Celebrate Life in Water

Year B Ordinary Sunday 6-Sermon-Armidale Uniting Church-090215
2 Kings 5:1-14; Mark 1:40-45

Well, the rain has been a relief after the heat and the humidity of the last week or so. It’s washed the world clean and re-invigorated the plant life. The Japanese maple I was given at my induction was beginning to look a little sad on its tap water diet. Somehow the rain has brought it back to life. Rain seems to have that special effect. It links us into the earthy rhythms of life and death, growth and decay.

Of course, it does that too, when it comes in terrifying storms or results in devastating floods. Rain washes clean, cleans things out, covers things over, wipes things away, soaks the earth and creates the right environment for new growth and re-invigoration.

It’s such an ordinary phenomenon with so much power. It’s hard to believe it, even in the face of our own experience. Yet we do believe it. When the heat of the sun has sapped the moisture from our gardens and crops, we yearn for rain—life-giving rain. When we watch the power of the bushfires, we pray for rain—a heavy deluge that will dowse the flames. When we face dry creek-beds and empty dams, we crave rain—steady, rhythmic rain in its right season. We know the power of rain—of this particular form of water—for life; and we expect its effect.

According to the second book of Kings, Naaman, the commander of the army of the king of Aram, wasn’t quite so certain about the water to which he was sent by the prophet Elisha. The river Jordan wasn’t like the rivers of his homeland. The direction came from a foreign prophet, albeit of the Semitic family, who represented an entirely different God from those of Aram. And it hardly seemed possible that such a simple act could cure such a socially debilitating disease (whatever it was, for we do not know exactly what the disease being referred to as leprosy was).

Now there are probably a few things going on in this story. Firstly, like the story of Jesus curing the man with leprosy in the Markan reading for today, we have a story of a healing. Such accounts of healing establish the authority of the prophet who accomplishes the healing; and the God in whose name the healing takes place.

Secondly, we have an account of a washing that results not only in healing but in a new orientation, a new allegiance, a significant life change. In the very next verse after the end of the reading from the lectionary for today, Naaman says, “Now I know that there is no God in all the earth except in Israel.” In this washing, Naaman has been converted and he is ready to honour Israel’s God and God’s prophet, Elisha. He has been convinced by the effectiveness of his washing in the waters of the Jordan.

Ritual washing as effective sign of cleansing, healing and a change of orientation is a significant theme in the scriptures and in Jewish and Christian theology. Naaman is healed through washing in the Jordan. John baptises for the forgiveness of sins. Jesus undergoes baptism at the commencement of his intentional ministry. And today we have baptised Tabitha Jane Hignett. What is this washing about?

Baptism is central to our identity as Christian people. In Baptism, we are enfolded into the life of the Triune God and made members of the body of Christ, the church.

The word “Baptism” comes from the Greek word baptizo which means “to dip” into water or liquid. A related word form, bapto, is used for dipping something into dye, and for drawing water. Baptizo may also mean “to cause to perish by drowning”. The imagery is vivid. It is about being immersed, about changing colour, about life and death.
Going under water and coming up, or having water poured over us, signifies that we are incorporated into the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. From that time forward, our identity in Christ is the primary one. We are part of the one, holy, catholic [universal] and apostolic church: the body of Christ, the communion of the Holy Spirit, the people of the God.

Christian Educator, Debra Dean Murphy talks about it this way: "Baptism… confers an identity at odds with the ways we are named and claimed by family, nation, and ideology. Baptism is the constitution of a new people whose prior loyalties and allegiances are exposed, named, and radically reconfigured." (Teaching That Transforms: Worship as the Heart of Christian Education, Grand Rapids: Brazos Press, 2004.)

Baptism is not about welcoming someone into a human family, but into the family of God. Baptism is not about naming someone so that we all know what to call him or her, but about naming someone as a child in God. Baptism is not about the recognition of a new life given through birth, but a new birth into the life of Jesus Christ. And with that new birth comes a new vocation: the vocation of the Christian life.

Over the centuries of Christian tradition, people have talked about the vocation of the Christian life in different ways. Sometimes, they listed 4 elements; sometimes 7. The Uniting Church’s Basis of Union describes the Christian life in just 3: worship, witness and service.

In Christ, we are oriented towards God. Because of Christ, that orientation calls us to honour God through deep conversation or worship, just as Naaman was impelled to attempt to make an offering to God’s prophet, Elisha. That deep conversation or worship includes praise as a very important element, but not as the only element. We are also drawn into confession and thanksgiving, lament, intercession and petition. Honouring God means being in real dialogue with God.

In response to God’s graciousness to us in Christ, we are also called to tell the story of God just as the one healed from leprosy proclaimed Jesus’ action to all and sundry. We proclaim God’s story in our worship as a public expression of the deep relationship that we have with God through Christ in the power of the Spirit. We also tell God’s story when we care for others; when we act graciously in our daily lives; and when we share our faith story with others.

God’s graciousness to us also calls forth from us service—to God and to God’s creation—just as Elisha and Jesus served God. We serve God in our worship as we bring the world before God and witness to the good news we have in Jesus Christ. We serve God when we share what we have with others; when we go out of our way to do something for someone, for our community, for the environment; and when we tell someone else about God’s grace.

And in all this, just as Elisha proclaimed the God of Israel in the healing of Naaman, and Jesus proclaimed the coming of God’s realm in the healing of the one with leprosy, we proclaim God’s reign in our midst and in the time to come. The Basis of Union puts it like this: "The Uniting Church acknowledges that Christ incorporates people into his body by Baptism. In this way Christ enables them to participate in his own baptism, which was accomplished once on behalf of all in his death and burial, and which was made available to all when, risen and ascended, he poured out the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. Baptism into Christ’s body initiates people into Christ’s life and mission in the world, so that they are united in one fellowship of love, service, suffering and joy, in one family of the Father of all in heaven and earth, and in the power of the one Spirit." (Para. 7)

What an amazing miracle we have witnessed and participated in today—God’s Word proclaimed and enacted; the beginning of the Christian Life for Tabitha; and an effective sign of the God made known to us in Jesus.

Glory be to you, Source of all Being, Eternal Word and Holy Spirit,
as it was in the beginning, is now and shall be forever. Amen.