Baptismal Revelations—Lectionary Reflection for Epiphany 1B (Mark 1)

 

Mark 1:4-11 New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

⁴ So John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. ⁵ And the whole Judean region and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him and were baptized by him in the River Jordan, confessing their sins. ⁶ Now John was clothed with camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. ⁷ He proclaimed, “The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the strap of his sandals. ⁸ I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

⁹ In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. ¹⁰ And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove upon him. ¹¹ And a voice came from the heavens, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”

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                The Faith and Order Commission of the World Council of Churches issued a major consensus document in 1982 titled Baptism, Eucharist, and Ministry. The intent of this effort was to help participating denominations come to an agreement on the meaning of these three elements of church life. Communions that participated in this effort practiced both infant baptism and believer baptism (my denomination being one). When it comes to baptism, the document notes that baptism is rooted in the ministry of Jesus as well as his death and resurrection and serves as the “entry into the New Covenant between God and God’s people” [BEM, p. 7]. As the document reveals, the meaning of Baptism is complex, for includes participation in Christ’s death and resurrection, conversion (including pardoning and cleansing), the provision of the gift of the Holy Spirit, and incorporation into the Body of Christ. The document called for the mutual recognition of baptism on the part of the participating churches. The document states that “Mutual recognition of baptism is acknowledged as an important sign and means of expressing the baptismal unity given in Christ” [BEM, p. 13-14].

                I offer the above words about this consensus document as a foundation for our observance of Baptism of Jesus Sunday, which takes place on the first Sunday after Epiphany. When leading worship as a pastor on such a Sunday I have often planned for a renewal of Baptism ceremony. Even as we hear this word from Mark about John’s baptismal ministry and Jesus’ baptism, we can remember our own baptisms, whether they took place in infancy or later in life. I happen to have been baptized as an infant and later confirmed in the Episcopal Church, while later undergoing baptism by immersion at a summer church camp. I will confess that for a very long time, I struggled with infant baptism, though I have reconciled myself to the practice even if in my own ministry I have only practiced the baptism of believers. 

                Whatever our practice, this Sunday allows congregants to renew baptismal vows and once again affirm the important role that baptism plays in the life of the church. We can once again affirm the role baptism (and confirmation for traditions that practice infant baptism) plays in providing persons the opportunity to publicly identify with the Christian faith and community. It also serves, as we discover in Acts 2:38, as a moment when sins are forgiven, and the Holy Spirit is given to the people. As such it also serves as a moment when the universal call to ministry for all followers of Jesus.

Each of the four Gospels speaks of John’s ministry of baptism, while Matthew and Mark explicitly state that Jesus underwent John’s baptism. For their part, Luke and John hint that Jesus might have been baptized by John. On this particular Sunday, we hear the testimony of Mark, who both describes John’s ministry of baptism for the forgiveness of sins and Jesus’ experience of baptism with divine confirmation/ordination of his own calling.

Our reading from Mark opens immediately after Mark’s revelation from Isaiah that a messenger was coming to prepare the way for the Lord (Mk. 1:1-3). In verse four, Mark tells us that John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness where he proclaimed a message of repentance and the baptism for the forgiveness of sins. Accordingly, people came to the Jordan from all over Judea and from Jerusalem so they could confess their sins and be baptized by John. Mark paints a picture of John that lets us know that he is something of an eccentric or what you might expect from a prophet in the mold of Elijah. Like Elijah, he wears rough clothing and has a leather belt around his waist (2 Kings 1:8).

Even as John calls on the people to repent and have their sins washed away in the Jordan, he makes it clear that he is not the Messiah. He’s the one who prepares the way for the coming of the Lord, whose sandals he is unworthy to even untie. As powerful a preacher is John apparently is, he lets the people know that there is one who is coming who is much more powerful. So, while he baptizes with water as a symbol of repentance and forgiveness, something that Peter includes in his message (Acts 2:38), Jesus adds something more. He adds the Holy Spirit to the mix (the third piece in Peter’s message on the day of Pentecost). John’s baptism is preparatory to receiving the Messiah, who empowers through the gift of the Holy Spirit. As we see in the coming chapters of Mark’s Gospel Jesus embodies the ministry of the Spirit in his teaching and healing ministry.

This description of John and his ministry sets up Jesus’ baptism by John. Mark’s description of Jesus’ baptism is the most explicit. Like everyone else in the region, Jesus comes to the Jordan to be baptized. The question is why? As William Placher points out, a certain embarrassment attached to Jesus’ baptism, since it was designed to symbolize repentance and forgiveness, then why would a sinless Jesus be baptized? [Belief: Mark, p. 21]. The fourth-century theologian Gregory of Nazianzus offered a possible explanation of Jesus’ decision to be baptized by John (Matthew suggests John resisted baptizing Jesus), suggesting that as John was baptizing, Jesus approached him “perhaps also to sanctify the baptizer, and certainly to bury all the old Adam in the water, but before these things and for the sake of these things to sanctify the Jordan. As indeed, he was spirit and flesh, so he initiates by the Spirit and water” [Festal Orations, p. 91].

So, Jesus approached John, coming to the Jordan from Nazareth in Galilee. John baptized him in the Jordan. When Jesus emerged from the waters of the Jordan, Mark tells us that Jesus “saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him.” It appears that it is Jesus who sees the heavens torn open and the Spirit descending. It’s not a public viewing but a personal one. After the Spirit descends on Jesus, “a voice came from heaven, ‘You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased” (Mk. 1:11). As with the vision of the descent of the Spirit, it appears that only Jesus hears the voice from heaven. Whether anyone else saw or heard these events, Mark wants us to know that with this event Jesus’ messianic ministry has been launched. The voice from heaven will return on the day of Transfiguration (Mk 9:7). So, it begins.

Just a note here about the nature of God as revealed in this passage. While it is noted by many that the New Testament doesn’t give full descriptions of the Triune God, passages like this one at least provide fodder for later theological development. You have in this scene the voice from heaven (Father), the Spirit who descends like a dove, and the one the voice acknowledges as the Son. William Placher observes, following Augustine: “So there is one God, but the Son and the Holy Spirit are different from the Father. To simplify, that leaves two options: either the Son and the Spirit are not really God, or else we need a way to talk about a God who is both one and three” [Belief: Mark, p. 25]. His advice is not to start with definition of terms and then attempt to make Mark fit those definitions. Instead “begin with the story and let the concepts and the relations among them emerge from it” [Belief: Mark, p. 26]. I leave this for the reader to ponder.

Mark’s presentation of Jesus’ baptism is brief and to the point but even in its brevity the passage raises numerous questions that invite our attention even if Mark doesn’t offer answers. We might wonder why Jesus came all the way from Nazareth to be baptized. Did he get in line like everyone else? How did John baptize? Was it full immersion or did he simply take water in his hand and pour it over people? If we can assume that the Jordan River was deeper then than now, I think he was immersed (but I’m biased!). Did Jesus feel the need to repent or did he see himself fulfilling some form of righteousness as Matthew suggested (Mt. 3:15)?

Our reading ends with the voice from heaven embracing Jesus as the Beloved Son. The story continues in verse 12 with Jesus’ departure to the wilderness where he will be tempted by Satan for forty days. I think it’s appropriate to point out that according to Mark, “the Spirit immediately drove Jesus into the wilderness. It doesn’t appear to be a gentle leading by the Spirit. That word “immediately” (in Greek euthys) is a favorite Markan term (he uses it forty-one times, while it is used only ten more times in the rest of the New Testament. We can only imagine what it might be like to go into the wilderness. It would have been a dangerous place, but that’s where the Spirit pushed Jesus (Mk. 1:12-13). Of course, this takes us beyond the focus of the moment, but the two go together—baptism/commissioning and trial in the wilderness [Belief: Mark, pp. 26-27].   

Mark has a brisk way of telling the story of Jesus, such that from the very beginning to the very end of the story, he leaves us with questions. Reading Mark can be unsettling, and yet this version of the Jesus story invites us to ponder who this person is, whom John baptized, and who the voice from heaven embraced as “Beloved Son.”

On this first Sunday after Epiphany, we have the opportunity to reaffirm and renew our own baptisms even as we ponder Jesus’ baptism. Might we embrace the Spirit whom John promised would be offered by the one whose shoes he was unworthy to untie? Might we also receive our commissioning as ministers of the Gospel of God’s realm?

Might we sing with Brian Wren:

1.       What was your vow and vision, revealed and recognized,

Christ, when you came to Jordan and asked to be baptized?

Was there a sudden splendor of prophets, priests and kings,

A wind that stirred the waters, a blur of mighty wings?

 

2.       We meet you at the water and ponder why and how,

In hope that we may follow where God is going now,

Anointed by your Spirit, reborn, and energized,

Through deed and word proclaiming: “In Christ we are baptized!”

                        Brian Wren, “What Was Your Vow and Vision,” (Chalice Hymnal, #177)

 

Image Attribution: Zelenka, Dave. Baptism of Christ, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=56385 [retrieved December 29, 2023]. Original source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Baptism-of-Christ.jpg.