Baptismal meditation

John 20:21-22: So Jesus said to them again, Peace be with you; as the Father has sent Me, I also send you. And when He had said this, He breathed on them and said to them, Receive the Holy Spirit.

In Scripture, water is often a boundary.  Israel exited the land of Egypt by going through the Red Sea, and at the end of their journey they entered the land by crossing a river.  The Jordan river was the boundary of the land, and in the time of Solomon the land stretched from the Mediterranean sea to the great River, the River Euphrates.  Priests entered the Lord’s house through washing in water, and every time Israel entered the temple, they passed through the water again, washing themselves to be clean and passing through the water chariots that led to the temple courts.

Baptism is the watery boundary between the world and the church, between the realm of Adam and that of Christ, between the flesh and the Spirit.  It is the doorway that leads from the house of Egypt to the house of the Lord.  By baptism, we are incorporated into the Beloved, and become beloved sons and daughters.

That’s all true, and important for understanding what happens in baptism.  But if we stop there we miss an important dimension of baptism.  In the beginning, water flowed from Eden and through the garden out to the four corners of the earth.  Those rivers bounded the lands outside Eden, but the rivers also led Adam to new land, and new treasures.  Baptism is not only an entrance but an exit.  It is a gift, and it confers gifts. It is also a commission.

Your son bears the name of one of the great missionaries of the Christian church – Patrick.  He was the evangelist of Ireland of course, but ultimately not only Ireland.  Monks from Ireland fanned out across Britain, crossed the Channel, and became a missionary army that evangelized and re-evangelized Europe.  Patrick was a river source, and that river flowed to the ends of the earth.

Just as much as his namesake, your Patrick is caught up in that sending, that great flow.  Train him to live up to his name, which is to say, train him to live up to his baptism.  Remind him that his baptism has not only gathered him into the ark of Christendom to keep him dry, but that his baptism has caught him up in the sending of the Spirit who comes from the Son whom the Father sent.  Remind him that he too has been sent out.  Remind him that at his baptism, Jesus breathed on His child, as He breathed life into Adam, and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.  As My Father sent Me, so send I you.”