There’s a lot that supposedly happens during a baptism theologically. A person is adopted into the Kingdom of God, marked according to the covenant by the Holy Spirit, washed of sin, and raised to new life with Jesus.
I’ve seen plenty of baptisms. I’ve seen babies get baptized, and I’ve seen new believers get baptized. I’ve seen people sprinkled with water in church and dunked in lakes on camp retreats. I’ve recited the liturgy more times than I can count.
But none of these things prepared me to witness the baptism of my son. It was the most profound experience of God’s grace I have encountered in years. The last few weeks, I had been searching for the right words to describe this moment when I was presented with Luke 3:21-22 during a recent Bible study:
When all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too. And as he was praying, heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”
Reading this passage brought me a new kind of joy and understanding.
Last November, William and I traveled to Jesus’ baptism site by the Jordan River. The river has moved locations over the years and now runs about a hundred yards East of the traditional spot due to earthquakes and irrigation from farming. You can still visit the ruins of the Byzantine church built there to commemorate the former location.
When William and I visited, our Jordanian tour guide took a particular interest in us. We chatted with him a good bit. When it came time for the tour to move along, he told us to hang back so we could duck under the rope and walk down into the dried-up river bed typically off-limits to tourists.
“Go down the steps, look to Jerusalem and make a wish,” he said with a wink. I couldn’t believe our good fortune.
When we were alone, we walked down into the river bed. There are massive marble steps, and a foundation once supported a canopy, and you can see the groves where water used to flow. We then turned our eyes toward Jerusalem and prayed for our unborn child. I was ten weeks pregnant at the time.
When Jonah was baptized, we mixed a few tablespoons of water from the Jordan River into the baptismal font. I thought of that day in Jordan, praying for the baby I hadn’t met yet. And when the water touched his head, I thought to myself, “this is my son, who I love, in whom I’m well pleased.”
I am so thankful for everyone who has supported Baby Jonah in his faith journey so far, and I look forward to all the love he will experience in the family of faith.
At his baptism, I was so thankful to know that the love of God extends to him and to see God’s love spread over him in the sacrament of baptism. I imagine that the words spoken by God over Jesus Christ were spoken over Jonah when the water was brushed over his head.
I wonder if God spoke those words over me at my baptism, and I wonder if God is still speaking these words over everyone who abides in Christ. “This is my daughter,” “This is my son,” “whom I love, with whom I am well pleased.”
I pray that each day, Jonah will rise with the knowledge that he is God’s beloved, that there is nothing he can do to earn the gift of grace, and that God finds pleasure when lives authentically in Christ.
Kena Hawkins Newkirk 