Mark 1:9-11 (Matins)
1 Corinthians 10:1-4
Mark 1:9-11
Ours is not a magic-wand religion. Christianity does not dispense pixie dust. Ours is a religion of journeys. Actually, it is not a religion at all but the only reality, for it is God's reality. In the time of the Apostles, it was called The Way. Today, the entrance into The Way for most adults marks a desertion — desertion from the ranks of the evil one, which are the "ways of the world." I am reminded of the Western saint Anthony of Padua, who deserted from the ranks of the Augustinian Canons (a Roman Catholic monastic order) because, he said, he could not endure their corruption and depravity any longer. So he deserted, joining the Franciscans. This marked the beginning of his Way towards the Light and the Life, Who is Jesus the Christ.
Those baptized into the Orthodox Catholic Church are also deserters. Read the vows from the Baptism Service from The Great Book of Needs. The catechumen is asked, "Dost thou renounce satan, and all his works, and all his angels, and all his service, and all his pomp?" And he replies, "I renounce" and then spits upon satan's name. The act of renunciation is the relinquishing of a previously held title, a rejection of something you previously had accepted, or even the hatred for something you previously had loved.
There is nothing eirenic about baptism. It is not a serene ritual. It is war. And the newly baptized Christian immediately has won the enmity of those who had been friends, chiefly the demons. He is instantly plunged into conflict, for now he has entered the fray and must fight for his life. But, O, the difference! For the angels of God are on every side fighting with him and guiding him towards the Light. The Most High God is with Him leading him and comforting him. And he has become a hero is God's eyes, no longer dwelling in the rebel camps.
Immediately after His Baptism, "Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil." This is the royal example. Jesus is not tempted "once and for all." We must make our own way forward. God will not fight our battles for us. That is why the greeting among all Christians everywhere is, "The Lord be with you!"
Baptism is not the beginning of something so much as it is the end. For we had been true sons and daughters of God from our birth. When did we depart? Why did we leave? Our leaving is rarely a decision, much less a distinct rite. It is a drifting, a falling into a deadly trance whose warning signs are disease and depression. Thanks be to God for His rite of desertion.
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost.