The Kitchen Sink
An occasional piece of paper
January 13, 2008
Vol. 11 no. 02

Everything But...
           The verb “to alight” upon someone or something is not in use as much as it once was, one of those Biblical words that seldom make the contemporary page. To alight upon someone is land on top of him or her, but not with a thud. A-light is the weight of the Spirit, hardly noticeable, yet can’t help but notice.
           This First Sunday after Epiphany is traditionally identified as the Baptism of Jesus, though certainly it did not take place in Saskatchewan at this time of the year. Snow is mentioned occasionally in the Bible, but ice appears mostly as hail. So Jesus did not incur frostbite or ice cuts in the middle of the Jordan, which is a relief.
           John had been baptizing a lot of people in the Jordan in a kind of revival atmosphere. Baptism was not a normal practice then, but Jesus wanted to be part of it and make it the beginning of who he was meant to be. Only John noticed his presence in that throng and knew this isn’t the way it’s supposed to be. Jesus didn’t need to be baptized for the repentance of sins, yet he insisted. He wanted to begin where we begin, knowing that human life is continually wrapped up in sinful behaviour. Jesus figured this baptism stuff was the best way to put everything in its right place. John reluctantly baptized Jesus - it should have been the other way around. But that’s the way the Biblical story keeps operating - doing things that according to most of us should have been done the other way around.
           Back to a-lightenment, the Spirit touches you and me in a way that can seldom be physically felt. Usually it takes something hard and heavy to make an impact upon us, but here it’s the other way around.