Sunday, January 11, 2009

Baptism of the Lord, cycle B

MARK 1:4-11
DO YOU REMEMBER A TIME WHEN THINGS CHANGED FOREVER FOR YOU? THE DEATH OF SOMEONE DEAR TO YOU, PERHAPS? GETTING YOUR DEGREE, GETTING MARRIED, HAVING YOUR FIRST CHILD? MOST OF US CAN POINT TO THINGS THAT CHANGED OUR LIVES FOREVER, AND MOST OF US CAN THINK OF MORE THAN ONE THING, MORE THAN ONE TIME. AMONG THE THINGS THAT CHANGED FOREVER FOR ME, I WOULD RANK HIGH ON THE LIST THE SUMMER AFTER I HAD SPENT MY FIRST YEAR IN COLLEGE. I CAME HOME TO MONTANA, AND IMMEDIATELY CONTACTED MY OLD HIGH SCHOOL FRIENDS. ONE HAD BECOME ENGAGED; SEVERAL WERE NOT GOING TO BE HOME THAT SUMMER, BECAUSE THEY HELD JOBS SOMEWHERE ELSE. ONE FRIEND HAD IN THE COURSE OF A YEAR, BECOME AN ALCOHOLIC. ANOTHER HAD DIED IN A CAR ACCIDENT. THE WORLD HAD CHANGED, AND THERE WAS NO GOING BACK.
IF YOU'VE BEEN LISTENING, YOU HAVE HEARD THE GOSPEL WHEN THE ANGEL TOLD JOSEPH TO TAKE MARY AS HIS WIFE AND NAME HER CHILD JESUS. YOU'VE HEARD ABOUT THE STABLE WHERE JESUS WAS BORN, ABOUT THE SHEPHERDS, ABOUT THE THREE KINGS. YOU MAY HAVE LISTENED TO THE PROCLAMATION OF JOHN, “IN THE BEGINNING WAS THE WORD, AND THE WORD WAS WITH GOD, AND THE WORD WAS GOD”. MATTHEW, LUKE, AND JOHN ALL HAVE SOMETHING TO SAY ABOUT WHAT WENT ON BEFORE JESUS' PUBLIC LIFE. BUT MARK STARTS OUT WITH A BANG; A FEW WORDS ABOUT JOHN THE BAPTIST, AND THEN JESUS BEING BAPTIZED. NO KINGS, NO SHEPHERDS, NO REFLECTIONS ON THE BEGINNING OF CREATION; JUST WHAT YOU HEARD. THIS IS THE BEGINNING OF THE STORY OF JESUS AS FAR AS MARK IS CONCERNED. ALL THAT OTHER STUFF IS NOT IMPORTANT TO MARK.
IF WE READ ABOUT THE BAPTISM OF JESUS IN THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW AND OF LUKE, IT SAYS THAT THE HEAVENS WERE OPENED. THE WORD USED IN GREEK IS THE WORD YOU WOULD USE FOR OPENING A DOOR. WHEN YOU OPEN A DOOR, YOU CAN CLOSE IT AGAIN. THE WORD MARK USES IS A WORD MEANING “TORN APART”. WHEN JESUS WAS BAPTIZED, THE HEAVENS WERE TORN APART; AND WHEN SOMETHING IS TORN APART, IT CAN'T BE PUT TOGETHER AGAIN. ISAIAH USED THE SAME WORD WHEN HE PRAYED, “O LORD, THAT YOU WOULD TEAR THE HEAVENS OPEN AND MAKE KNOWN YOUR NAME TO YOUR ENEMIES”.
AND JESUS LOOKED UP, AND HEARD THE VOICE OF HIS FATHER, AND SAW THE HOLY SPIRIT DESCENDING IN THE SHAPE OF A DOVE. AND ONLY JESUS HEARD AND SAW. HE HEARD THAT HE WAS LOVED, HE WAS ACCEPTED, HE WAS THE SON OF GOD; AND HE SAW THAT HE HAD THE HOLY SPIRIT, THE POWER OF GOD. BUT HE SAW THAT THE HEAVENS WERE TORN APART, NEVER TO BE CLOSED UP AGAIN.
AND FROM THEN ON, JESUS BEGAN TEARING THINGS APART. HE TORE APART WHAT SEPARATED THE RICH FROM THE POOR, THE OUTCASTS FROM THE CHOSEN PEOPLE. HE TORE APART THE RITUALS THAT NO LONGER HELD MEANING; HE TORE APART THE CHAINS THAT BOUND SOMEONE IN LEPROSY, OR IN THE POWER OF A DEMON, OR IN BLINDNESS OR DEAFNESS. AND HE TORE APART MANY OTHER THINGS AS WELL, BECAUSE, YOU SEE, THE HEAVENS HAD BEEN TORN APART AND WOULD NEVER BE CLOSED UP AGAIN; HEAVEN HAD BROKEN THROUGH INTO OUR WORLD.
AND A DAY CAME WHEN JESUS HUNG ON A CROSS, AND THE TEMPLE VEIL, WHICH SEPARATED THE PEOPLE FROM THE HOLY OF HOLIES, WAS TORN APART. AND GOD WOULD NEVER AGAIN BE APART FROM HIS PEOPLE. BECAUSE WHAT IS TORN APART CANNOT BE PUT TOGETHER AGAIN. WHEN JESUS CAME INTO THE WORLD, GOD DWELLS WITH US, AND ALWAYS WILL.
AND A ROMAN SOLDIER, A PAGAN, INSPIRED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT, PROCLAIMED TO HIS FELLOW SOLDIERS, THAT JESUS WAS TRULY THE SON OF GOD.
WHEN JESUS WENT DOWN TO THE JORDAN TO BE BAPTIZED, HE JOINED HIMSELF TO PEOPLE WHO WANTED TO CHANGE THEIR LIVES, WHO WANTED TO “REPENT”. JOHN BAPTIZED IN THE JORDAN RIVER BECAUSE IT WAS THROUGH THIS RIVER THAT THE WANDERING FOLLOWERS OF MOSES PASSED, AND WHEN THEY CROSSED THE RIVER, THEY BECAME A NATION, A PEOPLE SET APART. AND THOSE WHO WISHED TO JOIN THEMSELVES TO THAT LONG LINE OF PEOPLE WHO WERE FRIENDS OF GOD, WHO FOLLOWED GOD'S WILL, WENT THROUGH THE BAPTISM AS A SYMBOL OF THEIR SINCERITY AND COMMITMENT. BUT JESUS, WHO ALLOWED HIMSELF TO BE BAPTIZED IN THAT SAME BAPTISM, MADE IT MORE THAN A SYMBOL; THE SAME ACT THAT TORE APART THE HEAVENS FOR JESUS, NOW WOULD DO THE SAME FOR EVERY BAPTIZED PERSON. AND AFTER BAPTISM, THINGS WOULD NEVER BE THE SAME, THINGS COULD NEVER TURN BACK TO THE WAY THEY WERE BEFORE BAPTISM.
AND YOU AND I ARE BAPTIZED. THE HEAVENS HAVE BEEN TORN APART FOR US, THE SPIRIT HAS DESCENDED FROM HEAVEN INTO US, AND WE HAVE BECOME TEMPLES OF THE HOLY SPIRIT, WE HAVE BEEN GIVEN POWER BEYOND MEASURE. AS BAPTIZED PEOPLE, THE FATHER LOOKS UPON US AS HE LOOKS UPON JESUS, AND CALLS US BELOVED, BELOVED SON, BELOVED DAUGHTER. AND THE LOVE THAT THE FATHER HAS FOR US, HIS ADOPTED CHILDREN, CAN NEVER BE TAKEN AWAY. HE WILL LOVE US WHATEVER WE DO, WHATEVER WE BECOME; HE WILL LOVE US EVEN IF WE CHOOSE TO HAVE NOTHING MORE TO DO WITH HIM, EVEN IF WE DECIDE TO SPEND ETERNITY AWAY FROM HIM, IN DARKNESS. BUT IF WE SPEND OUR LIVES TEARING THINGS APART, IF WE TEAR APART THE BARRIERS BETWEEN THE RICH AND THE POOR, THE BLACK AND THE WHITE, THE HISPANIC AND THE ANGLO; IF WE TEAR APART THE AWFUL CHAINS OF POVERTY BY OUR GENEROSITY, THE PAIN OF LONELINESS BY OUR PRESENCE, THE CURSE OF IGNORANCE BY OUR TEACHING, THEN THE FATHER WILL SAY TO US, YOU ARE MY BELOVED, IN YOU I AM WELL PLEASED.