Isaiah 42: 1 – 9; Psalm 89: 1 – 29; Acts 10: 34 – 38; Mark 1: 7 - 11
A sermon by The Rev. Gene Tucker, given at St. Stephen’s Church, Harrisburg, IL; January 8th, 2006
“And just as Jesus was coming up out of the water, He saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on Him….”
This morning, we celebrate Jesus’ baptism by John the Baptist in the River Jordan. As the recall this event, which marks the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry, let’s look at Mark’s account, keeping in mind the Epiphany theme of the light of Christ breaking in to the world.
Before we look more closely at the text, we should remind ourselves of a couple of key features of Mark’s writing, since we will be spending a good bit of time in Mark’s account of the Gospel in this liturgical year….
- Mark is brief: notice that Mark gives only the barest of details of Jesus’ baptism….There’s no conversation between Jesus and John about John’s unworthiness to baptize Jesus, as Matthew records,[1] though Mark does record John’s remark that he is “unworthy to stoop down and untie Jesus’ sandals”. Mark does record the fact that John was offering a “baptism of repentance for sins”.[2]
- Mark’s Gospel account is full of action: notice the verb “torn apart” (and compare it to Matthew’s choice of words “at that moment, heavens was opened”,[3] for example)….we will come back to the words “torn apart”…..Notice also that Mark is full of urgency: he says “and just as He was coming up out of the water”. Mark uses the word “immediately”, or “just then” quite frequently. In the verses which follow today’s reading, in verse, 12, Mark tells us that the Spirit “immediately drove” (another action verb) Jesus out into the wilderness to undergo forty days of temptation and testing.
Today’s reading is linked in Mark to three other episodes in Jesus’ life. The links are framed by the references to Jesus being the “God’s Son”, and the use of the words “torn apart”. Let’s look at these two links, and then try to draw some conclusions from them for our interaction with God, as we come face-to-face with Jesus Christ.
We begin by looking at Mark’s use of the verb “torn apart”….(By the way, the Greek verb is the same word from which we derive the English word “schism”.) Mark uses this verb only twice, here in describing the heavens being “torn apart”, as if the veil which separates God from human beings has been removed, and again when Jesus dies, and the veil in the Temple which separated the Holy of Holies, God’s presence, from the ordinary areas where people gathered.[4]
Next, we should look at the three references to Jesus as being the Son of God (or of the Father):
- “And a voice came from heaven ‘you are my Son, the Beloved, with you I am well pleased’” we read in today’s Gospel.[5]
- Next, at the Transfiguration on the mountain, Peter, James and John heard a voice coming from the cloud which had surrounded them, saying “this is my Son, the Beloved, listen to Him”.[6] Notice the similarity in the words. (We observe the Transfiguration event two times during our Church Year: on the last Sunday in Epiphany, and again on the Feast of the Transfiguration, celebrated on August 6th.)
- Mark’s last reference to Jesus as Son of God (or of the Father) is found in chapter 15, verse 39, when the Centurion in charge of Jesus’ crucifixion exclaims after Jesus had died that “truly, this man was God’s Son”.
Mark’s use of the verb “torn apart” is deliberate, it seems to me….Far from trying to inject some action into his account to liven up the text for his readers, Mark is describing God’s action in Jesus Christ: For in Christ, the barriers that separate God from us are removed. In Christ, we see God most clearly. In Christ’s death, we are able to stand in God’s presence, covered by Jesus’ atoning death on the cross in our place. That’s the symbolism of the tearing of the veil.
Naturally, the question then arises: “why then, did Jesus agree to be baptized by John, when John’s baptism was a repentance for sins?” After all, Scripture makes clear that Jesus was without sin….we read in II Corinthians 5: 21 that God “made Him (Jesus) to be sin, who knew no sin”. Hebrews 4: 15 also reiterates this point, saying “for we do not have a High Priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who in every respect has been tested as we are, yet without sin.” This verse from Hebrews offers the clue…Jesus came to take on our humanness in all of its fullness….Far from being a conquering Messiah, riding in on a white horse with all of the trappings of a warrior king, Jesus came in a humble birth, being willing to submit himself in every way to the will of the Father in order to remove the barriers that separate us from God.
Jesus assumed the nature He came to save….without doing so, our sins could not be washed away. By undergoing His temptation in the wilderness, Jesus passed the first test of His humanity, claiming victory over the powers of evil. In His death, Jesus passed the final test of his humanity, by His rising from the dead on Easter Sunday morning….Just as the fullness of God in three persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, was present in Jesus’ baptism, as the voice of the Father, coming as the Spirit descended on the Son, so too were the forces of evil unable to break apart the Holy Trinity of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. They tried on Good Friday and failed on Easter morning. God breaks through, into our human condition, tearing apart the barriers that separate us from God!
In the two great Sacraments given to us by Our Lord, we are provided the means of coming face-to-face with God….In Holy Baptism, the barrier of Original Sin that separates us from God is removed, as God acknowledges those who come to Him in faith as sons and daughters of God. In Holy Communion, we are able to confess those sins committed following our baptisms, and then to approach the Holy Table, there to remember Jesus’ death and resurrection – how often do we think of Holy Communion as a great Godly drama? – the tearing of the veil that allows us to commune directly with God, as we say “this is my body, this is my blood”.
Our understanding of this face-to-face encounter grows, little by little, just as the understanding of Jesus as Son of God grew, little by little….In Mark’s Gospel account, only Jesus heard the voice that said “you are my Son, the Beloved” that day as He came up out of the waters. But then, a little while later, on the Mount of Transfiguration, three key disciples, Peter, James and John, heard the voice that said “this is my Son, the Beloved”. And then, following His death, even the Gentile Centurion exclaimed, “truly, this man was God’s Son”.
May God’s Holy Spirit enable us to see, little by little, Jesus as He is the revelation of the fullness of God, that we nay come face-to-face with Our Lord, and be transformed into His likeness as a result.
AMEN.
[1] Matthew 3: 14 - 15
[2] Mark 1: 4 - 5
[3] Matthew 3: 16
[4] Mark 15: 38
[5] Verse 11
[6] Mark 9: 7
