I offer you here a few sparks of light to illuminate the complexity of aspects that this ritual has opened up in Christian thought.
The reality of being baptized, like the reality of being married, is something that one moves and grows toward, something that is publicly celebrated and supported, something that endures and in which one must continue to grow and mature. That does not capture the whole of the situation or even say it well; mysteries are not easily captured in similes. Peter, Paul, John, and countless other disciples have painted countless pictures to try to express the mystery. All are true; none captures the whole truth. Baptism is incorporation into the body of believers, baptism is a grafting into the Body of Christ, baptism is re-birth as a child of God, baptism is a washing away of sin, baptism is a commitment to Christ, baptism is a solemn covenant with God, baptism is a celebration of God’s commitment to humanity, baptism is a ritual death to self, baptism a ritual resurrection into Christ. Like the facets of a gem, each statement sheds a fraction of the light; but this light we try to capture is the very light in which we stand, the very light that contains us, creates us, and reveals us even unto ourselves.
Baptism is a gift. No human can create itself, absolve itself, or incorporate itself into the divine. If we accept the state of being baptized exits, it comes from outside the self, it comes as a gift from God.
Baptism is a commitment. It is a response to the gift of God, to the love of God. It is response of love to love.
Baptism is a mystical union. The gift of love is always the self. In baptism the human surrenders in love to the Holy One, and the Holy One surrenders and humbles Itself to enter and dwell in the human.
Baptism is a ritual death. The candidate is plunged into the water, and the water is the tomb of Christ. There is only one Lord, one God, one Spirit. The pride of humanity that believes itself to be its own lord, its own law-giver, its own source of meaning dies here. There is either Christ or Me; there is no room in the Trinity for both.
Baptism is a ritual re-birth. The candidate is drawn out of the water, and the water is the Spirit-filled water of a new womb. If the soul surrenders all the private agendas, ideas, feelings, desires, hopes, fears, drives, goals, cravings, and wants, then the promise stands firm that the Triune and Holy shall come and make that soul Its dwelling forever. The human is restored to Eden. Once again the creature has for its centre, its breath, its companion, the Creator.
Baptism is life in Christ. The Triune and Holy who dwells within as Lord and Sovereign is the same God who has called this all into being out of love. The Lord and Sovereign is also the Lover. A lover never wills the death of the beloved. A lover shares life, brings healing, comfort, direction, light, power, insight. A lover embraces the ego and draws forth a person. Everything Jesus experienced, knew, felt, willed, everything in Christ, dwells within the baptized heart. Everything in Christ awaits in the baptized heart, awaits the moment of adoration, the moment of silence when human and divine can again be one in the world. The Power of that moment is life, new life, life-in-Christ, life renewed, a life at work to recreate the world so that the Love who made the world might for all be made manifest in it.
Baptism is an avowal of parousia. Fr. Kavanagh claimed a Christian could only speak of his death in the past tense. To be baptized is to die for Christ’s sake. The world can only see and hear, can only know, can only come to Christ if I offer my life, my body and soul, to be the vessel of the second coming. And the scriptures end with the righteous reply: “Come, Lord Jesus, come!”