Why Does Divinity Insist That It Takes a Process?

by Rev. Cory Bradford-Watts

Readings

Matthew 3:13-17

Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. But John tried to deter him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?”

Jesus replied, “Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.” Then John consented.

As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”

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The process of spiritual transformation takes time and patience, as they say, “Rome wasn’t built in a day.” But often our spiritual teachers tell us that the infinite Divinity that we each express in our own finite way has always existed, and so why does our reception of it seem to take so long? Why does becoming our “best self” tend to be riddled with setbacks, process, and seeming disappointments on both individual and societal scales? Well, we’re also told that the Divine One is a God of process – and that this allows for our freewill and deep engagement of compassion, social justice, and wisdom from a place of individualized love and acceptance. Indeed, we read that even “Jeh-with-us,” Jesus, underwent his own process of growth in the Christian gospels, which helped him “fulfill all righteousness,” and we discover similar stories in many of the world’s scriptures revealing how God works and helps us to work as well.

So, what does it mean that God is a God of process? In a way, it’s like saying that God does things according to his own rules. As the mystic Emanuel Swedenborg wrote, God follows his/her own providence. But why? One key reason seems to be that freewill is of Divine import – in fact, limited freewill allows the Universe to come into being according to some quantum physicists (and Emanuel Swedenborg!), since certain elements of quantum physics (specifically, probability clouds) seem to correspond with a type of freewill.

But I think that from a spiritual viewpoint we can see why this is true as well, as a spiritual type of freewill would allow us to individually turn toward God and receive her in our own diverse, finite way.  This allows us to be individuals, personally receiving our own image and likeness of the infinite God one day at a time. We’re told that this is important to God as it allows God to share the love and wisdom that she has with others. Unfortunately, spiritual freedom also means that we can turn away from Divinity’s will at times, sometimes turning our backs to God’s wisdom and compassion for our own diverse types of selfishness, lusts, falsities, and destructive behaviors.

We see all these dynamics play out as we each come to know the Divine awareness at the core of each our beings. Even when the Lord does miracles in our lives, whether parting the Red Sea or bringing us peace and comfort at a time of need, we still have to walk across the dry ground and get up again the next day, sometimes finding ourselves in the wilderness.

Christ himself, who I and many others consider to be God in the flesh, also had to undergo a process of growth in his earthly life. The reality of this should give us hope! It shows that God is willing to go through the process and similar hardships, and is still willing to walk and uplift us through our setbacks, day in and day out. These stories also help us to see that it’s always God who strengthens us and who overcomes our pains and struggles through us, even when we feel “forsaken” and alone.

In our reading today we read a specific instance of God in process as Christ. Jesus comes to be baptized by the prophet John, who declares that it should be Jesus who baptizes him! However, Jesus declines this suggestion, saying that it must be John who baptizes him in order “to fulfill all righteousness.” God points out that there’s a healthy order for certain things and that it takes a process to find and fulfill all righteousness!

And the more we reflect on this story, the more we learn. John is described as a sort of rough character (or at least, close to the earth), spending his time in the wilderness, eating locusts and wearing clothes made of camel’s hair. He notes that Jesus is someone whom he doesn’t deserve to latch the sandals of, and yet he is tasked with baptizing him! This seems eerily similar to our own process of finding and fostering that Divine spark within, which seems at times to be finite and small, and yet has always been infinite, encompassing and interconnecting everything. We must often, from a relatively rough state, go through the process of baptizing, uplifting, and empowering that Divine spark, as it takes time for the transfer of power between our more selfish states to the more humble, compassionate ones. Indeed, it’s that Divine awareness within that emphasizes and reassures us that it takes such a process.

We also read that when Jesus is being baptized, the heavens (called the upper waters in Genesis) part and God’s voice rings out anointing Christ. There’s a reason why the leaders within Hebrew and Christian scriptures have so many parallel stories, such as the fact that Jesus, Moses, Elijah, and Elisha all have “parting the waters to find God” moments. All of these prophets and leaders embody God in a way, representing God’s will and bringing a voice of positive transformation to the people – emphasizing that it takes a process and that we must work to change. As John Shelby Spong notes in Biblical Literalism: A Gentile Heresy, Jesus parting the “greater waters” is probably meant to emphasize that Christ was considered by the authors of the gospels to be the greatest prophet, the promised messiah, and God incarnate. Thankfully, Christ’s message of social justice and love is fitting for such monikers, working to motivate and empower each of us to part our own obscurities and floodwaters as we work to help everyone find a little more of heaven on earth.

And so, we’re promised that as we work to baptize the Christ within and follow him, the heavenly waters will part and the spirit of God will come down through us – just as it did for Jesus. The miracle truly begins as we accept the process and allow it to unfold, helping us find the promised land and the voice of God. Over time we’ll find that the Christ within heals the sick and the broken-hearted parts of us, clearing our mind’s eye and helping us to overcome even our fears of death and our deadened spirits. And in our freedom, choosing goodness, we find that we start to appreciate the process as well as that strange truth, that we can only take it one day at a time.

Peace and care to you,

Rev. Cory