Anthony Doesn’t Want to Leave

I could not have experienced two more memorable expressions of local church ministry in one day. As one who has the opportunity to visit a lot of churches, this stood out as one of the most unique in my weekly churched lifetime.

Young Hearts

I got out of the car and walked toward the entry, as I would any Sunday. I was going to make the standard caffeine stop on the way into the church service when I saw a little boy, probably about 4 years old, crying his eyes out.

As his daddy held his hand, I heard a friend say, “It looks like Anthony doesn’t want to go to church today.” Dad responded, “We just went to church. Anthony doesn’t want to leave.”

Wow! Anthony is starting out with an experience that will live with him for the rest of his life, a life that could stretch toward the twenty-second century. I lifted up a prayer of thankfulness for the volunteers who gave their time to teach, play with, and love Anthony that Sunday morning.

Life Transformation

I stopped by the café and headed into the worship service. The pastor preached a compelling message about Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus in John 3. As Nicodemus was wrapping his brain around the idea of being “born again,” Jesus continued the discussion. Ultimately he said to Nicodemus, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”

Nicodemus wrestled with the teachings of Jesus for the remainder of Jesus’ life. Nicodemus lived on the edge of defending Jesus before his peers in John 7. In John 19 he showed up with a 100-pound mixture of myrrh and aloes to prepare Jesus’ body for burial. Nicodemus, whose lifetime corresponded with Jesus’ in the first century, was transformed by the teaching and love of God’s only begotten Son.

“His arms were outstretched, his face was shining, and he rose to 'walk in newness of life.'”—@BradDupray

That Sunday morning the baptistery was used to its fullest by three or four penitents who came to enter the Kingdom of God, to be born again, as Jesus said, “by the water and the Spirit.” One man stood out to me in particular. His head was shaven clean, tattooed, and tear-streaked. The most prominent of his tattoos were devil horns sprouting at the forefront of his scalp. I couldn’t even imagine the road this man had traveled. And now he had reached a point of being so completely broken that he was willing to step in front of a crowd of strangers, say the good confession, and be immersed for the forgiveness of sins.

As the man with the devil horns went into the water, he had a look of pain on his face. As he came up from the watery tomb, his arms were outstretched, his face was shining, and he rose to “walk in newness of life.” There were wet hugs all around.

I felt like little Anthony at that point—I didn’t want to leave! To witness that baptism was to witness life transformation at its deepest level.

Questions & Answer

As the pastor wove the story of Jesus and Nicodemus, I almost felt as if I were standing by the fire with them that night. Imagine Jesus putting his hands on Nicodemus’ arms, looking into his eyes, as Nicodemus was having a man to Son of Man conversation. Nicodemus may or may not have been converted that night, but a life’s journey of questions turned into answers when he saw Jesus hanging on the cross. He must have been thinking, like the soldier at the crucifixion, “Truly this was the Son of God.”

I won’t make it to the twenty-second century. Just as certainly I’ll never have devil horns tattooed on my forehead. But a life’s journey of questions has given me one answer—truly Jesus was and is the Son of God.