Scripture: Mark 1:1-11
Given it’s “Baptism of our Lord” Sunday, I was really tempted to talk about the process of pickling again, but… I figured that’s one of those sermons you really can’t give twice – people remember it a little too well.
So instead – I’m going to talk about how the “baptism of our Lord” has created a “schizo” world.
Because in our Gospel reading for this morning, that’s the word that is used to describe what happened at Jesus’ baptism. The word that we have translated in English as “torn apart” is actually “schizo” in Greek. To split, to tear, to divide. To “rend” or “rip apart.” Literally, God is tearing apart the heavens, creating a “schism.”
Those who love action and adventure have to really love how Mark’s gospel opens… there’s no sweet nativity with angels and shepherds, no long genealogy giving us the royal background, no story about dreams and magi – but rather, the introduction of God coming into the world happens suddenly and violently within the first eleven verses of Mark’s gospel, where we’re met first with John the baptist calling for repentance followed “immediately” (Mark loves that word – everything in his gospel happens “immediately”) by a scene of a violent rending or tearing open of the heavens as God is let loose in the world.
For the God who created the heavens and the earth in the opening passage from Genesis, is now ripping apart those heavens as Jesus is baptized. From this moment forth – nothing in creation will be the same.
For God entering into the world is creating a “schism” in our world. A world where God can’t be caged. He will not be managed. He can’t be avoided. He has ripped into our world and gets in our face. He’s tearing apart the heavens and sending his Spirit into the world.
And begins his attack on that which tears us apart from him – namely, sin.
Like that Spirit that hovered over the waters of creation, that Spirit is now being let loose to do something new in His creation. And that something new is in part… to bring death.
For God coming close and coming near, God breaking into our world is a terrifying prospect – just ask Adam and Eve. God coming near in the Garden meant death… Because they were sinners and they knew they had transgressed.
Thus, the very sound of his footsteps caused them to tremble and hide, knowing that the presence of God was a scary and frightening thing indeed because he had told them – eating of the tree of knowledge will bring about death. For all sinners – the presence of God means death.
That’s why in the old Temple, there was a curtain that separated the main part of the temple and the “holy of holies” where God would come to earth. It was there to protect humanity from God’s presence – because God loose in the world, God coming near – meant death.
And this Spirit that has now been let loose in our world, that has ripped the heavens open and descended to earth, has come now to bring death as well.
Thanks for the pick-me-up, Pastor Rebecca… right? No, I’m not trying to be a portent of gloom and doom.
I’m simply staying true to what Mark is doing with the story of the Good News. Because Mark’s gospel makes a direct link from Jesus’ baptism to the crucifixion. He book-ends his gospel with these two “tearings” or “rippings.” That same word, “schizo,” is used for both events.
For when Christ dies on the cross, this “schism” or tearing and ripping happens again in the temple, when the curtain that I just talked about – that curtain that separated God from us to protect us from Him – is ripped apart at the time of his death.
That separation between God and humanity has been ripped and torn away when Christ dies. God crossed the boundary at Jesus’ baptism to enter into Christ and drive Him to the cross.
At the cross is when God crosses that boundary more fully into our world. Showing us once again how He can’t be contained or held back.
So in this baptism scene, God’s spirit is ripping its way into our world and is doing so in order to prepare Christ for the cross. Preparing him for trial and tribulation. Preparing him for what is about to unfold. Preparing him… for death.
Because what does the Spirit do with Jesus as soon as it arrives? There’s no lovely moment of peace and serenity where all is well with the world. Instead… if we keep reading, that same Spirit drives him into the wilderness.
“And the spirit immediately sent him out into the wilderness. He was in the wilderness 40 days tempted by Satan…” The Spirit drives him into that place that throughout scripture has been a time of wandering and testing. It leads him into a confrontation with Satan. The confrontation with sin itself.
A place where Satan attempts to get Jesus to compromise. A place where Satan tries to bargain with Jesus. Where he tries to push those boundaries – come on Jesus… just prove who you are by doing this.
Feed yourself. Save yourself. Things most of us would see as minor temptations. Things that we’d probably hardly even view a sin.
But for God there is no compromise. This fight with sin – is a fight to the death. So for Jesus, baptism isn’t about the culmination of his faith – but rather was the beginning of his fight and his battle against the forces of evil in the world. It was the start of what God was going to do through Him in the world. It was where he was equipped to take on his battle against sin.
The start of his journey – toward the cross.
Like I said earlier, this “schism” frames his entire life – his life is bookended by God ripping into the world and launching an attack on sin.
And this attack on sin – it all starts with baptism. Starts with God’s spirit descending and sending. But there is more going on here than just inaugurating the mission.
This baptism also confirms the identity of who and what Christ is – YOU are my beloved. And in that claiming, He gives Jesus the power to take on this kind of mission.
It’s very personal… YOU are my Son. God is claiming his Son for the mission and task to which he has been appointed.
And it is here in this moment where John’s baptism of repentance is transformed into something else – not a baptism anymore of repentance, not a baptism that prepares for God coming into the world.
Rather, it’s a baptism that ushers in the reality of God breaking into the world and tearing through the heavens. It is, for lack of a better term, a baptism of death….a baptism that ushers in God’s battle and judgment on sin.
A baptism of fire that burns up the old garbage of sin – that nasty thing that has such a grip on our life and our world. A baptism that brings with it death to sin – and promise of new life.
This is the gift we are given in baptism as well—for when we are baptized, we are united with Christ into HIS baptism. His death – and resurrection, his war on sin. When we are baptized – we are given that same word and promise – you are my beloved.
You have been claimed by God. In baptism, He delivers that promise that He will burn out of you, wash away, and put to death in you the sin that separates you from God.
Baptism is the beginning of that naming and claiming – but also the beginning of the struggle we all face and the schisms we all have in our life – that feeling of being torn between the desire to do the will of God, and the desire to sin.
That feeling of being tossed into the wilderness to battle the forces that want us to compromise our faith, compromise with the powers that make it seem like compromising our faith in certain circumstances is all right.
That’s the “schizo” world we live in. That world that has been ripped open by a God who is claiming there is no compromise with sin. It has to be dealt with. It has to be put to death.
Recognizing this “schism” in our life and world is part of the gift of baptism. Of knowing not only what God HAS done for us – but is continuing to do for us on a daily basis.
Because that’s baptism’s double duty. Death – and life. Our lives, like Christ’s are bookended by the work of baptism. The start of a life of FAITH that equips us to handle and face the wildernesses of our world, the temptations of our world, and ends with sin being put to death so we can be raised to new life through faith in Christ.
Paul in his letter to the Romans tried to explain it as best he could to his audience… “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.”
In baptism, death and life go hand in hand. We must die – before we can be raised to new life. Baptism joins us with Christ – which means we are joined with him in both his death and resurrection.
In baptism –we are given that promise. Not just the promise of death – which we know comes to us all, but the promise of new life as well.
The promise that the old self – that old Adam and Eve who hide from God because of our transgressions against God—is being put to death, so that we can be raised to a new life that doesn’t seek to hide from God anymore.
The new self – the self of faith – that doesn’t seek to hide from the God that has ripped his way into our world. That doesn’t fear God and his nearness, because we’ve been given the promise of the forgiveness of sins on account of Christ’s once-and-for-all death on the cross.
Baptism is what helps us in our faith, and strengthens us as we live out our lives in this “schizo”, or torn apart world – where we are constantly having our loyalties torn, being tempted, constantly finding ourselves caught in the middle of the fight between saint and a sinner.
Baptism cannot be reduced to anything less than the deliverance of this promise that we carry with us throughout our lives. Deliverance of the promise that God has cleansed you through the blood of Christ. That God has forgiven you on account of his Son who died for you. We can’t reduce it to a mere initiation into a social group, nor reduce it to just another act of obedience.
Because its power and its promise lies in what God is doing. He is starting something. Thus baptism is a gift from God that constitutes a starting point of what God is going to do in your life – not a middle or an ending point – but the beginning.
As Mark’s Gospel begins – “The Beginning of the Good News of Jesus Christ.” The beginning – is baptism.
No comments:
Post a Comment