Day 21 Friday - Mar 17, 2023; Mar 8, 2024; Mar 28, 2025
Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ -1 Peter 3:21
The “this” which Peter says baptism corresponds to was Noah’s Ark, where “a few…were brought safely through water” (1 Peter 3:20). Noah’s Ark can be a troubling story, especially from a bird’s eye view of things. You can see all those people and animals that perished. But from the Ark, it is a story of salvation.
Baptism can feel that way too. We’ve already touched on this. When we are outside baptism looking in, or above looking down and noticing all the people who are unbaptized we wonder about their fate. We worry for them. Maybe we even shutter a bit at the thought that maybe God would condemn a person for being unbaptized.
As we said before, baptism should not be seen as a burden. Nor should we believe that God cannot save a person outside baptism or automatically condemns the unbaptized. But we should say all the more that the viewpoint is the wrong viewpoint to have. The story of Noah’s Ark is not about the people who perished. It was preserved to tell the story of the people God rescued. It was their story. And so it is with baptism. It’s saving power, its majestic promises, its entire meaning is really meant for and understood best when we have received it. It was not given with those who refuse it or do not get a chance to receive it in mind. It was given and its promises are spoken with the baptized in mind.
There is a theory - that I think is rather good - that 1 Peter may be a baptismal address. And when you hear that, connecting Noah’s Ark to Baptism is like saying to those getting baptized “Welcome aboard!” It’s impact is meant to be the sweet relief of getting inside the boat, where the waters that surround it become the story of your salvation.
When you’re baptized, Peter says it saves you. You’re in God’s saving boat. Its waters will always be your great story. And the name of this boat: The Church. The name of the story: The Gospel of Jesus Christ.
What a wonder, Lord, to be in your Church by baptism. What a gift to know that your gospel is the story of my salvation. What a joy to realize that I’ve been brought safely through water to the glorious new world you are making. Thank you, dearest Jesus, for baptism. Amen.
This post is a part of my daily Lenten devotional on Baptism. You can read more about it here.
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