Baptismal meditation

From last Sunday, delayed due to interruption of Internet service.

Matthew 6:24: No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.

Today's sermon was about wealth, money, treasures, and trusting our Father for our daily necessities. One of the central things that Jesus teaches is that money can become a master, dominating and controlling us, and that it is impossible to serve God if money has become our master.

But Jesus' statement that "no one can serve two masters" has a broader application. It is universally true. Everyone has a lord. Everyone obeys something or someone. When two desires, or two demands, or two competing options face us, we have to make a decision. We have to decide what we are going to serve. We have to determine whether we are going to serve Jesus or some other master.

There are many masters vying for our allegiance, and always have been. Money is one. Pleasure is another. Success is another, and comfort, and fame. Any of these can become our true lord, our true God. Our true master is revealed at those decisive moments in life when we have to choose a way to go, when we have to listen to one voice rather than another.

Baptism is all about becoming a servant to one master, Master Jesus. According to the church fathers, baptism is a seal, and by that they mean it is like a brand. In Roman times, slaves were branded with the name of their master as a sign of ownership. Baptism is like that. Baptism brands the name of the Triune God, the name of Jesus, on our foreheads, and we become His slaves. We can be good slaves or bad slaves, but we are His servants regardless.

John is being branded today. He is becoming a household servant of the Great King of heaven and earth. That is a privileged position, not a menial one. It's true that the Bible also describes us as sons and heirs. But being a slave to a great master is not demeaning. It is a privilege, because we share in the reputation and glory of our master. But it is a position under authority. And John today is being called personally, by name, to serve Jesus and Jesus alone.

Your calling as parents is to train him to follow his master. Teach him that there are other masters around, and teach him that he needs to resist them. Equip him with the training he needs to resist - remind him of the well-fed birds and the well-dressed grass, teach him the folly of worry, tell him often about his Father who cares for him. Teach him he is a slave of Jesus, and that he must serve Jesus. Teach him he is a slave of Jesus, and that no one can serve two masters.

posted by Peter J. Leithart on Saturday, October 13, 2007 at 08:30 AM

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