Baptism of Christ

This summer, I took part in the week of guided prayer, which we organised here at St Andrew’s. 2 priests from another diocese came to be with us for a week and each participant committed to praying for half an hour a day as well as meeting their guides for half an hour each day. We were encouraged to pray with scripture, to choose our own passages, or to be given one from our guide. I prayed with the story of the woman at the well. Almost immediately at the beginning of that week I was presented with an image, in prayer, of a plant in the desert that had completely dried up. In my imagination the roots of this plant desired to grow towards the oasis to be fed – they were desperate for water. For me this powerful image perfectly summed up how I felt inside, the state of my spiritual life. I felt that my spirit was drained, that it was literally dying of thirst – I urgently needed my spirit to be renewed with the life-giving water which comes from God: God was there and ready to give me that water.

Water is a very powerful element – parts of the UK have felt and are continuing to feel the overwhelming power of water in the ongoing flooding. Water, a daily essential, a giver and sustainer of life, is also - in too great a quantity - a threat to human existence. The Bible charts these extremes – with the story of Noah and the great flood, along with the fundamental role of baptism in our salvation. Floods can be a metaphor for the need for mass spiritual cleansing – water enacts God’s judgment; whilst at the same time water symbolises our being cleansed and washed from sin. In our baptism, water is the healer and restorer, enacting God’s mercy, his redemption and his grace.

Water plays a key role in Jesus’ ministry – he turns it into wine, for instance, as his first sign or miracle; he is baptised in the river Jordan; he meets the woman at the well and tells her that he gives water that never runs out; he washes the disciples’ feet with water; he is denied water and given vinegar on the Cross; water and blood flow from his side at his crucifixion.

Water takes on a different significance in each of these stories, representing washing and cleansing, healing and restoration, thirst and denial, the old covenant and the new, the giving of eternal life, Jesus’ role as a servant and ultimately the sign of Jesus’ humanity. Water is sacramental –  in our baptism – as well in other liturgies of the church, most importantly the Maundy Thursday liturgy of foot-washing, water is a mediator of God’s grace, a sign of the presence and working of the Holy Spirit, given to us by Jesus himself. Jesus takes the normal stuff of life – water, and through his interaction with it, makes it a means of our salvation.

When we remember Jesus’ baptism as we do today, we also remember our own baptism and in so doing we are reminded that Jesus sanctifies and bestows his grace on each of us, not just once but eternally. We need daily spiritual water that wells up to eternal life. Water in this place is not to quench our thirst but to give us eternal life. The water at the entrance is there to remind us of this, touch it, pray by it – it is a reminder that Jesus came to earth and has redeemed us all.