Diving Right In
Rev. Mark Schaefer
Kay Spiritual Life Center
January 11, 2009
Genesis 1:1-5; Mark 1:4-11
Genesis 1:1-5 In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.
Mark 1:4-11 John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. Now John was clothed with camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. He proclaimed, “The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”
In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”
I. BEGINNING
A few years ago when I was in college… okay, it was more like twenty years ago.. my roommate Dave taught me how to ski. Now, I’d skied cross-country before. But I’d never skied downhill.
Dave, on the other hand, had been skiing since he could walk. So, I figured I was in good hands. And to be sure, he showed me the basics–how to snow plow, how to shift my weight, things like that.
That first day skiing, while Dave and my other roommates went down the advanced trails, I stuck to the beginner slopes.
A few weeks later, I went skiing with Dave again. This time with his then girlfriend, now wife, Danielle. We rode up the ski lift to the top of the mountain and hung a right. There before me was a black diamond trail full of moguls. Now, for those of you who have never skied, a mogul is a bump in the snow made by skiers over time as they carve their way down the mountain. They make the slope a lot more challenging. I seem to recall that this slope full of moguls resembled a waffle-iron there were so many. Maybe a carton of eggs. And the worst part was that Dave stood there laughing. And then proceeded to fly down the hill as if the moguls weren’t there.
Now, mind you, you can’t ride the lift back down. And you wouldn’t want to even if you could. Because unless you’re riding back down that lift in a body cast, you don’t want to be seen by the whole mountain riding back down. So, there was only one trail in front of me. Only one option. If I was going to learn how to ski. I was going to have to just dive right in. I was going to have to go down that trail. Long story short: I survived. And I really learned how to ski.
On many levels, immersing yourself like that is the best way to learn, because you have no choice. They do that with foreign language learning all the time. Classes where the professor just speaks at you in a language until you pick it up. Or programs where they drop you off in a country and you have to learn quickly. There is real merit to an approach like that.
So why don’t we do that with our faith?
II. BAPTISM
After all, our faith starts off with immersion. Our baptisms. Now, of course, most of us here were baptized by sprinkling or pouring. A little water on our foreheads when we were babies. A few of us here might have been immersed as older children or adults. But it is not an image that we think about in terms of our Christian faith a lot.
John the Baptist–or John the Immerser would be a better translation–is in the river Jordan, baptizing people–probably by dunking them in the water all the way.
You know, John the Baptist didn’t invent baptism. It was a Jewish thing already. John reinterpreted it, to be sure. But the practice was long established.
Baptism is the Christian version of the Jewish ritual immersion called the mikveh . According to the Old Testament law, there are times when a person becomes ritually unclean and in order to return to a state of ritual purity, you need to bathe in the ritual bath and then must wait until the evening. All kinds of things made you ritually unclean: menstrual cycles, bodily emissions, touching the carcass of an unclean animal, carrying the ashes of a sacrificed heifer. You know, ordinary every day things. And so the mikvehrestored you to ritual purity.
If you were to convert to Judaism tomorrow–(talk to me first if you’re thinking about that)–among other things they would make you do, would be a ritual immersion. Not a lot of people know that, but you need to be baptized to be Jewish, too.
And so, immersion in water was an ancient rite to restore ritual purity. And by ritual purity, all that meant was that you were able to enter into the sanctuary. It was not a moral category.
That’s John’s innovation. Because John takes this old Jewish ritual and gives it a much more spiritual dimension. John attaches immersion in water to his call for repentance. But what’s more, he notes that his baptism by water is only a foretaste of a baptism by the Holy Spirit that the coming Messiah will bring.
III. WATER
But we might ask ourselves, why water?
The uncleanliness that you had was not a physical state as much as it was a ritual one. You might have been ritually cleansed by some other method, perhaps. But, I suppose, water is the most symbolic of cleaning things. Used most often for that purpose.
But there’s something else at work, too. Water has a deeper meaning beyond simple cleansing or washing.
In the very first chapter of Genesis, we encounter the first of two creation stories in the Bible. This is the creation story that is most familiar to everyone–the one that begins: “In the beginning…” and has all the “Let there be…” stuff in it. But what often goes unnoticed in this story, even by people who’ve read it many times, is that it begins in water.
In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters.
The face of the waters? What waters? God hadn’t created anything yet, how could there be water?
It surprises most people to know that in ancient Israelite cosmology–one shared with the Babylonians, actually–it was believed that the world was born out of a water chaos. In the Babylonian creation myth, the god Marduk slays the sea serpent Tiamat–representing watery chaos–and out of her corpse makes the heavens and the earth. Here in Genesis, God subdues the water chaos by the wind–breath or spirit–of God moving across the face of the deep. And then God’s voice is heard summoning forth light: “Let there be light” and creation begins.
We often miss those elements of the story. We are used to thinking of the world as starting with nothing and then God creating light and all the rest. But here we have endless turbulent, chaotic waters–the deep. And God’s spirit and word subdue the deep and begin the Creation.
IV. THE NEW CREATION
Understanding that part of the story is essential for understanding our Christian life. Because when we understand those elements of the story of Creation we understand the story of Jesus’ baptism all that much clearer.
In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”
Jesus is baptized in water. As he comes up he sees “the heavens torn apart”–light shines–and the Spirit descending. He hears God’s voice speaking “You are my Son…” to him. At Jesus’ baptism there is water. There is Light. There is Spirit. There is Word. No less than at the Creation. Jesus’ baptism then represents a New Creation.
And so does ours.
As Christians, we are baptized not only by water but also by spirit. Our baptisms represent new creations for us. We are new creatures. When we are invited into relationship with God, it is as if we are there at the dawn of Creation. The chaotic waters of our soul are stilled by the Spirit and the Word.
It is a new creation in us.
And like a creation, it is only the beginning.
It’s only the first step. There’s a lot more to go. It’s like getting off the ski lift, you’ve been carried up to where it all begins, but then now: it’s time to dive right in.
V. END
Another reason why water is such a great symbol of God’s presence is that because water is not only a sign of cleansing, and creation, but of life itself. Indeed, we cannot survive without water. We are mostly water. We are nurtured in the waters of the womb. Our lives are immersed in water.
It is a fitting symbol for our faith. For Christian life is not something that can be done easily or by rote. Our Christian living cannot be done by a simple checklist of steps or simply by following a set of rules. Christian living requires us to dive right in.
It requires us to immerse ourselves in trusting God. To immerse ourselves in love for God and one another. To dive deeply into concern for the world we live in. To swim in the rivers of justice that roll down upon us, to wade in the everlasting stream of righteousness. Our Christian faith is not a club membership–it is a re-creation of our very lives.
We start another semester together. Another year has come and gone. It is a time when we are accustomed to making resolutions about the year ahead. A time to recommit ourselves to the things we value and hold dear.
What is it that you’ve been holding off on doing? What level of Christian commitment are you holding out on? Dipping your toe in the water but reluctant to dive right in?
Perhaps you’ve wanted to join the community in worship more. Build more relationships with people in the community. Commit yourself to daily prayer, or studying of the scriptures. Get involved in working for justice. Perhaps a mission or service opportunity that you’ve wanted to take. Perhaps you’ve been meaning to tell people about what God has been doing in your life and just never got around to it. Perhaps there are so many aspects of our Christian lives that we have not fully embraced. We’re just standing at the beginning of the trail, wondering if we can take the lift back down. We’re dipping our toe in, but not sure we want to dive right in.
It is only when we become immersed in the water, only when we’ve dived in that we are able to see the heavens torn open. To feel the Spirit descend upon us. To hear the voice of God saying to us clearly, “You are my child, my beloved. In you I am well pleased.”
