Crossing the Jordan River

Joshua 3.9-17, Mark 1.4-20

The River Jordan occupies a pivotal role in Israel’s landscape and history. Geographically, it marks the original boundary between the Promised Land and the outside world. Although Joshua instructed two of the twelve tribes to settle on the West Bank, to this day, citizens of Israel living on the West Bank are regarded as living outside their official homeland.

Historically, the crossing of the River Jordan by the wandering tribes of Israel marked a new chapter too. A nation state was gradually carved out of the land of Palestine, with all the bloodletting and displacement of the original inhabitants which that so often involves. In modern times, the state of Israel has reclaimed the same territory, with similar consequences for the Palestinian Arabs who’d made it their home.

Even for those of us who’ve never seen the Jordan, it retains its ancient status as a boundary between the Promised Land and the rest of existence. For Christians it’s become a metaphorical river which we cross at the moment of death. ‘When I tread the verge of Jordan, bid mine anxious fears subside.’

But its metaphorical and spiritual significance goes much wider than that. Because crossing the Jordan marked the beginning of Israel’s territorial claim to Palestine and the abandonment of her restless, nomadic wandering in the desert, it has become a symbol for all new beginnings.

That’s why people chose to be baptised in the Jordan. It reinforced the idea of making a new beginning; drawing a line between past allegiances and past wanderings, and a new allegiance  to the one true God as well as - for Christians - to his Son Jesus. That’s what happened famously to Naaman, the Syrian general, when Elisha instructed him to wash in the Jordan if he wished to be cleansed of his leprosy. When he discovered that he was healed, he changed his allegiance and went home praising and praying to Israel’s God. Even today churches sometimes import water from the Jordan to use in their font, although – just as Namaan questioned the wisdom of bathing in the river - I would question how safe it is to dip babies in its water.

Being baptised also contained within it the idea of cleansing. Israel had strayed from the true path. Her political and spiritual leaders, and her people, had shown themselves to have many shortcomings, not least a lack of faith and trust in God. Re-entering the waters of the Jordan wiped the slate clean. Just as baptism marked a new start in life, it also marked the washing away of the old self and all its baggage. In baptism, Paul said, we die to our old sinful ways and rise to new life with Jesus.

Crossing the Jordan, or being baptised in it, carried with it, too, the idea of being set free. The people of Israel were a nation of escaped slaves when they came to the Jordan, but they were free men and women once they crossed over to the other side.

‘My country, ’tis of Thee, sweet Land of Liberty, of thee I sing; ...land of the pilgrims’ pride, from every mountainside, let Freedom ring.’ Joshua could have composed those words for his first sermon before the people of Israel entered the Promised Land, but instead it was a Baptist minister called Samuel F Smith. Doubtless he was thinking of America as a new promised land.

This is what gave the Jordan such symbolic meaning for American slaves in the Nineteenth Century. It must be the Jordan that the composer had in mind when he or she thought up the lyrics for the African American Spiritual, ‘As I went down in the river to pray, studying about that good old way and who shall wear the starry crown, Good Lord, show me the way!’ Is the singer being baptised in the river, or set free, or both?

Paul again observed that, when we’re baptised, all the distinctions between us fall away. We’re no longer male or female, young or old, slave or free. Instead we all become part of one body in Jesus. He also observed that baptism sets us free from the limitations of our human nature, which prevents us from doing what - deep down - we know to be right.

Finally, entering the Jordan is about re-creation. The waters of the Jordan have come to symbolise all the life-giving qualities of water. It makes things blossom and flourish; it refreshes and restores them; it has creative powers. Jerusalem isn’t built on a river, but the Prophet Ezekiel talks about a new river running through the renewed city of God and sharing this vitality, creative energy and power with its citizens.

Just in case we might otherwise miss the link, the stories of the baptism of Jesus feature a dove - the symbol of God’s creative spirit in the creation story in Genesis, where it hovers over the deep waters at the beginning of creation, and of God’s new covenant with human beings in the story of Noah, where a dove returning to the Ark proves that the flood waters are receding by carrying an olive branch in its beak. Here, as Jesus enters the river to be baptised, the dove pops up again, reminding us that in baptism God makes a new covenant with us, his people, and offers us the creative and re-creative energy of his Spirit.

Someone[1] has said, ‘In baptism God is leading us on a journey of trust and faithfulness. We slip into the river of Jesus’ life and passion, death and resurrection. The river flows through us so that we might become more alive in him. We plunge into a new way of being, living and acting in the world so that, [like Jesus himself], we might become a blessing to others.’

That idea, of Jesus himself as a renewing, life-giving energy coming out of the desert to proclaim a fresh start for humankind, a chance to turn around and embrace good news, inspired the first disciples to leave their nets and help Jesus ‘bring in people instead of fish.’

What can be said of baptism and disciples, can of course be said equally of any new beginning, including the covenant service. The New Year marks an opportunity to remind ourselves of the journey we have undertaken with Jesus and recommit ourselves to him and to God as we embrace again Jesus call to be his disciples and his covenant with us.
[1] Graham Usher, Guidelines January 2017, The Bible Reading Fellowship