The Baptism of Jesus- Mark 1:4-11
We entered into Epiphany on January 6th , which is when we think about Christ being revealed to the nations as represented by the Magi. An epiphany in a manifestation or a revealing. When we suddenly realize something, we say we have had an epiphany. During the season of Epiphany, we look at how Jesus is revealed to the world. It is a season when we consider the ways God sheds light and reveals Himself.
It seems a bit odd to have this reading today because usually we associate John the Baptist with the season of Advent as we “prepare the way of the Lord” as we remember how he did come on Christmas, but also how he will come when he comes again. As we progress through the church year through Christmas and now into Epiphany, it can be a bit funny to circle back and see John again. The focus in this season, though, is not on John’s word’s of preparation. The focus is on the baptism of Jesus, which reveals the Trinity. …
In Mark 1, Jesus seems to have a vision. We read,
“just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. And a voice came from heaven, ‘You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased’” (Mark 1:10-11).
Here we see the Father revealed in the voice from heaven. The Spirit is revealed as He descends like a dove onto Jesus. And the Son stands in the baptismal water of the Jordan river. This is a revealing of who Jesus is. It is a manifestation of God, and the calling of the messiah.
John the Baptist doesn’t just call for repentance for personal sin, but from the sinful reality of the world itself. It is a call into a kind of death- a death to worldly of assumptions and expectations. It is, at the same time, a birth into a new reality with God. Jesus’ baptism begins the ending of an old world, and a birth of a new world. The heavens tear open- the veil between heaven and earth is torn opened through the work of Christ. As Christ’s flesh is torn on the cross, so the veil in the temple will be torn. The veil separating God from humanity is torn and available to those who are willing to receive.
The baptism of Jesus reveals Jesus’ ministry as the Messiah. He is to become who Israel was meant to be. He is the embodiment of Israel. He will do what Israel was called to do, but failed to do. As he enters the waters of the Jordan, he will then be led into the wilderness. While in the wilderness we read that “he was with the wild beasts" (1:13), so some commentators see Jesus going back, not only to the beginning of Israel, but to the very beginning of humanity. As Adam was with the wild animals in the garden, so Jesus is with the wild animals in the wilderness as the new Adam. … And we might even go back further, since in Genesis we read about the Spirit of God hovering like a bird over the water (Gen 1:2). And here again we see the Spirit, like a bird, over water. …
Israel was meant to represent humanity, as the hope for humanity, to be the light of the world. They inherited the blessing of Abraham to be a blessing to all the families of the world (Gen 12:3). … Jesus is walking the path of Israel as they journeyed to the promised land. Jesus will withstand the temptations. He will not fail to be faithful and resist evil. Where Israel failed, Jesus will succeed. … Jesus will enter back into society with his mission to recreate Israel- choosing 12 new tribal elders. He will be the new Moses, and will teach them not just the Law, but the very heart of the law. And he will perfect and complete sacrifice, by being the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. … God’s original design is getting put back on course through Jesus.
The author C.S. Lewis says there is a bit of a paradox to repentance. Only a bad person needs to repent. The worse a person is, however, the less able a person is able to do it well. A person that is filled with pride, anger, and self-righteousness cannot repent well, if at all. … You might notice this about yourself during the confession part of our service. How often do you feel like you are really confessing? How often does it seem like just words? Do we really feel sorrow and regret about the things we confess? … We sinners have a hard time repenting well. The more a person needs to do it, they less they are actually able to do it. … Ironically, a good person is able to repent well, and only a perfect person can repent perfectly, but a perfect person is not in need of repenting. … In a sense, this is what Jesus has done for us. He, in his baptism, has repented on our behalf. He has done perfectly, what we cannot do well because of our sin. In our sin, we bumble through our repentance, we half-heartedly declare our sin. He has identified himself with our sin. He has made our sin his to deal with.
And we, as his disciples, follow him into the waters of repentance. Baptism is about repentance- it is turning away from what God doesn’t want for us, and turning towards what God does want for us. But, for Christians, as we hear in our reading from Acts, this is not the exact same baptism as John the Baptist was offering. Mainly, we are baptized into the life, death, and resurrection of Christ. We are to partake of the same Spirit that guided Christ. That is what God wants for us. Our baptism commits us to Christ as our Lord- as the one who has the final say regarding all matters in our life. … As his disciples, we are to follow him into those baptismal waters. Even imperfectly, we do repent- We evaluate where our thinking has to be corrected and we seek grace to change our mind to align it more with Jesus' thinking. We repent of the destructive ways of the world. We wash it off us. We wash off the false and burdensome expectations others place on us. We wash ourselves of the desire to “keep up with the joneses”. We wash ourselves of our insatiable desire for "security" and to be entertained. We wash ourselves of the idea that indulging in our desires will bring us happiness. We wash ourselves of feeling like a victim of the world, and we make a choice to follow Christ and even accept hardship in his name. … In that moment of repentance, in that baptism, we become a child of God. Through Christ, we are adopted into the family.
In Romans Ch 8 (:14-17) Paul says,
John the Baptist doesn’t just call for repentance for personal sin, but from the sinful reality of the world itself. It is a call into a kind of death- a death to worldly of assumptions and expectations. It is, at the same time, a birth into a new reality with God. Jesus’ baptism begins the ending of an old world, and a birth of a new world. The heavens tear open- the veil between heaven and earth is torn opened through the work of Christ. As Christ’s flesh is torn on the cross, so the veil in the temple will be torn. The veil separating God from humanity is torn and available to those who are willing to receive.
The baptism of Jesus reveals Jesus’ ministry as the Messiah. He is to become who Israel was meant to be. He is the embodiment of Israel. He will do what Israel was called to do, but failed to do. As he enters the waters of the Jordan, he will then be led into the wilderness. While in the wilderness we read that “he was with the wild beasts" (1:13), so some commentators see Jesus going back, not only to the beginning of Israel, but to the very beginning of humanity. As Adam was with the wild animals in the garden, so Jesus is with the wild animals in the wilderness as the new Adam. … And we might even go back further, since in Genesis we read about the Spirit of God hovering like a bird over the water (Gen 1:2). And here again we see the Spirit, like a bird, over water. …
Israel was meant to represent humanity, as the hope for humanity, to be the light of the world. They inherited the blessing of Abraham to be a blessing to all the families of the world (Gen 12:3). … Jesus is walking the path of Israel as they journeyed to the promised land. Jesus will withstand the temptations. He will not fail to be faithful and resist evil. Where Israel failed, Jesus will succeed. … Jesus will enter back into society with his mission to recreate Israel- choosing 12 new tribal elders. He will be the new Moses, and will teach them not just the Law, but the very heart of the law. And he will perfect and complete sacrifice, by being the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. … God’s original design is getting put back on course through Jesus.
The author C.S. Lewis says there is a bit of a paradox to repentance. Only a bad person needs to repent. The worse a person is, however, the less able a person is able to do it well. A person that is filled with pride, anger, and self-righteousness cannot repent well, if at all. … You might notice this about yourself during the confession part of our service. How often do you feel like you are really confessing? How often does it seem like just words? Do we really feel sorrow and regret about the things we confess? … We sinners have a hard time repenting well. The more a person needs to do it, they less they are actually able to do it. … Ironically, a good person is able to repent well, and only a perfect person can repent perfectly, but a perfect person is not in need of repenting. … In a sense, this is what Jesus has done for us. He, in his baptism, has repented on our behalf. He has done perfectly, what we cannot do well because of our sin. In our sin, we bumble through our repentance, we half-heartedly declare our sin. He has identified himself with our sin. He has made our sin his to deal with.
And we, as his disciples, follow him into the waters of repentance. Baptism is about repentance- it is turning away from what God doesn’t want for us, and turning towards what God does want for us. But, for Christians, as we hear in our reading from Acts, this is not the exact same baptism as John the Baptist was offering. Mainly, we are baptized into the life, death, and resurrection of Christ. We are to partake of the same Spirit that guided Christ. That is what God wants for us. Our baptism commits us to Christ as our Lord- as the one who has the final say regarding all matters in our life. … As his disciples, we are to follow him into those baptismal waters. Even imperfectly, we do repent- We evaluate where our thinking has to be corrected and we seek grace to change our mind to align it more with Jesus' thinking. We repent of the destructive ways of the world. We wash it off us. We wash off the false and burdensome expectations others place on us. We wash ourselves of the desire to “keep up with the joneses”. We wash ourselves of our insatiable desire for "security" and to be entertained. We wash ourselves of the idea that indulging in our desires will bring us happiness. We wash ourselves of feeling like a victim of the world, and we make a choice to follow Christ and even accept hardship in his name. … In that moment of repentance, in that baptism, we become a child of God. Through Christ, we are adopted into the family.
In Romans Ch 8 (:14-17) Paul says,
"For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’ it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ—if, in fact, we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him."You become a child of God by responding to the Spirit’s work in you as you turn to Jesus (the Son of God). You leave behind the illusions of the world, and enter into God's reality. We enter into a life of repentance as we constantly seek out God's will and align ourselves with it. … And all this is only made possible because Jesus has identified as one of us, and has walked the path we are unable to walk on our own. AMEN
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