The Miracle of Baptism

"Baptism changes us."

In 1995 neurologist Oliver Sacks published a book titled “An Anthropologist on Mars.” In the book he discusses a man named Virgil. Virgil was born blind but at the age of 50, he underwent a surgery that restored his vision. But doctor and patient soon learned that having the ability to see is not the same thing as being able to see.

We see with our brain as mush as our eyes. It is our brain that interprets the images received by the eye. At first Virgil could make out colors and movement. But his brain had no context in which to interpret these images. It was unable to make sense out of the images and left Virgil confused. Over time he learned to identify some objects but he still behaved as a blind man.

Dr. Sacks observed that, “One must die as a blind person to be born again as a seeing person. It is the interim, the limbo... that is so terrible.”

Through Baptism we are restored to grace, but sometimes the interim between death and life, between spiritual death and rebirth, is terrible.

The baptism administered by John is not the baptism of our sacrament. John preached a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. But in Christ all things are made new. With the baptism of Jesus the old symbol is transformed into something new. Jesus is the archetype of all those who will be baptized after Him. All will receive the Holy Spirit from above and be reborn as Children of God.

Water, formerly a symbol, has now become part of a sacrament, necessary for anyone who is to be “born again of water and spirit” and thus share the divine life.

This water, this grace of salvation, is freely given. We cannot live without grace just as we cannot live without water.

But in addition to spirit and water, there is blood. It was blood and water that flowed from the side of Christ upon the cross. Spirit, water, and blood have become a single “testimony for His Son.” As a baptized people we are children of God by the unity of the water and blood of Christ.

Baptism changes us. We are born into a state of existence that is less than what God intended for us. Mankind was created with sanctifying grace that allows us to share in the divine life of God. But through the disobedience of our first parents, we lost this grace. It fell from us like an all-encompassing robe and we saw that we were naked.

Without this grace we could no longer live in God's presence. We were exiled from the Garden and have been working our way back to Him ever since.

It is through Baptism that t his grace is restored to us..

We enter into the life of Jesus through baptism. And eventually we will stand where He did. In the end, with the Holy Spirit, we will be called upon to testify to our faith in Christ.

Pax Vobiscum
The Baptism of the Lord

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© Lawrence Klimecki

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Deacon Lawrence draws on ancient Christian tradition to create new contemporary art that seeks to connect the physical and the spiritual.. For more information on original art, prints and commissions, Please visit www.DeaconLawrence.org 

Lawrence Klimecki, MSA, is a deacon in the Diocese of Sacramento. He is a public speaker, writer, and artist, reflecting on the intersection