Baptismal meditation, Fifth After Epiphany

2 Kings 10:16: And Jehu said, Come with me and see my zeal for the Lord.

Jehu leads a bloody revolution that overthrows the house of Ahab. He kills Joram king of Israel and Ahaziah king of Judah. He has Jezebel killed, and orders the decapitation of 70 sons of Ahab. He slaughters 42 members of the royal house of Judah, and arranges things so that the sacrificial celebration in the house of Baal ends in a bloodbath.

Jehu leads a bloody revolution, and Jehu is a type of Christ. Jehu rides over the garments of his soldiers as they proclaim him king, just as Jesus is greeted with Hosannas and palm branches at his entry to Jerusalem. Jehu enters the capital city of Samaria, and destroys the temple of Baal, just as Jesus entered the city of Jerusalem to condemn the temple of Yahweh.

Jehu and Jesus both demand total commitment, a change of loyalties, a switching of side sin a war. Jehu tells the soldiers who come to meet him from Jezreel to “turn around and follow me,” and as he approaches Samaria he invites Jehonadab to join him on his chariot. As Jehu goes about his bloody business, he gathers followers, “disciples” who change sides from loyalty to the house of Ahab to service to the revolution.

Jesus comes making the same demands. “Follow me” is a call to join a revolution, a coup, a war to the death against the principalities and powers of this world. And part of the meaning of baptism is that it enlists the baptized to be a member of that army. The church fathers spoke of baptism as a seal, and they compared the seal of baptism to a brand on an animal: the baptized are branded as sheep of Christ’s fold; they compared the seal of baptism to a slave’s tattoo: the baptized are marked as servants in the house of Jesus; they compared the seal of baptism to the mark that soldier’s received on their bodies to designate them for a regiment in the Roman army: the baptized are marked out as soldiers in the army of Christ.

Of course, our warfare, Paul tells us, is not against flesh and blood. Christians fight against the world and the devil, and also against our own sinful flesh. But this doesn’t mean that our warfare is not really warfare. The opposite is true. The warfare that we engage in is far more intense than Jehu’s, and the stakes are much higher.

By her baptism, Ophelia is being enlisted in the church militant. And by her baptism the Lord is promising to equip her for the war that is ahead. She improves on her baptism by carrying on Christ’s spiritual warfare throughout her life. Prepare her for battle, prepare her to wrestle with principalities and powers, teach her to triumph over her own flesh, ready her to be a mother of warriors. Train her to follow the greater, the perfect Jehu.