"Go, therefore, and make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit."
What does it mean to baptize in the name of? What was baptism when Jesus uttered these words? A washing of renewal, I suppose. What was the history and understanding of this act that cousin John made popular out in the wilderness, and which Jesus himself went through?
It seemed to be a ritual cleaning. Perhaps the ultimate version of such a ritual. To be doused into the water and brought back up was to physically experience the full renewal of turning to the new way demanded by John's "baptism of repentance."
But then Jesus leaves his disciples with this command to go and baptize. Richard Rohr's recent work on the trinity, The Divine Dance, points out the deep metaphysical truths of a trinitarian understanding of the world. Seeing God as trinity, means seeing life as relationship in a profound way. And I wonder what these words of Jesus mean then, if heard with those ears...
"Go, therefore, and make followers of this way by washing their lives in the deep nature of relationship and interconnectivity." Immerse them in it. "Baptize these new followers," doesn't mean to simply mark them. That's what the ritual does, but the ritual points beyond itself. Just as John's baptism was the beginning of an ongoing path, so too baptism is an ongoing affair. To baptize in the name of the trinity is to set in motion an unending deep dive into the meaning of life as created by, nurtured by, sustained by, and also reflecting ultimate being as relationality and love...
What would it look like if we baptized as such? What would it mean to the church to understand the charge to make disciples in this way? It seems to make it easier--it seems to be a blueprint for how to do it. How do you make disciples? You continually wash them in the deep nature of reality as interconnected and relational. Does it involve teaching and knowledge? Yes, but it's not a matter of cognitively knowing the right doctrines. Does it involve practice? Of course, but it isn't a matter of simply following the right rules.
