One of the foundational stories of our faith is the story of Moses leading the Hebrew people out of Egypt, liberating them from the slavery they endured under Pharaoh, leading them through the Red Sea, guiding them on their forty-year journey through the wilderness, and bringing them to the promised land.
Many times on that momentous journey, the people looked back. The journey was difficult, challenging; the terrain was unfamiliar; and the whole way, they had to rely on the providence of an unseen God. It took a tremendous amount of faith to follow Moses into unchartered territory.
At times they succeeded brilliantly; at other times, they failed miserably. When the road ahead seemed uncertain, unfamiliar, or treacherous, they turned and looked back. They even longed for a life of slavery back in Egypt. That does sound ridiculous, but at least in Egypt, things were familiar. At least in Egypt, they knew where their food was coming from. At least in Egypt, things followed a familiar routine.
But out in the wilderness, there was none of that.
The journey through the wilderness took forty years. It really shouldn’t have taken that long. Some say it took that long because Moses, being a typical male, refused to stop and ask for directions, but that’s not really true.
In fact, it wasn’t really the case that it took forty years to get the Hebrews out of Egypt. What really happened was that it took forty years to get Egypt out of the Hebrews. It took forty years for them to let go of their Egyptian mindset. It took forty years to embrace the new life to which God was calling them. It took forty years to stop looking back, and start looking forward.
Remember that, if you ever are tempted to get frustrated by how slow things seem to change in the church. Transformation is difficult. It takes time.
Eventually the Hebrews came to the Jordan River. The Jordan River is a lot like our Los Angeles River was before it was cemented in, if you can imagine such a thing. Most of the year, there really wasn’t a whole lot of water in it. I’ve even read that more ink has been spilled to describe the Jordan River than there is water flowing in it.
However, the crossing of the Jordan River by the Hebrews was a highly symbolic and significant event, so, naturally, the river was at flood stage. It was when they crossed the Jordan River that they finally, finally stopped looking back, and finally, finally embraced whole-heartedly the new land and the new life God had set before them. The crossing is so significant that Joshua—who, by this point had succeeded Moses in leadership—had an altar built out of stones from the river, so that future generations would remember what had taken place.
After all the Hebrews had crossed the river, passing through the water, they began the work of building their new nation. It wasn’t easy. Yet, as challenging as it was, they no longer looked back. They no longer longed for Egypt. They were a new people.
The word “repentance” means to turn and face a new direction. It means to stop looking back, to let go of the old and embrace the new. It means choosing to be transformed. A lot of people, when they make New Year’s resolutions, they’re really repenting; at least, if they’re serious about those resolutions. They’re choosing transformation. They’re choosing to look forward to something new, something different, and to work to make it happen.
For the Hebrew people, crossing the Jordan River was an act of repentance. They had found it so difficult—much more difficult than they had expected, really—to let go of their old lives in Egypt, and embrace the new life God had set before them; but at the Jordan River, they did it. They finally repented of their old ways. They finally faced forward. They finally allowed the transformation of who they were to begin.
And even though life in their new home was difficult, God was with them. God blessed them. God let them know that they were his people, and that he was their God.
Many centuries later, when John began preaching his message of repentance, he did so out in the wilderness, in areas near the Jordan River, and he even baptized people in the river. There they - like the Hebrews so centuries before them - turned their back on their past life, and looked forward to the new life God had in store for them. They acknowledged the old ways by which they had been living. They confessed to living their lives according to the way of Herod and Caesar, compromising their own values in order to play it safe and go along with society.
Then they passed through the water, just like their ancestors. They allowed the water to completely overwhelm them; and then they emerged from the water, ready to embrace that new life to which God called them.
John was the one who guided people to that new way of life, preparing, as the scripture says, the way of the Lord. But he insisted that there was one who was coming who was more powerful than he: one who wouldn't just show the way, but who, in fact, was the way. One who would turn the old ways on their head. One who would fill people with the Holy Spirit, who would guide them in their new lives.
So Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan, but before Jesus did anything else, he insisted that John baptize him. Jesus was about to begin hisministry; he was about to begin his life's work, the work he was sent to do; and in order to show that he himself fully embraced the new world God envisioned and the new life to which God calls all people, Jesus had John baptize him in the waters of the Jordan River.
As I've mentioned to you before, Matthew wrote his gospel in the city of Antioch during some very difficult years following the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem. It was a time when the people were distraught over the temple, which had been a symbol of strength and security. In telling the story of Jesus' baptism, filled as it is with imagery of the ancient crossing of the Jordan by the Hebrews, Matthew is showing the people of Antioch that it's OK to let go of the past, even if the past that you're letting go of includes God's temple. It's OK; in fact, it may even be God's will to let go of the past, and to allow God to lead you into a new future, one that is drastically different, new, uncertain and unfamiliar. Matthew seems to be saying that while it is important to remember the past, and to honor the stories and traditions of our ancestors, we must (at the same time) change our direction. We must allow for repentance. We must embrace the transformation that God is bringing about.
Isn't that a message we need to hear today? Like the ancient believers who witnessed the destruction of the temple, we, too, have seen many of our institutions crumble. Like them, we often find ourselves longing for the old days. Like them, we find it hard to repent, to turn from the past and face the future that God has in store for us, because, like them, we find the future to be an uncertain place, filled with things that are unfamiliar, and filled with challenges that must be faced.
After all, the church today isn't what it once was. After all, our nation isn't what it once was; our economy isn't what it once was. After all, life is so much more confusing than it once was.
Statements such as these do not need to be a lament. Because in everychange, there is new opportunity. Perhaps we can learn to say: the church today isn't what it once was, thanks be to God! Our society isn't what it once was, thanks be to God! Life isn't what it once was, thanks be to God!
It is time to step into the water. Most of us have already done that. Most of us have been baptized. So it is time for us to remember. Remember your baptism, as Martin Luther urged. (And he was baptized as an infant!) Remember your baptism. Remember God's call upon your life. Embrace the transformation to which God still calls you. Welcome the path into the future that God sets before you.
There is no guarantee that it will be an easy path, but it is the right path. There will be nations to fight. There will be demons to battle. There will be mountains to climb. But God will be with you.
That is, after all, the assurance God gave to Jesus when he came out of the water. First, the Spirit descended upon him like a dove, an image which recalls another ancient story, the story of Noah, a story which also featured water.
Noah built an ark because God told Noah that the whole earth needed repentance. The whole earth needed to be transformed. The whole earth needed a new start. So the floodwaters covered the earth, and when they receded, new life - a new creation - took place. And the first sign of new life after the flood came in the form of a dove.
To the people in Antioch, the dove symbolized new life after the temple. To us, it symbolizes new life after whatever setbacks and calamaties we may have endured. It symbolizes a life that is very different from the life we had lived previously. It symbolizes life in a new direction: transformed life.
And then, after the dove came down, a voice from heaven said: "This is my Son, my beloved, with whom I am well pleased."
When times are difficult, when the future is uncertain, when the path is steep or unclear, these words of assurance are like bread to one who is hungry or water to one who is thirsty. To the people of Antioch, who must have felt cut off from God after all they'd been through, these words provided them the hope they needed. The temple was destroyed, but God's Spirit was not destroyed with it. God's Spirit dwells in Christ, God's beloved; and by extension, God's Spirit dwells in all those who follow Christ, those whom Jesus calls his brothers and sisters, those who - like Jesus - are children of God.
When you set your face on that new and difficult path; when you repent from the old ways, letting go of the past and embracing the future; when you allow transformation to take place within you as you turn from the ways of the world and turn to the way of God, remember this.
Remember that you are a beloved child of God, beautiful to behold. Remember what the prophet Isaiah says, that the one who created you and formed you calls you by your name. When you pass through the waters, God will be with you. When you pass through rivers, they will not sweep you away. When you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.
Because the Lord your God is with you, the holy one of Israel, your savior. You are precious in God's sight. You are a beloved child of God.
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