WATER AS JUDGMENT
When Jonah fled from the Lord's call and booked passage on a ship headed toward Tarshish, God sent a mighty storm that threatened the lives of everyone in the boat. Jonah knew the wind and the waves were God's judgment on his decision, and that the only solution to this problem was to throw him into the waters.
Throughout the Old Testament, water is a sign of God's judgment. Jesus also uses water imagery to characterize his crucifixion (Lk 12:50). All of humanity has sinned, and the wages of that sin is death (Ro 6:23), but the good news is that Jesus drowned under God's overwhelming wrath against sin at the cross and walked away alive three days later so that all who believe on him could be forgiven.
In fact, we picture this gospel story in the sacrament of baptism. The baptismal waters symbolize judgment and salvation, death and resurrection. In baptism, the church announces to the individual in the water, "You have already died, been buried and walked away from death to new life in Christ." Baptism replays Noah's flood, the Red Sea crossing and Jonah's rescue from the fish. It tells the story over and over again of a God who rescues his people through the water of judgment.
Jesus, thank you for washing away my sins, as well as my loneliness, my hopelessness and my fear. Every time I see water, remind me of what you've done for humanity, what you've done for me. Amen.
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