Christ and the Eternal Current

Matthew 3:13–17 NRSV

13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan, to be baptized by him. 14 John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” 15 But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now; for it is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he consented. 16 And when Jesus had been baptized, just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens were opened to him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. 17 And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”

A couple years back, I used the metaphor of sleeping and waking as a daily reminder of our baptism and rebirth in Christ. In a sense, each night’s rest is a death to the old self — we close our eyes and fade into restorative sleep, then to be awakened by the light of the dawn and the renewal of a fresh day. In this sense, we remember our baptism each night and morning, dying with Christ and raising again from the waters to be made new.

However, this time around, I want to append this metaphor. While it is the sleeping and rising that mark our daily practice of remember, I think it’s really important that we acknowledge another vital behavior in this cycle that actually does the resurrection work. Actually, two behaviors.

Coffee. And a shower.

I’m sure you’ve seen the humorous night shirt inscribed with “no talkie before coffee.” Right? Our culture has made the consumption of this morning stimulant a necessity in our morning rituals and routines. Maybe you don’t drink coffee, then perhaps it’s tea or even soda or a pill. Caffeine first, before we face the day.

And then there’s the shower. The glorious rinsing away of sleep and aches, the rejuvenation of shampoo and soap, the warmth of a water and the coziness of a towel. With all of these in line, we can face the day, right?

I noticed a couple of weeks back, on Christmas, that most of us came to church still very nicely dressed and presentable, even though I’d made the strong statement of “come as you are, wear your PJs, bring your favorite mug, come, be.” Why didn’t anyone heed this? Well, I think it’s because we all function a lot better once we’re washed and dressed and prepared to face the day.

If you’re looking for ways to remember your baptism or understand this rhythm of ritual and cleanliness, look no further than your sleep, hygiene, and breakfast routines. These daily rituals are invitations to remember God’s providing hand to you each and every day, that God’s promises are new each morning, that the renewal of ourselves in Christ comes alongside these simple routines, the quotidian mysteries of our lives.

Let’s talk about this ritual of washing and the way baptism was understood for the hearers of this Gospel, as it is told by Matthew.

To understand the significance of our passage today, we have to go all the way back to the foundations of the Hebrew law. When the people of Israel, the Hebrews, set out from their captivity in Egypt to return to Palestine and the land God had promised them, they needed to structure their life. They needed structures and laws to help order their journey and make sure they stayed faithful to God’s ways along the path.

The Hebrew Law, the Torah, is written down in the first 5 books of the Old Testament, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, the first 5 books you’ll find in your pew Bible. When we think of these books, we think of the stories they tell — creation, the flood, Abraham’s journey, Jacob’s visions, the plagues of Egypt, the crossing of the Red Sea, Moses on Mount Sinai, and more. But these books are also filled with the catalog of the Hebrew law.

The law was received by God’s people and written down to structure their lives. It kept them faithful to the purpose of their journey — to stay together as a people and make it back to a new home. The law dictated how they were to order their worshipping, working, eating, and leisure. It covered all of life. What kinds of fabrics would they wear? Who would marry whom? How would they atone for wrongdoing amongst themselves? How would they honor God with their possessions and harvest?

The law also dictated how they would punish wrongdoing and invite those who had stepped out of order back into community. Central to this important aspect was the system of sacrifice — giving back what you had to God, through burnt offerings, gifts of worship, and…physical cleanliness.

Here is where we get to ritual washing and, ultimately, baptism.

Today is Baptism of our Lord Sunday, the week in our liturgical cycle where we remember the story of Jesus’ baptism in the Jordan River by his cousin, John.

The Hebrew law structured the need for people to wash themselves after becoming unclean — perhaps because of touching a dead body or eating food from outsiders or simply in preparation for coming into the holy place of God’s presence in worship — it’s all about restoration and preparation.

Let’s, for the sake of levity, link this again with our morning wake, wash, and coffee routines. We may not have come into contact with an ill person yesterday, but our partner or roommate might tell us we smell like death. (Of course, I’ve NEVER heard that before.) We wash to prepare for the day, to get ready to present ourselves to the world. It’s not all that much more complicated — you get this, right? And we also know when our hygiene has taken a back seat — perhaps we haven’t washed our clothes recently or we’ve got something stuck in our beard — we need a wash, a restoration.

Now, back to Jesus at the Jordan river. We have to remember that Jesus was not a modern, American Christian like you or me, but rather a first-century Jew, a man who walked from place to place, who endured dust and heat which would make him and his comrades dirty and smelly. He also was religious and committed to following the law, so ritual washing in preparation to go to the temple or participate in any religious service would be required. You make yourself presentable before God.

When I was a kid, I remember having many conversations with my parents about why I had to wear nicer clothes to church. Why oh why did I have to wear a belt or comb my hair? I knew a young man, not much older than me, who used to wear a white t-shirt to church that had bold black letters on the front: “Church Clothes” It was his protest, or perhaps his parents’ resignation — at least they got him to put on Church Clothes.

But put into the context of ritual cleansing and preparation, this makes more sense now — we prepare ourselves to come to worship.

And more important than our clothing or our hygiene, we encourage each other to prepare our hearts to come and worship. All are welcomed, as they are, in whatever they wear or look like. At the deeper level, we each are moreso invited to prepare our inner selves, our heart and our soul’s orientation — moving from postures of being closed off or guarded, to being open and receptive to what God has to teach us and show us today.

Baptism and ritual washing are markers of this preparation. They say — we know we want to orient ourselves to this time of worship and gathering. And so we wash ourselves to present ourselves to God.

We do this and we remember this each time we gather not because we are always dirty or horrible people. But rather because we know that throughout our days, it’s easy to get loaded down by baggage and frustration, emotions and ideas, that can cloud our view and obscure our sense of God’s presence. We wash to remember, to remember God’s promises for us.

When we baptise a person, we are making a public statement of those promises that God has for their lives: promises to sustain and be with them, promises that they are beloved and supported in God’s community, promises that even before they know God, God loves them deeply.

Why did Jesus need to be baptized?

Don’t we say that the Messiah was without fault, without any need to be redeemed or healed? Wasn’t Jesus the Son of God — why would he need to be reminded of God’s promises to him? Wouldn’t he just know these things?

There was some confusion about this and it’s clear even in the narrative we have from the Gospel of Matthew.

Some scholars think that John the Baptist’s followers might have used Jesus’ baptism to show that John was somehow superior to Jesus. If Jesus needed to be baptized, the John must have somehow been holier.

Matthew makes it very clear, with the way he tells the story, that this is not the issue. John says to Jesus, as he enters the river: “I need to be baptized by you!!” It says that he consented to Jesus, he gave up his protest.

Another perspective on why Jesus might need or want to be baptized is that it was an opportunity to validate the ministry that John was doing. John had been at it for a while, washing people in the Jordan, ritually cleansing them for their worship and to be right with God. Perhaps Jesus’ stepping into the waters of baptism was somehow meant to show how important this work John was doing was. John was an outsider, a wild man who lived in the desert. Jesus’ baptism, here is a validation of his ministry — he’s really about something important.

But the most compelling understanding of why Jesus was baptized, at least for me, is this: Jesus enters the river, this eternal current of God’s cleansing love, to because he has to or because he wants to give John good PR. Jesus is baptized to show solidarity with all of humanity.

The people understood their need to be cleansed. We understand our need to be washed and prepare ourselves. And Jesus shows that he is with them, in connection and solidarity with this.

Ad we see how God’s voice reinforces and solidifies this solidarity.

Jesus comes up from the water and there is a holy vision — a dove, a marker of the Spirit of God’s presence, shows up and descends upon Jesus. This is a moment of revealing, an epiphany in some ways, an unveiling of a truth that God is doing something remarkable here.

And so, Jesus, who has entered into the eternal current, emerges as the Christ, the Holy One, in solidarity with the people.

The final, beautiful marker of this communion and solidarity with us comes in the words we hear from the Spirit of God: “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”

Let’s walk back through this all:

The people acknowledge their need to be cleansed and renewed, just like we do each day. We need it, because we are weigh down by so many things each day. We want to be washed clean.

But we also see this remarkable man, Jesus, and think, how can he need cleansing, how can he be in the same situation as me?

And what does he do? He goes right into the water and makes himself like us.

He makes himself like us. Because he loves us, he values and loves humanity.

Solidarity. God is in solidarity with all of us who are hurting, in need of repair, in need of a new lease on life.

God’s love is extended not just to the Son, but to all of us, through Jesus, the Christ’s, common cause with us. Because Jesus enters our waters, Jesus offers that same reminder that we are beloved by God, through him.

Friends, remember your baptism. Remember you are beloved. And remember that this deep, wide, eternal current of the river of life, which is God’s restoring presence and love, are for you this day and always.

Amen.