January 12, 2025
Baptism of Our Lord
Isaiah 43:1-7, Luke 3:15-22
Epiphany, Winnipeg
“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by name, you are mine.
When you pass through the waters I will be with you;
and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;
when you walk through fire you shall not be burned;
and the flame shall not consume you.”
So says the prophet Isaiah to a nation of people who have lost their homeland and have no real place to call home, and who still see no end to their trials. The waters will not overwhelm you. The flame will not consume you.
As I sat down to write this the other day I had a quick look at my CBC feed on my phone and I caught up on the latest news about fires burning around Los Angeles. It’s a crazy scene. There were pictures of gridlock and cars going nowhere while people tried to escape from The Pallisades. Some of those drivers gave up and walked because the traffic was going nowhere. So then there was video of bulldozers pushing abandoned cars out of the way so that other cars can flee from the fire and emergency crews can hurry to the fire. Water for fire hydrants is running dry, and for a time water bombers couldn’t fly because the winds were too strong. The actor James Woods posted a video of fire just a few doors down from his place, just before he himself had to run; movie stars and people no one has ever heard of lost everything, You’ve seen and heard it; maybe you know someone who’s living through it.
We hear those words from Isaiah: “The fire will not consume you.” Bu when someone’s home is burning, and when people have lost their lives in the fire, it might not work just to open up the Bible and say, “Don’t be afraid. When you walk through fire you will not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.”
But still…
The situation seems impossible, and the wind is unpredictable, and who knows when it will end… But there are firefighters – even one from Winnipeg, on vacation, and water bomber pilots from Quebec, Canadians invading the U.S. – there are all kinds of emergency crews who keep doing something and acting like it is possible that the fire will not consume…everything. They act and they hope when the situation seems so hopeless. And when the flames have stopped and the news coverage has moved on to something else, people will begin to come together to rebuild, and to put some kind of life back together there, even if it will look so different, because they know that the fire won’t burn it all, and there is enough will and hope and stubborn determination that the destruction won’t have the last word. They will act as though some old words, like the words spoken by the prophet Isaiah, contain some truth.
“When you pass through the waters I will be with you;
and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;
when you walk through fire you shall not be burned;
and the flame shall not consume you.”
Isaiah wrote those words something over twenty five hundred years ago to a people who who probably wondered whether they would be overwhelmed and ended by the fire and water of their last seventy five years of life. The people were Israel, and for as long as anyone could remember they had been named by God and chosen by God and blessed by God. But seventy some years before Isaiah wrote and spoke these words Israel’s homeland was invaded and overcome by Babylon. Their city and temple at Jerusalem were destroyed, and so many of the people were forced to flee or were simply picked up and taken away to a strange land. And when it seemed like there was no end in sight for the troubles, Isaiah’s words spoke a promise from God about fire and water that will not overcome the people.
Someone who heard these words might remember stories they had heard from their parents and grandparents and elders of all kinds: Stories about when they had been slaves in Egypt, but the fire did not consume them. Stories of being pressed against the sea and trapped by an army, but the sea opened up and they passed through, and the water did not overwhelm them. They were lost in the wilderness but were not overcome by the unrelenting heat of the sun; there was no water in the desert but water was given, water that feeds and nourishes and does not drown. Isaiah’s words would stir up those memories, and people in exile would remember that the troubles in the past did not put an end to the future.
And those words from Isaiah weren’t just a pious promise. Instead, they called up memories of a past when fire and flood did not overwhelm.
When I was in Norway in September I spent some time in a region named Orkdal, where some ancestors on my mom’s side were born and raised. I don’t know all the details of their lives in that place, but I have heard from other relatives and friends that people left there, not looking for adventure and excitement, but simply because there was nothing there for them. Just poverty. I couldn’t imagine going through that.
I stood on the coast one evening and looked west over the Atlantic and I imagined those people getting on a ship to leave the only thing they’d known…to go somewhere they’ve never been, and I could only imagine what that must have been like and how hard it must have been. And I couldn’t imagine going through that myself. But then I found myself simply remembering that they made it through all that. And I realized that when the time comes for me, and it will, when I face something that I think might just be more than I can bear, the witness of those who came before me is that the troubles do not need to overwhelm me. As I thought about it this week, I wondered if maybe those ancestors add their voices to Isaiah’s words:
“When you pass through the waters I will be with you;
and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;
when you walk through fire you shall not be burned;
and the flame shall not consume you.”
And it’s not just a pious promise. It’s a memory. Look back and see – the flames and the floods of life did not get the last word. Hear it from those who know – the flames and the floods of life do not get the last word.
It’s news for those who grieve, and it’s news for those to whom death draws near. It’s news for someone who’s just lost their job or their home, and it’s news for someone who still struggles to find a job or find a roof and shelter. It’s news for you when you have an exam tomorrow and you just don’t think you’ll be ready, it’s news when you start your first job, it’s news and a promise when your best relationship ends. The fire won’t burn, and the water will not overwhelm.
There is so much fear in the air these days. There’s fear in the air for so many across the U.S. border as a new Trump presidency is coming soon, and in the past week or so I have sensed Canadians laughing and then growing a little more anxious, and even a bit afraid as comments are tossed around about Canada becoming the fifty-first state. Whether the fear is realistic or overblown, a lot of us who have lived in stable times find ourselves realizing again and anew that our own lives can be fragile and our peace is not always so certain. Yet Isaiah’s words call up a memory, that fire and flood and troubles will not have the final say.
Isaiah’s words never promise that there is nothing to fear, that there will be no fire or that there will be no waters that will overwhelm us. But they remind us that God has created us, and formed us – created and formed all the people, and all the creation - and called us by name. And over the ages we have seen that it is true, and in our bones we remember that it’s true, and we hear that it will be true, as it always has been:
“When you pass through the waters I will be with you;
and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;
when you walk through fire you shall not be burned;
and the flame shall not consume you.”
Today we celebrate the baptism of Jesus. We heard this story about Jesus at prayer, and as he prays he looks up and the heavens are opened and the Holy Spirit comes down, as a dove, and God says, “You are my child, the beloved, and with you I am well pleased.” Now I can imagine Jesus greeting all of this with a bit of fear, because He knows that prophets and people who speak for God are not always well received. In just a short while he will get the news that his cousin John, the one who baptized him, has been executed by King Herod, yet another political leader who gets rid of voices that do not agree. And as Jesus hears these words he may be a little afraid, but he will also remember and be encouraged by old words that God speaks from Isaiah: “The fire will not consume you, the water will not overwhelm you. For I have called you by name. I have called you my own.”
“The fire will not consume you, and the water will not overwhelm you.” In a way, that’s what we mean on Easter Sunday when we say, “Christ is risen!” “He is risen indeed!” The fire and flood did not overwhelm. Maybe it’s what we mean when we say just before communion, “Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again.” The fire will not consume, the waters will not overwhelm, and death will never get the last word.
Maybe it’s what we mean when the last words we hear as we leave are “Go in peace. Serve your neighbour, serve the Lord.” “Thanks be to God.” Thanks be to God, for the fire will not consume, and the water will not overcome. So go in peace.
“…I have called you by name, you are mine.
When you pass through the waters I will be with you;
and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;
when you walk through fire you shall not be burned;
and the flame shall not consume you.”