Deep Waters

“And when Jesus had been baptised, just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens were opened to him, and he saw God’s Spirit descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from the heavens said, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.””  (Matthew 3:16-17)

We begin our new year with the Baptism of Jesus, which is the moment His public ministry truly begins, and it’s a strange moment. Baptism, as many of us have inherited it, is about the washing away of sin, but Jesus didn’t need washing, did He, so what exactly was going on?

Matthew gives us a hint, but not much more. He tells us that Jesus and John debated over who should be baptising whom, but when Jesus settles the matter, saying “it is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness.” (Matthew 3:15), it sounds profound, but it’s hardly self‑explanatory, and it doesn’t help that the meaning of baptism itself has almost certainly shifted over time.

As I say, we treat baptism as an individual cleansing from personal sin, but John’s baptism seems to have been something far more communal – a symbolic act preparing Israel to reclaim its identity and its land.

John baptised in the Jordan – the very river that Joshua had crossed generations earlier when Israel first entered ‘the Promised Land.’  Perhaps the crowds wading in and out of the water were self-consciously reenacting that crossing and calling on God to be true to His ancient promises by ending the Roman occupation and giving them back their land. If so, John’s baptism was as much a political act as it was religious. Jesus’ ministry, though, was not focused on getting rid of the Romans, so why did He join the queue?

Perhaps the bird gives us a clue. It’s not clear in the original text whether it was a majestic dove or a scruffy pigeon. The Greek word here can mean either. Either way though, the bird indicates God’s Spirit descending on Jesus, and that connects this moment to a long biblical tradition of people who experienced a special anointing with God’s Spirit, designed to prepare them for the mission God had for them.

In the book of Judges, Othniel (3:10), Gideon (6:34), Jephthah (11:29), and Samson (13:25, 14:6, 14:19 and 15:14) were all anointed by God’s Spirit, often in rather spectacular ways, as were Joshua (Deuteronomy 34:9) and kings Saul (1 Samuel 10:6, 10) and David (1 Samuel 16:13) after them. In each case, the Spirit of God ‘came upon them’ at decisive moments in their lives, preparing them for the work that lay ahead.

So perhaps this is the key? Jesus’ baptism was a threshold moment. It was a line in the sand – a step from the hidden years into His public calling. It was Jesus’ way of saying, “The next chapter begins now,” and perhaps the exact meaning of the ritual is less important than the way Jesus used it to initiate a fresh chapter in His life.

We use rituals in this way all the time. Birthday parties, anniversaries, graduations—all are rituals that help us pause, take stock, and step into the next chapter with intention. We bring out the ritual cake and blow out symbolic candles. We sing traditional songs and chant ritual ‘hurrahs.’  Secular society is full of sacraments, even if we don’t use the word.

The church has a list of sacraments, of course. The Catholic and Orthodox churches recognize seven—Baptism, Confirmation, the Eucharist, Confession, Marriage, Holy Orders, and the Anointing of the Sick. Protestants trimmed that list down to two (Baptism and the Eucharist). Anglicans (in classic via media fashion) affirm those two as the ‘Sacraments of the Gospel’ but acknowledge the other five as being ‘sacramental in character.’  If it were up to me, I’d add more sacraments to the mix.

• The Sacrament of ‘Primum Certamen’ (Latin for ‘first fight’). This is the ritual where a teenager has his or her first boxing match—displaying their courage, focus, and self-discipline to their family and broader community.
• The ‘Sacramentum Vocis’ (“The Sacrament of the Voice”), which is for someone speaking publicly for the first time—either preaching, speaking at a protest rally, or just publicly sharing their story. This would be our blessing on their truth‑telling.
• And why not a ‘Sacramentum Renovationis’ (a ‘Sacrament of Renewal’) that could be used at the beginning of each new year? Forget the fireworks and the excessive drinking. Let’s come up with a powerfully symbolic way of dedicating ourselves and the year ahead to God … Ok, we’ll keep the fireworks. 😉

I believe we need more rituals, and good ones! We need moments that help us say, “This is where the old ends and the new begins.”  We need moments that slow us down, open us up, and let the Spirit in.

We may not need to literally plunge into the Jordan, but we can still choose to step out into the waters of the unknown and to mark our moment, to open ourselves to God’s Spirit, and to make a new beginning with clarity, courage, and hope.

Let’s begin 2026 not with resolutions that will be forgotten by February but with this kind of baptismal courage—the kind that will allow us to see the heavens open and to hear again the voice that names us as God’s beloved, for if we can begin our year there, whatever comes next, we’ll know we won’t be stepping into it alone.

Our Sunday Eucharist

We celebrated another wonderful Sunday Eucharist last weekend, and a special thank you to Tom Toby and David Baldwin for being with me on the panel.

I particularly enjoyed our discussion of Ephesians 3, which included some lively banter with AI Saint Paul. The 12-minute clip of our discussion is at the end of the newsletter, though I must confess to having edited out a few minutes where AI Saint Paul was being petulant and refusing to talk to David Baldwin. Of course, it may have been a technical issue. Either way, if you want those extra few minutes, you’ll have to go to the full recording on YouTube.

The two most popular shorts from last week are directly below, of course. If you want to watch the others, check out the Sunday Eucharist Instagram page.

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What’s On?

• Sunday, January 11th – Our Eucharist from noon @thesundayeucharist.com, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Faithia or Streamyard
• Tuesday, January 13th – Boxing at the Mundine Gym in Redfern from 7 pm
• Thursday, January 15th – Online Bible study group meeting from noon @ www.thesundayeucharist.com/bible
• Thursday, January 15th – Boxing at the Mundine Gym in Redfern from 7 pm
• Saturday, January 17th – Boxing at Legend’s Gym in Kensington from 3 pm

We’re still at the dawn of 2026 and already the world seems to be unravelling. What the US President did in Venezuela – a lot of us didn’t see it coming. We thought he was bluffing. It just seemed to be too stupid a thing to do, even for Mr Trump!

And now I read of Internet blackouts across Iran. Has the US/Israeli attack really already begun? Once Pandora’s box has been opened, it’s impossible to close.

So where do we go from here?

I see myself now on the shore of the River Jordan. John the Baptiser is motioning to me to wade in and join him. But the waters are murky. I can’t see where to step, and I have no idea where this journey is going to take me. Even so, I trust the process, so I put one foot in front of the other and step out into the deeper waters.

And now I’m waist-deep. It’s cold and scary. Even so, as I look around, I see my friends out there with me, and there is Jesus! He is with us – one of us – in the deep alongside us. I still can’t see the bottom, and I can feel the current pulling me where I don’t want to go. Even so, I am where I need to be. We are where we need to be.

Your brother in the Good Fight,