January 7, 2024

The Baptism of our Lord (and Epiphany)B

Epiphany, Winnipeg

Genesis 1:1-5, Mark 1:4-11

First off, a quick hot tip for reading the Bible, especially something like that story of creation from Genesis. We don’t have to read it like it’s history or science, because it’s not. That’s not what the Bible sets out to be. We also don’t have to read it like it’s just a story but we know better and we’re smarter than they were back then. Because we’re not.

Just read it and use your imagination. If there’s a story of the Spirit moving over the waters and then God speaks and something new comes along…maybe we just read it and hear it and see if the Spirit of God breathes along while we read or hear, and listen and maybe God will speak and say, “Let there be…” And who knows what might happen then?

“In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered over all the deeps, all the chaos, all the emptiness. There was water, and a wind from God, the Spirit of God, drifted over it.” In the beginning a wind from God drifted over the water and you just knew something would happen soon. And then God spoke and made light and made the day, and named the darkness evening and time itself came to life.

If we’d read on we’d see more of the same as earth and sky and sea and everything that grows comes to life. And the spirit and the word – “let there be” – would give life to all the creatures in that earth and sky and sea, even to creatures like us. And God will look at it all and say, “That’s good. That’s really good.”

But I wonder if God knew what was going to happen with all that God saw and called good?

OK, I know, that’s probably the wrong thing to say, because most of us have probably been taught in some way from day one that God just always knows what’s up next. There’s something comforting about that, about the thought that somebody’s looking out for us and that somebody can make some sense of what’s going on around us some days.

But I wonder. I wonder if God really knew what would happen?

Did God know what would happen with all this creation, how things would shift and change, what new things would come and what old things would disappear through natural processes or disaster or human intervention or government policy? Did God know that people would argue about whether creation took six days or billions of years, instead of just sitting down together and looking at the sunset and saying “Wow, look at that”?

Did God know what would happen with all these people God made? You, me, billions and billions? Does God see all the wonders of civilization coming along; did God see all the horrors of what we can do coming along? Or did God make a world because God just wanted to make a world? And does God keep on with the world because God loves the world and God is committed to sticking with it?

Did God know, or did God just take a risk and speak life and breathe life because God just…well…loves life? Enough to risk being hurt by it? Enough to risk being surprised?

Yesterday was the feast of the Epiphany. Sounds familiar, eh?

I wonder if God saw what was coming next when some travellers from the east came to pay their respects to a child who they heard would be a king…

Those travellers certainly didn’t know what would happen. They follow their dreams and they follow the stars to find this child. If you know some of the old prophecy from Isaiah they’re just doing what God has hoped for and dreamt of and promised all this time. Isaiah talked about the nations of the world streaming to the mountain of God and will learn the ways of peace and practicing war no more. These magi are travelling to God’s home to visit the prince of peace, but right away we hear that the king is in a range and is terrified, and the life of Jesus is in danger already, and thousands of children like him lose their lives. As Bruce Cockburn sang it a few decades ago, “They come to pay their respects to the fragile new king, and they come pretty close to wrecking everything." Did God have this in mind?

Did God know that today the mountain of God, where the nations would come to learn of peace and learn war no more, is a place of war and fire from the sky and people having to flee from their homes to…who knows where?

Maybe by this time Jesus was born and that Epiphany story happened God wasn’t surprised any more, because after thousands or billions of years – the timeline’s not so important – God has seen it all. But God keeps on caring enough about it all to take the risk of staying involved and being born into this world that God still loves; into the wonder and the joy and the hurt and the healing of the evening and morning, the heavens and the earth, the sea and sky and land and all the life that they sustain.

Whether God knew or didn’t know what would happen, God just could never stay away, and could couldn’t resist the urge to come to be with us, to be born into a global village.

Do we worship a God who knows what’s all going to happen already? Or do we worship a God who comes into the world and takes the risk of being with us and being one of us? Do we worship a God who gets the details all figured out – like, all the details – and then sets the plan in motion? Or do we worship one who takes a chance on being surprised, who looks at the ways we can hurt and says, “I did not see that coming, but I’ll stay here with them?” Or who sees the ways that we can love and care for each other and says, “See, I told you! I said it was all good, very good! And it is!”

Yesterday was Epiphany, and today is the Baptism of Our Lord. As usual in the gospel of Mark, it’s told as a really short story. It’s almost like Jesus doesn’t have time to stick around and have a long conversation about it all, or to stay after the service for coffee and cake and well-wishes. It goes like this: “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 the heavens, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”” And that’s it. Then Jesus steps out of the water, and God’s spirit that breathes over the water sends Jesus into the world, sends him out into all that life that God made…. Jesus walks into the world with its terrible chaos and its beautiful chaos, and God brings life out of the water, and God will bring life to the sick, to the outsiders, to everyone who struggles, even to the dead so that they will live.

And I wonder, the same way, if Jesus knew what was going to happen when he came up out of the water? Did he know what the rest of his days would look like? Did he know that his time was short? Did he know what would happen in his homeland, in his lifetime or ours? Did he know what would happen with us who are his followers, who could be as broken and messed up or as loving and together as anyone else could be? Did he know? Or did he just take a risk on us, sight unseen? Either way, Jesus just got into it for the long haul. So he took on flesh as one of us, and he came up out of the water of baptism like us, and he walked right into the world like us and with us so that we and all creation would live. It’s a risk he’s willing to take. And he’ll stay with us. Even if it costs him his life.

I wonder if you knew what was going to happen? I’m pretty sure I didn’t. I still don’t. When I was born way back when, and when I was baptized at 64 days of age I didn’t really have clue. When I got married at 24 and ordained at 28 and you called me to be your pastor at 52 did I really know what would happen? Have any of us really known, from the day we were born until right now? I’ll just go out on a limb and say No. We didn’t know. We don’t. But we all keep stepping out of the water and into the world, even if it’s risky to love, or to speak the truth, or to practice generosity, or to forgive. Even if it’s risky to breathe the air or drink the water or to express our thoughts. The Spirit keeps nudging us out of the water or shoving us out, and we follow Jesus who stepped out of the water and into the world.

We have heard this story about God’s spirit breathing over the deep deep water at creation, and it’s a story about a God who always brings life out of whatever is at hand, and will always give life to creation. We have heard this story about Jesus being baptized in water and stepping out of the water to be with us, with all of us, with everyone, even with those people – whoever those people might be - even if it costs him his own life. Because you know, God can always bring life out of death. And this story is our story too…for the voice from the heavens says to us, “you are my son, you are my daughter, my beloved.” And we step out of the water every day into the world where that same Spirit of God, the Spirit of the risen one, is always there breathing more life.