February 2023 - LPNI

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February 2023

Remember your Baptism!

When a child is born, one of the first questions is: What is his or her name? When my family was in Mongolia, we were quite intrigued when we were told that some children’s name are called ‘No name’ in Mongolian. Why are they called ‘No name’? According to their Mongolian, shamanistic belief, an evil spirit would not be able to harass a child who has no namebecause it cannot recognize the child.

In many cultures, when parents give a name to their children, there is a meaning to it. We find that also in the Bible. The name Jacob means grabber, cheater; Joshua means God is salvation; and Jesus means Saviour. In some countries with Christian cultures (early Europe), the Christianname is the name they received at Baptism.

Often the name speaks about who they are or what they hope they will be. God gives us a name when we are baptized (Christian or child of God). It tells who we are, our identity. Many people throughout their lives, struggle with their identity. Often when we don’t know our identity, who we are, our culture is quick to define for us. It may say: ‘You are a nobody because you are not educated’, or ‘You are not considered successful because you don’t have this or that’.

Who are you? You are baptized and that is who you are. The Gospel, Luke 3:1-21, records the account of John the Baptist preaching about repentance to a people who had an identity crisis. The Jews at that time based their identity, thinking they were under special favour from God because their ancestor, Abraham had a special relationship with God. John the Baptist, starkly told them, ‘Don’t count on that!’

Everyone has to personally recognize the need for repentance and forgiveness of sins, to experience a new life, and a new identity. When Jesus stepped into the waters to be baptized, theSpirit came on him. That is a great identity change: the sinless Son of God identifying with sinners, and then going on to new adventure of ministry to others.

When Jesus came to John to be baptized, it was to stand in identification with sinners. Jesus, who is the sinless Son of God, stood with them in their sins, and took the place of sinners. When Jesus was baptized, he took up all our mess of sin and brought it to the cross.

In identifying with sinners – you and me – Jesus was condemned in our place at the cross. He came to identify with us in our sins because of his love for us.

In her famous book, The Hiding Place, Corrie Ten Boom tells about a Dutch family who has a great love for the Jewish people. In 1884, Corrie’s grandfather, Wiethlem, started a weekly prayer meeting for Jewish people in the city of Haarlem, near Amsterdam. This prayer ministry continued until 1944, when the Ten Boom family were sent to a concentration camp for helping Jews to flee the persecution of the Nazis. During the persecution of the Jews by the Nazis, Corrie tells the interesting story of her father, Casper Ten Boom.

When persecuted Jews were forced to wear the Star of David armband, Caspar wore it because he wanted to identify with the Jews whom they had prayed for and loved all these many years. Caspar was so willing to be totally identified with the Jews that he was willing to wear a symbol of shame and suffer persecution for the sake of the people he loved. He didn’t have to wear the Star of David but he chose to wear it.

Jesus was baptized because he loved us so much that he chose to identify with us. In 2 Corinthians 5:21, Paul describes Christ’s substitution and identification with sinners by telling us: God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him, we might become the righteousness of God. In our greatest need, for the forgiveness of sins, Jesus identified with us.

The next thing we see about Jesus’ baptism is the coming of the Spirit on him, with the voice from heaven that said, ‘This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased’. Just as baptism affirmed Jesus’s identity, you and I have been given a new name: son and daughter of God. We become a beloved one in whom God is well pleased. It does not matter who you were before, oryour past background, in the water of baptism, God claimed you as his own, loved by him.

Remember your baptism! It’s your identity as a loved child of God!

Rev Jimmy Khoo

Pastor, Bedok Lutheran Church, Singapore jimmykhoo@lutheran.org.sg