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Think about something you have waited for … waited for a long time! Maybe it was a wedding. A cruise. Graduation. A new baby. Can you remember the preparations, the excitement, problems along the way, and how you felt when you finally arrived? With so much invested in “getting there” sometimes the journey overshadows what comes next. Today we jump from a baby in a manger to Jesus’ baptism as the beginning of his ministry as a reminder of what the gift of Christmas was all about.
We focus today on John’s followers, who had gathered to wait for Messiah with anticipation and hope for the justice Isaiah had promised the Messiah would bring. At the moment of his baptism, John said, “The Messiah is here. He is standing in the water with you. I am done, see you later.” After all that buildup, what came next? They had seen what they came to see and experienced what they had waited to feel. Now what? Back to the vineyards, flocks, or other daily routines? Had the anticipation been worth the effort? Would life now be any different?
Now, how about you? How was your journey to Christmas? Did you get what you wanted? Did you want what you got? Were your efforts appreciated, successful, or was this Christmas different than you had planned? I remember as a child the buildup for Christmas, and the let down when the first toy was broken, or it was time to go back to school. We spend so much time anticipating something new, something life changing – and once it arrives, then what? Will life be any different or not?
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Isiah had promised a light to the nations, an end to darkness where the blind would finally have their eyes opened and the prisoners would be set free. This was the remedy for the injustice of a broken world and the hope of change Messiah would bring. Even today we debate what justice should look like and just as beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so it is with justice. Each has their own definition based on their own disappointments, hopes and dreams.
But what does justice really mean? Is justice relative or permanent? Is it sealed by law or dependent on personal opinion. For instance, in our country the courts are the ultimate authority on justice, and yet one court or judge might not agree with another, even though they claim to be following the same law. So how can anyone know for sure what is just, fair, or right? Can it really exist and if so, how can it be guaranteed. That was the dilemma of those standing in the Jordan with Jesus as it is for us today.
Here is the twist: In the eyes of the world, justice is getting exactly what I want for Christmas regardless of what anyone else wants or needs. The world’s justice is always self-absorbed and subject to the standards of every culture. For instance, in his day, Jesus should be the one baptizing John, Peter should be the one washing Jesus’ feet and Pilate should have been the one to set Jesus free.
Jesus proclamation at the beginning and the end of his ministry was that his , undeserved servant submission would be the only act that restores justice!
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Jesus’ baptism was not about forgiveness or becoming Christian but to tie God to US. Just as an ark gathered the faithful and saved them from extinction, Jesus’ jump into the Jordan was God’s embrace of all his children. Standing in the water with all who had been gathered by John, Jesus announced it was time NOW to move forward!
And just as Creation gave shape and purpose to chaos, WE are shaped and filled with God’s breath of life. God’s voice thunders that WE are his children. By standing in our baptismal flood, he makes himself one with us, that we might be one with Him. Later he would immerse himself in our death through a similar life-giving embrace! His journey would end where ours begins, and Christmas reminds us that what comes next is what the journey is all about.
Such irony exists as you compare the washing of Jesus at the beginning of his ministry and Pilate’s washing of his hands at the climax of Jesus ministry.
As Jesus was baptized in water to begin his ministry, he stood with all of us who have waited so long for God to change what we cannot. And standing at the end of his ministry when Jesus should have been granted earthly justice by Pilate, Pilate used water to cleanse his hands of what he didn’t understand and left Jesus to the rabble. Pilate attempted to cleanse himself of his guilt but in doing so Jesus would die.
And yet, it is Jesus’ washing and not Pilate’s that this day is all about. What the world washes its hands of, Jesus embraces, makes it his and changes what the world can never understand or change.
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Sometimes we get so wound up with our preparations we forget God’s. Trees and lights and wrapped gifts are dramatic, but they fade. God’s gifts don’t have that issue. We must not miss the point of this day in the life of Jesus! In this moment of baptism, this holy washing of water and spirit, Jesus’ role changed from being a carpenter’s son to the promised Messiah – known as “God in the flesh.” The new kingdom had begun!
Jesus was baptized into our own life, death, and resurrection so that we would undersand from the beginning tbat his mission, like ours wouidl end in death, and yet his death would change ours, allowing our lives to be more concerned with God’s justice, mercy, nad peace than the misguided, selfish and often failed justice of earth.
Empowered by that same holy breath, or Holy Spirit, we too have been released from earth’s magnetic field. The journey to Christmas is always filled with excitement, but it is not the end but another new beginning. John was more than a prop, but he was not the answer. Our Christmas efforts likewise prepare us for the journey to come. Although trees and lights are being put away, the joy should only continue to grow. How blessed we are to have had another opportunity to stand at the manger and be reminded of how special this journey truly is.
Late in Jesus ministry, a young lawyer asked Jesus “what is the most important law.” What he was really asking is “what is justice? What is most right?” And Jesus answered, “Justice is to love God and neighbor in the same way.”
In John’s Gospel, Jesus is quoted as saying God’s justice is not to condemn the world (judge it according to the law) but to save his children (act according to grace.) Paul echoes that same theme as he taught that God’s justice is not about getting what we truly deserve, but getting what we don’t (grace, mercy, and peace!”)
And to make the point of all of this clear, before Jesus’ headed to change the tomb forever, he washed his disciples’ feet! May such a love change you and change the way you live. And may your life be all about bringing God’s justice to those around you which will miraculously open eyes closed by sin, offer hope to the confused, and freedom to those who have been imprisoned by the selfishness of sin and the pain of death.