I am BAPTISED! - Father Dave's Blog

“Now when the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them. The two went down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit (for as yet the Spirit had not come upon any of them; they had only been baptised in the name of the Lord Jesus). Then Peter and John laid their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.” (Acts 8:14-17)

Hi Fighter,

At this time every year, the church remembers the baptism of Jesus, but you’ll forgive me, I hope, if instead of reflecting on that great event, I focus today on this week’s excerpt from the Acts of the Apostles as these verses are just too weird to let pass without comment.

This passage also refers to a baptism, of course, which is probably why it is included this week. Even so, it’s a rather negative reflection on baptism, suggesting that ‘baptism in the name of the Lord Jesus’ was not enough for this group of Samaritans. In addition to being baptised, these new believers had to have Peter and John come down and pray the Holy Spirit into them!

Many Pentecostal Christians see this story as paradigmatic. Baptism, they say, has two stages. First, we have water baptism, and then we get the ‘second blessing’ – the ‘baptism of the Holy Spirit’ – which is generally associated with people ‘speaking in tongues’. The assumption is that these Samaritans must have been ‘speaking in tongues’ too after the Apostles prayed for them, for how else would Peter and John have known that the Spirit of God had indeed come upon them?

Personally, I’m not so sure about any ‘second blessing’ but, then again, I’m not sure I understand much when it comes to baptism. Christian baptism has its origins in John the Baptist’s ministry by the Jordan river. That much is uncontroversial. What is less clear is what John actually meant by this symbolic act?

Most scholars interpret John’s actions as a symbolic washing away of sin, based on traditional Jewish purification rituals, yet the Gospels give us zero details as to how John’s sacrament actually worked. It may not have involved washing at all.

My theory is that John’s baptism was more of a symbolic recrossing of the Jordan, which was the river the people of Israel had crossed under Joshua to claim the land as their own. In other words, I see John’s sacrament as being primarily about Jewish independence and the end of the Roman Occupation!

I talked all this over with ChatGPT, and the AI ended up conceding that my baptism theory was quite profound! I felt flattered in an awkward kind of way. Even so, I don’t think we need to be certain about what baptism meant for John and his contemporaries for it is unambiguous what it came to mean for the early church. It became the church’s one and only condition of membership.

Baptism became the great equaliser. As Saint Paul would say, “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” (Galatians 3:28) and this was grounded in the belief that there is “one Lord, one faith, and one baptism” (Ephesians 4:5).

It didn’t matter how rich you were or how poor you were. It didn’t matter what your racial background was or who your parents were. Once you were baptised, you were a full member of the Christian community!

Of course, this seems to be in tension with today’s reading from Acts 8, where the Apostles have to come and pray that newly baptised also ‘receive the Holy Spirit’, and yet we must not overlook the key issue in this story – namely, that these newly baptised people in Acts 8 were Samaritans, who were a group generally despised by their Jewish contemporaries.

Speaking in tongues is mentioned explicitly in the Acts of the Apostles three times:

When the Holy Spirit falls upon the Apostles at Pentecost (Acts 2)
When the Spirit falls on the Gentile (non-Jewish) believers (Acts 10)
When the disciples of John the Baptist are baptised (Acts 19)

In each of these instances we are dealing with people who were alienated from each other, and the tongues phenomenon functioned to help bring them together.

Today’s story from Acts 8 indeed suggests a fourth occasion on which people may have been speaking in tongues, though it’s not mentioned explicitly because it’s not important. What is important is that these groups were having the same experience, where the same Divine Spirit was animating everyone. The shared phenomenon of tongues made it unambiguous to all involved that there was indeed one faith, one hope, and one baptism, for they were all one in Christ Jesus.

In truth, I’m not entirely sure what the sacrament of Baptism initially signified, but I know what it came to mean for the early church, and I know what it means to me. It means that I am a part of a historic community where I stand should-to-shoulder with all the great mothers and fathers in the faith who have gone before me, and which connects me to people of every race and tongue around the world today!

I heard that whenever the great reformer, Martin Luther, was tormented, tempted or afraid (as he often was), he’d say to himself ‘Baptizatus sum’ (“I am baptized”). Thus, he would remind himself that he was a beloved child of God whose life was forever entwined with Christ’s. He said this blew the demons away!

Well … Baptizatus sum!

Our Sunday Eucharist

We had another very special Eucharist last Sunday. I was joined once again on the panel by my dear friends, David Baldwin and Tom Toby, and we were privileged to have Dr Stephen Sizer back with us, giving us a pre-recorded homily on Ephesians.

As you would anticipate, my shared experiences with Tom in Syria were a major topic of conversation, and that is reflected in both the shorts I’ve included below. For the full library of shorts, visit the Sunday Eucharist Instagram page, or you can watch all of our recordings on my YouTube channel.

This Sunday we would normally have Rob Gilland and Father Mark with us, but unfortunately, Mark is still in recovery from a gastric bug that blighted his whole family over Christmas. Keep them all in your prayers please. Happily, Rev. John Jegasothy has picked up the baton and will be joining us in Mark’s place.

Join us as we celebrate the Baptism of our Lord this Sunday from noon on TheSundayEucharist.com or on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Faithia or Streamyard.

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What’s On?

Sunday, January 12^th – Our Eucharist from noon via thesundayeucharist.com (or through Facebook , YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn, Faithia or Streamyard).
Tuesday, January 14^th– Ministry on the Margins webinar on Faithia at noon.
Tuesday, January 14^th – Boxing at The Mundine Gym in Redfern, 7 to 9 pm
Thursday, January 16^th – Boxing at The Mundine Gym in Redfern, 7 to 9 pm

Mahfel

My trip to Iran should happen before the end of the month. I’m booked to appear on the Mahfel TV show to give a 15-minute TED-Talk-style address on ‘A Christian view of Altruism’. Having done a TED Talk, I’m confident I can pull this one off. 😊

The above pic is of my friend, Morteza, with the Mahfel team in Tehran. They are thanking me for making the trip to Canberra today where I was supposed to get my visa. Unfortunately, that fell apart and I still don’t have the visa. I’m not sure about the exact dates yet either, but If I’m away for a Sunday, I will need someone to cover the Sunday Eucharist for me. Midday in Sydney is 4.30 am in Tehran! ☹

Some of those who love me are suggesting that this is not a great time to visit Iran, but I have many friends there, and I’m keen to hear from the people there as to how they are coping with the fall of Syria and the ongoing threats to their country. Hopefully, I’ll also have a boxing match there, which is an extra incentive! 😊

The other item on my calendar that I wanted to draw your attention to is the Faithia webinar, next Tuesday at midday. It seems I’ll be dialoguing with Jaclyn Whitt, who is the Co-Director of the Family Friendly Screenwriting Academy, based in the USA. You can find out more about Jaclyn on her Facebook page.

Apparently, Jaclyn also has a history of working with people on the margins, and the people at Faithia think we will make a great team. I’d love to have you with me too.

You’ll can access the broadcast through the Faithia app. Please download it to your phone and sign up first. I’ll try to stream the broadcast to my regular Facebook and YouTube channels as well if I can, but I’d encourage you to get on board with Faithia anyway and, once you’ve got the app, check out my Fathia Coaching Page.

OK. That’s it for another week. It’s been a very long, hard day today, running around Canberra, trying to process my visa to Iran, and meeting nothing but frustration. What can I say but … Baptizatus sum

May the Lord bless and strengthen you for the work to which you have been called.

Your brother in the Good Fight,