Why is the river Jordan so important in the Bible? As a symbol of transition, liberation and promise, can it still transform the world today?
The river Jordan starts at the foot of the holy Mount Hermon where Jesus will be transfigured (Matthew 17; Mark 9; Luke 9). There he recapitulates the covenant of God with Moses on Sinai (Exodus 34) promising, beyond death, a renewed world. Hermon’s snow-melt waters form tributary streams that coalesce into one source, a great river which defines the land in so many ways. The Book of Genesis 13:10 refers to it watering the “Garden of the Lord.” From the north it flows into the sea of Galilee, the lowest freshwater lake in the world, rich with 35 species of fish, 16 unique to the Jordan. Then travelling on south through the Arabah Valley passing Jericho finally it flows, 124 miles later, into the Dead Sea.
The Jordan symbolises transition, liberation and promise. After 40 years of wandering and complaining, then comes the death of Moses. Now beyond the Jordan, but in sight of their destiny, Joshua leads the descendants of the freed Hebrew slaves into the promised, covenanted and new Land (Joshua 3:15-17).
The entrance is miraculous, like the Exodus and the crossing of the Red Sea. The priests carry the Ark of the Covenant slowly, almost liturgically, into the great river in flood. They pause and wait and the waters to the north are held back and the people cross in holy silence; awed in the presence of God’s power and faithfulness.
From then on, the river will remain a symbol of divine-human encounter, of grace and spiritual renewal. The Jordan becomes a symbolic sacred boundary. A “thin place” where the human and divine are close; where past foundational memories open up to new futures, where old lives are reconciled and renewed.
It is to the Jordan that the prophet Elijah sends the Syrian General Namaan to wash and be healed of Leprosy (2 Kings 5). There the universal power of Israel’s creator God is revealed to a wider world.
Transition and new beginnings happen on Jordan’s banks. When Elijah returns to God in the fiery chariot, his prophetic mantle and mission are passed to Elisha on the same banks of the Jordan.(2 Kings 2:8)
When John the Baptiser starts his ministry to renew Israel and to prepare a way for the Messiah (Matthew 3:1ff.) he leaves the corruption of the great city of Jerusalen and its compromised Temple. He crosses the Jordan and, on its banks, preaches a return to justice and integrity, to the values that underpinned the covenant God made with Moses at Sinai. A new beginning for God’s people starting from the cleansing waters of the Jordan. “The whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were being baptised by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins”. (Mark 1:5; Luke 3:3-4; John 1:28).
It is at the Jordan that John affirms and baptises Jesus as Son of God (Matthew 3:13-17). This becomes a significant moment for Christian theology regarding Jesus’ identity as the Lamb of God who will take away the sin of the world, as the one in whom God’s Spirit uniquely dwells (John 1:29-36). Matthew also recalls the prophecy of Isaiah that the Messiah will come from across the Jordan:
“Land of Zebulun, land of Napthali, the way to the sea beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles, the people who sit in darkness have seen a great light, on those dwelling in a land overshadowed by death light has risen.” (from Isaiah 9:1-21)
With the baptism of Jesus (Matthew 3:5-6; Mark 1:5; Luke 3:3; John 1:28) the Jordan becomes a place of revelation: “This is my Beloved Son, listen to him”. Jesus goes into the desert and returns 40 days later to cross the river with a clear message: “Metanoieite! See anew! Turn you minds around and believe the Good News”. Jesus will cross the Jordan several times in his ministry (Matthew 19:1; Mark 10:1). Crowds will follow him and cross the river to hear his teaching and be healed (Matthew 4:25; Mark 3:7-8). Jesus will take refuge there from his enemies (John 10:39-40)
Ever since, we have celebrated the waters of the Jordan in Word and Sacrament, in poetry and song. From the exquisite meditative cantata of Johann Sebastian Bach “Christ unser Herr zum Jordan kam” (Christ our Lord came to the Jordan) to the 19th century African-American spirituals. These are songs of hope by enslaved people such as “Deep River” and “Michael row the boat ashore”. Going down into the waters of the Jordan has became the symbol of transition to reconciled and healed lives that can transform the world.
David McLoughlin is Emeritus Fellow of Christian Theology at Newman University, Birmingham.
David McLoughlin reflects on the Biblical narrative of Noah in both the Old and New Testaments.
