Sermon - The Rev. Leah D. Schade

Reformation Lutheran Church, Media, PA

Jan. 11, 2009 - Baptism of Jesus

Text:  Mark 1:4-11

When you think of the Jordan River, what kinds of images come to your mind?  You probably picture a wide, deep, swiftly flowing stream of water gushing through the desert.  You can probably picture John the Baptist out there in the water, his camel’s hair cloak and sandals  tossed on the shore, and his body immersed up to his waist, his long beard just touching the surface of the water.   This river is sacred to all the descendents of Abraham - to Jews, Christians and Muslims alike.  Jordan is the river Joshua crossed over after God parted the waters and allowed them to cross into the Promised Land.  “Crossing over Jordan” is a term we use for liberation and entering into eternal life.  The old spiritual, Deep River, will be (was) sung by our Chancel Choir today. . .

Deep river, my home is over Jordan,

Deep river, Lord, I want to cross over into camp ground.

Yes, the image of Jordan River is a powerful symbol for us - deep, wide, flowing, clean water that cleanses the body and soul.  But do you know what you would find if you went to the Jordan River today?  It’s not what you would expect.  You would see a “thin rivulet of brown slime largely obscured by reeds.  Most of what now flows in between the Jordan’s banks is human sewage.  The river where John the Baptist proclaimed Jesus to be the Messiah, a river so sacred it doesn’t need a priest’s blessing to be considered holy water, is today, [hardly more than a latrine].” (Butters, 6). 

I was dismayed to learn that “almost all the water that used to flow into the river is now diverted for human use (mostly agriculture), and in past decades, both the Israeli and Jordanian governments have blocked off the Jordan’s sources. . .  The decline of the river has had profound social and environmental consequences for the Jordan Valley.  It has reduced habitats for the 500 million migrating birds . . . And it is decimating Palestinian towns in the occupied West Bank - home to some fo the world’s oldest continuously inhabited cities - which are slowly dying of thirst without access to the river . . .”  It’s so shocking that tourists and pilgrims coming to visit the river, hoping to experience the history, spirituality and religious significance of the sacred waters take one look at it and exclaim, “This is it?” 

It seems to me that the plight of the Jordan River is a poignant symbol for the fallen state of our world, and even the poisoned state of our souls.  This once beautiful, healthy flowing river of water was created by God to be a source of life for the land and inhabitants on either side, human and non-human alike.  But because of human greed, territorial fighting, and simple lack of foresight and ignorance of long-term consequences, the River has fallen into a state of poisonous ruin.  The same can be said of so many gifts that God has given us.  Of course we can name countless natural resources that have been destroyed or polluted almost the point of no return.  But this also applies to human institutions themselves - ones that are supposed to provide sustenance, health and well-being to our society.  

Think of the flow of money and credit.  Ideally, this life-giving stream, if you will, is supposed to support growth, generosity, the common good and the pursuit of happiness.  But  human greed, lack of foresight, and refusal to be concerned with the most vulnerable have reduced the stream to a stagnant trickle in most areas of the world.  The flow has been diverted into great pools of wealth for a few, while the rest of the population downstream is dying of poverty.  The great rivers of economy in the world have been reduced to shallow, stinky rivulets.

And this kind of fallenness doesn’t just happen on the world stage.  Sometimes it happens on a smaller scale, in one’s own family.  Think of the flow of caring, communication and love that is supposed to be like a nourishing stream around each member of the family, supporting growth, healthy development and mature relationships.  But sometimes that flow is diverted by selfishness, infidelity, addictions, battling egos, or abusive violence.  The life-giiving streams of the family can quickly dry up into stagnant trickles of polluted water.

It is into these sorry waters of human sin that John came a-wadin’ two millenium ago.  Baptism existed long before John ever dipped his toe in the Jordan.  The Jewish ritual of immersion, or mikvah, was an ancient practice of purification.  But John made a significant development in his use of immersion.  The key word here is repentence, or in Greek metanoia.  Metanoia comes from a root word that means, to turn around.  Metanoia means, literally, to change one’s mind.  

John wanted people to turn their lives around, to change their minds about how they treated people, what their motivation was in life, and how they should orient their decisions.  Even as John was immersed in the then-clean waters of the Jordan out in the desert, he knew that the crowds flocking to him were coming from oppressive political, religious and cultural systems that were drying up the meager streams of their lives.  They were parched with a thirst for moral and ethical behavior, justice, righteousness, and freedom from the economic, religious and military giants that sucked them dry and turned their lives into nothing more than little trickles of putrid, muddy water.  

John knew that only metanoia, repentence, a turning around to face a new direction would enable individuals and whole groups to change their lives and change the world around them.  His message and mission was one of telling it like it is, confronting the people of power with their evil, and calling even the powerless to take a good, hard look at their lives and see where they needed to make changes, get right with their neighbor and God, and take those important first steps that would lead them into a new, sanctified life.  He believed that the kingdom of God was imminent, and that the person who would usher in this new kingdom was right around the corner.

What surprised him was that the man of whom he spoke was standing right there on the shore listening to him that day.  And that this man waded into that water asking for baptism.  John knew that this was a man who did not need to be cleansed.  And yet he came to those waters.  Why?  Jesus didn’t need the act of baptism.  But I think he realized that the act of baptism needed him.  

This ritual of cleansing and repentance was a cornerstone of Jesus’ ministry.  Jesus knew that the changing of one’s heart and mind was a prerequisite for the in-breaking of God’s reign of justice and mercy in one’s life, and in the society at large.  There’s something about turning around and seeing things from a different perspective that allows God to surprise you, open you up to what God is working on, and engage you in this new vision for life.  

Let’s try this for a minute.  I want you to stand up, turn around and face the back of the church.  Let’s just experiment.  If you are able - could you please stand up.  Now turn 180 degrees and face the back of the church.  For those of you in the balcony, I apologize for disappearing from view for a minute.  You’ll just have to go by the sound of my voice.

(Walking to the back of the church) Now - things look different from this perspective, don’t they?  You can see that we placed the baptismal font right here at the entrance of the church this morning.  Maybe you even noticed it as you came in.  You see, as we sit in these pews, we usually face the altar, we gaze upon the cross.  Our attention is meant to be focused on God.  But one of the things that the baptism of repentance is meant to show us is that you cannot focus on God without also focusing on the world and our relationships with those outside these walls.  If you want to get right with God, you gotta get right with your spouse and your children, and your in-laws.  If you get right with your employees and your shareholders and your customers, you will be one step closer to being right with God.  Metanoia - turn your life around, turn your heart and your mind around.  Look at things from a different perspective in order to see things the way God sees them.  Get right with those most vulnerable, and you’ll get right with God.  When you get right with the water itself, respecting it, treating it as a resource to be shared and protected instead of hoarded and used without regard for others . . . when you get right with the water, you get right with God.

And, I am happy to report, the metanoia is already happening.  People are taking a long hard look at their lives, and their decisions, and their spending habits, and their actions, and they are changing their minds.  I would venture to say that a mass metanoia is taking place in this country.  We may not all agree on what changes to make, but I think we can all agree that change is needed.  There is a movement, en masse, of economic, political, and ethical turning around, and it’s happening the world over.  

In fact, would you believe it’s even happening along the Jordan River?  “The plight of the Jordan Valley is galvanizing a new generation of environmental activists in the region . . . For all the communities that live along the Jordan, they realize that sharing its blessings is an opportunity to nurture the region’s fragile peace.”  With the latest testing of that peace in Gaza, we may be tempted to despair that it will ever take root and grow.  But yesterday, January 10, marked the two-year anniversary of the joint signing of the “Memorandum of Understanding” to create the Gesher Peace Park along the Jordan River.  Mayors in Israel, Jordan and Palestine each signed the memorandum, recognizing the potential for developing their communities as religious and eco-tourists spots.  Key leaders in that region are experiencing a metanoia, a changing of hearts and minds, and are determined to reverse the state of pollution and ecosystem destruction in the river.  They are working together to create a Peace Park on an island in the middle of the river, where Jordanians and Israelis may one day meet without passports or visas.  Says a director of the joint environmental group Friends of the Earth Middle East:  “War will not generate water.  But peace can.”(Butters, 6.)

That is metanioa.  Oh, what God can do with people who are willing to see things from a different perpsective, who are willing to turn around and look at things from a different point of view.  That’s what Jesus knew about God.  That’s why Jesus wanted to be baptized - to draw people into this mind-changing, heart-changing, life-changing metanoia.  God is still using the waters of baptism to effect that change in people.  Not just individuals but whole groups of people who are willing to turn and see things differently.  When you leave today - pass by that font, touch those waters, trace the cross on your forehead with the droplets.  And turn your heart to God.  Amen.   

Source:  Butters, Andrew Lee, “Postcard:  Jordan Valley”, Time Magazine, September 8, 2008.