Remembering our Baptism

Genesis 1:1-5

Mark 1:4-11

            We’ve all heard the saying, “You are only as good as the company you keep.”  It begins with our parents trying to protect us from being influenced by the bad behavior of other children.  Then as we get older we learn to avoid the naughty children in order to steer clear of the dreaded “guilt by association.” However our sense of cautionary associations becomes warped as we get into junior high.  In the midst of the unpredictable growth spurts, uncomfortable voice changes and newfound acne we are at the zenith of our insecurity.  Some of us join cliques so that we can hold on to our friends like life preservers as we traverse the treacherous waters of adolescents.  While others of us decide to become our own island, becoming a loner so that our social destiny is determined only by our own Holy Trinity, me, myself and I.  Either way, we become obsessed with who is in and who is out.  Popularity is not won by being friendly and kind, rather it is earned by who you are seen with.  The goal becomes being seen with the right people and shunning those who are less than perfect.  What is interesting is you become who you are seen with.  Hang out the wealthy kids and you are perceived as well off, even if you are from a family of humble means.  Hang out with the cheerleaders, you are perceived as the big guy/big gal on campus.  Hang out with the kids in the parking lot who smoking cigarettes, you are perceived as a burn out, even if you’ve never smoked, drank or did drugs. hang out with the kids who are in the math and science club, you are a nerd and so on and so on. 

Unfortunately we do not totally outgrow this behavior. Part of the human condition is the need to feel secure and in the quest for security it is natural for us to want to align ourselves with individuals and groups that will give us the most benefits, be it socially, vocationally or even financially.  In a competitive culture such as ours, it is not what you know but who you know, or really who you are seen with that gets you ahead.  However that’s not how Jesus saw it.

            This morning we hear the beginning of Jesus’ life as remembered by the evangelist Mark.  The Gospel of Mark has no account of Jesus’ birth or early childhood.  Instead he begins with the story of Jesus’ baptism by John the Baptist.  The gospel states that John the Baptist was an unusual person, dressed in camels hair, eating locusts and honey and running around warning all who would hear him, ““The kingdom is near! The Messiah is coming!  Prepare the Way!”  Basically John the Baptist was the Ancient Near East’s version of the bumper sticker, “The Messiah is coming…look busy!” 

Now, an important part John’s ministry was baptizing people in the waters of the river Jordan for the forgiveness of their sins.  Through the baptism of repentance that John gave, the sinner is ritually washing away their sins so that they may be inspired to let go of their worldly desires and to turn towards God’s desire for the world.  To repent, which literally means to turn, is really all about re-orientation so that the baptized becomes open to and obedient of God’s will.  John never claimed to be a big shot, no quite the opposite, he told his brethren that one more powerful than him was coming that would baptize them with the Spirit rather than just water.

            So imagine if you will John chest deep in the water, dunking sinners one by one in the river when suddenly he finds that the next man in line is none other than Jesus.  This is the Messiah, the son of God standing in front of him waiting to be dunked in the muddy waters of the Jordan.  This was downright scandalous! 

In her sermon on the Baptism of Jesus, Barbara Brown Taylor tells us that the Christian church has always had a certain discomfort with the baptism of Jesus.  She says, “Compare the accounts of each of the four gospels and you cannot miss the un-ease of the authors.”[i]  “Matthew elaborates on Mark’s story by adding that John tried to talk Jesus out of being baptized, and Luke will not even come out and say it was John who did it.  The fourth gospel [the gospel of John] is the most ticklish of all.  In it, John bears witness that he saw the Spirit descend like a dove upon Jesus, but he does not mention anything about the baptism at all.  Scholars say all this embarrassment is our surest proof that Jesus really was baptized by John, because when someone tells you something that is not in his best interest for you to know, then you can be reasonably sure he was telling you the truth.”[ii]

When Jesus took his place in line, he didn’t care about being associated with the sinners.  If Jesus was concerned about reputation he would not have allowed himself to be baptized by some eccentric guy in the muck of the river Jordan.  Instead we’d see Jesus standing on the shore and encouraging those sinful people as they went into the water or we’d see him holding out his hand and helping these mere mortals as they came out of the river or even offer to take over the baptizing so that John could take a break.[iii]  But no, Jesus did something more radical than that, the son of God who is without sin take his place in the long line of sinners to share in their baptism.  As the one sent by God to share God’s love with all of creation, Jesus began his public ministry by showing humanity that he is one of us by getting in the “river with us, in the flesh with us, in the sorrow of repentance and joy of new life with us.”[iv]  It is then that he hears the voice of God say, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.” (Mark 1:10-11) 

In this morning’s Hebrew Scriptures we hear the beginning of the creation story.   As God’s spirit swept over the waters God created the heavens and the earth with just his voice. The voice of God said, “Let there be light.” And there was light.  God said “Let the waters under the sky be gathered into one place, and let dry land appear.” And there was the land and the seas.  God called the earth to bring forth living things of every kind and it was so. Then God created humankind, in God’s image, male and female both.  And with each step of creation God saw all that had been done and declared that it was good.  God didn’t say that the trees were better than the plants, or that the sea animals were better than the land animals or that some humans were better than other humans, as the scripture states in Genesis 1:27 “So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them [and] God blessed them.”

Some note that when we read the story of Jesus’ baptism in combination with the creation story we find that Jesus’ baptism is less about sin and more about solidarity.  “When Jesus steps down into the waters of the Jordan, with the Spirit now descending from above, he steps down into the chaos of [humanity] and trusts the power of God to make order out of chaos, even through him.”[v]

Today we remember our baptisms.  As we look at the baptismal font we recall the long line of people who have been baptized before us and the long line that follows us.  Through the waters of baptism we become part of the church, which is full of sinners and saints and everyone in-between, and we love them all.  In baptism, God works in us the power of forgiveness, the renewal of the spirit and the knowledge of the call to be God’s people always.  In every Christian Church we share this sacrament of baptism within a worship service in order to welcome the newly baptized into our community of faith and to vow to always remind them that indeed they are a child of God. 

            Jesus got chest deep into the chaotic and muddy waters of the Jordan to be in solidarity with us in our humanness.  When he emerged from these waters, he began his active ministry soaked to the bone with these words of God’s love.  “This is my son, the beloved, in whom I am well pleased” Let these words soak into your very being just as they did Jesus, as a proclamation that we are all God’s beloved children. 

May it be so.  Amen!

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[i] Barbara Brown Taylor. Home by Another Way. (Cambridge, Mass: Cowley Publications, 1999.), 34.

[ii] Taylor Home by Another Way, 34

[iii] Taylor Home by another way, 34-35.

[iv] Taylor Home by another way, 35

[v] FOW Genesis exegetical perspective 223