In preparing the way for the Messiah, “John came baptizing.” Everyone must be baptized; all must be cleansed; each needs forgiveness (Why? What I have done wrong? Ahem…). And then something surprising takes place. When Jesus – the Messiah! – appears, he too is baptized. He doesn’t only come to the water’s edge, observing and waiting for the people to come to him. He gets into the water with them, with us.

What’s going on here? Well, at least a couple of things. First, Jesus is repenting, not because he needs to, but because we need him to, for us. Even our repentance is incomplete. But his is perfect. He turns from sin to God for us. It is here that we can see him already taking our dirt, our filth, our ugliness, our disobedience and making it his own. He is with us and for us.

Secondly, in getting into the water, he is also revealing the nature of his mission. “The chief biblical analogy for baptism is not the water that washes but the flood that drowns.” [Selection by William Willimon from Bread and Wine: Readings for Lent and Easter, 9]. The deluge, the torrent of sin and suffering and sorrow and death – all that is wrong in us and around us – consumes him. He is overcome by the water with us and for us.

It’s why he came. It’s why we can trust him completely.

As Jesus takes what is ours, he gives us what is his. His death is our own, and so is his life. “For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.” Colossians 3:3.

“To be baptized ‘into Christ’ and ‘in the name of Christ’ means to be incorporated into the way of life which characterizes his life, the life of the empty one, the servant, the humble one, the obedient one, obedient even unto death.” [Bread and Wine, 9].

Lord Jesus Christ, we thank you for leaving no separation between yourself and us, for getting in the water with us, for fully identifying with us. And as you have fully identified with us, we want to fully identify with you, to become like you, for your honor. Help us to do so, for your name’s sake, in the power of the Holy Spirit and for the glory of your Father and our Father. Amen.

These are the first words spoken by Jesus in Mark’s gospel. Repentance is the way of new beginning. In repentance, we turn away from our controlling masters – be they work or comfort or financial security or secret lusts or reputation or control or race/ethnicity/nation or plentiful, available, tasty foods or our own “best” efforts – to Jesus, the one it is our privilege to call “Master.” And in that first movement turning away from all those other masters, we discover how much of a hold they have on us. We find out that we “can’t” free ourselves and struggle with whether we even “want to.”

Here’s how Eugene Peterson puts it: “Whenever we say no to one way of life that we have long been used to, there is pain…Any hurt is worth it that puts us on the path of peace, setting us free for the pursuit, in Christ, of eternal life.” [A Long Obedience in the Same Direction, 30-31]. What enables us to begin Lent, what brings about our repentance, is the knowledge and reality that even when we “can’t” and “won’t,” Jesus “can” and “does” for us and in us what we can’t do for ourselves. He is the the only one who lived, trusted and obeyed as we ought, while bearing the pain of our failure to do so.

Peterson says of repentance, that “it is deciding that you have been wrong in supposing that you could manage your own life and be your own god; it is deciding that you were wrong in thinking that you had, or could get, the strength, education and training to make it on your own; it is deciding that you have been told a pack of lies about yourself and your neighbors and your world. And it is deciding that God in Jesus Christ is telling you the truth.” [A Long Obedience in the Same Direction, 29-30].

Someone has told us the truth. He brings us to our senses and awakens us to reality. And so we respond to his call, turning to Him and beginning anew.

Lord Jesus Christ, we thank you for your call to repentance. We know that we need to change – our heart, our mind, our ways. But it is not “change” in general that we need, for you are the “change” we need. So, with thanksgiving and in hope, knowing that you will help us and never abandon us in our sin, we ask you our Master and King, to rule over us, in your love, in your grace, in your mercy, in your holiness, in your truth. Amen.

These are the words spoken as the ashes are applied to each person during a typical Ash Wednesday service. While we won’t be having an Ash Wednesday service at All Souls this year, it is right for us to receive these words as a reminder of our own mortality. This is not in order for us to be morbid. It is simply an acknowledgement of the reality that our days our passing and that, despite our best efforts, we are not in control of our lives. It is also a reminder that our lives belong to God, who makes and sustains us all our days, and whose love is the only power stronger than death itself.

Something we will do each Wednesday during Lent, beginning today, is to fast. Why? Well, lots of reasons. We want to offer up to God our lives, our bodies, our appetites. The reason we can do this is because Jesus first offered up his life, his body, all his desires for our sakes, and for the glory of his Father. We see in him that this isn’t simply a pointless exercise in self-denial but an act of consecration to God – His Father and our Father – and the path of life Jesus has marked out for us. In reliance on God the Holy Spirit, we want to say “no” to even good things that God gives us – for they are not our masters – to say “yes” to the one who is our Bread of Life and Living Water, who satisfies our deepest hunger and thirst. These are claims he made for himself and, as we fast, we can pray that we might “taste” this reality.

In addition to our regular Wednesday fast, you might also want to consider giving up something that you know has a hold on you.

In all these things, we are following the example of seeking God and finding our joy and meaning in Him that our Christian forebears have set for us for nearly 2000 years.

We look forward to turning to Jesus and following Him with you, as he leads us to his cross and rises from the dead, raising us with Him.