Preaching Paths 7 January 2024 (Baptism of Our Lord)

Sally A. Brown, Professor Emerita, Princeton Theological Seminary

Today’s gospel reading, Mark 1:4-11, includes verses (vv 4-8) already familiar to us from 10 December (Advent 2B). Now, these verses are connected with the brief, striking account of Jesus’ baptism (vv 9–11), clearly shifting our gaze from John to Jesus.  Jewish readers of Mark would recognize in John’s Elijah-like wilderness location, hairy robe, and odd diet hints that John is, in fact, the anticipated, eschatological “Elijah” expected to reveal Israel’s Messiah. It is time to shift our gaze past John to the horizon. There, the “one more powerful” of whom John speaks does appear, hailing from unlikely Nazareth, of all places. Jesus comes to John at the river, and like the rest, is baptized.

Theologians have wrestled for centuries with the fact that Jesus undergoes a baptism of repentance. Only Matthew’s account hints that this is odd (Mt 3:13-17). Mark betrays no misgivings. Perhaps this is not the day, then, to problematize Jesus’ baptism in the sermon, as that would mean veering away from Mark’s text and Mark’s insights. For Mark, Jesus’ baptism is a simple historical fact and, at the same time, emblematic of Jesus’ unfolding mission. In baptism, Jesus does not hesitate to let the weight of human sin and bondage bear upon him. God responds with validation and empowerment.

As Jesus emerges from the river Jordan, three events take place: the heavens are “torn open” (not gently parted); God announces Jesus’ true identity, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased;” and the Spirit descends upon Jesus. In the late 20^th century, a consensus developed in Markan scholarship that these three events inaugurating Jesus’ mission at his baptism are echoed by parallel events when his mission concludes at his death.* As Jesus dies, the immense curtain covering the main entrance to the Temple—according to the historian Josephus, a huge, magnificent tapestry portraying the heavens—is torn from top to bottom. Jesus exhales breath/Spirit with a “loud cry.” Then the centurion facing him declares, “Truly, this man was God’s son!” (Mk 15:37-39)  Strikingly, Jesus himself will refer to his passion—his final battle with sin and unholy powers—as “baptism” (Mk 10:37-42). For Mark, Jesus’ baptism foreshadows his mission as a whole: to bear the weight of sin and evil to which humanity is captive, and in the Spirit’s power, to expose and defy these unholy powers.

Preaching Jesus’ baptism-according-to-Mark cannot be less than a proclamation of God on the move. This is a day to envision heaven ripped open and God down in the dust and mire with us, for us, and through us. We might choose to spread out Mark’s broad canvas and note the parallel events marking Jesus’ baptism and death. These brackets can help both us and our listeners to stay alert, as we read Mark’s gospel, to the core commitment of Jesus’ mission to challenge abusive forms of power. Another preaching approach would be to draw on Jesus’ baptism in coming to understand the implications of our own. In baptism, we (or our sponsors) relinquish to the waters all that we are, God’s love our only credential. God speaks through the church, declaring that we are indeed children of God. The Holy Spirit claims us, and then, because God so inexhaustibly loves this world, the Spirit sends us to confront the chaos of humanity’s fear-driven greed and hatred of the other with truth-telling speech, undaunted prayer, and healing action.  God’s hands-on emancipation of humanity from abusive power, and abuses of power, continues in us and through us.  The power of greed, deceit, and hate to distort and impoverish human lives will not have the last word.