The 2nd century North African Christian writer, Tertullian, wrote, “Christ is never without water.” Of course, you can say that Jesus’ body contained 60-65% water as an adult. I believe that it is significant that we as adults all contain water averaging between 55-65% of our bodies. New born infants contain about 75% water. Water is as important as blood in our bodies. And all life is connected with water.

In fact, the entire Bible is full of water images, for water plays a vital role from creation to the crossing of the Jordan River to the baptism of Jesus. There is a vital interconnection between water and all life for flourishing and survival. Water and its relationship to God in the Bible suggest the care of the Creator for creation, and water becomes the potential site of engagement with God’s Spirit. We frequently encounter God in or near water.

Today’s gospel reading narrates the story when Jesus is baptized in the waters of the Jordan River by John the Baptism Let me look at the baptism of Jesus. Jesus’ baptism by John the Baptist has made Christians uncomfortable, for John baptized folks for the forgiveness of sins. Christians have been uncomfortable that Jesus was baptized for the forgiveness of his sins. They have had to rationalize Jesus’ baptism. For example, the 4th century bishop of Alexandria Athanasius declares: “When the Lord, as man, was washed in the Jordan, it was we who were washed in him and by him.” Athanasius shifts the focus of the baptism to Jesus representing humanity in the waters of baptism. That may be a good theological after thought.

However, if we look carefully at the baptism of Jesus, it is more than John’s baptism for forgiveness of personal sins. When Jesus merges from being immersed in the waters and as he grasps for breath, he experiences an epiphany of God. It is a revelation whereby God in the form of dove or the Spirit descends upon Jesus in the Jordan waters with these words: “You are my beloved child with whom I am well pleased.”

Jesus is born from the cosmic waters of the Jordan as the Spirit hovered over the waters of creation in Genesis. Jesus is born as the beloved child from heaven and earth. His baptism inaugurated his ministry of the reign of God. The Spirit’s descent upon Jesus as he emerged from the water dripping down his forehead, beard, and his hair wet transforms him into the beloved child of God. It was the Spirit who overshadowed the womb of Mary as Jesus was conceived. It is now the Spirit who transforms Jesus with God’s grace into the beloved child of God, commissioned to preach God’s kingdom in our midst. And Jesus’ baptism gives a new content to the baptism for forgiveness of John the Baptist.

There seems to be a very strong correlation between the water of baptism and water for daily use. The water of baptism represents life, the grace of God, renewal and hope. What better natural symbol for God’s life-giving grace! The yearning of Christians for baptismal water at whatever cost reflects an equally deep yearning in us for water for ordinary use. Our thirst for water is great metaphor for our thirst for the Spirit.

Jesus—as God’s incarnation—unites heaven and earth in himself. He is interconnected with the waters of creation and all life, and this is made clear in a theological insight by Edward Echlin:

When Jesus enter the Jordan, the waters and creatures dependent upon water, re sanctified by the presence of God’s word made flesh. All waters are connected—water is like the blood of the earth. All waters are cosmic. Sanctified, recreated, when the Spirit again moves of the waters at the Jordan at Jesus’ baptism.

If all waters are connected through the baptism of the beloved child of the earth and heaven, I like to repeat Tertullian’s observation: ‘Christ is never without water.” Christ’s grace—like living water– reaches every pore of our bodies, the bodies of creatures and plant-life, into the soils of the earth, with the rains from heaven falling on to the soil, in the wells and oasis streams, in bubbling springs and rivers, lakes, and the oceans that comprised much of our planet. The orthodox Syrian bishop Jacob of Serugh claims that “our Lord went down to the Jordan, and the whole of nature of water stirred with joy.” Many Christian writers have comprehended the baptism of Jesus as the beginning of the new creation. They understood water as an ever present symbol of God’s grace in Christ.

God’s grace is there in our baptism whether the waters are sprinkled on your forehead or you are immersed in the waters. You are immersed in the grace life of God. You become part of the body of Christ—connected by the Spirit to the Earth and all life and adopted as beloved children of Abba God. We and all life become virtual baptismal waters of Christ. We are Christ’s virtual water. The Holy Spirit is always about change, new life and transformations through grace, union with Christ and all creation.

Echlin again writes,

The faith of the church, with which baptized Christians are entrusted includes appreciation of the world’s waters, and the virtual water of the soil, because, in Jesus, God descended into the living Jordan, setting the waters afire. (Echlin)
All the waters of the Earth were set afire by the Spirit, the Spirit connected Christ to all waters.

Let me take your through a tour of the gospels of Jesus and water. It tells us much about Jesus’ baptismal ministry and our water discipleship.
But I think of all those places in the gospels where Jesus and water interact. I want to do a quick water tour of the gospel to understand the ministry of Jesus and its connection to water.

First there is Jesus walking on the waters of Sea of Galilee and invites Peter to join him, and of course, Peter sinks like a rock. Or there is Jesus, who awakes from a sleep in the boat with his disciples during a storm and calms the storm. Jesus is connected to the water ways of Galilee, its wells and streams, and beyond: the Jordan River and Sea of Galilee. By the shore of the Sea of Galilee, Jesus feeds five thousand plus folks with the multiplication of the loaves and the fish.

In John’s gospel, Jesus and water are connected more than any other gospel. There is Jesus first miracle at the Wedding of Cana, where he turns large barrels of water into wine. Water is transformed into wine for the merriment and joy of a wedding banquet. Weddings are fertile.

With the secret visit of Nicodemus at night, Jesus tells him: “No one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit.” (Jn. 3:5) He connects water and Spirit together in a spiritual rebirth for the closeted disciple Nicodemus. The primal waters of creation are connected to the hovering of the Spirit, and ever since the symbolism of water for Spirit has been part of the Jewish and Christian traditions. The Spirit is the midwife of creation bringing life and renewed energy.

And in the next chapter, there is the marvelous scene between Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well, telling the woman if she knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, “Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” (Jn. 4:10) Jesus goes on to say: “Whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” (Jn. 4:14)

In the discourse between Jesus and the Samaritan woman (John 4:7-15), we see the Samaritan woman asking for the living waters. Yes, she needed the water from Jacob’s well, but she also needed the living water even more. God gives Jesus to the world as the water of life, and Jesus offers himself to the world as the living water. This living water figuratively represents a blessing that reproduces itself, and like a spring, it is never exhausted. Through those suffering from water poverty, Christ in person of the poor is still begging for something to drink, for water, for the living water. Are we willing to share a cup of living water. In the upcoming season of Lent, as we deny ourselves comforts in order to feel the pain of others, may we come up with practical ways of standing in solidarity with the many who are still crying, give us water … the living waters! We might practice a little further personal restraint in our over consumption of water. The average American uses 100 gallons per day while the Navajo uses 7 gallons.

Water was scarce in Jesus’ day, yet water was as much a necessity for life then as it is today. Half of the world’s population today lives in arid regions where is not readily available nor clean water accessible. Just as the physical body needs water to continue living so does humanity and all life needs the water of the Spirit.

Jesus at the Festival of Booths in Jerusalem proclaims: “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, and let the one who believes in me drink. As the scripture has said, ”Out of the believer’s heart shall flow rivers of living water.” (Jn. 7:37-38) The heart is the place of faith, for when we place our hearts in God, we connect to God, heart to heart. Jesus’ prophecy comes true, for when he dies on the cross and the centurion stabs Jesus in the chest with his lance, water and blood flow from the open wound on the dead body of Jesus. Water and Spirit are identified earlier in the gospel, and the gospel takes the flow of water with blood as a fulfillment of Jesus’ earlier prophecy that rivers of living water will flow from his heart. Jesus’ glorification by Abba God has begun with death, for he handed over his Spirit. Jesus says earlier in John, “When you lift of the Child of Humanity, then you will realize that I AM.” (Jn. 8:28 f) And the water represents the beginning of his pouring out his Spirit.

There is a Homeric legend in the Iliad that the gods did not have blood in their veins but a type of blood mixed with water. In epic poem, Aphrodite– in combat before the city of Troy–is wounded, and she bleeds a mixture of water and blood. And this signifies the divinity of Aphrodite. This is how Gentile converts would understand the stabbing the side of Jesus.

At the Last Supper, Jesus strips off his cloak, and like a slave or woman, he washes the feet of his disciples. This act of foot washing has often been connected to baptism and the death of Jesus. Jesus performed this servile action to prophesy that he would be humiliated in death. He has acted out a parable of humble service for his disciples which they must be prepared to imitate. He is reminding them “no servant is more important than his master.” Christians have connected baptism to the death of Jesus, his resurrection, and his gift of the Spirit. If we die with Christ in the waters of baptism, we are baptized into the risen Christ.In Mark’s gospel, Jesus is asked by his disciples where he wants to celebrate the Passover. He gives this very strange instruction:

Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you, follow him, and wherever he enters, say to the owner of the house. “The Teacher asks, “Where is my guest room where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?” (Mk. 14:13-14)

It would have been socially improper for a man to do this type of women’s work of drawing water and carrying it back to his master. Some commentators have said this is the equivalent in our times of Jesus instructing the disciples to look for the gender bending man—cross-dressing, wearing a wig and with make-up. While it would be anachronistic to suggest this man may have been queer-identified in our modern sense, he was certainly transgressing a strict gendered boundary in his behavior. Jesus seems to be aware of this gender variant man. It is interesting to speculate about his relationship with the man carrying the water jar.

My inclusive imagination goes wild over these couple of lines in Mark’s gospel. Was there a location in Jerusalem where one met gender variant males? Jesus was certainly comfortable with eunuchs when identifies with eunuchs in his statement: “For there are eunuchs who have been so from birth, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven.”(Mt. 19:12)

If so, it points to Jesus’ inclusive experience of these gender variant males and eunuchs, and more importantly, his inclusion of gender variant folks into his ministry is wider than we could even imagine. Did Jesus and his disciples eat his Last Supper in a location that would scare many religiously conservative and purity conscious Pharisees would cringe at the thought?

Jesus preached while sharing a cup of water; he fed 5000 near the waters of the Sea of Galilee, he described himself as the living water. He healed the blind at pool of Siloam and instructed him to wash his eyes from the waters of the pool.
Water symbolizes the transformation born of us as children of God into a new creation—an inclusive community connected to the waters within the cosmic Christ. Next time you take a drink of water, understand that you drink the waters of Christ. It is a form of communion, and you have born like Christ as child of heaven and earth. And the water you drink connects you to all water and life.
Finally, when we were baptized, we understand that we were baptized with Christ and into the mystical body of Christ. We become beloved children of heaven and earth, and we have a responsibility for the waters of the Earth and all the life containers carrying virtual water of Christ. Our water discipleship is born of our baptism. And we honor the Christ in all waters have a responsibility to water justice around–to make sure all have access to water and clean water.   Water justice starts with us and our conservation here in Southern California even on a rainy weekend!