Sunday, January 11, 2015

11 January 2015 - introduced, invited, empowered


Jesus is revealed to us this morning. Before now he is seen only by a privileged few shepherds and Magi. This morning he is revealed as the beloved Son of the Father. He is the one with whom the Father is well pleased. He is the LORD's servant whom he upholds, with whom he is pleased, and on whom he has put his spirit. He will bring justice to the nations at long last. He does not do it by the old ways. Shouting and violence are not to be his solution. And yet the coastlands wait for his teaching. Shouting conceals lack of content and violence imposes that too which people refuse to be invited. But the invitation is Jesus, justice for the nations, is the desire of nations.

All you who are thirsty,
come to the water!
You who have no money,
come, receive grain and eat;
come, without paying and without cost,
drink wine and milk!

We don't need to have this forced upon us. He has far more to the world than any of the old paradigms. All of the old systems only offer that which "fails to satisfy". It promises bread. But even if we do eat we quickly hunger again. It promises water but we quickly thirst again. Only Jesus offers the bread which satisfies. 

In Jesus we draw water joyfully from the springs of salvation. His voice is over the waters of baptism. His voice is mighty and majestic. It is the word which comes down from heaven, like rain and snow. Like rain and snow, it does not return until the earth is watered. What was dead and lifeless because of sin is made "fertile and fruitfulthrough the waters of baptism.

Jesus descends into the water the water is baptized. On the water which cannot satisfy or heal the Spirit descends. Now we descend into the waters united to the one on whom the Spirit descends and we are filled with the same Spirit. We too hear the Father say we are his sons and daughters. The dove lands. The flood in the times of Noah is ended with the coming of a dove. The flood of sin and death is ended with the coming of the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove.

Jesus is anointed with the power of the Holy Spirit to heal the world. We receive this anointing in baptism, too, but there is always more. We are called to let the sinful flesh die in the waters of the flood and to emerge in the power of the Hoy Spirit. We are blind beneath the waters but we arise and our eyes our opened. We are trapped in the waters and we are drowning. Jesus is the ark and in him we are borne unto the eternal shore. This same Holy Spirit invites us and empowers us to enter the mission of Jesus, the mission to bring healing and life to the world. Will we say yes?



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