The Downtown Presbyterian Church

Sermons

Get Soaked

Luke 3:15-17, 21-22

Rev. Kenneth M. Locke

January 11, 2004

(Note – today’s sermon was an extended children’s sermon which was delivered to both the children and the congregation. Various props were used which obviously cannot be recreated here. The text below is a fairly faithful representation of what was said.)

Hi guys. I want to ask you if you know what a word means. It’s a real special word we use in the church. It’s baptism. Do you know what that means? Have any of you been baptized?

I’m going to tell you two things about baptism and you remember them. After we’ve talked about baptism I’m going to tell you a story and then I’m going to ask you if you remember those two things I wanted you to remember.

Let’s begin like this. Have any of you ever washed dishes? Maybe helped Mom or Dad after supper? What do you do? You put the dishes in the water and scrub them real hard. Do you hold the dish way out beside the sink? Do you hold it high up over the sink? Do you maybe just put one tiny corner of the dish into the water?

No, you put the whole dish in the water. Put it all the way under. You get the dish soaking wet.

That’s the first thing I want you to remember about baptism. Being baptized means going all the way under, being soaked. The big word grownups use is immersed. If the dish goes all the way into the water it’s been immersed, or baptized, in the water.

And when it comes out it’s not dirty any more, is it? See. Same plate, but now it’s clean. The plate is beginning a new life as a clean plate.

That’s the second thing I want you to remember. Being baptized is about starting over. It’s about living a new life.

Now I want to tell you a story about Jesus when he was baptized. Jesus had a friend, one of his cousins, named John. And we think Jesus and John maybe knew each other when they were kids like you. They probably played together and laughed and went swimming and ran around with the dog. All the things children do.

When John and Jesus grew up, John became a preacher. He traveled around telling everybody they needed to stop being selfish and mean and hurting each other. And when they knew they were wrong and stopped what they were doing he’d baptize them. We don’t know if he dunked them all the way into the water. He might have. Or he may just have sprinkled a little water on their heads. We don’t know. But it doesn’t matter.

What’s important was they were baptized into God. They were dunked in God’s love. Just like that dish they were totally surrounded by God’s love. Every single part of them got soaked with God’s love.

And when they had been baptized they started a new life. They worked real hard to be kind to people. They shared what they had with people who didn’t have much. They didn’t punch each other or trip each other. They loved each other.

So John baptized people to show that they were completely soaked in God and that they were starting a new life. A life of loving each other.

Well one day, when Jesus and John were really old, they were 30 years old, (can you imagine being that old? Yuck!) when they were really old and John was busy preaching, Jesus came up and wanted to be baptized too. Do you reckon John and Jesus talked about it first? Maybe they sat on the bank of the river and watched the fish and talked about what they were doing? Maybe they ate some sandwiches and talked about when they were little like you? We don’t know, but I think they did.

So John baptized Jesus. John put some water on Jesus to show everybody Jesus was soaked in God’s love. Jesus was like a sponge, he was full of God’s love. And not only that, but Jesus was starting a new life. Jesus was going to be a preacher and a healer and a prophet. Jesus was going to go around telling people how much God loved them and help them live like God wanted them to live.

And after Jesus was baptized he was praying, thanking God for loving us all so much, suddenly all the clouds moved out of the sky and God’s Holy Spirit came down. And you know what? That Holy Spirit looked just like a dove. That Holy Spirit came winging down and it stopped when it got over Jesus and all of a sudden this huge, powerful, wonderful voice said, “You are my son and I love you very much. I’m really, really glad about what you’re doing.” Don’t you wish you could have heard that? I wish could have been there.

And that’s the story of Jesus being baptized. Now what were those two things I wanted you to remember?

First of all, being baptized means being soaked in God’s love. Just like a plate, just like a sponge. Jesus was totally soaked in God’s love. And when we get baptized it means we’re totally soaked in God’s love. Just like a plate, just like a sponge.

And what was the second thing? Baptism means we’re starting a new life. We’re starting a new life doing what God wants us to do. When Jesus was baptized he began a new life as a preacher and a healer and a prophet. When we’re baptized we start a new life of loving each other like God loves us.

So remember, when you hear people talking about baptism, it means that, just like Jesus, you’re soaked in God’s love, and now you are living a new life for God.