Ecclesiastes 1.2,12-14; 2.18-23; Colossians 3.1-11; Luke 12.13-21

You may not have been aware of it when you heard it, but today’s Epistle reading is all about baptism, so it’s particularly appropriate for today. It was the lectionary compilers who chose the reading for today, not me, but we’ve ended up with a very fitting one.

Today’s reading starts with the words “If you have been raised with Christ” - “if” here in the sense of “since you have been raised with Christ”. You have been raised with Christ, so now you should set your minds on him. Being raised is what was seen as happening in baptism.

If you were to read the rest of Paul’s letter to the Colossians, you would discover that he uses the image of death and resurrection to talk about what happens in baptism.

Baptism is a very symbolic action. There is a lot of imagery associated with it. Baptism was seen as a sign that someone was following the actions of Christ. In baptism, a person was dying to their old earthly life, which in Paul’s terms was only going to lead to death, and being raised to new life, as Christ was raised from death to life.

At the time when Paul was writing, baptism was not just about pouring a small amount of water on someone’s head. It would have been by full immersion, so there was a sense that as the person was pushed down into the deep waters of baptism, they were dying; and as they rose up again, they were being raised to life in Christ.

Paul tells us frequently that what gives us true life is faith - baptism is the sign and symbol of that faith.

In a paradoxical way, those who had died in baptism had gained new life. The death was the death of the power of sin to trap and condemn; the resurrection being raised to a life where forgiveness comes into play and life goes beyond this world.

Paul’s teaching is that for those who have been baptised, the requirement is to set their minds on the things of God.

In baptism God grants us an extraordinary privilege of a new life in him, but that privilege comes with responsibilities to live as people of God, by following the example of Christ and becoming more Christ-like ourselves.

So, in the same way that baptism was said to be a death of the old life, people had a responsibility to also put to death those sinful actions that were not compatible with the life of those who live in Christ.

Paul lists those things with which the Colossians were struggling - fornication, impurity, passion, evil desire and greed, which is a form of idolatry since it places too much value on things. All these things belonged to the lives of those who had not received Christ’s new life.

As do anger, wrath, malice, slander and abusive language, and lies. We’ll all be aware of the particular things we struggle with. Though we still do them their power is destroyed because of God’s forgiveness which is always greater than human sin.

And then, Paul mentions another of the commonly used images for baptism - that of being stripped and reclothed. As with the death imagery, it was a case of putting off the old ways and putting on the new ones - perhaps the difference between wearing an old and dirty, tatty coat, and a brand new, clean smart one.

In fact, in the early Church when a person was baptised, they would go into the water naked, and once they had come up they would be dressed in a new set of white clothes to symbolise the new life that they had entered.

And in baptism, all that mattered beforehand was no longer of any consequence. The old divisions that divided people no longer have meaning, so that in baptism all are equal, because all that matters is that we are God’s children, the identity that we claim in baptism.

All these things are part of what we are doing for Alexander today. He is too young to express his own faith, so his parents and godparents are doing that on his behalf, and making promises that as he grows they will help him to experience what it means to know God’s love, what it means to be part of a Christian community, what it means to pray and worship, and that they will teach him about the Christian faith.

He’s too young to have engaged yet in any of those specific sins that Paul mentioned in his letter, but that doesn’t stop his baptism being a symbol of new life. Our world is sadly tainted by sin and he will be affected by that, but his baptism is a reminder that the effects of sin can be counteracted by the forgiveness of God, and we hope and pray that as he grows, Alexander will come to the knowledge of forgiveness and experience the liberation that it brings.