Pilgrim's Progress column: A new start
I wonder how it’s going with your New Year’s Resolutions? Or maybe you relate more to a social media post I came across that said: “I haven’t made any resolutions; it’s the new year’s turn to be better!”
Whether intending to make changes to your own life or hoping that things will change for you, the start of a new year does tend to focus the mind on the need for things to be different.
In the Church’s calendar, we have just commemorated the event of Jesus’ baptism at the start of his public ministry. Jesus was baptised by his cousin, John, who called people to repent and be baptised in anticipation of the coming Saviour.
The Greek word translated as ‘repent’ in the New Testament means more than simply being sorry for doing wrong. It represents a fundamental change of mind, heart and life – a turning away from one way of living to follow a different direction. Repentance, if genuine, marks a new beginning.
Perhaps unsurprisingly then, when Jesus turned up at the Jordan River and asked John to baptise him, John was completely thrown. He knew who Jesus was – that he was the very person John had been preparing people to receive.
Jesus is the one person to have walked the earth who doesn’t need to be baptized, being in very nature God and without any wrongdoing. Nevertheless, Jesus responded to John’s confusion, saying: “Let it be so now; for it is proper for us in this way to fulfil all righteousness.”
Jesus didn’t need to be baptised, but he willingly embraced baptism in order to fully identify with those who do. As the One who would eventually stand in the place of all humanity when he died on a cross, Jesus started his public ministry in full solidarity with the people he came to save – with you and with me.
And because Jesus identifies with us, we can identify with him and live our lives as he lived, pursuing love, justice and peace in our relationships, communities and world. Now that’s a resolution that’s well worth pursuing!
Malcolm Chamberlain
Bishop of Wakefield