Reading 9: What then are we to say?
“What then are we to say?” St. Paul urges us to respond in kind to God’s overwhelming grace; but instead of using our mouths to proclaim God’s love, we often use our speech to hurt others, to render judgments, to gossip. Profanity is spewed at black professional baseball players by fans, revealing the ingrained prejudice and racial insensitivity rampant in our society. We say what we shouldn’t, and those moments reveal how strongly sin has a grip on us. But we are baptized!
Our baptism into the death and resurrection of Jesus is contrary to our sinful behavior. Paul asks, “How can we who died to sin go on living in it?” For Paul baptism brings a change in the way we think, how we act, and what we say. Here Paul uses two images: our sinfulness is drowned beneath the baptismal waters; and even stronger, in baptism our sinfulness is “dead and buried.” The power that God gives in baptism changes how we behave toward others and what we say about others. Baptism frees us from those sinful acts to be the holy and faithful people of God.
There should be no doubt that the crucified Jesus is raised, that our sins were nailed to the cross in his death, and that his rising makes all of life, and everything in our life, NEW. “So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.”
There is deep concern expressed here for how we use our baptized bodies. Are they temples of the Holy Spirit dedicated to the Lord or do we abuse them? Do we use our bodies to abuse others through words or actions?
Baptism into Christ means that we are no longer slaves to sin, but free to lead holy lives as God intends. Yes, the end for us in Christ is life eternal; but that life begins now through baptism as we use our bodies, including our mouths and lips and tongue, as instruments of God’s grace.
“What then are we to say?” Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift in Christ Jesus our Lord!
How might you remember the meaning of your baptism each day?
How does your faith in the Risen Lord inform the way you will speak to and about others today?
Thank you, Risen Lord, for the gift of baptism that changes and renews your people. Make us die to sin each day, and raise us every morning to be your holy and loving children. Keep us from speaking evil words to and about others. Fill our mouths instead with your praise and our hearts and minds with love for all. Give us your Holy Spirit so that we may be your Easter people now and forever. Amen.
–The Reverend Dr. Paul Weber is Professor Emeritus of Church Music and Director of the A Cappella Choir at Lenoir-Rhyne University. Dr. Weber served two congregations in western Pennsylvania prior to his call to teach at Lenoir-Rhyne. Although now residing in Staunton, Virginia, Dr. Weber remains on the roster of the NC Synod and serves as a member of the synod’s Reformation 500 Task Force.
