When I ministered in West Virginia, there were two
preaching charges associated with my church for which I had to hold service
once a month. One of those, Mary’s
Chapel, was just up there and out there along the highway sort of halfway to
nowhere. They didn’t have an organist or
pianist and the hymnal was older than what most churches would call the “old”
hymnal. So, I took my guitar along and
we did hymns kind of Bluegrassy. They
liked that and sang loud.
There was a woman in Mary’s Chapel who has a special
place in my memory. Virgie was her
name. She was widowed for quite some
time and didn’t seem to leave her home much; seemed to like solitude. She
had a very deep faith. Virgie liked it
when we sang “He Leadeth Me”. The lyrics
of the last verse are: “And when my task on earth is done, when by thy grace
the victory’s won, Ev’n death’s cold wave I will not flee, since God through
Jordan leadeth me.” When we hit that
last phrase about Jordan Virgie would sing so loud as to almost shout “God
through Jerdon leadeth me”. Apparently,
Virgie had some strong feelings concerning God’s faithfulness and “crossing
Jordan”.
The symbol of “Crossing Jordon” in the tradition of
Christian faith seems to be that last little bit you have to go through to get
to the “Promised Land”. The “Promised
Land” may mean “Heaven” after death or just a better day coming. The Jordan is just what you’ve got to cross
to get there. Jordan may seem like an
impossible barrier, but you can still look across and see the promised good
that God has waiting for you, and so you do what it takes to cross over.
Sometimes sermons on the Jordon will compare the
Jordan River crossing to the Red Sea crossing.
If you remember the Israelites had to cross the Red Sea to escape from
Pharaoh and his army. It was life or
death. God miraculously parted the sea and Moses led them across to safety on
dry ground. When Pharaoh and his army
tried to follow in behind them, God released the waters and “Pharaoh’s army got
drowned. Oh Mary don’t you weep.” The Red Sea now crossed became a barrier that
kept Israel from going back into Egypt and slavery.
Yet, the Red Sea crossing was deceptive. The crossing wasn’t over into the Promised
Land but rather into the Wilderness of Sinai.
The promise of the Promise Land was still there but it was a long way
off with mountains of granite desert to go through to get there. There would be no ready source of food, no
ready source of water. They were just
going to have to learn to trust the God who for them had plagued Egypt and
parted the Red Sea and was with them as a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by
night. One would think that was an easy
thing to do but it wasn’t.
The Jordan River was a different matter. The Promised Land was just on the other side. They could see it. They’d been looking at it for months. God had been faithful in the Wilderness and God
had just caused the walls of Jericho to fall.
There was just one more obstacle to face, the Jordan River. Normally the Jordan River was about 100 ft. wide
and 3-10 ft. deep, but the Book of Joshua tells us the Jordan was flooded with
snow melt and too dangerous to just “Wade in the water, children”. But, God had brought them there to cross the
Jordan into the Promised Land. Four
priests carried the Ark of the Covenant on poles and as soon as their feet hit
the water the waters parted. The voice
of the Lord was over the waters. The
Lord sat enthroned over the flood as Psalm 29 told us.
That was the first time Israel crossed Jordan. They crossed it two more times after that,
once to go into exile in Babylon and then again when a faithful remnant
returned to the Promised Land to rebuild.
God spoke through Isaiah to those folks and said, “When you pass through
the waters I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm
you.” To these returning exiles crossing
Jordan into the Promised Land was a symbol of a new day, of a new life, of
God’s presence with his people, of God’s faithfulness, of God’s promises
fulfilled, of God’s kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven.
And so, here’s John the Baptist on the banks of the
Jordan baptizing the hordes of people who were flocking to him, God’s prophet,
and some were thinking that he might even be that Promised Messiah person. Earlier in Chapter 3 Luke says John
proclaimed a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. Repentance and forgiveness are theologically
loaded terms and I think what they’ve come to mean in Western theology isn’t
what’s happening here. These people were
not coming to wash their guilty consciences clean from sin. John’s baptism wasn’t a way for the people to
say “I’m sorry” and for God to say, I forgive you and now I won’t get you.” That’s our reading Protestantism's response to Medieval Roman Catholicism
into the story. Repent means doing
something to show God you’re allegiance is with him. Forgiveness of sin meant God and the people
were now united with nothing between them.
We have to put John’s baptizing God’s people in the
Jordan into the historical context of what the Jordan River meant to them. John’s Baptism was the way the faithful
people of God at that time crossed the Jordan River into the Promised Land,
which for them was the coming of the expected Messiah and the establishing of
the Kingdom of God. God would be with
his people. The Roman oppressors would
be gone.
So John baptized a great number of people. In Luke here we find him having baptized a
great crowd, and among them was Jesus, who would baptize them with the Holy
Spirit. After John baptized Jesus, Jesus
prayed. While he prayed heaven was
opened to the people and the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove alit on Jesus
and the voice of God the Father thundered over the mighty waters, “You are my
Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”
On that day, in that moment God’s people crossed
Jordan a final time. God was with his
people. He would pour his Spirit upon
his people. With heaven opened it would now
start becoming on earth as it is in heaven where God sits enthroned and reigns
unimpeded by human sin. The Holy Spirit
would begin his work that extends to this day, the work in each of us of
burning off our chaff so that only the wheat of the image of Christ remains.
Let me return to my hero Virgie and her thoughts of
crossing Jordan. Crossing Jordan for her
was passing through death into Paradise, into Glory to be with Christ Jesus and
many others whom she longed to be with again.
Virgie looked forward to a day when her death would be behind her. Like so many Christians I don’t think she really
understood that she had already crossed Jordan and was living in the Promised
Land right now, the Promised Land of the presence of the Lord being with her, with
all his people, with us working in the power of the Holy Spirit to burn off the
chaff and make us to be more and more in the image of Christ.
Virgie was a strong Christian, a praying woman, full
of compassion, kindness, and generosity, and I could go on. Yet, I’m not sure how deeply she and us
understood/understand that heaven is open to us right now and that God is with
us particularly now as are gathered for worship. She was the product of a Christianity that
harped heavy on how much a sinner you are rather than on letting you know that
even though you are a sinner the voice of God thunders over the floods of life
telling you that you are his beloved child, whom he loves just as much as he
loves his only begotten Son, and he is with you and the rivers they won’t
overwhelm you. Friends, we have crossed
Jordan and are in the Promised Land. The
Kingdom of God is at had. Believe this
Good News. Amen.
