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We have been very fortunate last year to have celebrated a number of Baptisms. While we all offer our support during these services, you may recall that each child had her or his parents there as well as her or his godparents, also known as sponsors.
The same is true for Confirmation, Reception, and Reaffirmation into the church. I can say this with certainty as being a person who often presents, sponsors, and walks with those being confirmed, received, or reaffirmed.
We all need support in our lives, and so it makes sense that we would need a particular someone or someones to walk with us in that journey. However, we don’t often talk about the broader picture for why we require sponsors for Baptism, aside from the practical purposes.
While we talk about Jesus’ presence in the Eucharist, we often don’t talk about His presence in Baptism. Yes, we know from The Book of Common Prayer that we are baptized into Christ’s Body, and yes we know that we are also baptized into Jesus’ death and resurrection. We see that in the Outline of Faith as well as the introduction “Concerning the Service” in the Prayer Book. Yet that still doesn’t get at how Jesus walks with us in the actual act of Baptism.
We do hear this truth in our readings today, though. In Isaiah, we hear that as we “pass through the waters”, God will be there with us. Psalm 29 echoes this by saying God’s voice “is upon the waters.”
Most of all, we witness God’s presence with us through our Lord Jesus Christ. Though He was without sin and though He had no need to be baptized into His own Body, He still got baptized. He did not need it, but He got baptized in solidarity with us and the human experience anyways.
Jesus’ Baptism is a reminder that in our own Baptism, Christ is there with us too. Our sponsors act not only as spiritual mentors, but also as representatives of Christ Jesus’ presence with us as well. Just as Jesus is present with us in the Eucharist, He is present with us in Baptism. Just as Christ Jesus walks with us at the end of our journey in this world, Jesus walks with us as we start our spiritual journey in Faith. Jesus very much loves us and is with us. That is true not only in Baptism, but at every point in our lives.
Even when it does not seem like it, Jesus is there with us. We never have to be alone because we aren’t alone. For that reason, whether we find ourselves in hard times or in good, we can truly say, “Thanks be to God!”