Sermon January 8, 2012

Mark 1:4-11

John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. Now John was clothed with camel's hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. He proclaimed, "The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit."

In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And 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."

One of the obsessions of the latter part of the twentieth century and early twenty first century has been new translations of the Bible.  There seem to be more Bible translations these days than there are citizens of South Dakota.  Some Bible’s are translated to be word for word from the original text, others are translated with the idea of conveying the original meaning, while worrying less about the actual words, and still others strive to put the Bible in everyday language using popular phrases and idioms.  Some of these have been helpful, while others seem to have been so consumed with their agenda that they forgot that they were actually dealing with Holy Scripture.  I think of one particular example which translated the passage we have this morning in which the voice came from heaven and said "You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased" and decided that it would sound better with God saying “That’s my boy.”  Call me old fashioned, but this translation seems to lose a bit of the gravity as well as most of the meaning of the original text.  In saying “that’s my boy” we learn nothing more than if someone told you that they drive a red car – it is simply identifies a relationship but little else.  But when we are told that Jesus is the beloved and God is well pleased with him that changes the whole picture - telling us something wonderful about God the father and the relationship that he has with his son Jesus. 

Today is the first Sunday after the Epiphany which is also known as the Baptism of our Lord for fairly obvious reasons.  Epiphany is one of the more clear names given to things we commemorate in the church, because it is remembering an epiphany – the moment when the scales were lifted and people saw Jesus for who he really was.  There are actually three events that are commemorated during the Epiphany: 1) the visit of the Magi 2) that most Episcopalian of miracle turning water into wine at the wedding feast of Cana 3) what we have today the Baptism of Jesus.  The baptism of Jesus is an Epiphany reading because it contains one of the more direct unveilings of the identity of Jesus.  God tells us that Jesus is the beloved son with whom he is well pleased. 

Mark’s Gospel is in many ways the Readers Digest version of the Gospels.  It contains 11,304 words whereas both Matthew and Luke contain over 18,000 words.  And as a result of its brevity, Mark tends not to waste a lot of words.  So if he says something it is worth pondering why it is in there.  This is of course true with all of the Bible, but even more so with Mark for he is something of the Joe Friday of the Gospel writers.  So the question then is what is Mark trying to let us know by telling us the words God spoke after Jesus came up from the water? 

To begin to see its importance we need a little bit of context.  Mark’s Gospel has no birth narrative and instead begins by telling us a bit about John the Baptist, or John the Baptizer as he calls him.  By verse 9 of the first chapter we have our reading for today, the baptism of Jesus.  And then by verse 16 of the same chapter Jesus begins calling his disciples.  So in the first 16 verses of Mark we are introduced to the guy who will introduce Jesus and then we are introduced to Jesus himself who then gets baptized and calls the disciples.  A lot happens in just 16 verses.  For comparisons sake in the first 16 chapters of Matthew’s gospel we have learned that Zerubbabel is the father of Eliakim.  But back to Mark.  The context of the announcement of God that he is pleased with Jesus takes place at the moment between our introduction to the person of Jesus and the beginning of the ministry of Jesus.  You could call the baptism the first day of the rest of his life if you were so inclined.  But in Mark’s estimation this is from where everything begins.  And that beginning is marked by a very natural and very tender scene of a father watching as his son goes off into the world.  And before his son sets out he wants his son to know how pleased he is with him.

One of the discussions that has entered theology and biblical study in the past fifty or so years has had to do with gender – whether or not we should refer to God in masculine terms and so on.  I really do not want to open that entire can of worms this morning except to point out one thing.  When much of the criticism is leveled it is done so from us up to God.  In other words someone will say that they had a lousy father therefore they cannot think of God in fatherly terms.  And while I know that many people unfortunately grew up with abusive or wicked fathers, this in no way changes who God the father is.  When we look at God we are not to project our earthly understandings up to him, but rather try to understand and imitate the heavenly perfection of our father in heaven.  God’s fatherhood is a perfect fatherhood.  The lovely actions we see God performing for Jesus this morning are the actions of the perfect father in heaven.   NT Wright says it like this “If we start the journey imagining that our God is a bully, an angry threatening parent ready to yell at us, slam the door on us, or kick us out into the street because we haven’t quite made the grade, we will fail at the first whisper of temptation.  But if we remember the voice that spoke those powerful words of love we will find a way through.”  That is the perfect father that is revealed to us today, not some second rate bully or petty tyrant, but a perfect loving and wonderful father whom all fathers should strive to imitate.  What is both fascinating and wonderful about this scene is that it shows us God acting in a way that is not strange and foreign, but is ordinary and wonderful.  Jesus, while being the son of God still needs to be told that he is loved by his father and God the father feels the need to let his son know how he feels about him.  When Genesis tells us that we are created in God’s image I think many of us think that this means we kind of look like God, but we tend to forget that the image goes much deeper than this.   The relationships as modeled in God are relationships that resound with us, like the love between father and son or mother and daughter and so on.  And the love and affection that God the Father feels towards Jesus he also feels for us.  He is the perfect father.  He is a father who knows that we need to be told that we are beloved.    

There is an old joke about an elderly couple who go to marriage counseling.  When they get there the counselor asks them what the problem is to which the woman replies; “He never tells me that he loves me.”   The marriage counselor sensing that the woman was exaggerating looked over to the man and asked if this was true or not.  To which the man said, “Look I told her I loved he when we got married 53 years ago, if I change my mind I will let her know.”  

This is not the picture of God that emerges today.  He does not send his son to earth and tell him to report back when he is done.  No here at the point where Jesus is going to begin the long trek towards Jerusalem that will ultimately lead to his crucifixion, God speaks up and tells him how he feels about him.  Like the life we live as parents or as friends we cannot guarantee that everything will work out perfectly, that there will not be any struggles, but we can tell our children and loved ones that we love them and that we are pleased with them.  Today we see our perfect heavenly father expressing his love and affection for his son – a love and affection that he holds for every one of us.  It is a love that we should know and a love that we should share.  Our life will not always be easy or simple, but it makes the journey so much easier knowing that we have a father in heaven who loves us and is well pleased with us this day and forevermore.