St. Aidan's Anglican Church, Kansas City - Weekly Talks

At his baptism, Jesus provides a pattern for all who seek to follow him. Water baptism is the most primal of the sacraments. Drawing from the first creation account, it communicates a new creation in play. Genesis 1:1 describes an initial earth, formless and empty, with darkness over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And God said, “Let there be light” and so forth. Our life begins in water and slides out into this noisy world very wet. Newborns are approximately 75% water. In the OT, water is the image of both chaos and life; Jesus uses water to describe being born from above, speaking to Nicodemus. Referring to baptism, Jesus tells Nicodemus that no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. Jesus is drawing from the first creation story. He’s saying that plunging into the waters effects union with him in his death and coming up out of the waters effects union with him in his resurrection. Those who obey the command to be bap