I had the privilege of baptizing five new believers today. In preparation for today, I’ve been reflecting throughout the previous week on the reality that baptism reenacts (or enacts, as many Christians believe). The foundational declaration of the Christian faith is that Jesus of Nazareth is the crucified and resurrected Lord; then, secondly, that we can participate in his death and resurrection – not as a quasi-existentialist metaphor, but as sober truth. This real death and resurrection is what baptism is all about.
We tend to say that being baptized means dying to sin. This is true, but not the whole truth. Baptism means dying, full stop. Baptism is not so much about changing lives as it is about ending them.