The Christ Identity

I read far too many spy novels and watch too many spy movies. Among my favorite are Robert Ludlum’s Bourne trilogy, which have also been made into movies (the movies differ in many ways from the books, and I’m that much of a geek that I saw the movies, read the books and saw the movies again to compare). In the movies water plays a significant role. The first time we meet Jason Bourne he is floating in the Mediterranean Sea, near death, and his injuries have caused memory loss – he does not know who he is, and in the movies he both searches for his identity as a CIA covert operative and assassin and rebels against this identity. In the second movie Jason, along with his beloved Marie, is on the run, living for the moment in India. His enemies find him and his car is driven into the sacred Ganges River. Marie is killed in the crash and Jason gives her one last kiss, to say goodbye and to draw oxygen from her to survive. In the last movie we find that as a recruit Jason Bourne (whose real name is David Webb) was water boarded to break him down so he could be trained. In the last scene of the movie Jason, escaping from his enemies, plunged ten stories into the East River in Manhattan. For a time his body seems lifeless, but the theme music begins and he starts swimming through the waters. In the Bourne movies the waters are dangerous – Jason nearly died in the waters in each movie, the waters took his beloved Marie – but they also give him a new life. By losing his memory and the Bourne identity drilled into him Jason Bourne/David Webb is able to embrace a new life free from the violence and loneliness of his past. As he swims away in the third movie he passing through the waters and beginning a new life.

The Readings for Sunday, January 11 tell the story of Jesus’ baptism. For the Hebrews water was dangerous. In the beginning the world was a watery void unfit for life. In the flood God returned the world to a place of watery chaos so God could begin the world anew. When the waters raged on the Sea of Galilee, little wonder that the disciples were so terrified – they were shaped by stories of the fearfulness of the waters. These waters of baptism are deadly waters, waters through which we share in Jesus’ death, where we die to the power of sin within us and in the world. They rob us of our identity as sinners and those who stand outside of God’s promise and God’s kingdom. The waters of baptism are life giving. They give us a new identity as those redeemed by God. Through them we share in Jesus’ resurrection and are made alive to God and God’s good purpose for us and for the world. They are dangerous waters, making us friends with God but enemies to the fallen powers that have so much power in the world. The Old Testament readings for the next three days tell the story of God calling and anointing kings; “Christ” simply means anointed one. They remind us of the political nature of baptism, that baptism is about being part of a visible community living under God’s rule and not the rule of sin and death. The New Testament readings remind us that baptism is an entry point into discipleship, that in baptism we are given the grace to hear and to follow Jesus. The texts below prepare us to understand the story of Jesus’ baptism/anointing. How do we hear God’s dangerous, deadly and life giving voice and call in baptism? What do we die to in baptism? What are the dangers of being aligned with God while in the midst of the fallen world?

Thursday 1/8
I Samuel 3:1-21
Acts 9:10-19a

Friday 1/9
I Samuel 16:1-13
I Timothy 4:11-16

Saturday 1/10
I Kings 2:1-4, 10-12
Luke 5:1-11

Read Psalm 29 each of these three days