Pastor Thomas Pinckney says that one summer his boys discovered large clay deposits in the swimming hole he and they had built in the Green River. The boys discovered that this clay made great body paint! They would get all wet, then smear clay over their entire body, head to foot.

One day he noticed the two boys covered with clay, with a gleam in their eyes, whispering among themselves. Then they turned toward their mother and declared, “We love you, Mommy!” and ran toward her covered with mud with the intention of giving her a big hug. She naturally ran in the opposite direction. Who wants to be hugged by two boys covered with yucky clay?

But Mothers don’t always run from dirty children, even though they may get covered with filth themselves, do they? asks Pinckney. Imagine this, he says: “You hear the distressed cry of your child and look up: Your precious daughter has fallen face first in the mud, and now runs toward you, tears streaming through the dirt. Here she comes, with mud on her clothes, her face, in her hair, her eyes, her ears, her mouth. What do you mothers do? Do you say, ‘Don’t come near!’ Do you say, ‘You made your mess now clean it up!’ To an older, responsible child, you might say that. But not to one who can’t clean herself. You take her in your arms, soiling your own clothes; you comfort her, then gently clean all the sand and dirt and refuse from her eyes, ears, nostrils, mouth. You love her, clean her, and comfort her. That child has come to you, in effect saying through her tears: ‘I am a mess. I can’t clean myself. If you are willing,you can make me clean.’ And you are willing.”

That is what God has done for us in Christ Jesus. Baptism doesn’t make that possible for us. Baptism is an acknowledgement that it has already been done in our behalf. We belong to God. Baptism is our response of faith. It shows where our allegiance lies. It acknowledges that we are seeking to live a new life in Christ.