The Baptism of Christ

When Jesus comes to John in the Jordan it is not to do something new. Baptism and ritual cleansing have been around for centuries. John has been baptizing for while. Jesus does not even, apparently come up with a new way to do it - a new piece of ritual, or a new set of words - he simply does what is already there, and God is well pleased.
Whilst Mark does not have a long discourse about this we get a clearer picture of The Baptists bemusement at this in the other Gospels. How can this be, that Jesus, the Messiah, God Incarnate, is to be baptized at the hands of John the Baptist. But isn't that precisely what incarnation is. God made human become subject to humanity - not just in the human body of Jesus but in trusting Jesus' humanity to other human beings. In allowing us to be a part, the vital part of the work of God's Church.
You see in this moment of Baptism we see an awful lot about the way that things are going to be from now on. Jesus takes something which has been and makes it new. Jesus allows a human being, an ordinary human being to minister to him, to, basically dump him under water in a muddy river. Jesus sets the stage for what we must do by what he does and He makes a public proclamation of the beginning of his ministry which is affirmed by divine proclamation.
Quite an event.
This week has been one of sadness and attrocity. We can only hold in grief our brothers and sisters in France at this time. We are indeed in a sense all Charlie and I hope that is not becoming an easy thing to say. Before that phrase was widespread, before I really understood how bad things were, a friend of mine posted it in French on Facebook and my eyes played a trick on me and I read, Jesus is Charlie. I thought it was some clever marketing campaign at first and it took me a moment to get what I was reading.
I don't want to make that a trite comment. Well everything is OK because Jesus is Charlie and God is in charge and it will all be OK if we just trust and say our prayers etc. Neither do I want to offend the memory of those who died who might have found the reworking of that phrase potentially offensive. So here is what it led me to remember.
When Jesus comes to the river for Baptism He is not setting up something alongside the world which already exists he is wading deep into the world which already exists and offering himself to it. There is a deep theme of death and rebirth in baptism. Not the sort of death which indiscriminately takes life, as we have seen in Paris this week. But the sort of death to self which demands life.
But, just as importantly, by wading into that water, Jesus sets a pattern for His followers. Sure we have often sanitized baptism to a small splash on a baby's head but it is a symbol of something much, much bigger. It is a symbol of lives which should be crashing waves in the world which take what is and transform it.
Do we dare to ask what are the root causes of fundamentalism in the Islamic world? Do we assume that is a simply insurmountable question which we will not understand? Do we assume that the radicalization of young people in our own country is someone else's problem- who are these folk, why is this happening?
The other thing which has hit the news, of course, has been Bishop Heather Cook. She will have a tough road ahead. I cannot comment on her journey but I would encourage all of us to use this as a reminder to take our own baptismal promises seriously - to turn to Christ, to reject those things which pull us away from God, to live more fully as those people whom God has made us to be.
People make mistakes, even BIshops. We have to be realistic about that and say when things are wrong and pray for all those who are hurting so badly right now.
Jesus allows John to baptize him. Jesus demands that we engage in this ministry in the world to which He is calling us - we are the baptizers and the preachers and the teachers. The leaders and the listeners, the singers and the teachers. We are the Church of God. One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism. Amen