The River Jordan, Israel
This week we are going to hear about a baptism. It could be a story about Jesus, or a drama between Jesus and John. Or, if you pray like the Jesuits do, you could be the one in this story.
I invite you to read this week’s scripture passage imagining yourself as the one being baptized…in the River Jordan.
Luke 3:15-17, 21-22 MSG
The interest of the people by now was building. They were all beginning to wonder, “Could this John be the Messiah?”
But John intervened: “I’m baptizing you here in the river. The main character in this drama, to whom I’m a mere stagehand, will ignite the kingdom life, a fire, the Holy Spirit within you, changing you from the inside out. He’s going to clean house—make a clean sweep of your lives. He’ll place everything true in its proper place before God; everything false he’ll put out with the trash to be burned.”
After all the people were baptized, Jesus was baptized. As he was praying, the sky opened up and the Holy Spirit, like a dove descending, came down on him. And along with the Spirit, a voice: “You are my Son, chosen and marked by my love, pride of my life.”
The water is pretty muddy looking, isn't it? It's raining, and about 10°C at the River Jordan in January. As you come out of the water, shivering, you begin to pray. You hear the voice of God, the perfect parent, saying to you "You are my beloved…With you I am well pleased."
Despite what you may have done yesterday, last week or earlier today that makes you cringe, despite your difficult circumstances, God says, "You are my beloved…With you I am well pleased." Sit with that for a moment.
How do you feel? Could these be the words that save you today? Doesn't everyone need to hear these words?
Father Greg Boyle, founder of the world's largest drug and gang intervention program,The Homeboys, says that everyone is unshakably good.
Everyone…me, you, and all the people that may have annoyed us today. Do we see everyone the way God does? I'm going to try to do that today.
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