Baptismal water is cleansing water. Baptismal water is moving-from-death-to-life water-repentance water of those who choose to turn back and rediscover again the path of God for our lives. Baptismal water doesn't have to do with D.C.-like-power at all. In fact as Jesus begins his own new ministry he will go into the desert to face up to the temptations of power: the next chapter of Luke, in fact, shows Jesus' choosing not to accept the power of political dominion, the power to fulfill all his bodily needs and desire, or the power to be protected from injury and death. Instead, Jesus chooses to be who he is, a person of flesh and blood and bone, just like us. And in choosing who God has created him to be, Jesus chooses to embark on a journey of life that knows no bounds.

Baptism - Jesus' and our own - is about setting out in the direction that leads towards God, rather than away. Baptism is about where we're headed, not how much power we think it will take to get there. As a nation and a church, we need new direction. And, now as in the time of Jesus and John, the temptation will be to rationalize trading the chance to strike out in a new direction for the power to have things our own way.

When we choose to live in a world defined by power, rather than by the direction we're going, the result is that we help create a world defined by division - the divide between those who have and those who don't; between those with power and those without it; between the self-righteous and the self-satisfied. And as a consequence we help to construct a world littered with broken relationships, discarded opportunities for reconciliation in community - a world full of clenched hearts and hands, physical violence and emotional defensiveness.

The water of baptism, John knew, has to do with crossing the river to get home and crossing over to a new land means you get wet. So John beckoned to Jesus to wade in the water, to come out into the middle of the river where he could choose whether to go on, or turn back. The Baptism of Jesus evokes the Exodus images of God's people crossing the Red Sea escaping bondage in Egypt; as they went into that water, they knew there was no turning back - they also knew that they were headed home.

Whether in the wetness of the water with John, or in the desert fending off temptation, baptism starts us off again on a journey to find just where it is that God wants each of us to be.
Baptism calls each of us out into the hard work of faithful living. And while our journey with God can lead us onto unclear and uncertain paths, the alternatives seem more certain and secure: Entitlement trumps servanthood; coercion preferable to submission; leading gains far more of the world's acclaim than following-after. And power always provides us with the greatest home court advantage.