More of the Story: Baptized

Now when the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them. The two went down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit (for as yet the Spirit had not comeupon any of them; they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus). Then Peter and John laid their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit. Now when Simon saw that the Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money, saying, “Give me also this power so that anyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.” But Peter said to him, “May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain God’s gift with money! You have no part or share in this, for your heart is not right before God. Repent therefore of this wickedness of yours, and pray to the Lord that, if possible, the intent of your heart may be forgiven you. For I see that you are in the gall of bitterness and the chains of wickedness.” Simon answered, “Pray for me to the Lord, that nothing of what you have said may happen to me.” ~ Acts 8:14-24

(Baptism with water) signifies that the old person (old Adam) in us with all sins and evil desires is to be drowned daily and die through daily sorrow for sin and through repentance, and on the other hand, that daily a new person is to come forth and rise up to live with God in righteousness and purity to sin. ~ Martin Luther, Small Catechism


It took a while apparently for Simon to get the message.
He was pretty amazed by what Phillip did through the Holy Spirit. He got on board with it, seemingly giving up his own magic practice.
He got baptized.
Everything should have been Okee dokey after that, right?
I grew up in an area where my friends went to churches that told them (and so they told me) that all I had to do was accept Jesus as my personal savior, get baptized (again), and everything would be OK. I'd be guaranteed salvation and have on the armor of God!
It sounded to my teenage ears that it meant that my sinfulness would be gone in a flash.
But that wasn't what I knew to be true. I DID love Jesus. And I WAS baptized. 
But I also knew that each day was still a struggle to do the right thing: that there were days where I knew for sure that I messed up. Big time!
Did God still love me then, or did that prove that I was a useless sinner?
And yet each morning, I got another chance to live into the promise of my baptism again. I got to remind myself that I had been claimed by God and that even when I messed up, God still loved me.
It's a lesson I still re-learn each and every day.
Each day he woke up, Luther reminded himself that he was a beloved, baptized child of God. No one could take that from him.
Even himself. Even when he messed up, he was still a beloved baptized child of God.
And so am. And so are you.
And so was Simon. 
Even though Peter was seriously infuriated with Simon's apparent ongoing greed, this passage ends with Simon praying for mercy. It doesn't end with his punishment.
He apparently got the chance to live into his baptismal promise again.
And today and tomorrow and the next day, so do I. And so do you.

Prayer: St. Paul told us that we have been buried with Christ by baptism into death so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. Lord, help us to live into this promise today...and tomorrow. Amen

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