SAINT Bartholomew Anglican Parish

A few weeks ago, we were reflecting on this passage at my Monday night Bible Study and one of the women was disturbed by it. She didn't like the image of being baptized into Christ's death and wondered what it meant. I can understand why she was upset by it as one of her grandchildren as well as her brother had recently died. These words are often included in funeral rite so I told her that it was meant to be a reassurance of our resurrection as well as the reality of living as a Christian. If we are baptized into Christ's death then we need to put to death all those parts of ourselves that are not according to God's will. Just as Jesus subjected his will to that of the Father's by accepting his death on the cross, we need to subject ourselves to his will. We need to root out those bad habits that lead us to sin. We need to put God and others before ourselves. We need to reach out to others who are in need, even if it means going out of our comfort zone. Dying to self, leads us to a life of love which brings us a happiness that is richer for its simplicity. When we die to self, we're not concerned with what we don't have, we feel blessed for what we do have. And the reward is eternal life with Christ in the heavenly Kingdom.

What would it take for the people to recognize Jesus as the Messiah, the Christ? It turns out, that it would take his resurrection. His miracles were not enough. His teachings were not enough. In spite of everything he had done, they would allow themselves to call for his death. Only his resurrection made at least some of them see the error of their ways and repent. In many ways, the spread of Christianity is a miracle. Only because of the preaching of the apostles who were witnesses of the resurrection and believed in the teachings and the promises of Christ, did the Good News of salvation reach into all areas of the known world. It is only because of the wisdom of those who realized that future generations needed to know about Jesus and wrote down his works and his teachings that we are aware of all that he did for us. But knowledge is not enough. Belief is not enough. What we need is repentance and a lifestyle change that goes along with that knowledge and belief. This is not always easy, and usually goes in stages. The more we learn about Jesus and his promises, the more we want to know. As our knowledge of Jesus' teachings grows, we realize the areas of our lives where repentance is necessary. As we grow in faith, we understand where we have failed. We see that gossip can harm. Our eyes are open to those who are suffering and need our help. No more can we ignore those bad habits that lead us into sin. Let's work on repenting so that we will be acceptable on the Day of Judgment.