Sermon: Remembering Our Baptism-Uniting With Christ

Father Anthony M. Coniaris

What is baptism? The late Fr. Lazarus Moore of blessed memory wrote a booklet entitled Baptism as Thirty Celebrations (1) wherein he enumerates thirty blessings that God bestows on us in thecelebration of holy baptism. It is evident that God's love holdsnothing back. He showers His blessings upon us in infant baptism evenbefore we can know Him in what is pure grace. Let us examine briefly afew of those thirty baptismal blessings.

EXODUS
Baptismis our passage through the Red Sea of sin. Augustine wrote, “Your sinsare your enemies. They will follow you, but only up to the Red Sea .When you have entered (the Red Sea through baptism), you will escape:they (your sins) will be destroyed, just as the Egyptians were engulfedby the waters while the Israelites escaped on dry land.” Thus baptismis an act of liberation, a paschal experience, an exodus, a passagethrough the Red Sea of sin and death to the glorious freedom of thechildren of God. It is the transition from the world that is under thepower of the evil one to the world that has been redeemed by Christ.

A DROWNING
Baptismis our trip to the Jordan River . In this water we are crucified withChrist; nevertheless we live, sharing His living water. The old sinfulnature is drowned in these waters and we rise, as from a grave, toshare in the new life of Christ. Baptism is indeed a tomb and a womb.The waters of baptism are our waters of Siloam and our pool of Bethesda. The Spirit breathes upon this water and we enter to be bathed withthirty blessings of God's abundant grace.

AN ADOPTION INTO GOD'S FAMILY
Throughbaptism God adopts us as His own sons and daughters. He makes us heirsof all His riches. He makes us members of His family. As members ofGod's family we are all related to each other and responsible for eachother. Yet baptism is more than all of this. Through baptism we areattached to Christ. We become members of His body. Each baptizedChristian becomes an extension of Christ. We become other Christs inthe world. We become His eyes, His hands His tongue, His feet. Christhas chosen to work in the world through us – the members of His body.It is our special responsibility as baptized Christians to let Christbe present wherever we ourselves are stationed in the world as baptizedChristians.

Christ has madeHimself dependent on us to do His work in the world today. To quote St.Chrysostom, “ Christ is the head of the Church, but what can the headdo without hands, without feet, without eyes, without ears, withouttongue?”

In baptism the members of ourbody are anointed with the sign of the cross to signify that they arenow dedicated to serve Him since they are members of His Body. Baptismis the sacrament of belonging.

GOD CLAIMS US
Baptismis God laying claim to you. St. Paul says, “You are not your own, youare bought with a price, so glorify God in your body.” God doesn't rentyou. He buys you. He holds title to you. He owns you. Through baptismyou become His child. And when God adopts you as His child, He does so for a purpose. He has a plan for you. You're saved from sin. You're saved for service, for love, for good works, for enlargingthe kingdom. You're saved into significance. You're saved for theosis.Your life has real worth and meaning. “I know My sheep,” said Jesus.“And nobody can pluck them out of my hand.”

Followingbaptism you are God's property. You have the authority to say to thedevil, “Take your hands off me. I don't belong to you. I belong to God.I am His property. You have no claim over me. I renounce you!”

A NEW BIRTH
Baptismis the sacrament of new birth. It is the creation of the new person inChrist. It is to be born anew of water and the Spirit. I had nothing todo with my physical birth. Birth for me was a great gift of God whichHe wrought through my parents. This first birth was a birth of theflesh. My second birth, the “born-anew” birth, was also something withwhich I had nothing to do. It also was a gift of God wrought for me byGod's grace at the baptismal font.

After baptism man is a living member of the Body of Christ. He is no longer mere man,but man transformed, divinized, newly transfigured , begotten as God'sown son or daughter. He carries within him the very life of God.

A MANTLE OF SALVATION
Baptismin the Orthodox Church is far more than the remission of sins. Thedominant theme of baptism is positive. As St. Nicholas Cabasilas, a 14th century Byzantine theologian points out all the scriptural andtraditional terms applied to baptism point to a positive meaning:“birth”, “new birth”, “clothing”, “anointing”, “gifts”. “washing”,“enlightening”, “refashioning”, “seal”, etc. Theodore of Cyrus (393-466A.D.) confirms this when he writes:

Ifthe only meaning of baptism were remission of sins, why would webaptize newborn children who have not yet tasted of sin? But themystery of baptism is not limited to this; it is a promise of greaterand more perfect gifts. In it are the promises of future delights; itis the type of the future resurrection, a communion with the Master'spassion, a participation in His resurrection, a mantle of salvation, atunic of gladness, a garment of light, or rather it is light itself.

CLOTHED WITH CHRIST
St.Gregory of Nazianzus wrote, “The Holy Spirit divinizes (deifies) theperson who is baptized.” Baptism, according to Orthodox theology, doesmore than set us free from the bondage of original sin, it clothes uswith Christ and makes us partakers of His divine nature. Hence thesinging during the baptismal service of the verse from the letter ofPaul to the Galatians, “As many of you as have been baptized in Christhave put on Christ.”

At a certainpoint in the baptismal service, the celebrant priest says to the newlybaptized, “You are baptized. You are illumined. You are anointed withthe Holy Chrism. You are sanctified. You are washed in the name of theFather and the Son and the Holy Spirit.” We may add to these words theexpression of St. Gregory of Sinai: “Become what you already are,”i.e., claim the gift of theosis that God has given you in holy baptismand develop it as you go through life. Grow in the life of Christ whichyou have received in baptism that you may become a true son or daughterof the heavenly Father.

BETROTHED TO CHRIST
Throughbaptism we are betrothed to Jesus. He becomes our Bridegroom. We enterinto a marriage relationship with Him that requires love andfaithfulness.

THE ROBE OF GLORY REGAINED
Throughbaptism we “put on Christ.” This has tremendous implications. If wehave put on Christ, then we have put on His love, His forgiveness, Hispeace, His joy. If we have put on Christ, we have put on Hisservanthood: “If I your Lord and Master have washed your feet, then youalso ought to wash one another's feet.” If we have put on Christ, thenwe shall suffer as Christ suffered; we shall be persecuted for thetruth as Christ was persecuted. If we have put on Christ, we shall beresurrected as Jesus was. We shall be glorified as Christ wasglorified; we shall ascend to the Father as He ascended to the Father.We shall sit at the right hand of the Father with Jesus. We shallpartake of His divine nature and share in His life and glory, becoming“gods by grace” as He is God by nature and essence. Some early ChurchFathers see this as the recovery of the “robe of glory”, lost by Adamat the fall.

A PERSONAL RESPONSE
Baptismdemands a personal response on the part of the baptized child when itgrows up. The child must accept what God did for him or her in baptism.For baptism is not a divine pass that will get us into heavenautomatically. Dr. Nikos Nissiotis, a well known Orthodox theologian,once said, “A baptized Christian – especially in the Churches in whichinfant baptism is practiced – needs to make a personal decisionregarding the Christian faith which he has passively inherited from hisChristian environment.”

Anyrelationship has to be developed by two parties. The baptized infanthas not yet developed a relationship with God. But one party in therelationship has already taken the initiative: God loves us from thefirst moment of our conception. He takes the initiative to establishthe relationship. Infant baptism is an expression of God's wooing lovefrom the first moment of life.

As thechild becomes aware of faith in Jesus Christ, he looks back andrealizes that something or someone led him to this act of faith.Eventually, he realizes that it all began back there in baptism whenGod came to him. At that moment he must make a personal response toGod, committing his life to Him.

MERE BELONGING TO THE CHURCH NOT ENOUGH
Onedoes not become a Christian automatically. Fr Schmemann, a respectedOrthodox theologian, said, “It is not mere belonging to the Church thatsaves, for there is no magic in Christianity, but the acceptance of theSpirit of Christ.” St. Peter said, “Repent, and every one of you mustbe baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of yoursins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38). Tobecome truly a Christian, one must agree freely to be converted, torepent, to turn to Christ, and accept His Holy Spirit.

Inbaptism there is something that is done by God and something that isdone by man. Man responds to God's initiative. He accepts the gift andturns with faith to follow Christ as Lord.

A PROCESS OF UNENDING GROWTH
Thenew life, initiated by baptism and sustained by the Eucharist, becomesthe way to follow as one walks through this world. This means thatsalvation is not instant. It begins on the day of our baptism andchrismation when we renounce the devil, receive Christ, and accept thegift of the Holy Spirit. From that moment we begin a process of slowspiritual growth. The sacraments of the Church provide us with thegrace we need to become gods by grace, deified, “partakers of divinenature” as St. Peter says. Our salvation (deification) begins atbaptism and continues throughout life. It is a process of unendingspiritual growth. “Keep working with fear and trembling to completeyour salvation,” writes St. Paul (Phil. 2:12).

Simon Tugwell, a patristic scholar, expressed it succinctly when he wrote,
Therecan be no brisk “On with the new man, off with the old!” A long processof growth is required to bring us to perfection. Baptism gives us an“image of perfection” but this has to mature slowly, just as a baby is,in one sense, fully formed, but still has to grow. The immediate resultof baptism is that there are now two “personae at work in us. Sin andgrace coexist in us. The important thing is that we should side withgrace. (2)

A MATTER OF DAILY CONCERN
Thereis no end to baptism; it is ongoing, a lifelong journey. The sinscommitted following baptism also need to be washed away by water, butthis time it is the water of our tears, the tears of repentance. As werenounced the evil one in baptism and united ourselves to Christ, so weneed to keep saying “yes” to Jesus and “no” to Satan many times eachday as we go through life.

FAN THE SPARK BACK INTO THE FLAME OF THEOSIS
St.Nicodemos of the Holy Mountain once said that many Christians throughindifference and neglect, allow the flame of baptism to die down to atiny spark. He calls on us to fan that spark back into the flame oftheosis, or union with Christ, through heartfelt repentance and prayer.

Because, brethren, we have falleninto sins after baptism and consequently have buried the grace of theHoly Spirit which was given to us at our Baptism, it is necessary thatwe make every effort to recover that original grace which is founddeeply buried underneath our passions, like an ember in the ashes. Thisember of grace we must fan into a new flame in our hearts. In order todo that, we must remove the passions from our hearts as ashes from afireplace, and replace them with the firewood of obedience in thelife-giving commandments of the Lord. We can blow upon the spark withheartfelt repentance of the mind and with the repetition of thisprayer: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son and Word of God, have mercy on me.”When this prayer remains permanently in our heart, it cleanses us fromthe ashes of the passions, and finding the ember of grace within, itstrikes up a wondrous and strange fire.

BECOME ALL FLAME
Oneof the Desert Fathers said, “If you will, you can become all flame.”Why not become “all flame” for Christ? In the early Church when thepriest handed the baptismal candle to the newly baptized, he repeatedthe words of Jesus, “Let your light so shine before people, that theymay see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven”(Matt. 5:16).

Become “all light” for Him and spread that light to a deeply sin-scarred world. This is the great challenge of our baptism.

+Fr. Anthony Coniaris

FatherAnthony Coniaris has served the parish of St. Mary's/ K O I M H S I Sin Minneapolis since 1948. Ordained a deacon in 1950 and a priest in1953. He retired as proestamenos in January of 1993, to turn his fullattention to Light and Life Publishing of which he is President.

Anative of Boston , Father Anthony is a graduate of Holy Cross GreekOrthodox School of Theology and Northwestern Theological Seminary inMinneapolis . He has also attended post-graduate studies in the fieldof religion and psychiatry at the University of Minnesota and St.John's University in Collgeville , Minnesota .

FatherAnthony is a noted author and gifted speaker, known for making theOrthodox Christian faith accessible to all as a contemporary andlivable faith. He writes and speaks on subjects including preaching,the priesthood, making God real, daily meditations, the Philokalia andsurviving the loss of a loved one.

Notes:
(1) Available through Light and Life Publishing Co.
(2) The Study of Spirituality . Edited by C. Jones, G. Wainwright, E. Arnold, Oxford Univ. Press. New York 1986.

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