Rescued from the Tyrant’s House

January 11, 2023 

Fr. John Riccardo 

This past Saturday we were blessed as an ACTS XXIX family to celebrate the baptism of Samuel Caleb Jorgensen, the newest and fourth child of our teammate Nick and his wonderful wife, Emily. Seeing as Monday was the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, baptism is front and center for us all this week. Accordingly, it’s a great chance for us to think a bit more about our own baptism.  

What’s the big deal about baptism? Why do we do it? Isn’t it just some empty ritual? To answer that, it might be helpful to turn to Colossians 1:13. Paul writes, “He [God the Father] has delivered us from the dominion of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son.”  

Paul is telling us that something – something monumental – has happened to a disciple of Jesus. That word “delivered” could also be translated as “saved” or “rescued.” And the word “dominion” could also be translated as “power,” “authority,” “lordship,” “control,” or “government,” among other related words. If we could see the spiritual “passport” of an unbaptized person it would read, “This person is under the control, the authority, the lordship of Death, Sin and the kingdom of darkness.” And there’s no way out. These powers have dominion over every person who comes into this world, thanks to our first parents falling for the deception of the enemy in the Garden of Eden and selling our race into slavery to these powers which cannot defeat.  

But something has happened to a disciple of Jesus. She’s no longer under the control, the dominion, the authority, the lordship of Death and Sin and the kingdom of darkness. Really. 

I once heard a pastor friend of mine explain this by encouraging us to imagine what it would be like to grow up in an abusive and violent home (not hard for some of us to imagine). Because of the atmosphere at home, you do everything you can to avoid being there as much as possible. You play every sport, get involved in every extracurricular activity at school, stay out late each night and do your best to quietly sneak in so as not to wake anyone, or plates might fly. Or worse.  

Across the street, so my friend encourages us to think, lives an “annoyingly happy” family. Every night as you try to sleep you can hear the father outside on the lawn, playing and laughing with his sons and daughters, throwing a football, playing games, and just loving his kids.  

This goes on for years. You can’t fathom what that would be like.  

Then, one day, when you’re home all alone, you hear a knock on the door. You go down to open it and, behold, it’s the dad from across the street! He smiles at you with a loving gaze you’ve never seen before and asks, “Would you like to come live with us?” 

This is what has happened to us as disciples of Jesus. We got a new passport. We moved. We’re no longer under the control of the kingdom of darkness, or the power of Death or Sin. Though it will happen to us all, Death can’t hold a Christian, for Jesus has defeated it. And though we still have memories, habits and urges – and thus struggle in many ways – Sin has no control over us either.  

And when did this happen? It happened when we were immersed in water (or it was poured over us) in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. 

Let us give thanks to God this week for the amazing gift of relocation that has happened to us! And let us do all we can to go about the mission Jesus has entrusted to us as his disciples to bring others to Him, that they too might come to know the love of our heavenly Father.