 St Alban’s Episcopal Church Bolivar, Missouri Thursday, January 13, 2022  Jesus’ baptism – part 2″The baptism of John” What was “the baptism of John”? First, notice that nobody was surprised by what John was doing, although some disapproved of it. Their disapproval has to do with John doing the “baptizing,” and using the River Jordan, rather than encouraging the people to immerse themselves in a proper mikvah. We know that archaeologists have discovered a hundred or so such ritual baths around the Herodian Temple. Jews used them before entering the Temple, before feasts days and at other times where ritual/spiritual cleansing was necessary. The crowds could have gone and washed there. So what was going on? The River Jordan is important to the story, because it is here that their ancestors entered the promised land after escaping Egypt and wandering in the desert for a long time. They crossed the river, setting down stones of remembrance, pledging themselves again to God. These are Jews. Believers. Followers of God. And yet, John believes they aren’t quite what they say they are John seems to be reminding people that their ancestors’ promise was inadequate for them; that they also needed to commit to the Law and the words of the prophets, to faith and obedience, and, importantly, to “bear fruits worthy of repentance” as he says in Luke 3:18. It is quite a terrible indictment – to be reminded that we are not living as the people we are. That our words don’t match our lives. It’s a shock, And as always, the leaders of Israel were not amused to hear that from the lips of an itinerant preacher down by the riverside. But honest people were willing to hear it.. And they came, confessing their sins, and were cleansed in the water, newly committed to their faith, ready to rise up and be who they were called to be.   Only one Gospel asks why Jesus was baptized. For the others, it was probably self-evident. Jesus was a Jew. He went to the mikvahs too, when he went to worship. But here he chose to enter the water with the others who came for repentance, declaring what he intended to do with the one life he was given. He was not forced to accept a life of radical obedience – the sort of obedience to God that did not admit of any compromise with religious or political authorities. He chose it. But Jesus gathered up all of Israel in himself, and finally, fully, determined to BE Israel. Israel had been created to be: the beloved Son of God. The Old Testament calls Israel “son of God”, first in Exodus 4:22: “Israel is my first-born son.” But Israel had not been who Israel was…Jesus was determined to be. Entering the water at the River Jordan, was a thoroughly Jewish act, but for Jesus, a radical one. And the voice confirmed his determination: “You are my Son, the Beloved, with you I am well-pleased.” I have seen a lot of sermons this week emphasizing that we are all “the beloved;” surely, that is true. But it misses the point of this story. Jesus’ baptism is not like ours. Jesus chose to be by himself – in himself, what all Israel had been summoned into existence to be: the true Son of God, the one like God, who would represent God in the world, the one who would be a “light to the nations” and show the beauty of God to “the nations” who would then come to know, love, and worship God. We Christians believe he succeeded, all the way to death and beyond it – which is why we gentiles have been able to come to the God of Israel and find welcome, adoption, life everlasting, and joy in Christ Jesus.   |
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