We Are Baptized!
This is the sermon I preached on Sunday, Jan. 7, Baptism of Our Lord at St. Timothy Lutheran Church. The scripture text is Mark 1:4-11.
This last part of this morning’s gospel reading grabbed my attention. It stood out like the words were neon lights.They are action-packed and we are going to concentrate on the part which is Jesus’ baptism. Today we have the appearance of all three members of the trinity at this event—Jesus, the Holy Spirit and the Father’s voice.
In one sense, Jesus did not need to be baptized, since he had nothing to repent of. He was sinless, so why did he get baptized by John? In doing so, he more fully identified himself with sinful humanity. As the Nicene Creed says, Jesus “became truly human.”
In this passage, as Jesus starts coming out of the water, four things are happening simultaneously: as He comes out of the water, the heavens are ripped open, the Spirit descends and enters Jesus like a dove and lastly, the Voice—declaring Jesus as the beloved Son. They do not happen in a nice, linear order, but all at once. I can’t even imagine that.
My Greek prof, Dr. Carlson, loved the Greek for “torn apart,” referring to the heavens. It’s σχιζομένους, schizomenous, meaning the heavens were being ripped apart. This was not a one and done. There is no gentle moving aside of the curtain between heaven and earth so we can get a peek. It’s ripped wide open!
In Celtic spirituality, there is the concept of “thin places,” places and times where it is easier to sense God’s presence and commune with God. The veil between heaven and earth is thinner. Forget about those places here! This is much more! God comes down to humanity again. We’re seeing a perpetual thin place.
The next and only other time Mark uses this word is when the curtain of the temple was torn from top to bottom at Jesus’ crucifixion. He concludes that Jesus’ baptism changes the relationship between God and humanity. Jesus’ baptism and the cross are related.
From the text we cannot tell if Jesus is the only one who saw all this, but from what I’ve studied, I suspect so. It does say “he saw.”
Next, our text says the Spirit descended on Jesus like a dove. Oh how nice and sweet and gentle—right?—wrong! For one thing, the Greek word for dove is the same as the one for pigeon! So the Holy Spirit’s coming down like a pigeon. It did not just land on Jesus, but according to the Greek word used, it entered into Jesus. In the other gospels the Spirit rests upon Jesus, but not for Mark—the Spirit goes into Jesus. Considering what Jesus would be facing throughout his life and at his death, it’s no wonder he needed the Holy Spirit so close.
Now to the next simultaneous event. There’s a sound, a voice from heaven speaking. It’s the voice of the Father, announcing, proclaiming that Jesus is the beloved Son. There’s another bit of encouragement for the Savior. The Father makes it clear that Jesus is the Son of his love, the Savior. He tells him how pleased he is with Jesus’ obedience.
Even if we look simply at this instance, Jesus got baptized with a mass of humanity—the good, bad and indifferent—definitely the smelly! He did not have the attitude, “Why do I have to be baptized? After all, I’m the sinless Son of God. Seriously Dad?” Jesus submitted willingly to all the Father asked of him and it wasn’t necessarily easy. In Philippians we’re told that “though he was in the form of God, [he] did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death — even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:6-8).
Baptism was important for Jesus. Baptism still speaks to us today. The Spirit has come upon Jesus and all of us, calling us God’s beloved children and setting us on Jesus’ mission to recreate the world in the image of God’s vision of justice and peace…Baptism is both for our own sake and for the world. In our baptism, we breathe in forgiveness and reconciliation and breathe out the Spirit in our life and works. That’s the full life of the baptized disciple (sundaysandseasons.com).
In baptism, the Father claims us as his own, calling us beloved. But that does not mean we just sit here on our hands. In confirmation, the same questions are asked of the confirmand that were asked of parents and sponsors in baptism. “How does the life of Jesus model what it means to live among God’s faithful people; hear the word of God and share in the Lord’s Supper; proclaim the good news of God in Christ through word and deed; serve all people; and strive for justice and peace in all the earth?” It’s good to be reminded of these words from time to time. God wants to use us to spread the Good News throughout the earth.
We also need to be aware of the verses following Jesus’ baptism, as the Holy Spirit drives him, kicks him out into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. That is what happened to this beloved One. Of course, not only that, but we know he is later crucified.
We, too, are God’s beloved. When we are in the midst of hardships, depression, any kind of trouble, God calls us “beloved.” God loves us so much and is with us in all situations. Jesus needed to hear that before his testing, and so do we. We wonder what we’ve done wrong when we have problems. Have you ever thought that maybe you’ve done right?
What do you hear? What are you called? God calls Jesus Beloved. We too are called beloved. May we have open ears this week for the “voice” of the One who loves us best. Amen.
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