Baptism Drowns Esmeralda

Holy Baptism of Esmeralda

September 8, 2013

Romans 6:3

Baptism Drowns You

In the name of Jesus.

I.

Dearly beloved, tiny Esmeralda is very beautiful and almost completely helpless. Sure, she can open her eyes, but you nurse her. You change her. You dress her. You do everything for her because she's a baby.

When it comes to her soul, she's totally helpless (there's no “almost” about it) because she is a sinner. Sin doesn't care if your a baby or about to die, where you live, where you come from, how much money you have, how smart you are, how well you speak, or even if you can read. From the beginning of life, we rebel against Jesus and pretend that we get to decide what is right and what is wrong. We pretend that we are God.

King David reveals this fact clearly in the Psalms,

“I was guilty when I was born; I was sinful when my mother conceived me” (Psalm 51:5)

The cure to the disease of sin is Jesus and His Sacraments. Though Baptism, Jesus drowned Esmeralda to death because the only way to stop this disease is to kill the patient.

[A]ll of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death[.] . . . we were buried with Him by baptism into death (Romans 6:3-4)

The only way to stop sin before it kills you is to die. So in Baptism Jesus killed Esmeralda . . . and then He brings her back to life. She's still a sinner, but now Christ has created a new person called Saint Esmeralda. She's a saint not because she's done any miracles, but because a miracle has been done to her!

Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with Him, because we know that Christ, having been raised from the dead, will not die again. Death no longer rules over Him. (Romans 6:8-9)

Everyone dies because everyone is a sinner. But since St. Esmeralda has already died and Jesus has already brought her back to life, she can't die again. She might die physically, but it won't be the end. Everyone is going to exist forever; by Christ's gracious gift St. Esmeralda will exist forever in His presence.

Until Jesus calls Saint Esmeralda home, feed her, change her, dress her, walk with her, read to her, pray with her, laugh with her, and enjoy her company. Her life will not be an easy one—whose life is?—but she will not struggle alone. Through the Sacraments of the Church, she will be forgiven and washed clean by God the Holy Spirit.

As a forgiven sinner, she will have crosses to carry as she faces times when she feels alone and even abandoned by Jesus, but her Savior's holy cross will always pull her back to His promise: “I am with you always, until the end” (Matthew 28).

This daily death and rebirth will continue until Time itself stops. Because Jesus has killed, drowned, crucified, and buried St. Esmeralda and has also raised her to new life, she will always live, safe in Jesus' eternal care.

In the name of the Father and of the † Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.