The Baptized gone wild...
What would that look like? Martin Luther writes in his treatise entitled, "The Freedom of the Christian," that
"A Christian is a perfectly free lord of all, subject to none.
A Christian is a perfectly dutiful servant of all, subject to all."
Being baptized into such a life would seem to mean no one - not anyone - controls you. You are untamable, set free, liberated. No religious authority, no law, no form of worship, no oppressive system has power over you. Your baptized “you” is free to proclaim:
"I am baptized! Hear me roar!" And yet...
Luther doesn’t stop there. He adds the exact antithesis, you are, “a perfectly dutiful servant of all, subject to all.”
Well poop. I’ve been freed, but it would seem this new life of freedom doesn’t mean my life is my own to do with it whatever I want. When I take my baptism seriously…or rather, because God seriously takes ahold of me in baptism, it is no longer I who lives but Christ who lives in me. And this Christ alive in me - to which I’ve been knit - cannot/will not be tamed!
Christ will lead you to pass through doors, transgresses barriers, feed the hungry, melt hearts, stand with the oppressed, associate with the repugnant, forgive with reckless abandonment, and make peace in this world. Baptized peeps have been freed by God to serve by way of Water and Word. In baptism, God has made us God’s serving love gone wild in the world.
Want to learn more about what Luther teaches about Baptism? Come to “Conversations with Luther’s Small Catechism” tonight (4.10 @ 8PM, following our community meal @ 2100 San Antonio).
Grace to you…pb
