A new year is often the possibility of a fresh start. New resolutions, perhaps even the chance to reinvent ourselves. We can leave all our baggage and disappointment in the past – or at least we can tell ourselves that. A new year can also bring new challenges, and perhaps our resolutions are to equip ourselves to face them.
In about 30 AD, John the Baptist was crying out in the wilderness, calling Israel to a fresh start. John wanted them to turn towards God, and offered a baptism of cleansing, washing clean, symbolising the people’s desire to live as God’s people in the land he had promised them.
We also need to be cleansed and washed clean. We’ve not lived perfectly in the past, and even with the best of intentions, we know that we won’t live in the way we want to, or achieve everything we want to this year. We’re probably not even aiming for the right things now. We don’t just need to be washed clean, we need to be made new.
Fortunately, there was one who came after John. John baptised with water; Jesus baptises with the Holy Spirit and with fire. Our baptism isn’t simply something that washes us clean: it unites us with Christ and gives us a new identity. So we can hear the Father’s words to Jesus addressed also to us: “you are my son, you are my daughter, beloved, with you I am well pleased!”
