Narrative Lectionary Year Four (John)
August 15, 2021 — Romans 6:1-11, Baptism
Free Additional Resources for Study & Sermon Preparation
Furthering the Power of God’s Story – Narrative Lectionary Commentary
by Daniel D. Maurer
Paul’s concept in Romans 6—when a reader critically examines it—makes little sense from a logical point of view. That about it: because a believer has been baptized, they are now dead, just as Jesus had died.
Why? How does that even make sense?
The Romans occupying the province of Judea and the leaders residing in Jerusalem concluded that Yeshua ben Youssef of Nazareth (an agitator during a time of much unrest) should be executed. So, they did it. He died the Roman execution tool of terror—crucifixion.
But, wait. Something happened. People started proclaiming that Jesus was risen, that he lived again. What’s more, these same people adopted the practice of baptism, whereupon a person’s sins were forgiven. But unlike John’s baptism (or anyone else’s for that matter), this baptism was special.
It was a once-and-for-all baptism.
The early followers of Jesus believed that those interested in becoming a part of “The Way” would undergo instruction as catechumens or “photozomenoi”, those destined for the light.
Then they were dunked three times in “living” water per the Didache, an early Christian instruction manual. Then, if a leader of a household received baptism, then (usually his) the household itself—mother, children, slaves, servants—would all participate in that baptism.
It’s as if “death abounds”!
But what has this all got to do with Paul’s proclamation in Romans, chapter six?
Baptism was more than a symbolic death. It was a ritual showing that death had no power over life. And that new life always springs forth from a decaying, hopeless, and seemingly purposeless death. Now, one’s death marked a new beginning.
This new cult springing out of the ancient Levant, would come to shape the world. Death no longer had dominion over life. Because out of the waters sprung a new life that could not be stopped. It was a once-and-for-all death, not just a symbolic one.
Next time you preside over a baptism, learn to stress this side of radical death. That’s what baptism is. It has always been an ending. It always ushered a new beginning.
And a new life.
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The following links and resources are not produced or maintained by Clergy Stuff. However, at the time of this posting, the links were active and considered to be good source material for proclamation for the text for this week. Please scroll down or click on the quick jump menu you find below. For more free worship resources & planning materials, please visit our links for RCL Worship Resources.
Other Resources
Exegetical Links
"First Thoughts on Year A Epistle Passages in the Lectionary," Pentecost 6, William Loader, Murdoch University, Uniting Church in Australia.
Comments (commentary) and Clippings (technical notes for in-depth study), Chris Haslam, Anglican Diocese of Montreal.
Sixth Sunday after Pentecost, God's Saving Work in the Letter to the Romans: Lectionary Texts for the Pentecost Season, Arland J. Hurtgren, Word & World Texts in Context, Luther Northwestern Theological Seminary, 1993.
"Buried and Raised with Christ," Rev. Bryan Findlayson, Lectionary Bible Studies and Sermons, Pumpkin Cottage Ministry Resources.
"An End to the Reign of Death (Romans 6:1-14)," by Robert Deffinbaugh at the Biblical Studies Foundation.
Great Quotes
“You never know how much you really believe anything until its truth or falsehood becomes a matter of life and death to you.”
“Krishna was once asked what was the most miraculous thing in all creation, and he replied, “That a man should wake each morning and believe deep in his heart that he will live forever, even though he knows that he is doomed.”
“But sometimes I think what the church needs most is to recover some of its weird. There’s no sense in sending her through the makeover montage of the chick flick when she’ll always be the strange, awkward girl who only gets invited to prom on a dare. In the ritual of baptism, our ancestors acted out the bizarre truth of the Christian identity: We are people who stand totally exposed before evil and death and declare them powerless against love. There’s nothing normal about that.”
A Good Read
The Spirit of Hope
by Jürgen Moltmann
*Clergy Stuff encourages its customers & readers to support your local bookstore if something looks good enough to purchase. Or, your local library, if available.
Video Resources
(Connection = Baptism as “New Story”)
Daily Devotional Feed
Free Dramatic Reading For This Text (NRSV)
Romans Text
Readers: Reader 1, Reader 2
Reader 1: What then are we to say? Should we continue in sin in order that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin go on living in it?
Reader 2: Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.
Reader 1: For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.
Reader 2: We know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be destroyed, and we might no longer be enslaved to sin.
Reader 1: For whoever has died is freed from sin. But if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.
Reader 2: We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. The death he died, he died to sin, once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.
Reader 1: So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.