Dye-ing

“Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
-Jesus, Matthew 28:19

This past Sunday was one of my favorite days of the year at our church. We shared a big outdoor brunch, heard stories of God's transforming love, and plunged a few disciples into the shockingly cold waters of an inflated swimming pool beside the parking lot. Brunch and baptism Sundays are the best. 

Jesus invited his earliest followers to begin a movement that included baptizing people into God's family (Mt. 28). And it's been going on, in all its forms, for over 2000 years. I find baptism to not just be a peculiarly beautiful action, but an ever-growing metaphor for understanding the work of Jesus in our lives. 

I learned something a few years ago that I mentioned Sunday, and I'm still thinking about it. Although today we hear the word baptize as a very religious word, there were other common uses of it at the time the gospels were written. Primarily, the Greek word baptizo (to dip/immerse) was a term used in textiles. 

When someone would make clothing, an important step in the process was coloring it. Dyes were made from a variety of plants, berries, and even animals. 
When the cloth was ready to take on color, it was "baptized" into the dye. When it was lifted back out of the liquid, it would bear the mark of what it had just been immersed into. 
Nobody would simply call it a dress anymore... they would call it a purple dress. Why? Because the mark of its baptism would be the characteristic that others would notice before anything else. 
"Which girl are you talking about? Oh, the one in the purple dress. Got it. I see her now."

Jesus is always helping us embrace fresh understandings of what God's heart is really all about. Baptism isn't simply a faith ritual. It's a mark of a changed identity. 

To live a life trusting Jesus is to slowly, painfully, beautifully.... become marked by God's Spirit so deeply that it becomes the most noticeable identifier in our lives. When we are living a life immersed in Christ, it will be the easiest thing for others to see on us. 
Now sometimes what we hear in that statement is: Yes! Everyone should know that I'm a Christian. I'll make sure it's one of the first things they learn... by telling them that I'm a Christian.

Now, certainly we should not hide that identity, and we should be prepared at any moment to give the reason for the hope that is within us. 

However, when we talk about being dyed with the color of Jesus, it's not about the t-shirts we wear or keeping our Bible prominently displayed in the baby seat of our shopping cart as we pick up a box of yogurt.

We're talking about a way of being characterized by the sort of trust, love, and compassion that we see lived out through Jesus. It's the ability to walk through each day with hope that is beyond our circumstances. It's a life that reveals a sort of messy, imperfect reflection of a perfect love. 
A life dipped in Jesus will leave a remarkable stain. Over time, it will be so noticeable that people will start to notice in our lives what Paul in Galatians calls "the fruit of the spirit:"
Love.
Joy.
Peace.
Patience.
Kindness.
Goodness.
Faithfulness.
Gentleness. 
Self Control. 

Now, there are plenty of days I don't exhibit that fruit, and my baptism reminds me that God's grace washes over me even then, restoring me through his Spirit again and again. On those days faithfulness totally looks like dying to my own self-centeredness... for the beauty of the better life before me.

We are invited into God's newness each day. We can freely lay down our need to protect, to posture, to pretend, and to perform. We can lay down our self-obsessed nature, and just allow it.... to dye. 
That's what a life immersed in Jesus looks like. 
It looks like dying. And it looks like dye-ing. And both lead to life. 

My friends, Jesus is inviting you daily to plunge into the renewing depths of love and grace. This isn't actually about baptism. It's really about the life and identity that bursts with color when Jesus is the one providing it. 

So today, may you be so filled with the resurrecting love of God that you willingly die (dye), and come out changed forever. 

Jesus, mark me today for life in your beautiful Kingdom. 

Peace,
Keith

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