Matthew 3:13 Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him. 14 But John forbad him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me? 15 And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness. Then he suffered him.
There are many kinds of baptism, and one I remember vividly came to me on this date, December 7, in 1941. I was 11 years old. I had lived a simple life with few problems or pains, I knew that people died (old people, like my great grandfather who had fought in the Civil War) and I knew that there was a war going on somewhere else in the world…but it wasn’t where I was. And then something happened and the next day at school they gathered us together in the hall to listen to President Roosevelt, and told us we needed to know how to get under our desks or under the stairs in case there were bombs. Christmas was coming, but suddenly, it took on a new meaning, especially since my mother worked at the hospital at Army Air Base. She said all the young men who worked with her had their Christmas leaves cancelled and wouldn’t get to go home for the holidays.
So we invited them to our place and we had some snacks and things and tried to pretend it was Christmas eve, and then one of the boys (for that is what they were, just boys, although I thought they were men) said, “Do you think there is a midnight service at the church down the street?” And without a word we all went to church and prayed for peace.
And what does all that have to do with the baptism of Jesus? Perhaps because Jesus sought out John for baptism…in keeping with His becoming one of us…this is no aloof God sitting on a cloud watching with disinterest what goes on down here. This is a God who involves himself with the rest of us. He shows us love and expects us to do the same.
Prayer: Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace. Where there is hatred let me sow love…
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