Baptising them in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost / Baptising them

What did Jesus mean

Clean the inside of your cup.

Where did Jesus say this

Matthew 28:16–20 — Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them. And when they saw him, they worshipped him. But some of them doubted. And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying: All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go therefore and teach all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I commanded you. And lo, I am with you alway, even until the end of the world.

Words Behind the Words

In Greek, the word for baptism is baptizō. It means to “submerge” or to “immerse.”

There is also the Greek word bapto, which means to “dip.”

If you dip a blanket into dye and pull it back out, it’s pretty much the same blanket it was before it was dipped into that water.

However, if you fully immerse that same blanket into that same dye and pull it back out, it’s not the same blanket it was before. It’s something different. It’s transformed.

Now apply this to the modern version of a baptism. What Greek word would you use? Would you use the same one Jesus used or would you use bapto?

What Jesus did not mean

To pretend like you are one with Jesus because you simply dipped yourself in water.

To take his words and manipulate them into performative rituals.

To push an easy button.

To understand this fully, let’s quickly discuss something Jesus says in Matthew 6:2-6. Here’s a snippet of that conversation:

“Whensoever therefore thou givest thine alms, thou shalt not make a trumpet to be blown before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, for to be praised of men. Verily I say unto you, they have their reward. But when thou doest thine alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doth, that thine alms may be secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, because they would be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, they have their reward. But when thou prayest, enter into thy chamber, and shut thy door to thee, and pray to thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.”

Translation: People love to make a spectacle out of God. And if that’s what they want, that’s what they’ll get. You want a baptism in public? You want to pretend like that’s how you clean your cup from the inside out? You want to be loud, and you want people to watch you? Then that’s the only reward you will get. The eyeballs. Not the Kingdom of God. The ones who go to God in private and form that relationship with God one brick at a time… those are the ones who are truly rewarded.

And if you’d like further convincing on this matter, take it from God himself.

Amos 5:21–24: “I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies. Though ye offer me burnt offerings and your meat offerings, I will not accept them: neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat beasts. Take thou away from me the noise of thy songs; for I will not hear the melody of thy viols. But let judgment run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream.”

Jesus and God don’t care about your performances. They don’t care for your rituals. They’re only concerned with what’s inside. They don’t need you to dip yourself in water to know what’s going on inside your heart; they already know.

Continued reading: The Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector

Where to start

Understand that, in order to be baptized, you must first clean the inside of your cup. It is, in essence, a rewiring of your brain. But this is more of a journey (an immersion), rather than a quick dip in the pool.

Think of it like building a relationship with a new person. You don’t meet a person on day one and instantly understand how they think, what they like and don’t like, and how they move through the world. It takes time, and it requires consistent work.

For Jesus specifically, it requires you to repent.

But remember, repenting is a good thing. It means you’ve discovered something really beautiful exists just beyond the horizon. All you have to do is walk up to it.

The walk there, however, may be a difficult one. And it doesn’t look the same for everyone.

And 10 times out of 10, it doesn’t look like a dip in a pool.

Words Behind the Words

Repent in Greek is metanoia, which translates to change (meta) and mind (nous). Translation: rewire your brain and how you think. This requires an internal journey.

Benefits

You stop performing. (This is a recurring theme with Jesus.)

And when you stop performing, you can finally do the real work it requires to change how you think.

And once you start the real work, that’s when you can build a real relationship with Jesus.

And if you think this relationship is metaphorical, then you haven’t done any work yet.