John the baptizer appeared in
the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of
sins. And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him
in the river Jordan,
confessing their sins. Now John was clothed with camel's hair, with a leather
belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. He proclaimed,
"The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy
to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. I have baptized you with
water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit."
In those days Jesus came from
Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And just as Jesus was
coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit
descending like a dove on him. And a voice came from heaven, "You
are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”
***
I am a swimmer, and to me
that means much less about racing and swimming pools then it does the feeling
of hovering. The way when I zipper my arms up my sides, I can trace, with no
more than the pads of my fingers, the joining of air and water, and disturb it
just enough, that with each stroke comes the patterned out beat - of reach, and
place, and pull, and fingertip drag - a round of arms, the same melody,
opposing times. Similarly, there is nothing else in the entire world I would
rather do then hold my breath and hover horizontal under the water, then clasp
my streamlined arms, and with merely my circling stomach set myself to spin,
until the currant of my making becomes a whirlpool of its own, and with it, the
force I created becomes a force beyond my control, and so I let go, releasing
my arms and legs to spiral out, until I like a tire swing, I slow and come to
rest, and find my way up. Through the water, I look for the sky, the cirrus of
clouds floating just like me, hovering between worlds, until with burst of
breath I break the surface, myself becoming the in-between that cannot forever
stay, but in that moment is - the joining of air, and water, of heaven and
earth, and me surrounded. This, this is what I imagine Jesus’ baptism to be, a
hovering surrounded between worlds.
The scripture speaks of
Jesus, “just as he was coming up out of the water,” and I imagine him holding
his breath and from just below the surface watching the sky. I imagine on this
day, and at that moment, the clouds split and between them was that sunshine,
that like the brightest neon, was too painful to look at directly, but too
enticing to look away, the guided touch of the heavens torn apart. I imagine
that moment when he exhaled his last in the world below, and came up to that
above, gasping in that breath of life that fills your empty lungs completely,
and in his resurrection from the tomb of water, I imagine him greeted by
sunbeams - like doves, floating, flying, hovering, dancing down to earth the
ethereal, and with them that warmth that kisses your face, blushing your cheeks
pink, a kiss from the Beloved which surrounds you in the pleasure of that place
between worlds, the Baptism of our Lord.
