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Pope Gregory the Great, who died in 604, wrote that ‘Scripture is like a river . . . broad and deep, shallow enough here for the lamb to go wading, but deep enough there for the elephant to swim’ [In ‘Moralia’] – ‘Scripture is… shallow enough… for the lamb to go wading, but deep enough… for the elephant to swim’.

It’s a good analogy, I think.  The Word of God, found in the Bible, speaks to ‘All sorts and conditions of [people]’ [BCP], as the ‘Book of Common Prayer puts it, and in ‘sundry times and in divers manners’ as the writer to the Hebrews says [Heb. 1:1].  God can speak to anyone through his Word, but there are also those who are called to study the Scriptures in the greatest depths possible.  And both of these ways, what we might call the ‘intuitive’ and the ‘forensic’ ways of dealing with Scripture, and all the other ways in which people approach the Bible, have much to teach us.  Whether we think we’re lambs or elephants, God will speak to us through his Word.

And the portions of the Bible we hear during Worship are not random, even though it sometimes appears that way – they are all carefully chosen by some of the most elephant-like of theologians, the Liturgical Scholars.

If you were here or elsewhere at the Eucharist this morning, you would have heard in both readings John the Baptist proclaiming a ‘Baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins’ [Acts 19:4, Mk 1:4], and of the Holy Spirit which came upon Jesus himself at his Baptism by John, and on those of his followers who were baptised in the Early Church.  Both clearly related to this Feast of the Baptism of Christ, celebrated annually on the Sunday after Epiphany.  During this whole epiphany Season we are given opportunities to reflect on Jesus being shown, or revealed, or manifested, in the world.  This is very well put in one of the Eucharistic Prefaces for Epiphany:

In the coming of the Magi

the King of all the world was revealed to the nations.

In the waters of baptism

Jesus was revealed as the Christ,

the Saviour sent to redeem us.

In the water made wine

the new creation was revealed at the wedding feast.

Poverty was turned to riches, sorrow into joy [CW p305, my italics].

So, what about this afternoon’s words from Scripture.  What might they be encouraging us to meditate on as we dip our toes in the water?

As well as many quotes from Scripture, and allusions to it, we have heard three portions of the Bible in this Service so far.

The first, sung by the Choir, was Psalm 46, with its bold opening, ‘God is our hope and strength : a very present  help in trouble’ – what the great preacher, Charles Spurgeon, describes as ‘A song of holy confidence’.  It was the inspiration for Martin Luther’s great hymn, ‘Ein Feste Burg’, ‘A Mighty Fortress is our God’ , using the chant based on Luther’s tune for that hymn.

Though the earth be moved, though the waters rage and swell, though the mountains shake, though the rivers flood, God is with us – in this past week, we have heard of terrible earthquakes, of storms at sea and flooding on the land, of ‘wars and the rumours of war’ [Matt. 24:6], and it can all be quite overwhelming.

But, Jesus Baptism, and by analogy, our Baptism, is a sign that God is with us, that the Holy Spirit is working in our world, in the Church, in us.

The presence of the Holy Spirit, and of Jesus, especially in the Eucharist, assure us that God has not forgotten us, that he has not abandoned us, that he is ‘alive and at large in the world’, as Bishop John Taylor once wrote in a famous prayer.

This Psalm should give us confidence to keep on going, to live the life to which God has called us, to be that light and love in the world for others, and especially for those who need it most.

The passage from Isaiah 42 is one in which the elephants have swum to their hearts’ content – exploring the meaning of the ‘Suffering Servant’ mentioned in the early verses, upon whom ‘The Lord has put his spirit’ [Is. 42:1] – note the Baptismal reference here.

But from v. 5 onwards we are given the clue to why it has been chosen for today, I think.  As we think of Jesus being revealed to the world for who he really is in his Baptism, we hear, in a pre-echo of Luke 4: ‘Thus says God, the Lord, who created the heavens and stretched them out,… who gives breath to the people upon it and spirit to those who walk in it:… I have given you as… a light to the nations, to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon…  I am the Lord,… my glory I give to no other [Parts of Is. 42:5-8].

Jesus’ Baptism, the descent of the Holy Spirit upon him, his manifestation to the world, is seen within the context of God’s plan for the salvation of the world, a plan foretold in the ancient prophecies of Isaiah and others.

The Ephesians passage we heard as our Second Reading reinforces this distinction between the old life of sin in which we once lived, and the new life offered by Jesus Christ who has come into the world, and is now manifested to the world – and what is emphasised is that this new life is a gift, an initiative on God’s behalf to reach out to us in love; ‘For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God…  For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life’ [Part of Eph 2:8-10].

So, where does all this wading and swimming leave us?  This Season of Epiphany gives us the opportunity to reflect in a particular way on God’s action in the world, and the life to which he is calling each of us.  Lambs or elephants, each of us has been created by God for some purpose here on the earth.  As we think about the Arrival of the Magi, of Jesus’  Baptism, of the water being turned to wine at the Marriage Feast at Cana, can we find time to listen out for what we are being called in this New Year?

Malcom Guite, in his sonnet, for the Baptism of Christ, asks the question like this:

Beginning here we glimpse the Three-in-one;
The river runs, the clouds are torn apart,
The Father speaks, the Sprit and the Son
Reveal to us the single loving heart
That beats behind the being of all things
And calls and keeps and kindles us to light.
The dove descends, the spirit soars and sings
‘You are belovèd, you are my delight!’

In that quick light and life, as water spills
And streams around the Man like quickening rain,
The voice that made the universe reveals
The God in Man who makes it new again.
He calls us too, to step into that river
To die and rise and live and love forever.

[The First Sunday of Epiphany – Jesus’ Baptism, Malcolm Guite (my italics)]

AMEN.