Water

Now when all thepeople were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized..."  Luke 3:21a

I was reading a devotional from Daily Feast this morning.  The author asks us to picture what it was like when Jesus was baptized.  Everyone was gathered around, waiting to be baptized.  Jesus joined the crowd in line.  Those around him were like us -- sinners in need of grace, the lost in need of forgiveness.  Jesus wasn't either one of those, and yet he joins those there in solidarity.

Lo, I am with you always.

That doesn't just mean that Jesus stands with us, protected and observing.  It means that Jesus -- God -- is with us.  Experiencing what we experience.  Feeling our pain.  Knowing our suffering. 

Isaiah 42:2 says, "When you pass through the waters, I will be with you, and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you."

Jesus passed through the waters of baptism with us, and we with him.