Sermon for Eirana Holsten, who died in utero
Baptism is the best chapter in The Small Catechism. I suspect that every
Gospel of the Church year could be preached as a baptismal Gospel, and
probably the entire New Testament should be put to that test. In our Bible
Studies together, you have seen for yourselves how the pages of the
Scriptures fairly drip with such baptismal imagery as washing (Titus 3:5),
new birth (John 3:5), adoption (Galatians 4:5), and the changing out of old
clothes (1 Peter 2:2) and into new (Galatians 3:27). The miracles of
preaching and of Holy Communion come once or twice a week, but the miracle
Baptism never goes away. Your Baptism is Christ-here-and-now and
Christ-with-you-always. Baptism is fire by night and cloud by day. Baptism
marks an inheritance that cannot be stolen, but only refused. In Baptism,
all of salvation history washes over you and your children, saturating you
with its undying benefits. Baptism gives certainty. Baptism gives
consolation.
But then some of our tiniest children die without God's miracle of Baptism.
In these cases, we are forbidden to console ourselves with baptismal
certificates, as do those parents whose infant Christians die after they
have been regenerated in the baptismal font. Certain Words from God, such as
"Baptism. now saves you" (1 Peter 3:21), can begin to sound more like
indictments than assurances. When our unborn children die, the promise of
infant salvation through Baptism feels like the teasing older brother who
holds your favorite toy overhead, just out of your reach.
We are not without our Bible passages. We must entwine our fingers into
these passages, so that we may hold on to them as best we can. David's son
died before circumcision, but David still vowed to see the child again (2
Samuel 12:22); Jeremiah's God knew Jeremiah before the prophet was knit
together in his mother's womb (Jeremiah 1:5); the unborn John the Baptist
surged with joy at hearing Mary's voice, exultant to know that the unborn
God in Mary's womb had drawn near (Luke 1:41). But these were all special
cases. Elizabeth was in her sixth month and the baby had ears. Jeremiah was
successfully born and David's son had become collateral damage. They all
lived longer than Eirana lived. These Bible passages may offer us
pocket-change comforts for our first-trimester dead (and we do not hesitate
to take what we can get), but they come up a little short. These Bible
passages show us examples, but they do not provide us with direct promises.
They lack the straightforward and precise "for you" of a baptismal
certificate.
This Gospel for the First Sunday in Lent is a good Gospel for
those who feel themselves lacking Bible passages that do the job well enough
for them. This is a good Gospel because St. Mark is notorious for what he
chooses not to say:
Jesus. was baptized by John in the Jordan. And when He came up out of the
water, immediately He saw the heavens opening and the Spirit descending on
Him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, "You are My beloved Son; with
You I am well pleased."
The Spirit immediately drove Him out into the wilderness. And He was in the
wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan.
Absent here are those Bible several passages with which Jesus so readily
parried the devil's attacks. Sts. Matthew and Luke are the ones who tell the
story of the three satanic temptations and the three corresponding defenses
Jesus claimed from the pages of the Word. St. Mark cuts all those nourishing
Bible verses away. St. Mark forces us to be content with only this: "The
Spirit immediately drove [Jesus] out into the wilderness. And He was in the
wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan."
It is not that Jesus does wish to rely on passages from God's Word. It is
simply that St. Mark wants us to see Jesus relying upon something other than
lines on a page. In St. Mark's Gospel, Jesus must rely upon His Baptism.
"You are My beloved Son; with You I am well pleased." These Words get
strapped onto Jesus like a backpack before the Spirit shoves the Son of God
into His exile. The memory of heaven having been torn open for Jesus at His
Baptism now becomes an article of faith-believed but not seen in this arid
place where heaven and Father and Spirit seem to have all disappeared.
Jesus. was baptized by John in the Jordan. And a voice came from heaven,
"You are My beloved Son; with You I am well pleased."
These Words allowed Jesus to reason Himself, "Even though I feel miserable
and abandoned here in this wilderness, I know that I am God's Son and
beloved Child. I know this because of what was declared concerning Me in My
Baptism. I am hungry, but God has now declared Himself to be My Father. No
human father would give a stone to his child who asks for bread, or a snake
when he asks for a fish. How much more will My Father in heaven provide for
My daily needs, even in this breadless desert? Not only am I hungry, but I
have no one here to share My sorrows and to bear My loneliness. These angels
are nice, but what do they know of suffering? Yet I should not think of this
hostile environment and these hardships as signs that My Father is
displeased with Me. His Words were very clear at My Baptism: 'With You I am
well pleased.' And what of these temptations by which the devil keeps
harassing Me? Heaven's door was torn from its hinges for Me when I was
baptized! What can the devil do about that? He can howl all he wants. I am
baptized and the devil's best tricks amount to nothing!"
That is how Jesus could reason to Himself while in His wilderness.
That is why this is such a good Gospel for first-trimester deaths and for
the funerals of those whom we have not been allowed to baptize. We cannot
rely upon Baptisms that never took place-and that is the hardest thing about
death in utero. There are not many Bible passages that fit the bill for us,
either. Some passages come close, but none put their soothing balm precisely
on the bruise. We are in a bit of a wilderness: in the same way that Christ
Jesus our Lord must rely upon His Baptism during His temptations, so must we
rely upon our Baptisms as well. (And we will not pretend that we are not
tempted when we lay our children to rest!)
God the Father in heaven declared you His child at your Baptism,
in the same way He declared Jesus His Child in this Gospel. What was said of
Jesus now is also rightly said also of you because you are the baptized of
Christ: YOU are God's beloved Child; with YOU He is well pleased. Nothing
could be more directly spoken to you, more specifically aimed at you, or
more individually delivered to you than these Words of God, which He spoke
to you at your Baptism: "You are My beloved Son; with You I am well
pleased." That is the divine Word of your Baptismal certificate.
No, Eirana has not been baptized, but you have been. Beginning with the
divine proclamation of your adoption in Baptism, you may reason to yourself
in the same way that Christ your Lord also could reason while in the
wilderness. You may say to yourself, "In my Baptism, God the Father made me
to His child. God my Father in heaven is not like earthly fathers who err or
sometimes react too harshly. God my Father in heaven will only do good for
me and never anything evil. My Baptism has already delivered me from all
evil, long before I could even pray for such deliverance. Therefore no evil
has befallen me and no plague has come near my tent, even though this child
has died (Psalm 91:10). I cannot regard Eirana's death as evil. A hardship,
yes: as hard and as lonely as exile in the wilderness. But I will not regard
this death as evil because My Father in heaven is incapable of visiting evil
upon me. This child Eirana was not placed so briefly in my life for my
torture, but for my blessing. This child was lowered down from the broken
gates of heaven for me, then quickly drawn upward again for me, so that I my
fix my eyes upon 'the Father of lights' (James 1:17). Every good gift is
from above (James 1:17). I cannot think of Eirana as anything other than a
good gift from above."
This is the good and pious use of reason. This is the way the
baptized of Christ should reason for themselves, especially at the funerals
of children who die before Baptism can be delivered. There is no better time
than this for us to believe in Baptism all the more, for when we believe in
Baptism, we are believing in Jesus. Where we cannot cling to this child's
Baptism, we must cling to our own. Bereavement is a cold and lonely
wilderness, but your Baptism has wrapped you in your Christ! Mourning is
fraught with temptation, but God promises that His angels will serve you
during your suffering (Psalm 91:11-12) in the same way Jesus was likewise
served when "the angels were ministering to Him." God's beloved Son Jesus
made it in from His exile. You will, too.
The peace of God which passes all understanding guard your hearts
and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
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