I
was surprised to learn that the Jordan River is not a grand wide river like the
Athabasca. At the place where John the Baptist
was supposed to have set up shop, it’s slower and shallower than that, more
like the Tawatina where it goes under the bridge during the spring. Slow and steady. Waist deep.
Muddy brown and probably quite refreshing on a hot day. And a place of great significance even back
then. It wasn’t the size that mattered,
it was the sense that this was the boundary between the land of outcasts and
wanderers and the Promised Land. The
boundary between poverty and prosperity, between nomadic uncertainty and
settled roots, between disconnection and identity, between chaos and
purpose. For the people of the Holy
Land, it defined who was ‘us’ and who were ‘they’. It was a natural border that became the
difference between away and home.
A place to wash off foreign influences and prepare to enter the Holy
Land, set apart by God for the people of Israel. A place to prepare to go to the Holy of
Holies, the Temple of Jerusalem, a few days' walk away. A place to start new initiatives, new projects,
new lives.
No wonder John set up there, and that Jesus met him there. It was full of scriptural importance for the
people as well as symbolic importance, and a great place to make great
commitments. We pick a time for new resolutions, but they had a place. A humble, muddy river with a deep history for
a frequently embattled community. A
place of hope, new beginnings and new possibilities.
How does that understanding of baptism in the Jordan affect the story of
the Samarian baptisms?
The disciples, no longer able to sit at the foot of their teacher Jesus,
are still safely ensconced in Jerusalem, hunkered down, and waiting for Saul of
Tarsus to get tired of persecuting them.
They are focused on their own people, and remembering what Jesus taught
them. They start delegating work to
others, and so Phillip the Deacon went out into the wider world, doing far more
than he had been asked. He found his way
into Samaria, preaching and baptizing as he went, finding great success. He followed the nudging of the Spirit and
found himself far beyond Jerusalem, far beyond the Jordan River.
He found himself outside his cultural community, with people who talked
a little differently, who worshipped a little differently, who had a different
cultural identity than him. All those
differences didn’t stop him. Not even
the attention of a shyster snake oil salesman in the town, Simon the Magician,
deterred him.
Phillip kept on teaching and preaching.
And that got the 12 hiding safely in Jerusalem so curious that Peter and
John left to check it out. They weren’t
there to fix or correct or advise Phillip, just to see if the reports were true
and to encourage him. They only were
puzzled by why the Spirit had not been included in the baptism, a bit confusing
even by our standards, but whatever they did or said to Phillip, he was
emboldened to continue preaching and baptizing.
The next chapter is all about his encounter with the Ethiopian Eunuch
and that was a transformative moment full of Spirit in the fledgling
church. Clearly, the message of good
news was spreading beyond safe cultures, safe borders, safe languages, and
catching fire amongst people that the 12 did not predict. It surprised them and encouraged them. It reminded them of their own baptisms, and
the times that they had experienced with Jesus because of it. It emboldened all twelve to eventually leave
Jerusalem, ending in places like Rome, Spain, India and Turkey, far from the
safety and security of the Jordan River.
Remembering their baptism gave them the courage to go out and live what
Jesus taught.
Remembering our baptisms is not something everyone can do. I was baptized as an infant, so I don’t
remember what it was like. But I
remember my brother’s baptism, my children’s baptisms, my husband’s baptism and
the baptisms I have done here among you, from seven-year-old Sidney and baby
Emilie and toddler Isla to adults Bev,
Heather, Gordon, and Wendy, which I thoroughly enjoyed getting wet! Every time we gather in community to
celebrate and welcome another soul into God’s big family, I get a speck of
something in my eye. Every time we get
to bless an individual and their spiritual journey and hear what a difference
we have made in their lives, I get a lump in my throat. I remember OUR baptisms!
Baptism is where we learn that Christianity isn’t just a philosophy, it isn’t just a logical bunch of ideas that stick. It isn’t just a bunch of mumbo jumbo touchy feelie stuff that anyone can do. It isn’t for sale, as the magician Simon discovered the hard way. It’s more than community, although it’s part of community. It’s more than miracles and signs, which surprisingly I have heard a few here in my time. Christianity is an experience and a movement that empowers many. It gives life and purpose to those who are struggling, it gives compassion to those who believe that they have to be tough individuals to be successful. It challenges the magicians looking for power to rethink their understanding of what it means to be a thriving human being. It challenges us all to reflect and reorient our lives towards God’s loving community.
Try this experiment the next time you are in the shower, the bath or
even washing your hands. Take a moment
to feel the water and say to yourself a few times, “Remember your
baptism”. Reflect on how far your
journey has brought you and ask God where you might be called like Phillip,
Peter and John, to set out into the unknown with good news for all to
hear. Remember the nurturing,
sustaining, and transforming power of God’s love and our grateful response to
that gift of God, that amazing grace.
Remember that you are gifted, called and chosen by God to inspire and
empower the people around you. And if
you are not baptized, I invite you to prayerfully consider it as a sign of hope
and inclusion in this community of faith.
It is the sign of a journey, an adventure that leads us all in
surprising new directions with a community that stretches all the way back to
Jesus and John standing in a modest river, starting something that became
bigger than their wildest dreams. May
our baptisms, past, present and future be part of God’s great plan for a
beautiful world. Amen.
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