1st Epiphany

May my words and my thoughts be acceptable to you, O Lord, my refuge and my redeemer. (Psalm 19:14)

SEASON: 1st Epiphany
PROPER: B
PLACE: St. John’s Episcopal Church, Kingsville
DATE: January 12, 2003


TEXT: Mark 1:7-11 – The Baptism of Jesus – Mark’s Christmas Story

See also Isaiah 42:1-9 – “I have called you in righteousness, I have taken you by the hand and kept you; I have given you as a covenant to the people, a light to the nations, to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness. I am the Lord, that is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to idols.”

ISSUE: For Mark, the baptism of Jesus is his birth as the Good News and Savior of the world. The heavens are ripped open and the Father declares “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well please.” The event marks the beginning of Jesus’ ministry of servanthood. In our baptism, we are also born again, and are incorporated into servanthood with Christ. It is the call to justice, and bring light and sight to the world, and setting free those who sit in despair and hopelessness.
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In the past weeks of our celebration of the Incarnation of Jesus Christ as our Lord in the world, I have talked with you about the meaning of the several accounts of the birth of Jesus Christ, and what each of the evangelists had in mind as they addressed their various communities. The beloved story of Luke, addressing a largely Gentile community, tells of the angels and the shepherds and the birth of Jesus in the little town of Bethlehem. To the poor and expendable, the Christ comes, announced by angels in the absence of others to proclaim his glory and honor.
The Gospel of Matthew, addressed a largely Jewish Community and tells of the star, the Magi bearing gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. Matthew tells of the birth of Jesus, associating it with and giving it the flavor of the Hebrew Scriptures: Joseph being a great protector. Joseph, Mary, and the child take flight to Egypt and return to Nazareth, reminiscent of Moses in Egypt and delivering his people. An evil King who would destroy all little boy children pursues Jesus, like Moses in his infancy pursued by the Pharaoh. This emphasis is the darker side of the Christmas Story, indicating just how some from the very beginning rejected Jesus.
The Gospel of John is the theological hymn and statement to both the Jewish and Gentile world, that Jesus is the very Word of God, the logic and rationale, the very expression of what God has to speak or say to the world. Each of the accounts are rich in symbol and meaning and offer the anxious world, hope and justice in the acceptance of the ways and teachings of the Lord.
The Gospel of Mark also has a Christmas or birth story of Jesus. It was read to you this morning from the very first chapter of Mark beginning at the 7th verse. The Gospel of Mark, the oldest and simplest of the Gospel accounts says that the birth of Jesus Christ comes essential at his baptism. The baptism of Jesus is a birth story. It is very reminiscent of the Genesis creation story. John the Baptist for Mark is the voice crying in the wilderness. The wilderness was at the time a symbol of chaos and evil spirits. John reveals a chaotic world, which is in need of renewal and redemption. Just as in Genesis the spirit of God is hovering over the chaos Jesus is baptized by John. He is scooped up out of the chaos and God’s spirit comes down upon him. He is born out of the wilderness and water of chaos. The new man, the new Adam has come. The Spirit of God like a dove comes down upon him, and God declares from the heavens: “You are my Son, the Beloved; who you I am well pleased.” Remember at the Genesis creation God declares and saw that it was good. Here God is well pleased. The ministry of the new Adam, of Jesus the Christ, begins and he is claimed to be God’s.
Notice in this story, the unique cultural influence. By the time Jesus come to John the Baptist, he has long since left his family behind. A person without a family in this time was really a lost soul. A person depended upon their family for everything. Jesus is a wanderer, without honor. Like the story of the Prodigal Son, the prodigal fails to survive with returning to his father and the family. Jesus a wanderer comes to John the Baptist and is baptized by him, and born again. God the Father claims him: “This is my Son.” He is the child of God’s creation, claimed by God, given great honor, and declared as good, the one with whom God is well pleased. This is Jesus Christ’s birthing into the world as the Son of the Father.
How does the world come to an appreciation of the fact that Jesus is the Son of God? The Isaiah 42:1-9 Lesson is appropriately coupled with the Gospel reading. Isaiah had a vision and hope for his conquered and depressed people. Isaiah trusts that the nation of Israel will be redeemed and s Servant of God, of some kind would bring about her deliverance, and the nation would be come a new nation and bring new light to the nations of the world. Isaiah describes a Servant of God who will be a figure of peace. He will not be noisy and obnoxious. He will not break a bruised reed, or blow out a dimly burning wick. He will be determined no matter what to work for justice in the world. This description gives an image or vision of the Messianic hope.
When we look back in retrospect, as Mark did as well as Matthew and Luke, you see Jesus as the great leader of peace. He raises no army and starts no war, but is still a champion of the people who were expendable and oppressed. Jesus peacefully becomes the champion of the poor in a determined and faithful commitment to justice, even if he must die on the cross. He brings new hope and healing to the oppressed, sick, and dying, and an assurance that in his company, the world begins to build and enter into the Kingdom of God’s peace, forgiveness, and love. The blind sighted are seeing that there is hope, that God has come to touch them in the world, and that they are not condemned to perpetual darkness, hopelessness and despair. The poor and the oppressed who have been trapped, degraded, ignored by the powers of the time, are set free to a new realization that God in Christ seeks liberation and freedom for those who sit in the darkness of hate, prejudice, and slavery to evil systems and governments.
For Isaiah’s Jewish community, it was hoped that the nation would, under the leadership of the Messianic Servant, become a light to all the nations of the world. For the Christian Community, Jesus Christ is that Messianic Servant and hope, and all who are baptized into Jesus Christ and born with him are also to become lights to the peoples and nations of the world, opening the eyes of the blind and of those sitting in dungeons of darkness and despair to recognize that through Christ and their participation in the Servant ministry of Christ, the Christian Church, its people of Christ become new enlightenment and hope, a new creation for the world.
In the Gospel of Mark, the Christmas story says simply that there is a new Adam, Jesus Christ, and he is a child or Son of God. In him you see the new humanity with the indwelling Spirit of God, claimed by God. He is the peacemaker without force and manipulation, but essentially bearing witness in love and faithfulness (loyalty). He wants justice for all people and all nations, regardless of race, creed.
Notice what the covenant is that we make to join with Jesus Christ in our own baptismal covenant. We pledge loyalty to God the Father, the Son who came into the world, and to the acceptance of the Spirit of God. We promise a continuing fellowship with Christ through the teachings and the worship of the church. We promise to persevere in resisting anything that separates us from God and his love. We make a commitment to proclaiming through our words and deeds the Good News of God in Christ. Being careful about our words is so important. Think of Trent Lott and how his words got him into trouble. We seek to serve Christ in all persons, loving our neighbors, not always easy, and striving, working, becoming involved in bringing justice to all people. We respect the dignity of every human being.
You see how Mark, the oldest Gospel account makes it clear that Christmas is not just about angels and shepherds, stars and wise men, but about the coming of the Christ into the world as God’s servant of justice. If members and the church is to live into its covenant relationship with Christ the servant, we have to see ourselves as a servant church, and not merely a comfortable community relishing our own personal salvation that we are freely awarded by the grace of God.
Sometimes there is injustice that people are not even aware of. The poor souls at Enron saw only the glitz and glitter of an affluence that was blinding. Greed and injustice brought it crushing down to the great loss of many blinded innocent people. The folks riding on the maiden voyage of the Titanic were blinded by its grandeur, and could not see how vulnerable they really were in the demand for prestige in cruel winter ocean that spelled disaster.
When we look around at the world as it is, where some people just do not have the wherewithal to get reasonable medical care, when others have more than enough, and when we see some schools having all the best, and others suffering from educational and maintenance needs, we know that these kinds of situations need help and readjustment. It’s easy to say that the world is too complicated, or there are situations in which we are helpless to assist. Yet remember the image of the peaceful servant who simply carries on in the face of what seemed so overwhelming, like the Roman Empire. And yet is was the persistent servant Christ who has long outlived the Roman Empire, and who in the face of overwhelming odds calls his people to be the light, the sight, and hope for the world.