge.
Why? To what end? What is so worth it, that people choose baptism and that those of us who are baptized daily choose to live our baptized lives with integrity and commitment?
So far, I have talked about what we commit to in baptism. But we are not the only ones at work. Actually, we are not even the ones doing most of the work. It sounds like we are, but there is one who is making a bigger commitment than us, working harder than us, if we can say it that way, who is doing all of the heavy lifting when it comes not only to our baptism but to our entire lives. And that is God.
Through the Holy Spirit, in baptism God makes a commitment to you that never wavers, or weakens, or comes to an end. When you were baptized, the pastor or priest or minister who baptized you asked God that the Holy Spirit of God would fill you. When J---n is baptized in a few minutes, we will pray that God “sustain[s] J---n with the gift of the Holy Spirit.” And I will proclaim that J---n has “been sealed by the Holy Spirit and marked with the cross of Christ forever.” Forever. God’s gift and commitment to you is forever. We may waver in our level of commitment throughout our lives, but God never does.
And I think that we don’t take seriously enough what it means that the very Spirit of God comes into us at baptism and is present with us forever. This is the same Spirit that was present at Creation - that formed life where there was no life, whether you think of that through a literal seven days or through the Big Bang and evolution. The Spirit of Life, life in the face of death, life after death, life before death, came to dwell in you the moment you were baptized. The Holy Spirit of God that filled the prophets, that gave Elijah the power to heal the sick and actually raise the dead (once, but he did), the Spirit of God that filled Jesus, and gave him the power to love everyone without limits, that gave him the strength to actually die for others, that gave him new life after death, this same Spirit was given to you in baptism and continues to be in you now. This Spirit of God makes it possible to actually love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, and pray for your enemies. Just as Jesus did.
And this is why we choose baptism, for ourselves and for our children. This is why we continue to live as baptized Christians––as saints. Because yes, living as Jesus calls us to is hard, but it is not impossible. It can’t be impossible because we are filled with the Spirit of God. J---n is about to be filled with the Spirit of God, which is going to empower him and enable him to live as Jesus asks us to: to live with love and mercy and kindness as the guiding principles of our lives.
Jesus calls Christians to high standards of living. And I know that, as committed as we are, we frequently doubt our ability to live up to that. And, if it were up to us alone, we wouldn’t. We couldn’t. But Jesus calls us knowing that it is God’s Holy Spirit dwelling within us who gives us the ability and the strength to follow where Jesus calls. This is the blessing and promise and joy of baptism, and of baptismal living. Thanks be to God, Amen.
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