Baptism Homily Stories

When Jesus came to the Jordan River, John tried to stop Him. "I need to be baptized by you," John said, "and you are coming to me?" What was Jesus doing there? He had no sin to wash away. He stood in the water on behalf of all of us — wading into the human condition entirely, taking on our need for purification. And as He came up from the water, the heavens opened. The Father spoke. The Spirit descended. The Trinity was present at the first Christian baptism. That is what is happening at this font today.

Augustine of Hippo spent thirty-two years searching before he was finally baptized by St. Ambrose in Milan in 387 AD. He had studied every philosophy of his age. He had tried and abandoned two different religions. He had lived with a partner for thirteen years and fathered a son. And at the end of all his searching, he wrote: "You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in You." The font was always waiting. The day he stepped into it, he stepped out of restlessness and into rest.

I want to tell you a story — I'm making this up, so stay with me. Imagine a river that runs through a remote valley. The local tradition says that when a child crosses the river for the first time, they are given a new name — not to erase their old one, but to mark that they belong to the valley, to the community, to the land that will shape them. — That's not a real place. But it describes a real thing. The child being baptized today is receiving a new belonging. They are crossing a river. And they will be marked by it for the rest of their life.