Have you ever wondered why Jesus got baptised, given that he was without sin? In this presentation we explore three different levels of meaning in Baptism, which suggests an answer to that question. The presentation draws on Rowan Williams' excellent little book Being Christian. This was the Cafechurch session on 15/1/2018 - see www.cafechurch.org for more

1. The Baptism of
Jesus
Luke 3:15-17, 21-
22

2. Gratitude
For what are you grateful?

3. As the people were filled with expectation, and all were
questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he
might be the Messiah, John answered all of them by saying,
‘I baptize you with water; but one who is more powerful than
I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his
sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His
winnowing-fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing-floor
and to gather the wheat into his granary; but the chaff he
will burn with unquenchable fire.’

4. Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus
also had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was
opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily
form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, ‘You are
my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.’

5. What Does it
Say?
• Emotional reaction
• What’s the setting?
• Who are the characters?
• How would you
summarize it?
• What happened
before/after?
• What scriptural
references do you pick
up?

6. What Does it
Mean?

7. Baptism
• Can you remember your
baptism? What happened?
• What is the meaning of
baptism?

8. Sacraments and the Physical
• Christianity isn’t really about
ideas
• Centrality of the physical
• The richness of physical
symbols and rituals
• Sacrament: God acting
through the material world
• Levels of meaning

9. Water
• Good thing? Bad thing?
When and why?

10. Question
• What meanings / references /
inferences / suggestions can
you find in the act of
Baptism?

11. Washing
What is the primary purpose of
baptism-as-washing?
Pros / Cons?
Wash me thoroughly from my
iniquity and cleanse me from my
sin. Psalm 51:2
• Sin as a kind of dirt
• Temple purity?

12. Drowning
Do you not know that all of us
who have been baptized into
Christ Jesus were baptized into
his death? Romans 6:3
Have you ever thought of
baptism as a sort of drowning?
• Can you think of Scriptural
resonances?

13. Chaos
Which is safer, more predictable
– water or land?
In the beginning when God
created the heavens and the
earth, the earth was a formless
void and darkness covered the
face of the deep, while a wind
from God swept over the face of
the waters…. And God saw that
it was good. Genesis 1:1,10

14. New Creation
Can you see any resonances between
the Genesis passage and the Baptism
story?
The water and the Spirit and the voice:
you can see why the early Christians
began to associate the event of baptism
with exactly that image which St Paul
uses for the Christian life – new
creation.
Williams, Rowan. Being Christian

15. Baptism
To be baptized is to recover the
humanity that God first intended.
What did God intend? He intended
that human beings should grow into
such love for him and such
confidence in him that they could
rightly be called God’s sons and
daughters.
Williams, Rowan. Being Christian

16. Solidarity with Jesus
So baptism means being with Jesus ‘in the depths’: the depths of
human need, including the depths of our own selves in their need – but
also in the depths of God’s love; in the depths where the Spirit is re-
creating and refreshing human life as God meant it to be…. If being
baptized is being led to where Jesus is, then being baptized is being
led towards the chaos and the neediness of a humanity that has
forgotten its own destiny.
Williams, Rowan. Being Christian

17. Why Was Jesus
Baptised?
If Jesus was without sin, then why
did he need to be baptized?
Quick answer: Solidarity with us
Do you not know that all of us
who have been baptized into
Christ Jesus were baptized into
his death? Romans 6:3

18. What
Does It
Mean for
Me?

19. A Question to Take Away
God says to each of us exactly what he
says to Jesus: You are my child, my
beloved, in whom I am well pleased

20. Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins
as we forgive those who sin against us.
Save us from the time of trial
and deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours
now and for ever. Amen.

21. Go in peace;
may you carry God’s Wisdom,
speak forth God’s Word,
and embody God’s Presence
wherever you are.
In the name of Christ. Amen.