Sun. Jan. 12, 2014 (Tim Tse)

Timothy Tse (graduate theology student at Regent) spoke on the day's lectionary text concerning the baptism of Jesus. Baptism originated with the ancient Jews as a symbolic cleansing from the impurities of sin. The contemporary Essenes could be baptised as often as 14 times a day, constantly repenting. John the Baptiser surely knew of them as he practiced his form of baptism at the Jordan River. Jesus asked for baptism for yet another reason, that of demonstrating his acceptance of and identity with John's mission and calls for repentance and change. Our baptism expresses our willingness to follow Jesus. To 16th-c. Anabaptists, being rebaptised symbolized accepting Christianity as an adult, there being more committed to God than to the state. To Anabaptists, baptism has never been a sacrament (which makes insistence on specific forms of baptism seem most unfortunate). One can of course repent, believe and follow Christ as a disciple without ever being baptised. But the symbolism of baptism is possibly similar to that of marriage -- public declaration of commitment, something to be followed with an on-going commitment.

Listen to the sermon audio MP3 recording from Sunday, January 12th, 2014 using your browser's preferred media player.