Come
On!  Jump In!
Keith
McFarren
January
11, 2026
Matthew
3:13-17
    They did it again!  They did it in Chicago, Milwaukee, Fort
Wayne, New York City, Cleveland and Detroit.
As a matter of fact, they did it all over the country and all over the
world.  
    They…are the polar bears.  The polar bear club members that take the
“polar plunge” in the icy cold waters of lakes and rivers and oceans every New
Year’s Day.
    The scene at the Polar Bear Club in
Vancouver, British Columbia is always something to see.  On Canada’s English Bay Beach people dress up
in all sorts of weird and lavish costumes while others wear only a swim suit to
jump into the fridged waters.  
    Last year they say that more than 13,000
people gathered together to take a dip in the 44 degree water.  People come from all over the United States
and Canada to take part in an event that is looked forward to every year
because it creates a sense of community.
People use the day to see those they haven’t seen since last year and then
they spend the rest of the day partying and celebrating together.  (Marta Hill, Smithsonian Magazine, December
2025.)
    In my mind there must be some sort of
sanity gene missing from these people.  Even
if you’re young and fit and healthy it’s got to be a cold uncomfortable
experience, let alone those with underlying heart and respiratory conditions
who are taking a great chance if not a fatal chance to exacerbate their
conditions and die on the spot.
    Yet people keep doing it.  And they seem to be almost evangelistic in
doing so.  They talk about what a
wonderful experience it is; they bubble over with enthusiasm; they can’t wait
for next year and they invite others to join them in what I would call their
madness.  “Come on,” they say.  “Jump in.
The water’s fine!”
    John the Baptist had spent his time
getting the people all fired up about the one that was coming to change the
world.  “He’s coming!  He’s more powerful than me! He will give you
God’s wind and God’s fire, and not just water.
He’ll sort you out…he’ll clear out the mess…he’ll clean up God’s farm so
that only the good wheat is left!”  
    The people were amped, they were expecting
a great leader, perhaps the living God himself; a God who would be sweeping
everyone off their feet with a blaze of light and glory, transforming every one
and everything in his path.
    Like the people in Vancouver, British
Columbia, John the Baptist stood in the waters of the Jordan River telling
people to “Come on.  Jump in.  The water’s fine.”  Some people joined him that day because they
believed in what he was saying while others took part only because it seemed
like it was the popular thing to do.  For
those who stood on shore and did nothing, John had a few choice words, calling
them a “brood of snakes slithering along the banks of the river” (Matthew 3:7
The Message).  
   But there was one person who took up John’s
invitation that day.  A quiet individual.  A person who seemed to blend in with the
crowd.  Then, seemingly out of nowhere,
he took a step forward, walked down the river bank and joined John in the water…a
person that was different than all the rest…and yet, he was the same.  That person was Jesus.
    When Jesus climbed down the banks of the
river that day, John was shocked to say the least.  How he knew it was Jesus, we aren’t
told.  Maybe something from their shared
family history gave him some kind of a clue as to who it was standing in front
of him.  Maybe it was a holy whisper in
John’s ear, a whisper that came directly from the Holy Spirit, a whisper that
made John think something isn’t just quite right here.
    And then again, maybe it was just
something about the face of Jesus…something about the way he looked.  Something about him that caused fishermen to
leave their nets behind…something about him that caused broken people to reach
out in hope…something about him that made powerful people that were filled with
arrogance and pride tremble in their boots.
    Whatever it was, there was something about
Jesus that day that made John, this boisterous, wild man from the desert, want
to literally fall to his knees.  There
was some sense of what was right and some sense of what was wrong and John’s
sense of what was right told him that this guy Jesus was the one who should be doing
the baptizing.
    Jesus’ reply to John that “now is the
time” tells us that today is the day when we begin to fulfill God’s mission; today,
right there in the middle of the river, is the day that the whole gospel story
is about to unfold right before our very eyes.
    Jesus is coming to fulfill God’s plan; he’s
coming to fulfill all those Old Testament promises that God made years and
years ago and has never forgotten.  Promises
which will blow God’s wind and God’s spirit, throughout the world.  Promises that will bring the fire of God’s
just judgement to those who are evil and to those who promote evil throughout
the world.  These are the promises that
will rescue God’s penitent people from any type of exile they may find
themselves in.
    But if Jesus is to do this, and if all of
God’s promises are to be fulfilled, then he needs to humbly identify himself
with God’s people.  He needs serve right
along with them.  He needs to feel what
they feel and experience what they experience.
He needs to share in their penitence and live their type of life…and he
has to ultimately die their type death.
    Jesus’ baptism is all about
inclusion.  It’s all about
acceptance.  It’s about Jesus saying, “I
want to jump in the water and join the party and I want the people to see me
jumping in so that they can identify with me and see that I am just like
them.  No better and no worse.”  I want to be a part of those who are lost and
those who are suffering.  I want to be a
part of those who are looking for a new and long lasting relationship with God.

    Jesus’ baptism was meant to be a sign to
the people, not just some of the people, but all of the people, that something
new was about to happen.  And this
something new, was that the kingdom of God was opening up here on earth.  A new way of living our lives is now
available, not only as individuals, but as a community of faith as well.
    Mother Teresa was once asked, “What’s the
biggest problem in the world today?”
     She answered that, “The biggest problem
in the world today is that we draw the circle of our family way too small.  We need to draw it [larger, but more
importantly we need to draw it] larger every day.”
    With all that is evil and all that is
wrong with our world today, it would be easy to answer that question with a
hundred different answers.  That’s what
makes Mother Teresa’s answer so unique.
She is saying that the world’s problems is not so much with the world,
as it is with us.  We need to see more
people as our neighbor [and as our family] than we are currently doing.
    I see Jesus doing this in his
baptism.  In his baptism, Jesus made the
circle bigger by including us in his righteousness.  He identified with us, with our need to be
cleansed, and with our need to be made pure.
If you have been baptized you have been drawn into the circle of God’s
family.
    That’s why the necessary requirement for
baptism in the United Methodist church is the community.  Baptism is a corporate act; it’s an act that
is almost always done during the time of worship…in front of the entire
congregation
    Baptism is an entrance into the fellowship of
believers.  It is a time of becoming a
part the body of Christ…the body of Christ being, of course, all of us, known not
only as Bethel UMC but also as the community of faith.
    Once you have been baptized, whether it’s
through sprinkling or through immersion, you are never alone.  You have been adopted into the family of God
and there will always family around you.
Once you have been baptized in the United Methodist Church you are part
of something larger than yourself.
Something that is always there, something that is always
worthwhile.  
    At the beginning of his ministry, Jesus
symbolically bears the sins of the entire world and he is washed clean.  But baptism isn’t just about dying to
sin.  It’s also about rising again to a
new life.  A life of righteousness.  That’s exactly what Jesus does.  He rises up out of the water leaving our
sins, yours and mine, behind him in the water and he comes up clean.  He comes up righteous.  And the
heavens open up and the Spirit of God descends upon him like a dove (3:16).
And in Jesus, we have a new creation.
    On this first Sunday after Epiphany the
same thing is happening.  The Spirit of
God, like a dove, came to settle on the new creation in Jesus Christ.  And Jesus announces that his work will bring about
a new creation, a time of righteousness, and an age in which God’s kingdom,
both here on earth and in heaven, has been made available to all people.    
    With the grace of God, that comes to us
through Jesus, we all have the opportunity to become new creations; to become
new people.  We have that opportunity to
become new creations by accepting him into our hearts and ridding ourselves of
our sins and letting our light shine out on others.  And it all starts by jumping into the water
with Jesus.