We’ve been here before, this river. I don’t just mean every year at this time when we revisit Jesus’ baptism. I mean a few short weeks ago, with John the baptizer doing his thing, “…and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.”
We heard his prediction about the one coming after him, “more powerful than I.”
“I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”
Soon enough, some thirty years after the birth we just celebrated, Jesus showed up at that river.
“In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan.”
As Matthew tells the story, John protests that he is unworthy to baptize Jesus, and Jesus indicates that he must “fulfill all righteousness.” Mark doesn’t add such details. But all four evangelists agree on what happened next:
“And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. And a voice came from heaven, ‘You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.’”
The water, the Spirit’s descent, the heavenly voice of acclamation. This pattern of Jesus’ baptism becomes the pattern for Christian baptism to our own day. This week will explore the rite and rituals of baptism; today let’s try to immerse ourselves in this story of Jesus’ baptism. Let’s put ourselves at that river, among the crowds, imagine the stir when John reacts to Jesus’ presence, the hush that may have fallen as they enacted this ritual of repentance for one who had no need of it.
Close your eyes and see Jesus lower himself into the water until it closes over his head, and then, as he emerges, a dramatic play of clouds and light, and what looks like a dove coming upon him. It is the Spirit's desaction is what makes Jesus from this time on “The Anointed One,” the Greek for which is “The Christ.” Until this moment, Jesus is Jesus of Nazareth in Galilee. From here on, he is Jesus the Christ.
Maybe you hear a sound from the skies, like thunder or a loud wind, perhaps a sound like words that you can just make out… “You are my Son, the Beloved. With you I am well pleased.”
How would you feel if you were an eyewitness to Jesus’ baptism? I’m sure some thought they were seeing things, hearing things. Others knew they’d witnessed a divine intervention into the human sphere, and they told the story and told the story and told the story, until it became one of the foundations of the Christian movement.
How has baptism changed your life? Many would answer, “little or not at all,” which is a shame, for baptism is one of God’s great gifts to us. This week we will explore this rite of initiation which seems so simple and carries so much power. Perhaps we will get in touch with the Spirit’s anointing of us, even if the sacrament that enacted this happened decades ago, or when we were barely conscious.
Faith and even ministry may not always begin with baptism, but each Christian traces our membership in the Body of Christ back to that river Jordan, back to that water of life. Let’s go down to the river again this week.
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