In the Mud With Jesus (Reflections on the Baptism of Our Lord)

My old landlord in Los Angeles had a great bumper sticker on his truck:

EVERYBODY WANTS TO GO TO HEAVEN BUT NOBODY WANTS TO DIE

Pretty true, don't you think? Sometimes we just don't want to suck it up and do what's required.

In the gospel lesson assigned in the Revised Common Lectionary for The Baptism of Our Lord (Matthew 3:13-17), Jesus is all set to do what is required to “fulfill all righteousness” (v. 15) even though good ol' Cousin John the Baptist would prevent him.

It's easy to see John's point. I mean, in the light of Christian doctrine, if Jesus was without sin, just why did he need a ritual bath to cleanse him from the sin he wasn't supposed to have? I guess John is showing a little institutional deference to the guy he believes to be the Messiah of Israel. If Jesus is really the promised one of God, why does he need to get washed by the second-string prophet?

I always believe that Jesus didn't go through with the ritual for his own sake. He did it for our sake. Jesus got down in our dirty bath water so we would know God present in us, in our lives, in our circumstances, and in our weak human flesh.

Some time ago I saw a great documentary on PBS (and aren't all PBS documentaries pretty great?) about the United States Marine Corp. One scene showed officer's candidacy exercises at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina. A candidate was ordered by his DI to crawl through a culvert several yards in length. The culvert was half filled with muddy water and only about two feet in diameter. The candidate was suddenly gripped by a paralyzing attack of claustrophobia and froze at the entrance of the culvert. I was expecting the DI to start screaming at the candidate something like:

“You worthless wuss! You disgusting, subhuman piece of whale poop! Get your pansy butt into that hole before I rip the flesh from your face with my teeth, you pants-wetting disgrace to the Marine Corp!!”

But to my surprise, the DI, who was wearing a spotless Marine fatigue uniform, jumped down into the mud himself and told the young candidate, “Follow me and stay close!”

The young Marine followed his DI into the black tunnel and emerged safely out the other end. I suspect he was a different man when he came out of that water.

Sometimes we just need to know that we are not alone.

In baptism, Jesus united himself with us so that we could be united with him. Saint Paul wrote:

“Therefore we have been buried with (Christ) by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.” (Romans 6:4).

Martin Luther put it like this:

“(Baptism) signifies that the old person in us with all sins and evil desires is to be drowned and die through daily sorrow for sin and through repentance, and on the other hand that daily a new person is to come forth and rise up to live before God in righteousness and purity forever.” (Small Catechism, 1526)

I like to think that Jesus got down into our dirty bath water so we won't be afraid to follow him where we don't always want to go. He is asking us to follow and stay close as we enter the dark places of our past which need healing. As we try to forgive those whom we don't want to forgive. As we aid or welcome people we don't want to aid or welcome. As we make changes to our worship styles we don't want to make. As we risk our comfort on new missions. As we are rocked off our angle of repose and forced to make decisions which will frighten and change us.

In Jesus we have a leader who says, “Follow me and stay close!” as we drown our sinful selves and grope through the tunnel of our lives toward God's promised daylight. It is good to know we are not alone.

Hey! Want to really claim our baptismal inheritance? Let's unite with our baptized Christian brothers and sisters in Holy Communion. You don't have to get wet, just click on my Change.org petition asking Pope Francis to invite Lutherans back to the Eucharistic table. I ask you: What better way to celebrate the upcoming 500^th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation? C'mon! Be radical! Just click here.