Mid-Lent 4
Gal
3:26-29
3/29/17
In the Church of the fourth century
A.D. the candidates for baptism received catechesis during the weeks of
Lent. If they were from outside the city
where the cathedral was located – the church of the bishop – they would go to
that city and remained there during the season of Lent.
Baptism itself at the Vigil of
Easter took place in the baptistery – often a separate building adjacent to the
cathedral. The individual descended into
the font which held water that came up to about the waist. They entered wearing only their undergarment,
and in some places wearing nothing at all. Then the bishop poured watered over
their head as they were baptized. After baptism, as they emerged from the font,
they were dressed in a white garment.
Those who had been baptized were
then led into the cathedral in a procession wearing their white garments.
There, the other Christians were waiting for them. When they arrived, the Service of the
Sacrament took place as the newly baptized received the Sacrament of the Altar
for the first time along with the other Christians.
The baptized came to church on
Easter Sunday wearing their white baptismal garments. However, they weren’t done with church
services when Sunday was over. Instead,
they attended services each day during the week of Easter and also received
further catechesis that unpacked what they had experienced. During the services of that week, they wore
their white baptismal garment each day and sat together as a group at the front
of the church where they could be seen by all.
Their presence provided a name for this time that was used in some parts
of the Church: they called it “white week.”
The use of baptismal gowns in the
Church has a very long history. And it has been prompted by Paul’s words in our
text tonight where he tells the Galatians, “For as many of
you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.”
The apostle’s words provide yet
another way that the Scriptures describe the Sacrament of Holy Baptism. I like to compare this sacrament to a
diamond. When you look at the diamond
from different angles it provides a different appearance as the facets reflect
the light. And yet of course each view is showing you the same diamond.
During our mid-week Lent homilies we
are considering the different ways that the gift of baptism is a blessing to
us. We have seen that in baptism we receive the forgiveness of sins, we are
buried with Christ and we receive rebirth.
Tonight we learn that in baptism we have been clothed with Christ. And we find that when Paul says this he is
using it to prove deep and central truths about the Christian faith and life.
Paul says that in baptism we are
clothed with Christ. The background for
understanding this is a verse like in Isaiah 61 where we hear: “I
will greatly rejoice in the LORD; my soul shall exult in my God, for he has
clothed me with the garments of salvation; he has covered me with the robe of
righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful
headdress, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.”
In baptism, through water and the
Word the Spirit applies the benefits of Jesus’ death and resurrection to us. To
be clothed with Christ in baptism is to be covered by his holy sacrifice for us. It is to be covered by his
righteousness. And so when God looks at us,
he does not see our sin. Instead he sees
Christ and what he has done for us. Because of Jesus, we become in God’s view
something that we are not! And because this is so we are saints – we are the
forgiven people of God.
There is no time when we want to
remember this more than at the death of a Christian. We need to be reminded of the assurance we
have that because of baptism this person is a forgiven child of God. And that is the role of the funeral pall that
is placed over the casket at the beginning of the funeral service. Like the garment at baptism, it is there to
serve as a visual reminder that this individual was clothed with Christ and his
righteousness in Holy Baptism.
Paul says in our text, “For
as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.” The word “for” here is important because it
tells us Paul is using this statement about baptism to establish or prove a
point. And his point is stated in the
previous verse: “For in Christ Jesus
you are all sons of God, through faith.”
Jewish Christians had come to the
Gentile Galatians and told them that if they really wanted to be part of God’s
people and be saved, they needed to do the works of the Law of Moses. They needed to be circumcised, follow the
food laws, and observe the Jewish religious days.
Paul is telling the Galatians, that this is all wrong. What we
do is not involved in any way in our salvation. Instead we are justified by
God’s grace through faith in Christ.
Paul has said in the previous chapter, “we know that a person is not
justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also
have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and
not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.”
The
Galatians believe in Jesus and his death and resurrection. And because they do, they are already the
sons and daughters of God. They may not
descend from Israel, but because of Jesus they are the sons of Abraham. Earlier in this chapter Paul told them, “Know
then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that
God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to
Abraham, saying, ‘In you shall all the nations be blessed.’ So then, those who are of faith are blessed
along with Abraham, the man of faith.”
God had
made the promise that in Abraham’s seed – his offspring - all nations would be
blessed. And then Paul identifies this offspring as being Jesus Christ. He writes, “Now
the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, ‘And
to offsprings,’ referring to many, but referring to one, ‘And to your offspring,’
who is Christ.”
Jesus Christ is the offspring of
Abraham promised by Scripture. The
Galatians have faith in Jesus. They are
in Christ – they are joined to him and receive the blessing of his saving work.
They are sons and daughters of God. How
can Paul say this for sure? They’ve been baptized! That’s why Paul says, “For
as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.”
As those who have faith they have
been baptized into Christ. They have
been clothed with Christ. They are
therefore justified by faith. They are therefore in Christ. And if they are in
Christ the offspring of Abraham, then they too are the offspring of Abraham. Paul concludes in our text by saying, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there
is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in
Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs
according to promise.”
We find it
easy to forget that this is who we are – that we are in Christ; that we are
sons and daughters of God; that we are heirs according to promise. We are prone
to suffer from a spiritual amnesia.
Instead, we live like we belong to ourselves. We live like we belong to the world as we
take up its ways of thinking and acting.
And that is
why we must always be returning to our baptism; why we must always be holding
up baptism before us. We do so because
when we look to our baptism we are reminded that we have been baptized into
Christ. We have been clothed with Christ. And because this is so we are people
who are in Christ. We are sons and
daughters of God.
This status
is ours and it means that we are forgiven for all of the times and ways we
forget. It also means that the Spirit
who was at work in baptism to make us people who are clothed with Christ is
still at work in us so that we can live like people who belong to Christ. Reminded that we are sons and daughters of
God through baptism and faith, the Spirit prompts and leads us to live like people who are.
You have
been baptized. That means you have been
clothed with Christ. His saving death
and resurrection covers your every sin and allows you to stand before God as a
saint – a holy one in Christ – a forgiven sinner. That is true now. It is true on the Last Day. And so you can live confidently in the
knowledge that in Christ and through faith you are the sons and daughters of
God.
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