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We have just come through the Christmas season, with the beloved stories of shepherds and angels, Wise Ones traveling from afar, and Mary and Joseph, and a babe lying in a manger. But this is year B—the year focused on the gospel according to Mark. And there is none of that.
Mark’s gospel starts with: “The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. As it is written in the prophet, Isaiah, “See I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way, the voice of one crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight,’ and then we are on to our reading for today.
So in some sense, this is the entrance story of Jesus—a different kind of birth story. And, yet, it has as much drama, as much wonder, as much hoop-la, as the other stories. And in addition, it points to us, for we too come to be baptized, with water and with the Holy Spirit.
I have two thoughts I want to share today. One is from Jesus’ point of view—the one being baptized, and that includes us; and the other is from God’s point of view. I see these thoughts rushing at each other, splashing together in the mess of water and dove and voice and experience. And I think they might remind us of what right relationship with God is all about.
First, Jesus. In Mark, there is no discussion about whether Jesus should be baptized.
He comes, as all the others come.
We don’t even know if John recognizes that this is the one he has been telling people about. We Presbyterians should be able to understand this quite easily. At every baptism service we talk about how baptism not just something that happens to the one being baptized. That it is a covenant, a promise, that we, as God’s people, make. Baptism is the way to show that you have joined God’s people. And so, although we don’t have Emmanuel stories, we don’t have Jesus born like we are, Jesus growing up like we do in Mark, we do have Jesus becoming one of the people, Jesus declaring “I am with you. I am one of you. Here I am, Lord, send me.”
Second, God. Karoline Lewis, Associate Professor of Preaching describes the passage this way.
“[We should not] tame God. Like translations do of Mark 1:9. The heavens are not “opened.” There is a perfectly good Greek word for “open” and it’s not there. The heavens are “torn apart,” a passive verb, because God cannot stand the separation any longer.”
As our Brief Statement of faith puts it, “Like a mother who will not forsake her nursing child, like a father who runs to welcome the prodigal home,” God can’t wait to be with God’s beloved—and rips open the heavens, and comes careening out of the sky like a bird dive bombing “to get to God’s son, to get to God’s people God loves (Lewis).” And for sensory overload, there is also an audio—“You are my son, the Beloved. With you I am well pleased.”
Often when we talk about a right relationship with God, I think we focus on what we have to do. How we have to behave. What we have to change. And it is good, in this season of resolutions, to assess who we are and who we want to be. But when we picture being right with God, I think the tableau here has much to offer. We stand, not alone, but with others. Before God. Open to what might be. And God, rushes at us. Wanting to be near. Pushing, ripping, clearing away any obstacles. So full of love that it comes tumbling out, in words, “You, you, you, are my beloveds”. And in an echo of those first words, in the beginning, “it is good,” we hear, “with you I am well pleased.”
What a wild, exhilarating, incredible thing is Jesus’ baptism in Mark.
It is what we are invited into when we are baptized; what we are to remind ourselves of, on this Sunday, and every Sunday as we hear the water of baptism being poured. (pour more water?)
God’s love overflowing for us,
and through us,
to our world.
That is what it means
To be right with God.
May it be so for all of us. Alleluia. Amen.
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