This wonderful world

 ‘…This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased....’ (Matt 3:17)

Matthew 3:13-17 (Year A: Baptism of our Lord Sunday 8^th January 2017)

I have a childhood memory of watching up at wall murals by the famous Irish artist, teacher, broadcaster and public commentator, Seán Keating, in the Church of the Holy Spirit in Ballroan, in south Country Dublin. I recall my later mother telling me, once, that the same Seán Keating (who died in 1977) would spend time gazing at one or other of the murals from the pews beneath. Not only is this a beautiful work of art but the artist, so it is claimed, saw himself in the person of John the Baptist who resembled him in the painting. They are extraordinarily beautiful works of art in an extraordinarily beautiful church.  Perhaps the artist was gazing as much at the truth and beauty in and under and beyond the physical composition mounted on the transept walls as he was at the artistic beauty he had conceived and brought to life.  There is a mystery about the things of the Holy Spirit and the earthy world in which we have been planted that invites us to stop and gaze, to pause and wonder, to ask and remain awhile. In those moments we might sense an inner feeling or even voice that speaks ‘This is a wonderful world – immerse in it’ or ‘I saw the Spirit coming down from Heaven like a dove and resting on him’ (John 1:32 BBE version).

Today is a very special day in many of the eastern orthodox churches. The feast of the Lord’s Baptism is a high point of the Eastern churches celebration and brings together the birth of Jesus, the visit of the Magi, the wedding feast of Cana and the baptism of Jesus.  Less concerned about historical sequence the Eastern approach is to celebrate the glory of God made one of us and yet powerful to transform water into wine, old ritual into the new, fallen humanity into risen humanity and sadness into joy.

Still, the story of Jesus’ baptism at the river Jordan is a bit of a puzzle to us. As Jesus’ cousin, John (the baptiser and not of course the evangelist John) pointed out – why would Jesus come to him looking for baptism? That John even asked this question says a lot about what Jesus meant to him. Clearly, John had some inkling of Jesus as a person apart and different.  But, nothing could have prepared John or those present with him in the area of the river for what would happen next.  Whatever, the precise historical detail of the events described in this rather terse passage, we sense that an important threshold was cross in the life of Jesus and that from now an entirely new phase had opened up and one which would carry on from where John had arrived. In a cruel way the fate of these two cousins was intertwined even from their lives in the wombs of their respective mothers. Joy was the first response of John to Jesus (Luke 1:40-44).

Just imagine

Picture John clad in rough attire standing at the meandering river of the Jordan surrounded by pious and sometimes troubled pilgrims searching for healing, for forgiveness, for renewal. We are there too in the midst of the crowd wanting to press forward but hesitating. A lot is at stake. Then, there is a commotion. That cousin of John appears from nowhere along with a small band of companions including – according to some reports – his mothers and close family. There is a conversation between John and Jesus. There was something of a lively conversation between the two of them that might have suggested someone was going to walk away.  Rumours are spreading through the crowd about what was heard. There is confusion. Then silence. Peering from a height many can plainly see Jesus going down into the waters followed by John. What happened next might be disputed. Many eyewitnesses came forward to say that they saw something extraordinary happen involving a very bright light. Among these many claimed a vision of something resembling a dove though others not present said that it was merely reported that Jesus saw a dove by witnesses who heard and saw nothing.  Some even said that they heard, themselves, a voice or voices calling out the name of Jesus. Others heard and saw nothing while others hesitated.

What is certain is that something stirred that day in the hearts and minds of those present and among the crowd where witnesses who would tell and retell this story for many decades before the episode was written down and preserved by small bands of followers of the Christ scattered around the eastern Mediterranean sea. Many remember it as the beginning of the Jesus movement proper. From now on Jesus would travel about in the territory of Galilee and beyond preaching, healing and proclaiming about a new kingdom that was already here and, at the same time, had not fully arrived. Many were confused by it all but all agreed, including those hostile to Jesus, that he spoke with extraordinary wisdom, insight and authority. His words matched his life and his life match his word. This was no fly-by prophet or political conspirator to rid Israel of the Roman occupiers.

So, what’s the story here? Jesus goes down, immerses and passes through the waters of human tribulation and fleshly reality. Our God has become one of us and is in a river with others up to their necks in water. He didn’t need to do this. He didn’t even need to become one of us. And he didn’t need to create human beings. That’s how this God of ours works. Messy, in your face and utterly compassionate. The closing line of this week’s passage is ‘This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.’ (v. 17).  The Father looks intently at each one of us in our current predicament and circumstances of life. The Father’s gaze is on all of us including that which his Son has planted in us at our Christian baptism. Truly, it is a wonderful world and we are all the more wonderful for being part of it.

Postscript

For anyone interested a series of short video clips is available on youtube [Uncovering Bethany beyond the Jordan].  The claimed site of Jesus’ baptism is on the eastern side of the Jordan in modern day Jordan (see John 1:28).

Passing through the river Jordan in this locality has deep significance which would have not been lost on Jewish readers of the 4^th gospel (see Joshua 3).