Luke 3:15-17, 21-22

Pietro Perujino 1483

Luke 3:15-17, 21-22 (NRSV)

¹⁵ As the people were filled with expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah, ¹⁶ John answered all of them by saying, “I baptize you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. ¹⁷ His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”

²¹ Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened, ²² and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”

Luke 3:21-22 (Mark 1:9-11, Matt 3:13, 16-17) is a biographical story about the baptism of Jesus. The descent of the Spirit is preparation for ministry. John the Baptist had succeeded in paving the way for the Lord, as God had intended his ministry to be. Jesus' own baptism is a part of the preparatory ministry and thus fulfills John's ministry. We need to read the text as expressing theologically who Jesus as the Son and as expressing the meaning of Christian baptism. The tradition is giving the reader the clarity the resurrection of Jesus gave to the earliest community. Since this story does not include a commission or a response from Jesus, it is not a call story on the pattern of Old Testament stories of the call of Moses, Isaiah, or Jeremiah.[1] However, the sequence of baptism, testing in the wilderness, and the summary of the proclamation of Jesus suggest a commission and anointing from God that led to the response of Jesus to proclaim the message God gave him.

²¹Now, when John baptized all the people, and when John also baptized Jesus, a statement that raises a question.  Why was Jesus among the crowds coming to receive baptism?[2]  It could be that the gospels portray Jesus as a disciple of John in preparation for his ministry. In 28 AD, Jesus was part of the crowd that heard John the Baptist preach. We know from other sources that nationalist uprisings occurred when Jesus was two and twelve. However, a non-violent protest by peasants occurred in Caesarea occurred against Pilate. A few months later, Jesus will come to the Baptist for baptism. It will be the first crucial decision he makes publicly. We can understand the ministry of the Baptist as inviting people to leave “Egypt,” that is, Jerusalem and the corrupt ways of institutional life in Israel and come to the wilderness. The Baptist patterned his ministry after Moses, Elijah, and other prophets. Significantly, however, Jesus does not stay with John in the wilderness. He will return to Galilee. Before he does so, he freely submits to this baptism by John. John may have the title, “the baptist,” precisely because he baptized Jesus, just as Judas had the title, “the traitor.” Jesus freely submitted to baptism with water. Jesus accepts the announcement of John that a new and imminent act of Gold will radically change the situation of Israel.

In their united message of gathering an eschatological people of God, their messages overlapped, and Jesus submitted to the baptism of John to show that likeness. Yet, Jesus separated himself from John in not being an ascetic, shifting his preaching from coming judgment to the coming rule of God, from expectation to fulfillment, from accepting the guilty after they repent to offering sinners salvation before they repent. Jesus would experience his call when he underwent the baptism of John, taking his place among the eschatological people of God that the Baptist was assembling. Behind the biblical images of the account of the baptism of Jesus is the experience of the descent of the Spirit, imparting prophetic inspiration upon Jesus in the specific form of the suffering Servant. The event of the baptism of Jesus by John, then, suggests they were united, but only in part, as a gulf opens between them. Later (Mark 11:20-25, Matt 21:23-27, Luke 20:1-8), Jesus will base his authority upon what happens here, in his baptism by John.[3]

Given the private revelation Jesus receives, we know that he did not need repentance and forgiveness that the baptism by John suggests. Luke offers a theological interpretation of the event. Thus, when Jesus was praying, a reference we find in neither Mark nor Matthew, the Father opened the heaven. This vision of the heavens opening is, like Luke's earlier reference to the unquenchable fire, an apocalyptic symbol.  Note that the miraculous moment of the identification of Jesus does not occur when Jesus comes out of the water. It occurs after the fact, when Jesus is "praying." In Luke's gospel, the most revealing and empowering moments in Jesus' ministry occur during times of prayer (Luke 6:12; 9:18, 28; 22:41-42). A motif of Luke is to add that Jesus is praying. The reason Luke does this is the solid tradition of Jesus being in extended periods of prayer outside the regular times of morning, noon, and evening prayer.[4]During this moment of prayer, Jesus now receives the Holy Spirit, the gift that marks the beginning of his messianic, Spirit-filled public ministry. This differs from the baptism of the Spirit John predicts in Luke 3:16, for in this case the Messiah is the one receiving the Spirit, not giving it out to others.

Further, ²²the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove, which, for the narrative in Luke, has special significance, for the parents of Jesus may have provided a sacrifice of the poor of a pair of turtledoves (2:24). The long absence of the Spirit ends as the same Spirit that hovered over the waters of chaos n creation (Gen 1:2) and brought order and life descends upon Jesus in the form of a dove. Such an image is not common in Judaism. An interesting recognition among scholars is that in the Roman imagination, the descent of a bird was a crucial omen for the life of a great leader. Usually, this bird was an eagle, the symbol of Roman legions and military might. The tradition uses this trope but subverts it, placing the peaceful dove instead of the aggressive eagle. The reign of God, for which Jesus is the sole leader, comes as a peaceful and sacrificial dove instead of the Roman eagle. Luke's account of Jesus' baptism focuses more on the Spirit than on the baptism itself. Note "like" a dove.  Luke knows that any literal rendering of an apocalyptic, and therefore "not-yet" event can only be "like." However, Luke also wants to be sure his readers realize that there is a real, a "now", presence of the Holy Spirit with the living Jesus.  The "not yet' was made "now," incarnate in the person of Jesus. The voice that breaks into this event proclaims a final distinction between John and Jesus. The dove descends upon him, or even into him, but resting upon him is a feature of prophetic literature (Isa 11:1-3). If the allusion is to Gen 8:8-12,[5] however, where Noah tests to see if the waters have subsided after the flood, it may symbolize the hope of new creation. The point is that the living presence of the Holy Spirit will empower the ministry of Jesus. Jesus bore the Spirit in his prophetic ministry.[6] He was the “holy servant” of God (Acts 4:27) who was anointed to do good and heal (Acts 10:38). John had promised that the one to come after him would be different, and we see here the first expression of that difference.  The baptism is the beginning of the eschatological age, which the theological significance of the Father opening the heavens and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. It is a figurative representation of divine power filling this king-prophet, and Judaism could represent the Holy Spirit as a dove, where a Targum interprets the voice of the turtle dove as the voice of the Holy Spirit.[7] Further, a voice came from heaven, a circumlocution for the voice of the Father, which we will not hear again until the Mount of Transfiguration, You are my Son (ὁ υἱός μου), the Beloved (ὁ ἀγαπητός). One is from Psalm 2:7, a royal coronation in which we hear these words: “He said to me, ‘You are my Son; today I have begotten you.’” The other passage is from Isaiah 42:1, “Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my spirit upon him …” We must not lose sight of these images, that of king and servant of the Lord, throughout the course of the life of Jesus. The prophetic calling, presumed to be silent since Malachi, the New Testament declares has revived in John and in Jesus. The voice does not bestow divine sonship but proclaims it. In advance of the Easter event, we have the first proclamation of the reality of Jesus before humanity.^[8]Yet, this account by itself is open to the interpretation that Jesus became the Son by endowment with the Spirit and divine ratification.^[9] It affirms the Trinitarian relations cooperating in the mission and ministry of Jesus. We have here the impartation of the Spirit and the thought of adoption.^[10] Jesus is the elect Son of God.^[11] As such, Jesus becomes a model of election as serving humanity for the mission God gave him.^[12] The baptism of Jesus in these ways has a unique role in identifying who Jesus is as uniquely the Son of the Father. The heavenly voice validates Jesus as the bearer of divine revelation, both in his teaching and in his person. This voice reveals the future of Jesus as king and servant, as enthroned and as the suffering servant. The stage is set for the one who is more powerful than the Baptist, who will baptize with the Holy Spirit. The one whose identity we as readers of this gospel know will contest with human beings who stand opposed to the good news and the rule of God. Thus, the special tenderness imparted to Jesus by the heavenly voice also introduces the costly nature of Jesus' ministry and mission.  He is not only destined for royal power; he may also expect to suffer and die for the sake of others. The voice concludes that with you I am well pleased.  

John may have the title, “the Baptist,” precisely because he baptized Jesus, just as Judas had the title, “the traitor.” Jesus accepts the announcement of John that a new and imminent act of Gold will radically change the situation of Israel. He submits in advance to what God is about to do according to it. He accepts the implications of this event for humanity. He stands by this event as the act of God. Readiness for this even can only mean renewal. Renewal means conversion and repentance. We also note that Jesus fully identified with sinful humanity. He put Himself under the judgment of God and referred to the divine remission of sin. Because Jesus confessed God, therefore He confessed humanity. Because He submitted to God, He put Himself in solidarity with humanity. With the rest of humanity, He confesses His sins. He did not let the sins of humanity remain with them but took them upon Himself. He submitted to baptism in prospect of the coming rule of God, judgment, and forgiveness. No one who came to the Jordan was as needy and burdened, as was Jesus. We also note that Jesus undertook to do in the service of God and humanity that which he alone could do. He accepted his election and sending as the Son. He would live for God and therefore for humanity. His act of obedience in the water of baptism will be an anticipation of a life of obedience as he enters his public ministry. He will adopt a particular way of life that became a pattern for those who seek to be disciples of Jesus. The story stresses divine appreciation, acknowledgement, approval, and affirmation of the service Jesus renders for God and for humanity. Yet, all this still makes us ponder whether the baptism of Jesus by John in the Jordan is an adequate basis for why the Christian community should invite new Christians to baptism. One can imagine future Christians treating baptism with a neutral attitude. Yet God calls Christians into fellowship with Jesus. The beginning of the ministry of Jesus is not merely of historical interest. It became exemplary, normative and binding for future followers of Jesus. Water baptism is a sign of the beginning of a life of fellowship with Christ. Thus, the command of the risen Lord (Matthew 28:19) has its proper basis in the historical baptism of Jesus in the Jordan.[13]

It seems as if the early church thought of the reception of baptism by new followers of Jesus as a self-evident matter. We need to consider the basis and reason the early church considered baptism as the first step of the human decision that recognizes the faithfulness of God to the individual. Baptism is a sign that the faith of the individual will include obedience and the actual following of Jesus. The simplest answer is that the risen Lord commanded them to do so (Matthew 28:19).

The submission of Jesus to the baptism of John may well be an invitation for his followers to repeat it and express their faith and obedience in this act. We note that Jesus freely submitted to baptism with water. He began the fulfillment of His mission as the Son of the Father who had come into the world to reconcile the world to God. The baptism of Jesus becomes exemplary, normative, and binding in respect of the form of the beginning of their new life. His baptism was an act of submission and obedience. Yet, his baptism has become the pattern for an understanding of Christian baptism. The command of the risen Lord to baptize in the name of the Father, Son, and Spirit (28:19) has its proper basis in the historical baptism of Jesus in the Jordan.[14] Baptism is the first step of the human decision that recognizes the faithfulness of God to the individual. Baptism is a sign that the faith of the individual will include obedience and the actual following of Jesus. When we receive baptism, we are publicly uniting ourselves with and standing with Jesus. In that sense, it becomes the basis for the early church to invite new believers to submit to baptism as well. Baptism is a sign that the favor or grace of God rests upon us. Baptism is a form of anointing us for ministry. Baptism is a sign that we have committed ourselves to the reign of God. As the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist stands at the beginning of his public ministry and had implications throughout that ministry, so our baptism stands at the beginning of our vocation to become increasingly a Christian. God calls Christians into fellowship with Jesus.

The baptism of Jesus is a model of Christian baptism, especially connecting baptism with the gift of the Spirit. Baptism into the death of Jesus Christ changes all individual particularities and brings them to a new boiling point, freely establishing them in a new form. The expression of this is the freedom that with the Spirit the baptized received as children of God and that enables them to go their own way, to follow their own specific calling, and to accept the consequences as Jesus did.[15]

We can see that the matter of identity rises again in the account of the baptism of Jesus. Why was Jesus among the crowds coming to receive the baptism of John? To ask the question is to raise the question of his identity. He could simply be a follower of John. Yet, we know he was more. John said so. In fact, his baptism testifies to who Jesus is. His baptism was an act of submission and obedience. Yet, his baptism has become the pattern for an understanding of Christian baptism. Look at how much we as Christians borrow from this baptism to understand our own. 

·       It symbolized the eschatological gift of the Holy Spirit. After all, an important apocalyptic symbol was the heavens opening. However, the “Not Yet” of the heavens opening must give way to the “Already” of the dove coming to rest upon Jesus while he prayed. 

·       His baptism identified the moment when Jesus began his public ministry and therefore a new course in his life. 

·       His baptism was an act of obedience and identification with the sins of humanity. 

·       His baptism identified him as the Son of God. The phrasing here combines two Old Testament passages. One is from Psalm 2:7, a royal coronation in which we hear these words: “He said to me, ‘You are my Son; today I have begotten you.’” The other passage is from Isaiah 42:1, “Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my spirit upon him …” We must not lose sight of these images, that of king and servant of the Lord, throughout the course of the life of Jesus. 

 

As we can see, there is no parallel between this exalted status and that of John the Baptist. This is the one-of-a-kind identity of the uniquely Anointed One, the Son, the Messiah, the Christ. 

How can the baptism of Jesus by John be a pattern for our understanding of Christian baptism? With good reason, early Christians took baptism seriously as a way of shifting our sense of who we are away from self and toward Christ. Properly understood, our baptism describes the course of a Christian life. Our baptism describes a vision of Christian discipleship that remains meaningful.

·       For the Christian, baptism is also an act of obedience. 

·       Baptism also symbolizes finding identity in union with Christ. 

·       To experience Christian baptism is to identify with the course of the life of Jesus, who lived in submission to the will of God to the point of death and resurrection. Christian baptism opens the door to a new way of life lived out of union with Christ as empowered by the Holy Spirit. 

·       As Paul will later write of this, even as Jesus finds declared in his baptism his identity as the Son of God, so we find our identity as children of God. Out of this identity, Christians can live out their calling in a new form of life. 

Our baptism declares our identity as embraced by Jesus Christ. The questions of who we are and why we are here find their answer in baptism. We are children of the heavenly Father and we are to live as children of the heavenly Father. Few of us will have a heavenly vision. What we will have is the witness of the Christian community, scripture, and the witness of the Spirit. Regardless of our career choice, our vocation in life is to learn to live in this world as representatives of our heavenly Father. Developing a career demands intelligence and to learn a skill, finding out how we get from where we are to where we want to be. Calling considers whether where we want to be is worth moving toward. Since baptism is open to all persons, we can honestly say that all of us have a calling from God. Hearing a divine call is not an event reserved for clergy. Our common calling is to learn what it is like to live as children of the heavenly Father. Such a calling will unlikely be a heavenly vision or an audible voice. It will be through participation in Christian community, through worship, prayer, reading a book, studying the Bible, and so on. Such an event can be life changing as we consider who we shall be in the brief time we have for life in this world. Of course, there are times in our lives when we have the outward sign but do not have the inward grace (John Wesley). That is why children of the heavenly Father need daily repentance and recognize their need for forgiveness. Of course, many people received their baptism as infants or as a rite of passage into their teen years as part of confirmation. Did anything happen? The question for each of us is not so much what happened then, but what is happening now. Do we continue to embrace what our parents and sponsors intended in our baptism? We do not have to, of course. We can turn our backs upon it intentionally. 

First, identify with the family. The family of which I am speaking now is the family of God. Are we willing to openly identify ourselves as belonging to this family? When you were born into your biological family, you were not born into the family of God. You must respond to the call of God, and thus to the grace of God that you experience. Can you testify to that response?

Second, identify with the kingdom. The family of God has business in the world. It has work to do and Jesus identified himself with all who would come to the kingdom, and we must as well. He will begin his public ministry after he receives this baptism. He will live the rest of his life in the light of that baptism. While we cannot hope to do so perfectly, we need to learn to bear the name of Jesus well in our families, communities, and places of work.

Third, identify with our baptism. The example of Jesus reminds us of what baptism is really meant to be. It is not a hoop to jump through and a box to check. It is not a spiritual security blanket for our children. It is not a religious routine that just goes with the territory. Jesus goes into the waters of baptism to publicly affirm that he identifies who he is with whom God has made him to be. When we baptize people in the church, we recognize their place in the family. We agree with them that they are God’s and God is theirs. We celebrate our destiny as God’s eternal family.

Finally, identify with Jesus. Your baptism means you identify your life with Jesus. You live in fellowship with him. You follow his lead. It leads to the death of simply living for yourself, but also to the new life of living for and with him. There is a call to each of us to remember that God grants us this new identity — we are beloved children of the Father. The name of Jesus is salvation, the Beloved Son, the Messiah. In following him, you receive his name – Christian, Christ-follower. He is your identity. Your destiny is united to his destiny. 

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[1] (Bultmann, The History of the Synoptic Tradition, 1921, 1931, 1958), 247-48, for whom because of the miraculous element that is essential to the story classifies this as legend, although he is confident of the historicity of the baptism of Jesus by John. He views the legend as coming from the Hellenistic community and its practice of baptism as the bestowal of the Spirit but reading back into the life of Jesus the meaning of his baptism by John. These few verses become a theological statement of the identity of Jesus as the Son and of the meaning of Christian baptism. 

[2] The question itself suggests that the baptism of Jesus by John is one of the few incidents on which scholars agree that mark the history of Jesus.

[3] (Jeremias, New Testament Theology: The Proclamation of Jesus, 1971), 44-56, 177.

[4] (Jeremias, New Testament Theology: The Proclamation of Jesus, 1971), 188.

[5] (Bultmann, The History of the Synoptic Tradition, 1921, 1931, 1958), 250, views this idea as too fantastic.

[6] (Bultmann, The History of the Synoptic Tradition, 1921, 1931, 1958), 251, where he admits that the origin of this idea could be the Jewish-Christian community, but which the Hellenistic community expanded as the identity of Jesus as the Son and applied to the historical baptism the meaning of Christian baptism (I Cor 6;11, 12:13, II Cor 1:22, Acts 2:38). 

[7] (Bultmann, The History of the Synoptic Tradition, 1921, 1931, 1958), 250.

[8] (Barth K. , Church Dogmatics, 2004, 1932-67)IV.2 [64.4] 324.

[9] (Dunn, Christology in the Making: A New Testament Inquiry into the Origins of the Doctrine of the Incarnation, 1980, 1989), 47.

[10] (Pannenberg, Systematic Theology, 1998, 1991)Volume 1, 266.

[11] (Pannenberg, Systematic Theology, 1998, 1991)Volume 1, 306.

[12] (Pannenberg, Systematic Theology, 1998, 1991)Volume 3, 457.

[13] Barth, Church Dogmatics, IV.4, 50-68.

[14] (Barth K. , Church Dogmatics, 2004, 1932-67), IV.4, 50-68.

[15] (Pannenberg, Systematic Theology, 1998, 1991), Volume III, 278-283.

Acts 8:14-17

Acts 8:14-17 (NRSV)

¹⁴ Now when the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them. ¹⁵ The two went down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit ¹⁶ (for as yet the Spirit had not come upon any of them; they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus). ¹⁷ Then Peter and John laid their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit. 

Acts 8:14-17 is part of the story of Phillip and Simon the Magician, which embraces verses 8-25, expands the story to include the Jerusalem Church. It offers an opportunity to discuss the proper signs of conversion or salvation. How does conversion happen? At a deeper level, is conversion even a good word to describe the experience of all Christians everywhere? Some people might come to Christ and live in the Spirit in far more subtle fashion than that. In addition, we could consider how the Holy Spirit came upon these people. Their reception of the Holy Spirit was a blessing or gift that the apostles simply asked for, and just as simply as God gave it. God is willing to give, but some gifts require specific petition. Since Jerusalem church sent this delegation, the Jerusalem church felt responsible.  It would happen again at Antioch in 15:22.

¹⁴ Now, when the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them.  

Even though Samaria once belonged to the unified nation of Israel during the reign of King David and his son Solomon, Jews looked upon this territory located north of Judea with contempt and suspicion for centuries. This was due in part to the idolatrous rituals initiated by King Jeroboam (I Kings 12:1–14:16). Then, after approximately 200 years of polytheism, the oft-repeated prophetic words of judgment regarding the disobedient 10 northern tribes were finally realized when the king of Assyria conquered and exiled the people of Israel around 721 B.C. (II Kings 17:1-23). Following this, the king of Assyria repopulated the land with foreigners who not only intermarried with the Israelites who were apparently left behind, but also polluted and corrupted Israel's religion, distancing it from Judaic religious traditions (II Kings 17:24-41). In sum, due to this fractured religious history, Judean Jews regarded themselves as the preservers of authentic Judaism and looked down on their Samaritan neighbors. This disdain for their religious cousins surfaces in several New Testament texts. For example, when Jesus heals the 10 lepers, the only one who returns to thank Jesus is a Samaritan who is labeled a "foreigner" (Luke 17:18). According to John, Jesus "had to go through Samaria," which suggests that another option might have been preferred if circumstances would have allowed it (John 4:4). John also notes, "Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans" after Jesus had asked a Samaritan woman for a drink of water (John 4:9). To be sure, we find no explicit statement in the narrative regarding any suspicion the Judean believers may have harbored toward their Samaritan brothers and sisters. Still, it is reasonable to think that some members of the church at Jerusalem are asking, "Is the conversion of these Samaritans authentic?" Beyond that, the narrative suggests another query: "Will the Judean church accept the Samaritans, and will they view them as equal partners in the gospel?" In sum, if these tacit questions do stand behind the events recorded in verses 14-17, the actions of the Jerusalem church make sense.

Of all the individuals mentioned in the early chapters of Acts, these two are the central figures, especially Peter. Consider, for example, that Peter prompts the nascent community to find a replacement for Judas (1:15-26). Peter is also the principal speaker on the day of Pentecost (2:14-40). Shortly thereafter, Peter and John heal a crippled beggar while entering the temple, and then proclaim Christ's resurrection as a crowd surrounds them (3:1-26). Their public proclamation of the resurrection of the dead in Jesus infuriates the religious leaders, particularly the Sadducees, since they deny the resurrection of the dead. For that reason, they arrest Peter and John, bring them before the Council, threaten them, and then order them to stop preaching (4:1-22). Still, these attempts to squelch the apostles prove ineffective. Even when the religious authorities arrest and flog all of the apostles, Peter declares that he and his comrades "must obey God rather than any human authority" (5:1-42).

 ¹⁵ The two went down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit   ¹⁶ (for as yet the Spirit had not come upon any of them; they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus).  ¹⁷ Then Peter and John laid their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit. The giving of the Holy Spirit as connected with the apostles is a reflection of a small church.  The larger Gentile mission that Luke will describe, and to which the letters of Paul will testify, would make this impossible. Thus, this passage includes a definite emphasis on the role of the Holy Spirit at crucial moments in the book of Acts. Recall, for example, the Spirit's descent on the apostles on the day of Pentecost (2:1-13). Later, when Ananias and Sapphira seek to enhance their own notoriety, and to obtain the community's praise, Peter reveals that they are testing and lying to the Spirit (5:1-11). Not long after this, the church appoints seven servants who are "full of the Spirit" to address the Hellenists' complaint regarding their widows (6:1-6). Moreover, Stephen -- the church's first martyr -- is a disciple who particularly has the Spirit's power and wisdom (6:5, 8-15). As James D. G. Dunn shows in an important study (Baptism in the Holy Spirit), there is solid evidence to suggest that the early church held that there were at least three essential pieces to what he terms the "conversion-initiation" experience of becoming a follower of Jesus: confession that Jesus is the Messiah, water baptism and receiving the Spirit. It seems there was no single order for these experiences (cf. 9:44-48, where reception of the Spirit is the basis for water baptism), but the absence of any one of them calls into question whether one was part of the community. With the Samaritans' reception of the Holy Spirit, there can be no question that the church had entered a new stage of expansion in fulfillment of Jesus' charge. Further, the work of the Spirit has a close relation to the work of the Son. Here, the laying on of hands imparts the Spirit, which we are to understand in the context of the sending of the Spirit by the Father or the Son.[1] We should note the close connection of this act of laying on of hands, the imparting of the Spirit, and baptism. Thus, the passage is consistent with much of the early Christian testimony of the receiving of the Spirit at baptism.[2] This link of baptism to reception of the Spirit by the laying on of hands is one we expect in Acts.[3] Of course, here is an example of baptism with water that is separate from the reception of the Spirit, which is the norm for baptism in the New Testament.[4] We should note as well that baptism in the name of Jesus includes the Trinitarian formula, for baptism is in the one name, Father, Son, and Spirit.[5]

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[1] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 3, 4.

[2] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 3, 267.

[3] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 3, 260.

[4] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 3, 279.

[5] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 1, 301.

Isaiah 43:1-7

Isaiah 43:1-7

But now thus says the LORD, he who created you, 

O Jacob, he who formed you, 

O Israel: Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; 

I have called you by name, you are mine. 

{2} When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; 

and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; 

when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, 

and the flame shall not consume you. 

{3} For I am the LORD your God, 

the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. 

I give Egypt as your ransom, 

Ethiopia and Seba in exchange for you. 

{4} Because you are precious in my sight, 

and honored, and I love you, 

I give people in return for you, 

nations in exchange for your life. 

{5} Do not fear, for I am with you; 

I will bring your offspring from the east, 

and from the west I will gather you; 

{6} I will say to the north, "Give them up," 

and to the south, "Do not withhold; 

bring my sons from far away 

and my daughters from the end of the earth—

{7} everyone who is called by my name, 

whom I created for my glory, 

whom I formed and made."

Isaiah 43:1-7 is an oracle promising deliverance to Israel.[1] The date of this promise is during the exile. Much of the material in chapters 40-55 of the book of Isaiah emphasizes consolation and deliverance for an oppressed and demoralized people, which stands in contrast to the oracles of judgment found in the first 39 chapters of the book. II Isaiah preached to the exiles in order to connect their experiences before, during and after their captivity. In its theological compass, this passage combines, in a brief scope, a sweeping panorama of both time and space. Redemption for Israel involves Israel's past, present and future, and not Israel alone. Salvation is a matter of cosmic dimensions.

The Babylonian Empire uprooted Jews from their homes, and transported them to the Babylonian capital. The Babylonian rulers seem to have followed the advice, "Keep your friends close and your enemies closer." After all, they exiled only the political, intellectual and economic elite, the ruling class. They settled the elite in comfortable quarters, in a neighborhood of the city all their own. In the process, the Babylonian overlords made certain there were none from the defeated nation's leadership who could foment rebellion back home.

Most of us move in this mobile society. We will move across the continent, if work or family demands it. The exiles remembered the promise to Abraham of land and to Moses of a land flowing with milk and honey. They remembered the promise to King David for his descendants, for the City of Jerusalem, and for the Temple. Such promises stood for 500 plus years. The exile put it all into question. 

¹However, now, thus says the LORD. Here is the standard prophetic formula, occurring over 400 times in the Old Testament. The formula has its roots in the stereotyped language used by messengers and emissaries throughout the ancient Near East, who were understood to be speaking not on their own behalf, but as a “mouthpiece” for the one who had dispatched them, usually (but not always) a king or some other ruler. For examples of the formula being used in the Bible by ordinary people of admittedly high status, see Genesis 32:3-4 [Jacob’s sending messengers to placate Esau]; Genesis 45:9 [Joseph sending his brothers back to their father in Canaan]; Numbers 20:14 [Moses’ sending messengers to Edom on behalf of Israel]; Judges 11:14-15 [Jephthah’s response to the king of the Ammonites]; etc.).] 

Four verbs in this opening verse -- "created," "formed," "redeemed" and "called" -- coming in rapid succession, compress a wealth of theological insight and religious sentiment into a few lines, setting the pace and tone for the rich oracle that follows.

The prophet identifies the Lord as the one who created (bara’) you. The Hebrew verb create appears in verses 1 and 7. This same verb, appearing in such places as Genesis 1:1 and Psalm 51:10 (v. 12 in Hebrew), refers in the Hebrew Bible only to the creative activity of the Lord. O Jacob, the one who formed (yatsar) you. A parallel to “create” is the Hebrew verb we translate as form or fashion. It also appears in verses 1 and 7. The word is most often used in its mechanistic sense, and usually designates the activity of a potter or carver (e.g., Isaiah 29:16, 30:14, 41:25; Jeremiah 18:4, 6, etc.). Occasionally the subject is God (as in the forming of the first humans and animals in Genesis 2:7, 8, Isaiah 29:16, and Paul’s citation of that passage in Romans 9:20), and when the object is Israel as a people, this use of the verb is restricted to the book of Isaiah (27:11; 43:1, 21; 44:2, 24; 45:9, 11; 64:7).

The prophet describes Yahweh as the one who “created” and “formed” the people of Israel, using the language of creation that runs throughout II Isaiah (e.g., 40:26; 41:20; 42:5; 45:8; 12; 18; etc.). Creation is a prominent theme in II Isaiah, used to anchor Israel’s relationship with its God in terms broader than the merely geopolitical. The prophet uses creation language less commonly to refer specifically to Israel’s creation than to the creation of the natural world. This important shift in theological emphasis was crucial if Israel was to continue to trust in the God who had included a homeland as part of his covenant with Israel’s ancestors. By redirecting the attention of the chosen people from the loss of their political and geographical independence to the cosmic scope of the power of God, the prophet of the exile reminded the people that their covenant relationship had survived even the experience of exile.

O Israel: Do not fear [verse 5 as well]. “Jacob/Israel,” a designation for the chosen people, a particular favorite of the prophet Isaiah (e.g., 9:8; 14:1; 27:6; 29:23; etc.; the reversed order “Israel/Jacob” also occurs in Isaiah, e.g., 10:20). He uses the designation most commonly in the parallel poetic couplets that make up many of the prophet’s oracles, as here. Unlike the expression “Israel/Judah,” which denoted the northern and southern kingdoms (even after they ceased to exist as independent entities), “Israel/Jacob” are two names for the same entity, the chosen people, based on the change of name from “Jacob” to “Israel” of the nation’s eponymous ancestor (Genesis 32:28). The parallelism of "Jacob ... Israel" is a standard biblical designation for the entire people of Israel, stretching back to the earliest examples of Hebrew poetry (e.g., Genesis 49:7). Although the historical Hebrews lived for a time as the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, the ancient patronymic designation "Jacob" never completely died out as a name for the Israelites; in its form "house of Jacob," it was a particular favorite of Isaiah, occurring more times in that book than in any other. It is fitting that an oracle in ancient poetic style and composed of the primordial theme of creation and the identity-shaping theme of exodus should employ this archaic designation in its opening verse.

 

They are not to fear, for I have redeemed [go’el] you. Another prominent theme in II Isaiah is redemption: (see also 41:14; 43:14; 44:6, 22, 23, 24; 47:4; 48:20; 51:10; 52:3, 9; etc.). The idea of redemption in the Hebrew Bible has its basis in mundane customs and laws dating back to the tribal period. The basic idea is a straightforward one. In an agricultural society, an extended family’s means of economic survival was the land it was able to work. If, through adverse circumstances (such as the death of the primary workers in war or drought or other agricultural misfortune), a unit of the extended family felt forced to sell its property, it was urgent that other members of the extended family attempt to buy back — redeem — the property. The reason was for the particular sake of the individual family, and for the general sake of the extended family. We find a version of this basic and frequent scenario in the book of Ruth. By the time the concept of redemption has entered the theological vocabulary of the Hebrew Bible, the idea had taken on various specialized nuances, but the basic idea of an owner (God) recovering a possession (Israel) that was somehow lost or alienated persists. God's redemption of Israel occurs most frequently in the context of Egyptian bondage and Babylonian exile, and in the book of Isaiah, the verb occurs chiefly in Second and Third Isaiah (e.g., 44:22, 23; 48:20; 52:9; 63:9 -- it does not occur at all in chapters 1-39). II Isaiah uses the idea, with no apparent sense of contradiction in asserting that both Israel’s punishment and redemption are at the hand of its God. In the culture of the time, if someone were in bondage to someone, the next of kin, as “redeemer,” could ransom/buy someone out of servitude. Redemption denotes God's salvific activity for Israel based on the relationship that exists between them: Israel is God's chosen (1 Kings 3:8), God's firstborn son (Exodus 4:22), God's beloved (Isaiah 5:1), God's treasured possession (Deuteronomy 7:6). It is out of this supramundane reality that God acts on Israel's behalf (and not, opposed to some writers on this subject, because of a "blood relationship," which did not exist between Israel and its God and would have been considered an abominable idea to the writers of the OT). God's gracious acts toward Israel in the past form the basis of the assurance Israel may take in God's continuing to act in Israel's future. See New Testament passages, where Jesus is to be the one who made ransom for us: Mark 10:45; I Timothy 2:5-6; I Peter 1:18-19; Revelation 5:9. Similarly, Jesus is our Redeemer: Luke 1:68-69; Galatians 3:13-14; Romans 3:21-26; Ephesians 1:7-8a and Colossians 1:13-14. The meaning is that neither Judah nor we can rescue/ransom/redeem ourselves from bondage, for only God can.

I have called you by name; you are mine. In many cultures, to name someone is to endow the person with special meaning or power. In Genesis 2:18-24 the Lord God brought created beings to the man/Adam to see what he would name them, including the one closest to him, whom Man called Woman. In this passage God tenderly remembers the people called by God by God’s very own name — God’s majestic person. Moreover, there is no stronger biblical name than is Lord (YHWH/Yahweh). God will consequently show care for the YHWH-named people of Jacob = Israel = (in context) Judah, because they belong to God, created for God’s own glory. (See similarly Isaiah 40:25-31.) Some Christian traditions historically have name-giving as part of the baptism of a young child; and all followers of Jesus can come to the realization that we have the name of Jesus Christ placed upon us. Barth discusses the phrase of the Lord calling them by name in the context of honor. He stresses that addressing humanity by name does not come as if a meteor falling into our midst. Such an honor from God arrives to us as those created in the image of God.^[2]

Verses 2-6 flesh out what the statements made in verse 1 and 7 that the Lord God has created, named, and delivered the people of God. ^{2} When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; [see verse 5 as well.] and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you. The imagery here is similar to the Song of Songs 8:7: "Many waters cannot quench love, neither can floods drown it." The verse gives several analogical examples of how God will deliver Judah. Life-threatening situations will not destroy them. Such imagery to denote threats to Israel's life are generalized terms intended to recall Israel's preeminent liberation, the exodus (Exodus 14-15), when waters and fire shaped Israel's understanding of God's care and activity in history. The mention of Egypt in verse 3 reinforces the echo of the exodus, as does the theologically complex statement that other nations have been given in exchange for Israel's life (v. 4). Although there is no account in the Hebrew Bible of God's handing over other nations to perdition in exchange for Israel (analogous, for example, to God's surrendering of Job to Satan), it is likely that Isaiah is referring to Egypt's hardheartedness as resulting in that nation's suffering under the plagues of the exodus. God (is) with us is the central biblical promise, most completely fulfilled in Jesus, named Emmanuel (Matthew 1:23), from Immanuel of Isaiah 7:14, meaning quite literally “With us (is) God.” God-with-us bears us up through situations that would otherwise totally overwhelm us and send us to our doom. As part of the creation imagery in II Isaiah, imagery of primordial and theophanic chaos is also an important element in the pattern of loss-and-redemption (see esp. 51:10). 

Thalassophobia. Thalassa means “sea,” and phobos means “fear,” so thalassophobia is “fear of the sea.” This is a legitimate phobia, when you think about it. The ocean can be a place of danger and even death. Take to the water, and you have to deal with waves, wind, tides, currents, rocky shorelines and ever-changing weather conditions. You know what lies at the bottom of the ocean and twitches, do you not? A nervous wreck.

The imagery of the waters of overwhelming us is a powerful one. We know of hurricanes and floods. We know what raging waters can do. We know what this feels like, do we not? At times, each of us is going to face what seems like an insurmountable obstacle. Passing organic chemistry. Running a marathon. Getting dumped by a romantic partner. Surviving cancer. Raising teenagers. Being fired. Changing careers. Experiencing the death of a spouse. The sound and fury of the raging water is overwhelming. We begin to shake, and wonder how we are ever going to get across. Some people turn and run away. They drop the class, abandon their athletic training, avoid romantic relationships, ignore the cancer, retreat from their children, fall into a midlife career crisis or refuse to face their grief. When the waters are raging, this is understandable. Ultimately, such a response is self-destructive. Those who retreat from the edge are ignoring the promise of God: "When you pass through the waters, I will be with you." Both parts of this verse are equally true. Isaiah says, "When you pass through the waters" ... not "If you pass through the waters." We are all going to face the terror of raging waters. Living guarantees us such experiences.  The second part of the verse is every bit as certain: "I will be with you," says the one Lord God Almighty, maker of heaven and earth. "I will be with you."

When you walk through fire, it shall not burn you, and the flame shall not consume you. The waters, river, fire and flame through which Israel must pass, may be an allusion to the primordial watery chaos from which God brought forth the original creation, on the one hand, and the fiery imagery of the divine theophany on the other (see, e.g., Exodus 19:18). The latter imagery may also allude to the apocalyptic “day of the Lord,” at the end of time, which is also depicted as a scene of fiery destruction (e.g., Isaiah 13:9; Zephaniah 1:18; etc.). Regardless of the source of the imagery, the point is that no matter what Israel must endure, the nation will not be alone, but its creator and redeemer will accompany it. Therefore, God’s people need not fear. Swirling waters, raging rivers, and searing fires will come. Such threats may happen due to our ineptitude, external forces beyond our control, or simply because adversity is part of the nature of life. However, in the face of such challenges, God offers the promise that God is with us. When obstacles arise, God will be powerful and compassionate toward us. 

The greatest miracle God may provide us is not removal of that which threatens us, such as a physical healing, but the miracle of giving us strength in the face of suffering. God's promise is to remove all our suffering in the fullness of eternal life, though not necessarily in the provisional experience of eternal life we have in this life. In this world, we will sometimes weep, suffer and die. Nevertheless, in the New Jerusalem, "God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain, for the former things are passed away" (Revelation 2:14).

^{3} For I am the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. Self-identification, with Scripture frequently identifies God as “the Holy One of Israel” in Scripture, most frequently in Isaiah (25 occurrences of the expression, in all three major divisions of the book). The Bible identifies Jesus as the Holy One (of God) in such passages as Mark 1:24, John 6:69, and Revelation 3:7. If we reflect upon the notion of the infinity of God, the incomparability of the Holy One means that the designation “the Holy One of Israel” becomes a guarantee of the hope of redemption by the exiles.^[3] “Savior” is a verbal participle meaning “the one who is saving/rescuing you.” The prophet juxtaposes “LORD” and “Savior” elsewhere in Isaiah, in 43:11, 45:21, 49:26, and 60:16. Linguistically the Hebrew word yasha’ relates to the name “Jesus,” who the New Testament identifies as the Lord who would save/deliver not only Jews (Judahites) but also the people of the entire world (see, for example, Matthew 1:21; John 3:16-18; Acts 15 passim; Acts 16:31; Romans 10:9-13). Jesus Christ/Messiah is “Lord” and “Savior” in the same verse in such passages as Luke 2:11, Philippians 3:20; and 2 Peter 3:18. 

I give Egypt as your ransom, Ethiopia and Seba in exchange for you. Ezekiel 29:17-20, we have the suggestion that God will give Egypt to Cyrus in exchange for Judah, although this is not an historical allusion. Egypt is fraught with ambivalence in Scripture. In the book of Genesis, Egypt is the place of refuge from famine. However, in Exodus, Egypt is the place of Israel’s enslavement, from which the Lord delivered them. In later periods, Egypt became again a place where many groups of Jews found places to settle; e.g., see Jeremiah 44:1. The later chapters of Isaiah especially emphasize the Lord God of Israel as creator of the entire world and consequently God and Lord over all creation. In that light the Lord could “give [even powerful] Egypt as your ransom, Ethiopia [Hebrew: Cush] and Seba [a wealthy unknown location] in exchange for you” (v. 3). “Exchange for you” (instead of you/in your place) is a parallel expression also meaning the payment of ransom. Ransom or exchange, in context, is a metaphorical expression of ways by which the Lord will deliver Judah from exile, back to their own land. God will “pay” whatever it costs to return God’s precious people home. Thus, the theme of redemption returns, but this time with reference to the price that God must pay in order to accomplish a redemptive transaction. Other nations — Egypt, Ethiopia, Seba — will be given by Yahweh (presumably to Cyrus, the Persian conqueror who, by conquering the Babylonians and others, ended the exile of the Hebrews) in order that Israel might be redeemed. The point is not to suggest that the nations sacrificed for Israel’s redemption are in any way expendable, but rather to impress upon the Hebrews the enormous price that God has paid for their redemption. This idea of the enormity of the cost of redemption will be utilized extensively by New Testament writers with reference to Jesus (e.g., Ephesians 1:7; Hebrews 9:12).

Isaiah 43: 4-7 lays out the theme of redemption in more detail. Implicit in the wider context of the Isaiah 43:1-7 passage is that Judah has no “right” to God’s deliverance (and in fact “deserves” the opposite). Nevertheless, God is merciful and gracious, even in the face of human sin. ^{4} Because you are precious in my sight, and honored, and I love you, I give people in return for you, nations in exchange for your life. In verses 5-7, the new creation is the ingathering of the people.  No matter where they have scattered, the Lord will bring them back.  Those who had passed through judgment God will now restore.  The promise re-establishes the people as messengers. In verses 5-6, the words of reassurance by the prophet takes another turn, emphasizing that the gathering of the people of Israel will not be limited merely to those who were among the exiles in Babylon, but will extend to the remotest locations of the inhabited world. The dispersion of the people of Israel during the political upheavals that culminated in the Babylonian exile resulted in refugees in all directions, some through flight, and others through deportation. The systematic resettlement of conquered peoples in remote locations was common throughout the ancient world, and the Israelites who found themselves in exile in Babylon were only a fraction of those cut off from their homeland. The geographical sweep of verses 5-6, where all the points of the compass are mentioned, casts in spatial terms the comprehensive nature of God's saving activity that has been recalled in temporal terms in the preceding verses.  ^{5} Do not fear [verse 1], for I am with you; [see verse 2 as well] I will bring your offspring from the east, and from the west I will gather you. This may be poetic hyperbole, for this is a wider dispersion than is known for 575-525. Our temptation at this point may be to say that God works in mysterious ways. The popular saying is not one we find in the Bible. It has some truth, but in context, we might more truly say that God works in redemptive ways. God is mysterious and transcendent, of course. More meaningfully in the situation of exile, God is always working for our redemption. God acts in ways that will save us from anything that threatens to destroy us.  ^{6} I will say to the north, "Give them up," and to the south, "Do not withhold; bring my sons from far away and my daughters from the end of the earth—^{7} everyone who is called by my name [see verse 1], whom I created [see verse 1] for my glory, whom I formed [see verse 1] and made." [Another parallel to create and form, this one not in verse 1.] The writer concludes the oracle by returning to its opening words — created/formed — forming an inclusio that also sums up the overarching theme of the passage: The God who created Israel initially is in the process of creating Israel again. It is this assertion that allows the author to utter twice another reassurance desperately needed by an anxious and exiled people: “Do not fear” (vv. 1, 5). Israel's redemption encompasses those in every time and every place who have responded in faith to the gracious summons of Israel's God -- "everyone who is called by my name" (v. 7). The last verse of the oracle contains three of the four verbs used in the oracle's opening verse (called, created, formed), summarizing and concluding this great and vast proclamation of redemption. We can think theologically of the love of God. In Jesus Christ, God gave the divine self into our existence, falling heir to the same and curse upon humanity. Bearing them, God takes them a way. Christ presents us as pure and spotless children in the presence of the Father. We can speak of the love of God to us only by pointing to this fact. The work and gift of the Holy Spirit speaks to us. When II Isaiah writes of the love of the Lord, for Israel to fear not, for the Lord with them, we need no other saying.^[4]

God is the creative origin of life. God is the creative origin of a people. Such a people have security in life. After all, God has named them. God has a special relationship with them. This secure relationship does not remove the difficulties of life. How can we forget that human life includes real agony?  People are passing through "the waters" (v. 2) - through raging and overwhelming rivers. Others are walking through the fire. The human journey has its deep waters, its fast flowing rivers, and its fires. No matter how much we endure in life, we will not endure it alone. The people of God will still need to pass through the trials of a human life. However, God will not allow such trials to overwhelm them. Although we have sold ourselves in slavery to sin, God will buy us back. Although we have disfigured our lives by sin, God sees us as precious and honored. God turns toward us with love. God has formed us in order to bring glory to God. No matter what we have done to separate ourselves from God, no matter what distant country to which we have traveled, God calls us home, to the source and origin of our lives. 

I want us to reflect for a few moments about worry and anxiety. How do you deal with them? We live in an understandably anxious time. I could probably say that every year. Let us think about this for a moment. 

First, some psychologists draw a distinction between acute anxiety and chronic anxiety. Acute anxiety refers to some immediate threat. If you step out of your front door and come face to face with a grizzly bear, you are feeling acute anxiety.  Yet, if you wake up each morning with a sense of free-floating dread, but have little idea where those dark forebodings come from -- nor any idea when or how you will break free from them -- then chances are, you are a victim of chronic anxiety.

Second, what does the word anxiety actually mean? The word "anxious" relates to a Latin word, angere, which literally means, "to choke or strangle." I guess anxiety can have you gasping for breath. Another English word traces its lineage to the same Latin root. The word is angina -- the sharp, piercing pain that precedes a heart attack. Angina arises when arterial plaque chokes off one of the coronary arteries, blocking oxygen from reaching the heart muscle. Anxiety, in other words, can kill you. Another English word that grows out of this Latin root, angere, is "anger." Anxious people, as it so happens, are often angry people. They sense the breath of life choking off from their soul, and so they lash out, flailing wildly in an effort to remove the threat, whatever they imagine it to be. Anxious. Angina. Anger. That sounds like our time. Alarmist headlines are part of our lives. We have come to believe the world is a fundamentally scary place. 

Anxiety presents a danger to us. Anxiety may arise out of our desperate search for fulfillment and happiness. We want a fulfilled and happy life, but anxiety leads us away from its source. Instead of turning in a trusting way to God, we anxiously focus upon self and think that if we can just possess the right finite thing, we will be happy. We turn to lust instead of mature love. We turn to getting others to serve us. We might even give up instead of engage in creative action. We anxiously seek recognition by others, and we want it any price. We are uncertain of the future, and so, we become anxious. Anxiety leads us away from the source of our hope and confidence, namely, God. Our lives are a gift for which we can legitimately experience gratitude. Anxiety keeps us away from such confidence and gratitude.[5]

Third, since anxiety identifies the human condition, the Bible reminds us of a basic truth: God is with us. For that reason, words spoken so long ago still speak to us. We are not the first generation of human beings to feel inundated by worry. True, our technology amplifies our natural anxieties. By nature, we are a worrying people. At times, worry keeps us appropriately vigilant so we may fend off tangible threats. Yet, more often than not, worry is simply a burden. Yet, our passage reminds us that we need not fear.  We can live without anxiety because:

- God created us

- God formed us

When you build or create something, you know it inside and out. God, as our Creator, knows us better than we know ourselves. Moreover, the text says,

- God redeemed us

- God calls us by name

- God says "you are mine."

 

Let us pause for just a moment. What would it mean in your life if you could live with that promise? 

Some years ago, on a hot summer day in South Florida, a little boy decided to go to the old swimming hole behind his house. In a hurry to dive into the cool water, he ran out the back door, leaving behind shoes, socks and shirt as he went. He flew into the water, not realizing that as he swam toward the middle of the lake, an alligator was swimming toward the shore. The boy’s father, working in the yard, saw the two get closer and closer together. In utter fear, he ran toward the water, yelling to his son as loudly as he could. Hearing his dad’s voice, the little boy became alarmed and made a U-turn to swim to his father. It was too late. Just as he reached his father, the alligator reached him. From the dock, the father grabbed his little boy by the arms just as the alligator snatched his legs. That began an incredible tug-of-war between the two. The alligator was much stronger than the father was, but the father was much too passionate to let go. A farmer happened to drive by, heard screams, raced from his truck, took aim and shot the alligator. Remarkably, after weeks in the hospital, the little boy survived. The attack scarred the legs of the boy. His arms had deep scratches where his father’s fingernails dug into his flesh in an effort to hang on to the son he loved. A newspaper reporter who interviewed the boy after the trauma asked if he would show him his scars. The boy lifted his pant legs. Then, with obvious pride, he said to the reporter, “But look at my arms. I have great scars on my arms, too. I have them because my dad wouldn’t let go.” 

Regardless of what might cause you worry or anxiety, God will not let you go. 

Our passage warns us that worry is a lack of trust. If we truly believe that God says, "You are mine," then how can we be anxious about the things that cross our pathways? When the center of the power of our lives is outside self, which is the essence of faith, we have faith in something greater than our smallness. Our lack of control is a sign of the presence of God in the world. Our smallness allows us to see and trust the greatness of God that surrounds us. We can then see the face of God in the face of the other.[6]

You will have deep waters through which you will have to pass and fires you will have to put out. Life can confront with enemies that feel too big for us. What might we face today?

-       Probably not a terrorist attack, but could be a heart attack;

-       Probably not a shark bite, but some biting comments made by others;

-       Probably not a home intrusion, but perhaps unexpected intrusions and unwelcome interruptions. 

 

"Be Thou My Vision" is a beloved hymn. I am not sure why, but it has been a hymn the consistently touches my heart, probably since the 1990s. I know part of it is the tune. Part of it is the message of lifting up my vision beyond the passing away of this finite world, which I cherish far too much, and toward the truly lasting and eternal God. In any case, not many are familiar with the following verse, omitted from most hymnals, perhaps because of its militaristic imagery, changed by some for the same reason in the second stanza to “Be Thou my dignity, Thou my delight.” 

 

Be Thou my breastplate, my sword for the fight;

Be Thou my armor, and be Thou my might;

Thou my soul's shelter, Thou my high tower;

Raise Thou me heavenward, O power of my power.

 

This stanza celebrating divine protection is reminiscent of the ancient Irish poem known as "St. Patrick's Breastplate."

Christ with me,

Christ before me,

Christ behind me,

Christ in me,

Christ beneath me,

Christ above me,

Christ on my right,

Christ on my left,

Christ when I lie down,

Christ when I sit down,

Christ when I arise,

Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,

Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,

Christ in every eye that sees me,

Christ in every ear that hears me.

 

I understand the hesitancy to use military image in this beloved hymn. Yet, the imagery of the hymn, while military, is defensive in its original context. The "high tower" in the third line recalls the cylindrical stone towers that rise above many of the ancient Irish monasteries. The doors to those towers were located ten feet or more above the ground. They were accessible only by ladders that the monks could quickly pull up in the event of Viking raids. The monks would hastily deposit their liturgical treasures in these stone towers -- particularly illuminated manuscripts like the famous Book of Kells -- as soon as they saw dragon-ship sails on the horizon.

It is hard to imagine what it was like to live under constant threat of attack by bloodthirsty adversaries like the Vikings. Yet, we face threats from our enemies. Maybe we need to know that God is fighting with us. Some of our enemies are larger than life. We need the breastplate, the sword, the armor, the shelter, the high tower. We need God to raise us heavenward and be the source of any strength we have. We need the divine assurance offered in Isaiah 43:2. When we pass through the waters, God is with us. The revers shall not overwhelm us. When we walk through the fires of life, God shall not allow them to destroy us.

---

[1] The text is cast in classical prophetic mode, using a style and language that had its roots in the earliest days of Israelite prophecy and poetry. The passage is composed of six synonymously parallel cola (vv. 1b, 2, 3, 4c-d, 5b-c, 6), introduced by a rubric (v. 1a), and interspersed with extra parallel cola (vv. 1c-d, 4a-b, 5a, 7). 

[2] Barth Church Dogmatics III.4 [56.3] 650.

[3] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 1, 399.

[4] Barth, Church Dogmatics I.2 [18.2] 378.

[5] Based upon reflections on Wolfhart Pannenberg, Systematic Theology, Chapter 8, Section 3.

[6] Joan Chittister and Rowan Williams, Uncommon Gratitude: Alleluia for All That Is (Liturgical Press, 2010), 10-11.