“The Dragon, the Boy and Baptism”

Luke 3:15–17, 21–22

“As the people were filled with expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah, John answered all of them by saying, ‘I baptize you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing-fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing-floor and to gather the wheat into his granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.’

Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, ‘You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.’” ***

This week singer Peter Yarrow died . He was part of the folk group “Peter, Paul and Mary,” formed in 1961. During an incredible run of success, the trio released six top 10 singles and won five Grammys. Their hit songs were many: “If I Had a Hammer” “Blowin in the Wind” “Leaving on a Jet Plane” and my favorite, “Puff the Magic Dragon.”

Yarrow composed that song based on a 1959 poem by Leonard Lipton, then a 19-year-old Cornell University student. The song tells the story of an ageless dragon named Puff and his playmate, Jackie Paper, as they embark on adventures in the imaginary land of Honah Lee.

Puff, the magic dragon lived by the sea

And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honah Lee

Little Jackie Paper loved that rascal Puff

And brought him strings, and sealing wax, and other fancy stuff.

Together they would travel on a boat with billowed sail

Jackie kept a lookout perched on Puff’s gigantic tail

Noble kings and princes would bow whenever they came

Pirate ships would lower their flags when Puff roared out his name.

I sang this song as a child and still recall all the words. With imaginative power, the song draws our minds to see beyond the ordinary stories of life to be free to glimpse the extraordinary. The imagery of the relationship of friendship, trust and love between Puff and Jackie Paper was sweet as a child and it still is today. I am reminded that I do no need to understand imageries or the extraordinary to find aspects of both to appreciate and embrace.

It is the same with faith and belief. This reading about the baptism of Jesus comes with imagery in which God parts the curtain between this world and a brief, shimmering moment allowing us to look beyond the ordinariness of our lives to catch a glimpse of the extraordinary goodness of God.

This is the season of Epiphany for Christians worldwide. The reading about Jesus’ baptism and others in the next two months reveal him as divine. They require some imagination, like the story of Puff and Jackie Paper, and offer revelations to bless our lives.

In this story about baptism, the revelation comes through the supernatural, yet via ordinary means. A dove, water, a voice and sky. At the story’s conclusion, the epiphany is that we know Jesus is the Son of God. Epiphanies are part of coming to know and believe in God.

But the biblical epiphanies challenge both the person of faith and the seeker. They plunge us into a sea of tough questions. If God spoke audibly in the past, does God do so now? If God does, why haven’t I heard ? Do I lack faith? Has God retreated? Changed or exited this creation’s realm of humanity?

Or maybe the ancient stories of Epiphany are figurative? Was the dove, just a dove, and the voice from heaven no more than a nicely timed burst of wind?

When we speak of epiphanies, are we really just trucking in metaphor? Perhaps divine encounters should be in quotes. I had a “spiritual experience.” God “spoke” to me. Isn’t it embarrassing nowadays to believe in miracles or the supernatural?

As Luke tells this epiphany story, there’s no indication that Jesus’s baptism leads to mass wonderment, obedience, or conversion. Do the crowds immediately agree that Jesus is God’s beloved Son? Does anyone else see the dove or hear the divine voice? Luke doesn’t say. Perhaps a few folks experience a quick shudder of amazement or fear. Maybe a few actually see, hear, and believe. It seems that this epiphany is for Jesus alone, to affirm his identity and calling and bless him as he begins his public ministry.

But if this epiphany doesn’t immediately change the world, then neither does it immunize Jesus from spiritual struggle. There is so much ahead. The 40 days in the desert and the temptation by the devil. Numerous rejections by righteous religions people. Betrayal and death. “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” lies ahead. We are told often that Jesus never outgrows his need to seek God in solitude and prayer.

An epiphany is a glimpse, a revelation of the divine which is important in this life of faith. It is important that we look and yearn for such moments. They do come. Yet, we cannot capture and hold them. Instead, we receive epiphanies with open hands, wisely storing memories of them in the heart and soul for the spiritual and physical struggles that are part of faith and life.

Every generation has its difficulties with faith. This baptism story and other epiphanies are just the start of the incredulous. The Holy Spirit became a bird? Jesus threw his reputation aside to get dunked alongside hordes of sinners? God looked down at all this and called him Beloved, even before Jesus had accomplished a thing worth praising?

Perhaps our difficulties with faith start with ourselves and the things we find most impossible to believe. That the Divine is born into this world as a baby after a miraculous conception of a young virgin. Or that being a baptized means we are God’s Beloved — not because we’ve done anything to earn it, but because God’s very nature, inclination, and desire is to love?

Go back and think about Puff and Jackie Paper. The imaginative power of that song offers us a vision beyond the ordinariness of this life and into the joy and loveliness of an unusual, extraordinary relationship.

To grasp the epiphany of Jesus’ baptism and our own, too, despite the questions or uncertainties wafting within us, is to see the joy and truth that through baptism we are deeply, incomprehensively loved by God.

Images: 1 Camelot Entertainment Group 2 FineArtAmerica.com