BAPTISING CUCUMBERS IN VINEGAR
- May 27
- 1 min read
We hear the mantra often enough: ‘We are an inclusive community.’
However, our starting point is not exclusion, but mutuality, precisely because we are baptised into the Father, Son and Holy Spirit:
God is a mutual God. He is in us, and we are in him.
Baptise is a Greek word meaning immerse.
For instance, there is an ancient recipe for ‘Baptising cucumbers in vinegar.’ Cucumbers need a good soaking, as do we:
Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptising them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
And teach them to observe all that I have commanded you (Matthew 28).
We are to be baptised in water and in the teaching of Jesus. This makes us disciples.
It is good to focus on immersion in water, but we should not forget the immersion in teaching.
The early Church focused on both immersions:
For instance, St. Cyril of Jerusalem (313-386) has bequeathed to us a ‘Christian Instruction Before Baptism.’
The Church took seriously the need to be baptised in the teaching of Jesus, before baptism in water.
It would be good for us to have this focus.
AMEN.
