The Baptism of Our Lord

Baptism of Our Lord SIMPLE WATER, SIMPLY GRACE 1/5 & 8/06

Fed by the snows of the 9,232 foot high Mount Hermon, near the border with Lebanon and Syria, the Jordan River courses a valley formed millions of years ago when the earth’s crust shifted and cracked open from southern Turkey to southeast Africa…today called the Great Rift. Averaging less than 10 feet in depth, the Jordan is rarely sedate. In spring, fed by runoff from winter rains and melting snow, the river often overflows its serpentine banks to inundate the broad, ribbon-like floodplain through which it winds. Except in the lower reaches, where the soil is too salty to sustain much vegetation, the floodplain is green, its dense thickets of tamarisk, willow, poplar, cane, and oleander entwine with vines, spiked with brambles to form a lush, jungle-like tangle under a blazing sun. The lower section is so choked with vegetation, and was once so dangerously alive with lions, wolves, and other beasts, that the prophet Jeremiah called it “the jungle of the Jordan” (12:5). Winding and twisting southward, the muddy, often rushing waters of the Jordan empty and die in the Dead Sea…the lowest spot on the entire earth’s surface, a total descent of nearly 12,000 feet. We can, now, better understand the word “Jordan,” which means “one that descends.”

I’ve been at the foot of Mount Hermon, in a small village named Dan. I personally bottled and brought back water from the river at that location and have kept it in this test tube for 30 years, nearly to the day! The water, one can observe, is still as clear as the day I collected it! Our two children were baptized with this water. I’ve traveled along the Jordan River and have stood at the traditional site of Jesus’ baptism, near the city of Jericho. I was struck by the smallness of the Jordan River. Remember in Old Testament days Naaman, the leprous Syrian general, was quite indignant when the prophet Elisha told him to wash and be healed in the Jordan. Compared to rivers like the Mississippi and the Ohio, the Jordan River seems puny indeed.

Several fords exist---shallow spots where the river can be waded-- shallows, where the water swirls and eddies gently form and one can wade at least partway into the river without much danger. It is likely at just such a spot that a mysterious new prophet began preaching to huge crowds. Preaching prophets were not rare, but John the Baptist was different. Although his appearance and diet were admittedly strange, what held the attention of his many listeners and drew more listeners by the day, was John’s urgent message and the passionate conviction with which he spoke. Moved by the power and eloquence of his message, many in the crowd would wade with John out into the Jordan River and be baptized in the muddy flow.

Washings of purification were extensively practiced in Judaism for a variety of reasons. Groups like the Essenes, creators of the Dead Sea Scrolls, performed a daily round of repeated purifications. John’s washing was different enough that he came to be called “the baptizer”…not a washing in a series of ongoing purifications, but a unique seal marking those who repented as belonging to the renewed people of God, prepared for God’s inevitable intervention in the world. John’s hearers wondered whether he might be the Messiah. The religious leaders, having traveled out to see John, asked about his identity. John’s response made it unmistakably clear that One far greater than himself was about to arrive on the scene. This greater One is Jesus!

Mark announces in his opening verse (1:1) that “this is the beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ,” and in the lesson before us Mark first presents Jesus. Via Mark, the first image we have of Jesus is of a man hanging out with a bunch of desperate, sinful souls, gathered in the desert, repenting and going out into the Jordan River to be baptized. Why is the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of God, the spotless Lamb of God entering the muddy Jordan River? Why is Jesus seeking to be baptized?

Matthew, Luke, and John wrestle with the question, adding conversations between John and Jesus or ignoring Jesus’ Baptism altogether. Mark, however, grants us the simple image of a Savior coming to the dirty water for baptism---unexplained, unadorned, unembellished. Our Lord enters the debris-filled Jordan, joins the world’s rabble in the water where they have drug their close-clinging sins, and He shared in the beautiful but dirty water with the beautiful but dirty people. Only after this does Mark record “and just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit of God descending like a dove on Him” (1:10).

Hence begins Jesus’ journey, in this humble encounter with the muck and mire of nature and the broken and despairing of humanity, we see that God will go to any length to save us and show His love for us. Jesus was spiritually spotless when he entered the river water and needed nothing washed away. In the same way, Jesus didn’t need to obediently descend from heaven to spend 30+ years on this planet we call earth. So why? Jesus’ Baptism---as Jesus’ birth, life, death, resurrection, and return---is for us. You and I need a Savior who does more than pity us from a distance. We need, and have, a Savior who is willing to get dirty in order to make us clean…to die that we might live! In doing this Jesus has given us a way of knowing that we are cleansed by His blood. Jesus has given us a means of grace that, once and for all, connects us to His life, death, and resurrection. Jesus gives us a gift that bestows the Spirit on us for a lifetime, and more---the Sacrament of Holy Baptism.

This was a wondrous moment for our heavenly Father, as God’s Holy Spirit descends upon Jesus in the form of a dove, and the Father smiles: “You are my own dear Son, I am well-pleased with you”(Mk. 1:11). This pronouncement echoes Psalm 2:7. This proclamation is reaffirmed at the Mount of Transfiguration (Mk. 9:7) and once again at the Calvary cross when the Roman centurion, observing Jesus’ final breath, confesses, “Truly, this man was the Son of God” (Mk. 15:39).

Baptism marks the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, just as Baptism marks the beginning of our ministry. The Holy Spirit is poured out, the heavens open, identity is granted, and the Almighty God is “well-pleased”! In Holy Baptism, Jesus enters into solidarity with lost humanity, with you and me. Jesus begins His life of costly love and service that eventually leads to His passion, death, and resurrection. Jesus’ baptism, thus, signifies His solidarity with the sinners and outcasts of this world and His complete obedience to His Father’s will. May we daily thank God for that! Amen.