“Baptism of Jesus Sunday: Christ’s Baptism Our Baptism”
Psalm 29 & Mark 1: 4-11~ Rev. Michael Hare ~ Northwood United ~ January 14, 2024
As you know we are in the Season after Epiphany. Epiphany has to do with the revelation of Jesus as the Son of God. During this season we will hear of the call of the disciples. In today’s episode we hear the story of the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist.
There will be among us those who will be asking that if Jesus is the Word made flesh, if he is the Son of God, conceived without sin, why did he submit to an act which is about repentance, turning away from the forces of evil to God, a washing away of one’s sinful self and becoming a new being? All these are good questions. But it might be that we need to start with the question of when did Jesus know within himself that he was called to a ministry of teaching and healing and proclaiming the coming of the kingdom of God.
The answer is that we don’t know. At the time of Jesus there were a variety of sects within the Judaism of the day. Those sects ran the gamut of those who wanted to preserve a traditional understanding of Judaism and Torah to those who were advocating reforms of one kind or another.
Somewhere in that range was John the Baptist who argued that if Judaism really wanted to reform itself it was necessary to go out into the desert and get reacquainted with God and God’s expectations and to become aware of one’s need for forgiveness. Then one was to repent, to turn oneself around and to be baptized. If nothing else by experiencing the same baptism as those around him Jesus identifies with the human condition. But then something unusual happens as Jesus comes out of the water. The clouds open and the Spirit descends like a dove on Jesus and a voice from the heavens is heard to say, “You are my Son, the Beloved with you I am well pleased.” As we read throug Mark’s gospel, we will see how Jesus is revealed as God’s Son although this will not become crystal clear until the death of Jesus and the declaration of the centurion, the outsider, that “truly, this was God’s Son”.
We do not know what Jesus’ reaction was to all this. The only thing that Mark says is that Jesus went into the wilderness for forty days where he experienced a variety of temptations. To an observant Jew of the day, going into the wilderness meant having an encounter with God and establishing a relationship with God
For those of us who were baptized as infants we have little sense of being transformed by being baptized. For those baptized as adults, baptism was probably the last step on the journey of transformation. Regardless of our experience we have trouble understanding baptism as a sign of transformation. It may be that we are fearful of what might be unleashed if we allow the waters of baptism to flow where they will transforming lives, transforming the world.
In the Bible, water can be perilous and life-giving. We remember the story of Noah and the flood. The flood was deadly, except for Noah and his crew and the cargo on board the ark. They survived allowing a new beginning to occur. When the Israelites were fleeing from slavery in Egypt, they had to cross the Red sea. Crossing the Red Sea was a dangerous undertaking but there successful allowed the Israelites to experience freedom and new life. At the beginning of time a wind from God swept over the face of the waters.
We know of the chaos and destruction that wind driven waters create be they in storms or floods. But we need to remember that the chaos of flood and storm can allow for new beginnings. It is in the chaos of flood and storm Creation is in the process of bringing into being a new world. It is in the waters of baptism that we are reminded of how God has acted in the past bringing new life into the world. It is as we recall our own baptism that we are reminded that by the Spirit we have been and are being made into being a new people. As we remember our own baptism, we recall that we are being changed, transformed if you like, in strange and mysterious ways into being a new people. As new people in Christ we find that we are given new life with new possibilities of being God’s people.
The baptism of Jesus in water and by the Spirit proclaims the beginning of a new age. In our own baptism we are joined with Christ in the establishment of a new world in which we will live in harmony with God, each other and creation.
In the meantime we are reminded that there is still chaos in this world which manifests itself in displays of evil. Because we have been baptized we have been transformed and have become witnesses to the new life available in Christ. Traditionally the season of Epiphany was a reminder that we are called to tell others throughout the world of the new life that we have received in Christ. Obviously, it is difficult for us as individuals to go out into all the corners of the world. But we can do so through our givings to the Mission & Service Fund which enables us to engage in mission and to proclaim the good news that God has come among us and lived as one of us to establish a world in which war and enmity will be overcome.
Amen.