[This reflection was published in the weekly news bulletin of Horley Baptist Church, 24/October/2021]
Someone on Desert Island Discs recently chose the theme music for Dr. Who as his first disc, because his first spoken word as a baby was “Dalek”. For most of us it was “Mama” or “Dada”. Perhaps for someone like Einstein his first spoken word might have been “Relativity”.
The first recorded words of Jesus were in the temple: “Why were you searching for me? Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?” He was in fact twelve years old at the time and His parents had spent three frantic days searching for Him in Jerusalem, but even at that age Jesus knew He had to be in the home of His true Father. [Luke 2 v41-50 NIVUK]
When He was about 30 years old, Jesus was baptised in the River Jordan, even though as the sinless Son of God He didn’t need to be. Not like us who need to witness by baptism to the forgiveness of our sins by faith in Jesus. It was at this time that we read the first recorded words of God spoken to Jesus: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.” [Luke 3 v21,22 NIVUK]
I had believed in Jesus as my Lord and Saviour as a child, but I was older than Jesus when I was baptised. I had put it off because I was frightened of having my head under water. When Barbara and I decided we needed to be faithful in baptism, we were baptised at the same time side by side in the baptistry. The minister next to Barbara quickly raised her up out of the water, but the person baptising me had never done it before and forgot how to get me up. It seemed like ages that I was laying under the water, although it could only have been a few seconds. The amazing thing is that as I lay there with my arms folded across my chest, I was completely at peace before I came up out of the water. It was almost as though God was saying that I hadn’t needed to worry about being underwater, as now I had been faithful to Him.
When Paul and Silas were in prison in Philippi, there was an earthquake and all the prison doors flew open. The jailer was terrified that the prisoners had escaped and was about to commit suicide. But when Paul assured him that they were all there, the jailer was so overcome that he asked them, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” When told to believe in the Lord Jesus and what that meant, he and his family believed and were baptised.
It may be that you have recently come to faith in Jesus and are thinking about being baptised, or perhaps you have believed for years and, like me, have put it off. Now would be a good time to have a chat with Martin about baptism. When it happens you may not hear out loud what our Father says when you come up out of the water, but you can be sure that He will say that He loves you and is well pleased with you.
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Contributed by Michael Goble; © the Author
