Day 14 - Tuesday, February 27
Title: THE WATERS OF BAPTISM
Scripture #1: Galatians 3:27 (NKJV)
For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
Scripture #2: Romans 6:3-6 (KJV)
Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection. Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.

Poetry & Poet:
“Soul Washing”
by Adriana Lisboa

The soul must be washed by hand.
Not that its material is delicate,
or bleeds. On the contrary,
the soul is hard-wearing and the only way
to get it clean is by hand-washing it. Take
some household soap – the cheapest will do.
Forget bleach, fabric softener,
no soul needs that.
Let it soak for a while
to remove stubborn stains,
grease, mud, ketchup spills.
Then rub it in the sink, wring it out
and hang it in the sun to dry. Ironing
is not required. Washed like this,
the soul can be worn
for many years to come,
the ideal uniform for this school
of obstinacy that is the body,
that is the world.

THE WATERS OF BAPTISM

In the beginning, on day two of creation, “God said, “Let there be an expanse between the waters, separating water from water.” So God made the expanse and separated the water under the expanse from the water above the expanse. And it was so.” (Gen 1:6-7). This initial separation of water from water creates space for the sky or the heavens, and then on day three God causes the waters to be collected so that dry land appears, so that there is a place for humans to dwell and to have dominion over “the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, and every creature that crawls on the earth” (Gen 1:28). 

But after the fall, it didn’t take long for this dominion to become tyranny, with humans boasting over the blood they shed (Gen 4:24) and God saw that “human wickedness was widespread on the earth and that every inclination of the human mind was nothing but evil all the time, the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and he was deeply grieved” (Gen 6:5-6). 

God’s response is to reverse the order that he had established in creation, opening the floodgates of the water below and the water above so that the earth and the heavens were immersed in water once again (Gen 7:11). This de-creation brought destruction and death to the dominion that humans had corrupted with their sin, but a small portion of creation was preserved because of their righteousness, Noah and his family, to begin again. 

Then from Genesis 7 on, the flood becomes a central image to mark God’s action in destroying the corruption he finds on the earth, but always preserving a remnant that is faithful to him. When the Israelites cross the Red Sea before it swallows up the Egyptian army, when they cross over the Jordan to enter the promised land––in all these moments we are reminded of the way that God punishes sin and destroys corruption and preserves a faithful remnant. Salvation always comes through the waters of death. 

It is this set of images that we are meant to recall in the practice of baptism. We, too, are being called through the water of death into the new life that God calls us to, and the corruption and death that dwells within us must die in order for the righteous “remnant” to be preserved. However, the passages today make clear that it’s not our righteousness that’s being preserved through the waters. We are buried with Christ into his death so that we can be raised into the new life of his resurrection. 

Poet Adraina Lisboa’s “Soul Washing” captures the necessity of this washing, and we all feel it. The reality of our own corruption and the stains that accrue, and the need for a good soaking. Artist Isabel Emrich’s Courageous evokes the experience itself of being immersed in the waters of death, which is both a fearful thing (and hence requires courage), but brings the freedom and peace evoked on the face of the figure. Being brought through the waters of death and chaos, dying to our own corruption, is a catastrophic de-creation of the self we have tried to inhabit, but the life we receive because of Christ’s death and resurrection restores us, and is restoring all of creation, to the order that God established for us in the beginning. 

Prayer
We thank you, Almighty God, for the gift of water. Over it the Holy Spirit moved in the beginning of creation. Through it you led the children of Israel out of their bondage in Egypt into the land of promise. In it your Son Jesus received the baptism of John and was anointed by the Holy Spirit as the Messiah, the Christ, to lead us, through his death and resurrection, from the bondage of sin into everlasting life. We thank you, Father, for the water of Baptism. In it we are buried with Christ in his death. By it we share in his resurrection. Through it we are reborn by the Holy Spirit.
    –––(Book of Common Prayer)

Dr. Janelle Aijian
Associate Director of Torrey Honors College
Associate Professor of Philosophy
Torrey Honors College
Biola University

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