In a story by Flannery O'Connor entitled "The River," a little boy whose parents are alcoholics is taken by his babysitter to a baptism. When they get to the river where the service is being held, they see the fundamentalist preacher standing in the water. The preacher is saying:

Listen to what I got to say, you people! There ain't but one river, and that's the River of Life, made out of Jesus' Blood. That's the river you have to lay your pain in, in the River of Faith, the River of Life, in the River of Love...

Harry, the little boy, is fascinated by the preacher. Before he knows it, he is out in the water and the preacher has hold of him and says to him, "If I baptize you, you'll be able to go to the Kingdom of Christ. You'll be washed in the river of suffering, son, and you'll go by the deep river of life. Do you want that?"

"Yes," the boy says. The preacher plunges Harry's head under the water and when he brings him up, the preacher says to him, "You count now. You didn't even count before."

There isn't much similarity between that account of a baptism and the one we heard as our New Testament reading. In Luke's account, the one baptized isn't a little boy, but a full-grown man. Jesus is the one being baptized, although he isn't the only one. The text says, "Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized..."

The one doing the baptizing in the Gospel account is a man named John, and in some ways he resembles the preacher in the story by Flannery O'Connor. John is an arresting character; both his appearance and his words are remarkable. But as soon as Jesus is baptized, John's presence is all but forgotten. The focus now is on the Holy Spirit descending from the open heavens in the form of a dove and on a voice that declares: "You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased."

Who saw and heard this miraculous event? Well, the gospels themselves give different answers. Matthew and Mark indicate that Jesus himself saw and heard it. Luke implies that all who were present saw and heard it. Whatever the case, all the gospel writers clearly intended the baptism of Jesus to signify God's approval of Jesus, God's blessing upon him.

In a sense, the baptism of Jesus was his ordination. At the age of 30, Jesus sets forth on his ministry. Called by God to teach, preach, and heal, Jesus pursues that calling by announcing that the Kingdom of God is near at hand. The pursuit of his calling eventually brings him into conflict with the religious leaders who plot to destroy him. All this had its beginnings on that day of baptism.

What significance does baptism hold for us? Down through the centuries, baptism has symbolized the new life in Christ that comes to all who believe and follow him.

Baptism is, first of all, an individual matter. I am committing myself totally, without reservation, to be a follower of Jesus Christ. It's like the words of a chorus we sometimes sing:

I have decided to follow Jesus,