A Map, a Bird, and a Baptism

 

“If there’s a place you got to go / I’m the one you need to know / I’m the map / I’m the map, I’m the map / If there’s a place you got to get / I can get you there, I bet / I’m the map.”

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If you’re a parent or grandparent you probably know that song from Dora the Explorer. And now you’re wondering why we start with that song. It’s because God loves maps. So much so that he put a lot in the back of your Bible. All those color coded maps of the Mediterranean world.

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To be more serious, as you read the Bible, you’ll notice that certain places and mountains and rivers get mentioned all the time. Nothing is ever, “A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.” 

Everything is really happening at a real place. It seems like God is attached to certain places.

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You are made in the image of God. So do you reflect that? Are there places you’re attached to? Places that seem holy. Places where you go to recharge. Do you remember the places where big things happened in your life?

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I went to high school in Pearson, and a number of years ago they built a new high school and tore down the one I went to, the one my parents went to. And any time I drive by where it used to be, it feels wrong not seeing it. It feels empty, like something is missing, literally.

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Places matter. If you go to Valdosta State University, before you take your first class, you’ll attend what’s called Blazer Beginnings—where they tell you about the history of Valdosta starting as a women’s college in 1906 and what it means to be a blazer.

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Places matter because places have meaning. When you drive around, are there certain place that bring back memories? When Rachel and I are around the mall, we’ll point to the building that used to be ABC, Atlanta Bread Company, because that’s where we met and had our first date.

As we turn to

Matthew 3

, we read that Jesus came to the Jordan River, we need to ask that important question—why? Why the Jordan? Look at the maps in your Bible, there are other rivers. So why the Jordan?

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The Jordan is the place where God went from doing an old thing to doing a new thing. When the Israelites were released from slavery in Egypt and they wandered in the desert, they crossed the Jordan to enter into their new home. The Jordan meant moving from a place of slavery to a place of freedom. The Jordan meant moving from a place of lostness to a place of being found.

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So with Jesus going to this place, he’s saying his ministry is for people who are a little bit lost and a little bit bound. And I think that applies to pretty much everyone I know. They don’t know exactly where they’re going in life. They haven’t exactly arrived at the place they want to be. They’re in a place that doesn’t quite match up with their expectations. That’s a little bit lost.

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And pretty much everyone I know is a little bit bound. They wish they could be different, but they just can’t quite get there. What do you think when you look in the mirror? Whatever those thoughts are, they probably NOT an accurate reflection of the value and worth you have. You look in the mirror and you see your flaws. You have these thoughts about yourself that are largely untrue. That’s NOT how God sees you. You know that you should look in the mirror and say, “I’m a beloved child of God and there’s nothing wrong with me.” But you’re not free to do that because you’re a little bit bound.

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Everybody is bound. Maybe it’s a health issue or a mental health issue. Maybe it’s financial or relational. Everybody is bound. So when Jesus goes to the Jordan to get baptized, he’s saying, “I’m here for people who are lost and want to be found. I’m here for people who are bound and want to be free.”

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There’s another thing that happens at the Jordan. When the people of Israel want to move from one leader to another, this is where they go. If you want to pass the baton from one prophet to a new prophet, that’s where you go. It’s where Moses passed the baton to Joshua. It’s where Elijah passed the baton to Elisha.

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So when John goes there, he knows he’s going to pass the baton to the Messiah. With John and Jesus at the Jordan, the baton is getting passed. The leadership is changing—it was John the Baptist and now it’s moving on to Jesus.

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The people watching would know exactly what’s happening. They know their history. And, honestly, they were probably a little nervous. If John the Baptist was industrial-strength prophet, what’s Jesus going to be?

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When you hear the word prophet, you think about someone who can tell the future. But that’s not what it means. The job of the prophet is to say, “You are a hot mess. Get your act together.” Read the Old Testament prophets and you’ll see that’s what they say. They’d say, “God’s standards are this, but you’re acting like this. Pull yourself up. Be kind. Stop being anxious all the time. You’re supposed to get 8 hours of sleep a night, but you’re staying up till 1 AM playing Candy Crush. You have 3,000 unopened emails. You’re not the parent or spouse you hoped you’d be. You’re a hot mess.” That’s what prophets say.

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John the Baptist was saying, “God will judge.” He said, “The ax is at the root of the tree and it’s ready to chop you down. So get it together.”

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And now that he’s passing the baton to Jesus, and John said Jesus was going to be a bigger deal and stronger than him, you might be a little scared. If John was industrial-strength judgement, what’s Jesus going to be?

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Most of the people watching this were worried. Because most people are not so good at being good—all the time, in every area of their life.

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But Jesus’ baptism is good news. Let’s talk about the bird. You heard the story and know it’s a dove. So, again, let’s ask the question why—why a dove?

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I don’t know if you’ve noticed this yet or not, but people are terrified of judgement. A lot of what you do in your life is to avoid being judged. Think about it, you do what you can to avoid being rejected, which is a type of judgement.

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Have you ever looked at the Caller I.D. on your phone and thought, “Why is she calling me? What have I done this time? How have I messed up now?” Those are thoughts—worries—about judgement. You don’t want to answer the phone. Some of us will let it go straight to voicemail. And every time you get a call from her, you’re going to dread it because that relationship is about judgement. You think she’s judging you.

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A lot of people feel lonely, not because they don’t have friends, but because they feel like they don’t have anyone they can talk to who won’t judge them. That’s why most of the time we don’t let people see what’s really going on. That’s why we don’t tell our spouses everything. We’re afraid of judgement.

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So when this new prophet Jesus has the baton passed to him, some people are thinking he’s going to be like the last prophet. New boss, same rules. Just another prophet judging us because we’re not getting our act together. Just another prophet telling us who we need to be and what we need to do because we’re not good enough.

But then that dove appeared. The dove would have reminded everyone of one thing, a story they knew very well. An old story about a time when God judged the earth because people were hurting each other, people were destroying one another, people were being unkind. People were being people. And God said, “I have to start this whole thing over.”

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So he puts one family in a boat with a bunch of animals and then everything else was covered with water. You know the story. It rains for 40 days and the whole earth was covered in water. Then, the skies cleared and Noah released a dove. That dove came back with an olive branch. And that meant judgement was over.

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As Jesus stands in the water, a dove appears and lands on him. The unmistakeable message for everyone there is that judgement has ended. This Messiah comes to bring new life through grace and mercy, not judgement.

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Today is Baptism of the Lord Sunday and it matters for two reasons: This matters because this is the place where people go from being lost to being found and it also tells us that Jesus is going to end the fear of judgement for all of us. Now, maybe you’re wondering how. It’s because Jesus went to the cross. On the cross, judgement for our sins fell on him; he took our place. Why did he take our place? Love. On the cross, we see the self-sacrificial love of God. So God loves us and takes our place. And the judgement that should have fallen on us, he takes onto and into himself, and he dies. Why? To forgive us. And what does believing Jesus died for your sins do, it justifies you—it puts you in the right.

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Jesus does this for you so that you can walk through this world knowing that you are loved, knowing that you are forgiven, knowing that you are cleansed, knowing that you are redeemed.