Water, the baptiser's tool
Baptism of the Lord, 8th January, 2006
The Rev'd Dr Craig D'Alton
Assistant Priest, St Peter's, Eastern Hill
It's not for nothing that in Jewish tradition, Isaiah is sometimes described simply as "The prophet"; the greatest writer, or as modern scholarship would have it, group of writers, amongst the Old Testament prophets; a new Moses, perhaps, speaking good news. No wonder when people looked for the Messiah it was to Isaiah and his writings that they turned for inspiration and insight.
You remember the story:
"'Art thou the prophet', and he answered, 'No.'"
But John, once the voice of one crying in the wildness before the birth of the Christ, is today the baptiser of the Christ. The other one whom Isaiah foretold has come, and the Spirit descends upon him, before driving him into the wilderness, 'though that's a story for another season. Today, the theme is baptism, and in Mark's spare account, we are left with little to go on and much to imagine. The impact of the Spirit is clear and uppermost, but the poetics of conversion, the sacramental language, if you like, is barely present. How sensible, then, that the compilers of our lectionary saw fit to juxtapose this story with the fifty-fifth chapter of Isaiah, a story of water and refreshment, of the senses and of fulfilment, of witness and of searching out.
"Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters"
Water, the baptiser's tool, is well established within the tradition, and the potency of the image of water is as great as that of bread. The latter sustains, in the wilderness, in the upper room, in the household of faith. The former, however, whilst it refreshes and renews in the wilderness, is also a barrier to be crossed at the Red Sea. Water saves us from death, but it is also that through which we must pass, even at great risk.
The baptismal promise, which links water with the Spirit, propels us into the realm of what is called elsewhere "living water", springing up to eternal life. Isaiah's image is picked up even at the very end of our Christian Scriptures, in the final chapter of the Revelation to John: "The Spirit and the Bride say 'Come.' And those who hear say 'Come.' And let whoever is thirsty come, let anyone who desires take the water of life without price." The Spirit and the Bride are at the gates of the heavenly city, calling to salvation those who are still outside, even those who in the last days have not yet heeded the call. Everyone – everyone – is welcome to partake of the water blessed by the Spirit.
The point in Revelation is the same as the point in Isaiah – the offer of the living water, the offer of salvation, is universal. As we move out from the Epiphany of the Lord, the manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles, into these weeks between Christmastide and Lent, we are in a period when the vision of God's call is inclusive, welcoming, and breaking down of boundaries. The Baptism of Jesus begins his ministry, or at least sacramentalises his call, and thus open the way for the revelation and activation of salvation history. The baptism which we experience in his name is also a sacrament of initiation, but it is even more a sacrament of welcoming and inclusion, in which we say "yes" to that universal offer of the living water.
How much so many in our Christian Churches have to learn from these Scriptures. As an institutional Church how often we seek to exclude, to put up barriers, to set tests which must be passed, to seek ourselves to separate the sheep from the goats, to withhold, as though it were our right to do so, the living water from those who seek it. What arrogance is this? When Philip and the Etheopian eunuch travel along the road to Gaza and the eunuch comes to faith, he says: 'Look, here is water! What is to prevent me from being baptized? Philip, led by the Spirit realises, yes, what is in the way? Nothing.
If we are, as an Anglican communion, as a church of God, to fulfil the Gospel call, then it is imperative that those who come seeking are offered the water of life without price. It is my belief that, more and more, here at St Peter's openness and inclusiveness of welcome is a mark of who we are, and becoming something at which we are getting better and better. On Friday night, as 260 people gathered for the feast of the Epiphany and to bless the new icons, one could sense the feeling of excitement both at the message, and at the warmth and welcome of community.
This is a good and a hope-filled thing. For to be who we are called to be as a community we must follow Isaiah, and call out:
Ho, everyone who thirsts,
come to the waters;
and you that have no money,
come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
without money and without price
As a parish we must embrace Isaiah's challenge:
See, you shall call nations that you do not know,
and nations that do not know you shall run to you,
because of the Lord your God,
the Holy One of Israel,
for he has glorified you.
We are indeed worthy of that to which we are called – it is God's call, and our job is but to answer. And it is then our joy and our privilege to call to the table of grace all those who come seeking refreshment at our hands; to share with them that living water into which we have been baptized; with which we are sustained, and through which we grow as the people of God..
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