John 20:31
“But these are written so that you may continue to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.” [1]
Today is a day of two celebrations in our parish church.
It is the Sunday after Easter Day, when - as seen in our readings, hymns, and the decoration of the church - we continue to celebrate Easter, the Resurrection of Jesus.
It is also a day when we are celebrating three baptisms - N, N, and N will shortly be receiving the Sacrament of Baptism.
If we are lucky, we might just hear three babies decide to loudly join in our Easter praises and remind us of their presence with us this morning. If that does happen, parents - relax. We are delighted to have N, N, and N with us for their baptisms this morning.
These two celebrations - of Easter and of Holy Baptism - are not separate. They do not stand apart from each other. Both these celebrations joyfully flow into one another for they are both celebrations of Easter faith and Easter life.
And the meaning of both is found in those closing words from our reading from John’s Gospel, as John explains why he has written his gospel: “But these are written so that you may continue to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name”.
The Easter faith is that “Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God”.
This is what the Resurrection of Jesus proclaims - it reveals Jesus as the Christ, God’s Anointed One, God’s Son: the One in whom God’s gracious, faithful, and loving purposes for His creation are revealed.
As we heard in our first reading, from the Acts of the Apostles, "God raised him up, having freed him from death, because it was impossible for him to be held in its power" [2].
This is the Easter faith.
This is what the empty tomb of the first Easter Day points to. This is what is revealed to the first disciples in their encounters with the Risen Lord.
At Easter, and on each Sunday throughout the year - the weekly commemoration of the Resurrection - we celebrate this Easter faith: Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. [3]
This Easter faith is also at the heart of the Sacrament of Baptism.
It is the faith in which Holy Baptism is administered.
In the Baptism service, just before the sacrament is administered, we will all be asked to share in the words of the Creed. “Do you believe and trust in God in the Son? I believe in Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, our Lord”. [4]
To say “I believe in Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, our Lord” is to confess the Easter faith, for it is the Resurrection which reveals Jesus to be the Christ, God’s Son.
This is the faith, professed by the first disciples, proclaimed by John and the other authors of the New Testament, and confessed by Christians across the centuries and across the globe - the Easter faith which we celebrate this day and into which N, N, and N are about to be baptised.
As John tells us, from the Easter faith comes the Easter life: “But these are written so that you may continue to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name”.
Through the Easter faith in Jesus the Christ, the Son of God, we share in His resurrection life.
This is what the New Testament calls eternal life, everlasting life. [5]
The life that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, shares with God the Father in the communion of the Holy Spirit - this is the life that is ours through the Easter faith.
It is the divine life in which we share now, throughout our earthly lives, and in the life of the world to come.
This is inaugurated on the first Easter Day, in the resurrection of Jesus, when all the destructive powers of this world, including death itself, are overcome, and we - through the Easter faith - are brought to share in the resurrection life.
This Easter life is God’s gift to us in the Risen Lord: it is ours throughout our earthly lives; when life is good and when it does not work out as expected; when we are strong in our faith and when we mess up; when we know joys and when we know sickness or grief; when life is starting out and when this earthly life draws to a close.
The resurrection life is ours, through the Easter faith: the resurrection life which means that we are always, eternally sharing in the light and love of the divine life.
In the words of John: “and that through believing you may have life in his name”.
The Sacrament of Baptism is the sign and seal of this Easter life. [6]
As the prayer of thanksgiving is said over the water in the font, we will hear this: “Pour out your Holy Spirit in blessing and sanctify this water so that those who are baptised in it may be made one with Christ in his death and resurrection”. [7]
Our baptism is the sign of the grace and truth that in Jesus the Christ, the Son of God, we share in the Easter life, in the resurrection of Jesus.
As N, N, and N come to be baptised this morning, this is the meaning of the Sacrament of Baptism. Through the Easter faith, they share in the Easter life, the gift of God in the resurrection of Jesus.
For them, for us, Baptism is the sign and seal of this throughout our lives: that, through faith, we are united to Christ in His Resurrection, sharing in the Easter life.
This is why Baptism is one of the two Sacraments given by Jesus Christ to His church.
Baptism is the sign of our initiation into the Easter life; the Holy Communion is the sign of us being renewed in the Easter life.
And so as the Bread and Wine are administered later in this service, we will hear the words ‘The body of Christ, the blood of Christ keep you in eternal life’ [8] - renewing us in the Easter life into which we are initiated by Baptism. [9]
Easter faith, Easter life.
This is what we celebrate this morning, on this Sunday after Easter Day and in the Sacrament of Baptism.
The Easter faith through which we share in the Easter life.
As John declares, “But these are written so that you may continue to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name”.
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