A call of the Spirit

 Baptism is known today to be an initiation sacrament for the Christian church. It is for the purposes of the church an extremely important event that is celebrated by families and congregations through out the world. However, it is perhaps also seen as a preliminary step towards acceptance at a better school or educational path, if we are to be cynical about the modern age. In the celebration of today we are celebrating what precisely? Christ's baptism, but so what? While it is to a certain extent an inaugural event for the church that shows Christ willing to be baptised despite his sinless state. It is, so to speak, an indicator of Christ's closeness to the body public rather than the priestly elite of the time. However, we need to understand this whole event as it is the initiatory event that casts Christ into the wilderness experience.

John is baptising in the river Jordan which is a border that remains extant in today's world. A border between countries and outlooks. In the modern world all borders are to a certain extent porous allowing some movement between that which is beyond and that which is enclosed by the border. So conceptually speaking it is likely that those that were being baptised where symbolically and perhaps literally entering into the 'promised land'. Whilst not provable in any manner the likelihood is that the people being baptised where actually moving out of and then back in via the initiation rite of baptism. Thus, they were saying that they had broken the covenant and in returning to the land promised by God they were re-affirming their vows. This was a moment of metanoia of returning to God or changing their ways in a form of penitence symbolised and marked by water. In a similar manner their ancestors had been marked by water on their entrance into the promised land under Joshua's leadership.

Perhaps not quite what we imagine in place, circumstance or spiritual development

This sets our scene into which Christ comes as a normal person in the same manner as everyone else. In Luke's gospel there is little interaction between Christ and John, in fact none. The other note of worth is that we once again assume something from our reading that the descent of the Spirit was public. There is nothing to indicate this other than the presumption that all heard the voice from heaven but did they? I am certain that this interpretation is somewhat lacking as a miracle such as this would have wowed the crowds but there is no indication of this. Are these words for Christ used as a spur so t speak, that sends him out into the deserted places to ponder and grapple with their meaning? A deliberate nudge for him to go and start the ministry that was his. In this case the baptism becomes a source of inspiration that leads him into ministry. Like many that have followed who have perceived a call into ministry there is a time for reflection prior to taking that ministry up.

However, what does this mean for us in the present day? No matter how we relate to the baptism of Christ we can suggest that it is for us a template, something that we can follow in our own lives. Christ is praying when he hears the voice from heaven. This has to be our starting point. Our connection to God is through our own effort in prayer and the seeking of God's voice in our lives. It is only when we connect with God and understand what God is saying to us will we start to have a more fruitful life. Yes, this always comes with a certain amount of hard work. Unfortunately all of us now a days have a lazy attitude to our spiritual journey. unless we get our work ethic right in terms of listening to God's voice and God's direction in our lives we will linger in our laziness and not progress along the journey we undertook at baptism.