Whom do you serve? Or, Whose Authority do you trust?

      This was one of those weeks where I knew where God wanted me to be focused and I was fighting Him every bit of the way.  You might ask why?  If you knew where God wanted us to focus today, Brian, why would you ever argue with Him?  Of course, if you are asking that question aloud, you are clearly new to the parish or visiting.  Adventers who have been attending for more than a few months understand that I, but I am certain many clergy, spend significant time wrestling with God.  I like to think it’s conscientious or good clergy that wrestle with Him the most, but of course I would think that, right?  It’s ok to laugh.  There’s more than a kernel of truth in that statement.

     My real wrestling with God was over the follow up work, the pastoral care we would say, as people hear my words and start their own wrestling with God over the question raised by Mark today.  The illustrations that I assume God gave me rather quickly are low hanging fruit, but I recognize such low hanging fruit will challenge some of us to be reflective in ways that we do not like to reflect upon ourselves.  We are often loathe to look at ourselves through the lens provided by Scripture.  Occasionally, we might reflect in Lent because we HAVE to, but in Epiphany?  All that is to say please pay attention to what I say and what you hear.  If I say it, please, come on in and let’s hash it out together.  If I don’t say it and you hear it, realize your real fight is with God and not me.  You are still welcome to come in and argue about it with me, but, if I do my job well today, the Holy Spirit is the one dishing out the spiritual wedgies this week!

     We pick up Mark’s Gospel this week all the way in verse 21 of the first chapter.  We have spent 1 week of Epiphany in John, but the rest of the season has been spent in Mark.  Mark has skipped the birth of Jesus and picked up with Jesus’ Baptism by John the Baptizer.  We understand that Jesus is the Messiah because Mark has already written it for us.  Those around Him, though, do not yet know what to make of Jesus.  Jesus has faced His Temptations in the Wilderness and, upon the imprisonment of John the Baptizer, has begun His earthly ministry.  He has started calling fishermen with the promise that He will make them fishers of people.  Crazily, they have answered His call.  All this happens in just 20 verses.

     Jesus and those who have accepted His call to follow Him now go to Capernaum.  Mark tells us that on the Sabbath, Jesus entered the synagogue and taught.  Mark tells us those in the synagogue were astounded because He taught as one having authority.  We as a society have just come off a scandal of sorts regarding plagiarism.  Those of us outside academia probably were not too invested in the charges leveled against the former President of Harvard and the wife of the hedge fund manager because we are not academics.  Original thoughts are the big value that scholars contribute to the wealth of knowledge in any given field.  There is an expected credit given to those whose thoughts subsequent scholars quote or paraphrase.  Rabbis and other teachers in Israel were famous for building upon the work that came before them.  Plagiarism was almost impossible because they fastidiously reminded people that this rabbi said this and that rabbi said that and another rabbi said this and they were adding to that understanding.  A rabbi generally hoped to be included of the line of rabbis or scholars who taught something because his insight was revered or foundational. 

     Jesus does nothing of the sort.  He claims to know what God said, why He said it, and what it means for the life of those who follow God.  As you all know from other Gospel stories, Jesus was critical of the priests, Pharisees, Sadducees, rabbis, scribes, and anyone else who knew God’s instructions and calls and did not live accordingly.  He called those men hypocrites, white-washed tombs, and other names which helps explain their opposition to Him, right?  We do not know from which scroll Jesus taught on this particular Sabbath, but those in attendance, who do not yet know Jesus’ role like we do, were shocked by His authoritative teaching.

     How do they respond?  Mark tells us that a man possessed by an unclean spirit immediately cried out asking Jesus what He has to do with them.  We understand the scene that Mark is describing on a superficial level, but let’s look deeper.  Does the man represent all or most of those in attendance at the synagogue?  Does the demon simply refer to other demons among the congregation?  Does the demon mean collectively all those who rebelled with Satan against God?  Possibly.  In fact, the demon could be referring to those possibilities and others we do not know.  I know in the 21^st Century Western Educated city of Nashville, some of us are probably unhappy about the thought of spiritual warfare.  St. Paul writes about it, but we sort of file it away in the “things they did not understand well” file that we like to create to explain things in Scripture with which we are uncomfortable, right?  Let’s blame mental illness or anything but demons, right?  Luckily for us all, I am not called to preach on this today, but I will remind you that Mark treats demons as real.  More importantly, Jesus treats demons as real.

     Mark is counter cultural, though, in presenting demons as capable of possessing another individual.  Many of our Hebrew ancestors understood that demons could attack God’s people.  We would say Job is the prime example of such an understanding.  Demons could and frequently attacked God’s people trying to harm them in a fit of rage or to turn them from faithful adherence to the torah of Yahweh; but, for the most part, possession was not widely considered or accepted in that culture.  Notice how Mark describes this as a possession and treats it like a disease.  Except for lepers, do we blame people when they have a virus or cold or cancer or whatever?  Of course not!  And we have enough medical types in this congregation to understand even lepers should not be blamed for their disease.  Similarly, Mark is not laying blame at the foot of the man in question.  His words are the responsibility of the demon.  The man is oppressed by the demon judge as other are oppressed by poor health or poverty or any other oppression we might name.

     Notice, too, Mark’s description of the spirit.  He calls it an unclean spirit.  Unclean should call to mind our understanding of the purity instructions in the torah.  One had to be clean in order to come into the presence of God.  The other side of that coin was that uncleanness meant that one was cut off from God and community.  Think of the menstruating woman who grabs the fringe of Jesus cloak or the story of the Good Samaritan where the “religious guys” avoid the possibly dead body.  Uncleanness was spread from person to person and required time, energy, and resources in order to be purified.  Good.  Y’all remember those and other such stories.  This spirit, Mark says, means that the man in question cannot be in the presence of God.  It is a spirit, we might say, that destroys the intimacy with God that He desires with each one of us.  But neither Mark nor Jesus blame the man in this.

     Continuing our deep dive, the unclean spirit names Jesus.  In antiquity knowing a name meant having power over someone.  When we hear that phrase, we probably understand it wrongly and think that someone is able to compel another person by their name, like some sort of controlling magic.  That’s not what is being described.  Many of us our married, and all of us know married people.  If we men get too puffed up in ourselves, because we all know the ladies here never have that problem, what do we think when our spouses say they know us better?  Good.  You are laughing a bit, and yes, gentlemen, I know the ladies can sometimes behave like us.  But let’s be fair.  As a gender, we struggle with that, right?  If you had that gulp in your throat or remember such conversations in your past, you understand what the demon is implying here—you have also learned, in part, why God uses “to know” when describing many sexual relationships in the Scriptures and why He chooses to use marriage as an illustration of the intimacy to which He calls all humanity.  The demon is claiming an intimate knowledge just as a husband or wife has intimate knowledge of his or her spouse.  It is a question that we can at times consider when thinking about spiritual warfare.

     Does the demon know who Jesus is?  Clearly.  He adds the “Holy One of God” title at the end to make it clear that he thinks he knows Jesus.  If the demon is really a fallen angel, it makes perfect sense, right?  Just as it makes no sense that the man in question, unlike us, does not yet know who Jesus is or His mission.  But, and this is a pressure point in these discussions, does the demon understand what Jesus is really doing right now?  By that, I mean, the demon clearly understands that Jesus has the power and authority to destroy him and them.  But is that why Jesus is the Incarnate One at this time in salvation history?  No.  Jesus came to save this time.  When He returns in power and glory, that will be when He judges.  So is the demon correct that He has intimate knowledge?  No.

     Mark tells us that Jesus silenced the unclean spirit and made it come out of the man.  Notice again, Jesus does not act according the authority and power the spirit rightly understands.  Rather than destroying the demon then and there, Jesus commands the demon to leave the man.  Though the demon cries in a loud voice, it cannot disobey Jesus’ command.  Notice, too, Mark’s use of that cry.  We talked at the beginning of Epiphany how our categorical over-simplifications of Scripture are not always accurate.  John is thought of as the poetic and thoughtful Gospel writer; the others are more simple storytellers, right?  Yet, as I have pointed out, those simple storytellers have a literary flair, too.  Mark is creating another one of those literary bookends in his Gospel.  When will a loud voice cry out again in his Gospel?  Right, when Jesus gives up His spirit on the Cross in fulfillment of His mission to save us!

     Back to chapter 1, though.  How does the crowd respond?  Again, they are amazed.  Brian and Joshua can tell you about the difference in the two words used by Mark in this pericope.  For our purposes, though, we understand they are amazed at Jesus.  Now, Jesus has demonstrated authority over the supernatural realm, and the demon has obeyed Him command.

     Mark’s Gospel today causes us to face the question of authority.  We live in a country that is suspicious, if not outright hostile, to authority.  Tiktok and YouTube are full of videos of people who refuse to listen to any authority, be they police, teachers, airline personnel, parents, you name them.  We live in a country that is full of everyday thoughts and reactions to authority.  One of our candidates for the office of the President has made four years of claims that he is the rightful authority, that Republican and Democratic poll workers, normal people like you and me but of differing political party affiliations, conspired together to steal the election, to steal his authority.  As a consequence, we have a swath of Americans who believe the current authority is not really the authority, right?  Worse, the means by which we correct our government, voting, has lost its authority in the minds of some.

     I chuckled early this week when a former co-worker and friend posted the newest nonsense out of Texas.  The Governor signed an executive order that plagiarized the language of previous proclamations that led to the Civil War.  Now, it’s Texas and I get it.  Karen and I lived there a few years.  Greg and Jeri lived there longer and I am sure have far more tales to tell.  But one of the newest consequences impacts the Church because a group of “Christians,” I use the air-quotes intentionally because of the “call,” are taking it upon themselves to pick up their weapons and go defend the border.  I went looking in my translations of the Sermon on the Mount to find that verse where Jesus instructed His disciples to pick up their AR-50’s and shoot immigrants in His Name.  Guess what?  It’s not in my KJV nor my Greek Bibles, and I am certain it is not in any of your translations.  But their claim is that God is giving the authority and responsibility to do this.

     Locally, we are fighting over taxes and how to pay for a football stadium for a billionaire owner.  Who is in charge?  Who gets to decide?  Who has the authority?  Our school boards are fighting over what is taught and who gets to teach it?  Again, who has the knowledge and the authority to do what is best for the youth in our community?

     And churches are not immune to such struggles.  There are far too many “pastors” who seem to think the flock exists to serve them or empower them in some way, rather than it is they who are called to model Christ’s behavior by serving, discipling, those in their cures.

     I could go on and on with examples of us questioning authority.  I assume the Holy Spirit has reminded each of you of your own personal examples.  Maybe you have chafed at a boss or rebelled against a parent.  It does not matter because our questions of authority are questions of trust and of power.  Who can I trust, and who can accomplish those things with which I entrust them?  We all ask those questions.  Part of our fear, part of our worry is that, when we are truly reflective about ourselves, we understand that we would not entrust levels of authority to ourselves.  And if we cannot trust ourselves, then who can we trust?

     Thankfully and mercifully, the One person in all history who truly served you and me and all humanity is the same One who has power to accomplish all that He promises.  Better still, He wants what is best for each one of us.  All authority under heaven and on earth was given to Him.  How did He use it?  To redeem each one of us and all those in the world we encounter out there!  We know He loved us because He had to will Himself to stay on that Cross even when Satan and we crowds tempted Him to come down and save Himself.  We remind ourselves in Holy Week that He was so focused on doing the will of the Father that He refused the sponge that was meant to help numb the pain and relax the mind.  We know He did all of that knowing we would be who we were and are, that we would sometimes glorify Him in our lives and often dishonor Him despite His work for us.  It is precisely because of His Will and focus that our Lord gave Him all authority.  All.  And yet, how often do we bristle at His instructions?  How often do we dismiss His claims on our own lives because we are still in rebellion against Him?  How often are we those “Christians” who give no thought to the dishonor we try to bestow upon Him?

     I understand it is hard to accept authority for some of us.  I even understand the reasons why many of us balk or chafe when someone takes authority upon themselves to do what is best for us.  But you and I have been called by the One person is this history of the cosmos who has used the authority given to Him to save you and me and everyone who has ever or will ever live.  We have, in the waters of baptism and the laying on hands by a bishop in confirmation, accepted that call and pledged ourselves to Him.  We call Him Lord and Master and other authoritative words because He has earned those titles in our eyes and hearts, and we have chosen to try and do as He instructs.  And such is His love and grace for each one of us that, when we call Him those titles, He acknowledges their truth but reminds us He calls us friends. 

      Giving Him such authority in our lives is cross-bearing and counter-cultural.  The world has its understandings and wisdom, but it fails utterly when compared to God’s.  You have seen how a food pantry run the way God would run it works.  Was the wisdom of the world correct?  Have we really been teaching people to be lazy?  And, if someone has been stealing from God, are the others we are serving going hungry?  Think of our discussions of local restaurant owners and their discovery that the economics of the restaurant world are not nearly as good as the economics of God.  We know these things and so much more, and we still fail to trust Him in all that we do; is it any wonder that those who do not know Him make such terrible decisions and oppress others?

     The Gospel news my friends is that the One person who demonstrated His love for you and served you at the cost of His life is the One to Whom all authority has been granted.  All authority!  No exceptions.  There is not a singular cubic inch of this expanding 16.2 billion light year across cosmos that is exempt from His claim of authority.  And for reasons known only to Him and to the Father and to the Son, they have called each one of us into an intimate relationship with them, that we might manifest His glory in the world around us!  Jesus has authority over every aspect of our lives.  His is our Lord in the workplace.  He is our Lord in recreation.  He is our Lord in school, and on the highway, and in our homes!  Everywhere we go, He is our authority.

     But the even better news of the Gospel is that such is His authority that there is no end to what He can do.  Mark reminded us today that Jesus is the authority of the torah and of the supernatural.  Such is His authority that He can take sinners like you and me and turn us into saints in the lives of others.  He can take the human beings that we were when we first made our claims to submit to His authority and transform us into servants who manifest His heart to those He is trying to reach in the world around us.  Best of all, Jesus has authority to take men and women like you and me and transform us into those whom He calls friend.

     Whom or what will you serve?  The powers and principalities of the world which seek to oppress you and those whom you know and love?  Those who claim authority for themselves and make you live according to their whims or false wisdom?  Or will you do your best to serve the One who died for you and promises in His authority that all your sufferings in His Name will be redeemed and that, as His friend, you will share in His glory forever?

 

In His Peace,

Brian†

Keep on repenting and believing . . . and you will manifest God's glory around you and discover faith.

      I know some of us get tired of me using Body & Soul as an illustration of God’s redemptive grace in our life together.  Some have said overuse.  But I have a new one today!  The last time we had a significant snowstorm was my first year here.  I held services, and only a couple people could attend each service.  But now, thanks to the pandemic, look at everyone online!  We are old pros at using digital platforms thanks to the beginning of the pandemic and our continuing use of hybrid services.  And I see a couple folks are not sharing their camera, which tells me some are still in their jammies and have really mastered this new technology.  See, they would turn on their cameras to prove me wrong, right?  Can you imagine being able to gather more online than in-person 9 years ago and being able to worship and be comfortable enough to laugh together?  Me either.  But God is good all the time, right?

     It’s good that we have that illustration because I was fairly confident where God was calling me to preach this week, but I could not, for the life of me, come up with any illustrations.  Now, that meant my sermon would be more like a homily, right?  And there is a bit of irony in that because today we get Jonah’s 8-word sermon that causes the city of Nineveh, the largest city in the Assyrian Empire, to repent.  Of course, I am way past 8 words already, so you know I was probably not called to preach on Jonah today.

     Our reading from Mark today takes place after the Temptation of Christ in the wilderness.  We jumped from Mark to John last week, and this week we jump back to Mark.  Notice a couple interesting tidbits from Mark.  What is the precipitating event that causes Jesus to begin preaching?  The arrest of John the Baptizer.  Those of us who like dates will not be happy about this.  But part of Mark’s teaching is that God is behind all of this, that God sets the date, that God calls Jesus out of seeming nowhere, and that God’s idea of a Messiah differs radically from Israel’s understandings of a king with military or supernatural support casting off Roman oppression.  What matters to Mark is that this is all God’s plan.  All of it.  Even the beginning of Jesus’ ministry does not begin until the one crying out in the wilderness has completed his mission.

     And Mark tells this with an interesting flare or use of literary device, our wordsmiths might say.  The word which our translators call “arrested” really means “handed over.”  Mark will bookend his Gospel again by using the word toward the end of the book by stating that Jesus was handed over.  Remember that when we get to Holy Week.  Remember it, too, when we celebrate the Eucharist in a few minutes.  We remind ourselves each time that Jesus was handed over to suffering and death, right?

     Mark says that Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the Gospel of God and saying “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near.”  Again, we are reminded that God is as much in control of time as He is of anything He created.  John the Baptizer has been handed over, so now Jesus, God’s Messiah, can get on with His work.

     Jesus’ announcement that the kingdom of God has come near has been the subject of great debate and conjecture in the Church, and not a few PhDs.  What does Jesus mean by that statement, and why does Mark not clarify it?  Could it mean that Jesus, the Incarnation and Son of God, has physically come near?  Absolutely.  But Mark skips the Incarnation bit at the beginning of his Gospel, though we learned from at Jesus’ baptism that the Father called Him the Son and was well-pleased in Him.  Complicating matters more, how is Jesus’ kingdom coming near in any way, shape, or form a kingdom in our own minds, let alone the minds of those who heard Jesus’ voice?  Rome was still in control.  Worse, by the end of the story, Pilate does not consider Jesus’ claim to be God’s King a threat to the emperor.  Imagine, a governor who has put to death more than 200 false messiahs is of a mind to flog this one, the Messiah, because He is not a perceived threat!  The truth, of course, is that God’s kingdom is not like the kingdom of the world.  Its King truly cares about His subjects and goes so far as to lay down His life for His people.  His kingdom is not oppressive.  In fact, we would say His kingdom is the very opposite of oppression.

     After the semicolon in our translation comes our focus today.  I will warn you that this discussion could go on and on.  While in seminary at Wycliffe Hall in Oxford, we had a rousing discussion about this, so much so I ended up doing my final paper on it.  All that is to say, I am overprepared and will touch on the highlights, but feel free to come in and argue or discuss with me as you are interested.

     The first instruction given by Jesus we covered back in our discussion of our Lord’s Baptism.  The Greek word for baptism has a physical component that English has lost, or rather we have lost through poor discipling in the Church, I think.  We hear repentance and think “I’m sorry.”  That’s only half the equation.  Repentance rightfully describes that’s that true sorrow in Rite 2 language or bewailing in Rite 1 language that we hold towards our sins.  But, and this is the big but, the Greek word also reminds us that we turn toward God or turn toward His ways.  We begin that turn toward Him in our liturgy by repenting of those things we did which sinned against God.  We are forgiven.  And we ask God to send His Spirit to confirm us or strengthen us in goodness.  Then we are immediately nourished by His Body and Blood, reminding us of the handed over for our sakes and His Death, His Resurrection, and His Ascension, right?  This understanding of repentance, turning from our selfish desires and ways and to God, was so important that the Church, in Her guidance by the Holy Spirit, has always incorporated that turning in Her liturgy.

     Put more bluntly, and perhaps in the language of our time, what would people outside the Church think of us if we were truly sorry and truly trying to do what God said to do?  What would those outside the Church think of us were we more concerned with our sins and prayers to do God’s Will and less concerned with telling them they were going to Hell?

     One of the beautiful aspects of the Greek, which only Brian, Larry, and Joshua know, or knew, is the on-going nature of tense used.  English teachers among us would describe the verb as present, active, imperative.  Don’t panic!  We are not going back to the nightmare English classes of our youth.  In English, we rightfully translate it as a once-off command.  Jesus is instructing those in the sound of His voice to repent, turn from their selfish ways and to God.  The beauty of the Greek, though, is that it is also can be a continuing action.  In other words, “Keep repenting.”

     What does “Keep repenting” suggest to us that we lose in the often preferred translation of “repent”?  For one, it reinforces Jesus’ instruction that He did not come to judge, this time, right?  It reinforces the Church’s understanding that this is an on-going process in our lives, right?  We only come to a Eucharist when we are repentant before God and at love and charity with our neighbors.  Every single time we celebrate the Eucharist, we say the Confession and we pass the Peace.  Every single time.  Why?  Because the Church, inspired by the Holy Spirit and instructed by Jesus, understood that repenting is an ongoing action for those who follow Jesus.  Until we die, we are always repenting because we are always sinning, sinning against God and our neighbors.  This process continues our whole lives, a process we come to know as sanctification, but a process that we learn and inwardly digest is an evidence of grace in our own lives.  We know who we are, if we are honest before God.  When the world thinks we are righteous or holy, we know it is not our work but His in us.

     And in case anyone is feeling a bit depressed that they sin a lot, you are in great company.  We all sin a lot, whether we share our sins with each other.  Part of the Bible’s instruction for us is how God uses men and women just like us, full of all kinds of desires and fears and whatevers not of God, but who honestly agree to do His Will, accomplishing great things in His Name.  Think Peter or Moses or Abraham & Sarah or Jacob or Matthew or Paul or any other of your favorite biblical heroes ad heroines.  Just as He worked through them, He can work through us!  But that work begins with our repentance, our continuing repentance.

     The second imperative given by Jesus in this clause is the “believe in the Good News.”  Like the first commandment, this one can also be faithfully translated as “Keep believing in the Good News.”  Here’s where the real fight begins.  In English, we conflate faith and belief.  My guess is that if I asked each of you online or in person to explain the difference, you would struggle.  I did not ask for a show of hands, but I see some nods.  It’s ok, all of us have that struggle.  Remember, I said their were doctoral theses on the distinction and not a few passionate discussions in classrooms.

     How to differentiate quickly?  Belief is a kind of intellectual assent.  What do I mean.  Let’s take a couple examples we all know.  Those of us who are science oriented understand that physicists, astrophysicists in particular, assume that gravity is the same everywhere, the force of attraction between two masses is constant.  In fact, they call that force of attraction the gravitational constant, and it is plugged in as such in all kinds of formulae.  We use it to plan orbits of satellites and discover planets and moons.  They, and we, believe gravity is constant.  But do we know it is?  Our universe is about 16.2 million light years in diameter and expanding.  We have sent probes around our solar system and are pretty confident that in our solar system the force of attraction is constant, right?  We science as if it is, right?  But how can we know what the force of attraction is around Alpha Centari, our closest neighboring star at just over 2 light years away, let alone black holes or quasars or somewhere near the perceived edge of the expanding universe?  And for that matter, if gravity is constant, why is the universe still expanding?

     Let’s look a little closer to home.  We are in an election year.  For the most part, our country breaks down into two beliefs, two widely accepted ways to govern.  I realize that I am oversimplifying, but I want to make this short.  In general, Republicans believe that smaller government is better, that citizens can and should govern themselves and their communities better because they know their needs and strengths better than those in a centralized far off place.  Democrats believe that the government is responsible for caring for citizens on the margins, for providing a safety net, and limiting the selfishness of those with the most money and power.  The vast majority of our fights, and the bulk of our sausage-making in Congress, is between those to ideas.  Who can and should govern an issue?  What is our response to that issue?  So-called independents gravitate toward one party or another in any given election, nudging the country one way or another on the important issues of the day.  And when the independents think a party has gone too far or over-reached or ignored, what do they do with their vote?  Right, they vote the other way nudging us in that direction as a country.  Politically speaking, neither Republicans nor Democrats are evil – don’t get me started on God’s perspective, though!  They simply start from a different belief.

     Faith is different than belief.  Faith connotes an experience that confirms belief and trust.  If we went to a ¼ of the universe and found the force of attraction the same, our belief would begin to trend toward faith and trust that our observations are universally true.  Or if our politicians truly governed and addressed the issues we send them to address, rather than lining our pockets and manipulating our emotions and keeping themselves in office, how much more faith might we have in them and in our governments?  The same is true of our relationship with Jesus.  Best of all, He understands that better than us.

     Jesus’ commands this week are too keep repenting and keep believing.  Each time we gather for worship, each time we enter into prayer with Him, we are to keep repenting.  What happens over time, if we do as He instructs us, is that we come to learn just how misguided we are and just how gracious He is to us.  The same is true of the Gospel.  There are times, like at untimely deaths or at horrible suffering or at those things or people which frustrate us, that we grit our teeth and remind ourselves we believe in the Gospel.  The Feast of the Holy Innocents, which we used for our community right after the Covenant shooting, is a great recent example of this.  We hurled our complaints and cast our mourning on God, right?  Did we look to our politicians and government to redeem, prevent, or comfort us?  No.  Why?  Because our walk with God, over time, has proven to us that Jesus is, as Paul reminds us in Hebrews, the only One worth faith.  Because He is the Messiah, because He is Ascended to the Father, we have faith in Him.  We know, on some level deep within us, He will redeem all our suffering.  It is His promise.  He may not redeem our suffering the way we want.  He will likely even use our suffering to reach others, but He promises that He will redeem all things.  And because He was raised that glorious Easter Morning, we know He has the power to keep His promises.  And because we come to Him in Baptism and the Eucharist, because we continue to repent and to believe, at some point our belief becomes faith.  Best of all, the longer we obediently follow Him, the more we realize the follies of the world and the lies of the great Deceiver.

     My brothers and sisters, it is glorious News we have to share!  Our Lord does not demand perfection from within us!  Our Lord had no expectation we would “get it all right” as He willed Himself to hang on that Cross; yet that is precisely what He did.  He willed Himself to submit to the powers and principalities that seemed in control of the world and our lives.  He even gave up His life.  But in that Resurrection that we celebrate when we gather each time to give Him thanks and praise, we are reminded that all He asks of us is to keep repenting and to keep believing.  Those of us who faithfully and constantly do as He instructs are encouraged that, one day their belief will become faith, that one day they will learn however opaquely or in shadows in this world, who He is and how much He loves us, and that, in the end, we will learn completely who He is, how much He loves us, and how proud He is to call us a brother or a sister, a disciple who has done those tasks assigned by Him to each one of us well!  And in that process which we call sanctification in the Church, He is using us, those who are sinning and repenting and who sometimes struggle even with believing, to manifest His redemptive grace and glory in the world around us!

 

In Christ’s Peace,

Brian†

Y'all have seen, that others may see in you. . .

      One of the interesting things of being in a parish for a length of time, to me at least, is the ability to look back and see where we have looked at the Scriptures over so many turns of the lectionary.  Today marks the fourth time that this set of readings has come up during my time at Advent.  I would hope that I would have preached on three of the texts previously, making one reading more likely to be my focus, but I seem to have been drawn to the calling of Samuel often in our past.  That is part of the reason I will focus on John today.  Another part is the fact that I have already told you to pay close to Mark and the interludes of John as we work our way through the liturgical calendar this year.  And perhaps most importantly, clearly God wanted me in John today.  As I have been telling Funmi, the most important part of sermon preparation is discerning what God’s message for the congregation is.  So, back to John’s Gospel . . .

     Our reading takes place three days after Jesus’ baptism in the river Jordan.  John has introduced Jesus with the well-known and recently well-read in the Christmas season Prologue.  Jesus is being given titles by John, John the Baptizer, and those whom He encounters as He goes about His work.  John has named Jesus the Word who was with God and is God in the beginning, John the Baptizer has identified Jesus as the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit, and Jesus has asked those He encounters what they are seeking.  Those of you paying close attention may realize with some surprise that all this, and a bit more, has occurred in the first 42 verses of John’s Gospel.  It is, shall we say, densely packed.

     So on this third day after His baptism, Jesus encounters Philip and says follow Me.  John tells us that Philip was from the same hometown as Andrew and Peter, which may explain Philip’s quick willingness to do as Jesus commands.  John continues his story by sharing that Philip finds Nathanael and says that the have “found him about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth.”  Philip’s description of Jesus is a way of saying that Jesus is the Messiah.  Keep in mind, nearly 300 false messiahs have been put to death under the sword of the Roman Empire.  That fate for some many messiahs likely explains some of Nathanael’s disbelief.  If you were to go home and turn on the television and some pastor was claiming Armageddon was happening tomorrow, how likely would you be to believe him or her?  And just to remind you, there is conflict not too far south of Megiddo as we gather for worship.  What if that same pastor said it last summer or last spring?  What would your disbelief had been like then?

     Nathanael’s disbelief is such that he famously asks whether anything good can come out of Nazareth.  Just to remind you, Judea was thought by some in the Roman Empire to be the Alabama of the Empire.  Nobody wanted to be assigned there.  If you were “promoted” and assigned there, most people did not think of it as a promotion.  It was better for one’s future and influence to remain at a lower level and serve in a better province or the city of Rome.  Judea was unruly and rural, by civilized standards.  Now, Robert is not here to chastise me for picking low fruit and naming Alabama, so I’ll use a better illustration to describe Nathanael’s attitude.  Everybody knows I’m from WV, right?  In my youth we used to brag when we beat Louisiana or Mississippi in anything.  If the government measured anything, those three states were at the bottom.  We’d get excited when we were 49^th, and it was near a state holiday when we came in 48^th on any measures.  Y’all are laughing, but we had no false illusions we would be #1 in education, income, health.  We were just glad not to be last.  Nathanael’s picking on Nazareth is something like that.  Imagine someone from Louisiana bragging they are better than Mississippi.  Who in NY or CA or TX is gong to care?  It’s that kind of attitude expressed by Nathanael. 

     Philip ignores the jab and tells Nathanael to come and see.

     As the two return to Jesus, Jesus announces that Nathanael is an Israelite in whom there is no deceit.  Nathanael is rightfully surprised or curious.  As the two of them have never met, how can this guy know he has no deceit?  Jesus answers Nathanael by telling him that He saw him under the fig tree before Philip called him.

     The fig tree reference is woefully misunderstood today, but it was important to those living in 1^st Century Judea.  In the wider ANE cultures, fig trees were associated with abundance and peace.  Fig trees figure prominently in the OT, though, especially symbolically.  God will often use fig trees as a symbol of Israel, and woe to the Israelite who does not hear prophets’ or Jesus’ warning about the fate of barren fig trees.  By the time of the mid 70’s AD, after the utter destruction of the Temple by the Roman Legion, fig trees were where one traditionally sat to study the Scriptures both to learn and to advertise.  What was being advertised, you ask?  Either that one was a rabbi taking on students or one was a student looking for a rabbi.  Think of it as a kind of billboard or commercial.  If there was fig tree near a village or town, one could sit under it and convey meaning to those passing by on a near-by road.  Now, I know some scholars like to believe the tradition just cropped up instantly by 75AD, but y’all know human beings, right?  What makes more sense, fig tree torah studying just began in the 70’s?  Or were the people in the now destroyed Jerusalem and surrounding towns using a practice more accepted in rural parts of the province?  We will never know for sure this side of the Resurrection, but it does make sense, especially in light of the later historical record and the preceding Scriptural use of the fig tree and, don’t forget, Nathanael’s response to Jesus’ statement.  By that statement, Nathanael goes from a sarcastic quip about those from Nazareth to proclaiming that Jesus is the Son of God and the King of Israel.

     The identifiers are, of course, correct.  Jesus is the Son of God, as John has described in his Gospel already.  The newest title, the King of Israel, appears for the first time in John’s Gospel.  Understand, John has not concerned himself with the Nativity .  John starts his Gospel in the beginning and then skips to Jesus’ baptism.  Bloodlines do not figure into John’s Gospel.  Why does Nathanael declare Jesus the King of Israel?  We cannot know for sure, as Scripture does not tells us.  Philip, we might say, prepared the way a bit by declaring Jesus the One declared by Moses and the prophets.  The imagery thus far speaks to rabbis and torah, and, to be fair, the king was expected to read, learn, and inwardly digest the torah, to use our language, in order that he might teach and model for God’s people how they were to live in the Covenantal relationship with Yahweh.  And, unlike Peter’s confession of Jesus as the Messiah, Jesus does not declare that the Holy Spirit has revealed this role to Nathanael.  But, we do know that John’s intent to write this Gospel is to teach us that Jesus is the Messiah and that by believing in Him we will have life in Him.  For the first time, Jesus is declared to be the King.

     Nathanael, though, will not be the only one to declare Jesus is the King, right?  We will remind ourselves during Holy Week of Pilate’s sign nailed above Jesus on the Cross.  Pilate will write King of the Jews in three languages.  The Temple leadership will protest and tell Pilate to write “This man said he was the king.”  And Pilate will famously tell them that what he has written, he has written.

     Continuing on our reading, Jesus moves past the fig tree image with a kind of teaser.  Jesus asks if Nathanael believed because He saw Nathanael under the fig tree and then moves to a “You haven’t seen anything yet” turn of phrase.  Jesus states Nathanael, and all hearing and reading this, will see greater things.  They and we will see the heavens opened and the angels ascending and descending.

     Hopefully, everyone here remembers our discussion last summer as we read about Jacob, and I am sure those on Sunday mornings who watched the movie about Jacob remember this scene and our discussions.  But some of us may have missed, and some of us may need our memories jostled a bit.  On his way to encounter Laban and to get a couple brides, Jacob famously uses a stone as a pillow and dreams what we all think of as “Jacob’s ladder.”  Good.  I see many nods.  When I preached on it last summer, I reminded people that the culture around Jacob would be unsurprised by Jacob’s vision.  The ziggurats themselves were stairs to heaven.  Priests tended the places at the top so that the gods and goddesses would be able to transition between the two worlds.  Such transition was thought to require food, drink, and even sleep.  When Jacob has this vision, he knows what he is seeing.  God’s angels are coming down this ladder to do God’s will on earth and up this ladder to report their work accomplished.  Jacob names the spot “Bethel,” which means house of God.  Jacob gives the name to the place because he knows that spot is important to God.  God is in that place.

     Jesus instructs those hearing and us reading that we will be like Jacob, seeing the angels ascending and descending, which, to be fair, is much more impressive than Him seeing a guy under a fig tree, right?

     Why do I think I was drawn to preach on this passage today?  Some of you might be wondering what its impact on your life is or should be?  Oooh.  A couple slow nods.  Good.  One, I am certain God wants you to know that this passage is for you.  Now, we are all good little Episcopalians, and we all know that all Scripture is good for teaching, reproving, correcting, and training us in righteousness, right?  We all accept that on some level, maybe intellectual or general.  But in a more grammatical way, God is reminding each one of us that the passage is for us.  The grammar of John’s Gospel switches from the singular “you” to the plural “you” at the end.  In other words, Jesus is addressing Nathanael specifically at the beginning of the passage and address the y’all when it comes to seeing these greater things, the angels ascending and descending.  Jesus’ assertion is not meant for Nathanael alone.  All those who follow Him will see this.

     But, Brian, I have never seen angels ascending and descending, right?  That’s your next question or statement, right?  It’s ok, those of you nodding are telling the truth.  Have we not, though?  We have all just come through the season of Christmas.  Where is the place that we know God dwells?  Or, to put it a bit more simply, what distinguishes the Incarnation from you and me?  It’s ok, you can say “Oh!”  For those of us not connecting the dots, Jesus is the place where God dwells.  On some level the Incarnation remains a mystery to us.  We accept and sort of understand that Jesus is fully man and fully God.  What does that mean?  How does it play out?  On one level we might say that while on earth the focus of God was on the Person we call Jesus, but do we really believe that God was not doing anything else anywhere in the world far away from Jesus?  To complicate matters more, and this is in part why heresies arose in the early Church, we say that God condescended and limited Himself to being a human being, right?  How did only human Jesus, and I am bordering on Modalism to make a point, see Nathanael under the fig tree in our passage today?  Or, if you prefer, how does human Jesus know what is in the hearts of those around Him?

     In the end, we remind ourselves that God was dwelling in Jesus, that Jesus was fully divine and fully human.  But we also remind ourselves that a Holy Mystery means we cannot fully grasp or understand the Incarnation.  Yes, those who saw Jesus saw God.  Yes, Jesus demonstrated to the world that He was here to do the Will of God.  But, as some of our Easter prayers and blessings remind us, there was something of value in each one of us, that God would become human and take that fully humanness back to the Trinity when He ascended to the Father.  Jesus becomes our Great High Priest, our Mediator, the One in Whom we can have full confidence because He, and He alone, did the Will of the Father.  And all of this, even what might seem a bit innocuous at first glance—just a calling of a couple more disciples, contributes to John’s, and hopefully our own, understanding of Who Jesus was and is.

     Now, back to your unanswered question.  When have you seen angels ascending and descending?  Some among us have had mystical visions.  I will not share names and visions because they are theirs to share.  But, you have all seen the results of those angels descending.  Our low hanging fruit this morning is not a fig, but a ministry.  I have shared the work of Body & Soul so often because it serves a number of purposes in our community.  Go back in your minds four years.  Did you have any idea that we would easily be able to distribute 1000 pounds of food a month?  And do not lie to yourself.  Think back to your thoughts about the need.  1000 pounds seemed like a lot, right?  Now, think about what we have given away and how little of our resources have been spent to make that quantity available.  Some among us have been privileged to offer the food insecure steaks, lobster, shrimp, and a host of things like tongue that we might not value or find appetizing, but that some of those whom we serve in God’s Name treat as a delicacy.  Our best month, September of last year, saw us giving away 15-20,000 pounds a week!  Since we did not purchase that stuff, who provided all of it?  Right, God.  Those of us who serve at Body & Soul are quick to give God credit.  We know we did not plan, provide, prepare it.  And this provision is just one facet of the gem we call Body & Soul.  But from the perspective of those whom we provide food in His Name, who are we?  And many are familiar enough with our Scriptures to think that sometimes angels appear like normal human beings.

     Most of us have forgotten our CARES work from the beginning of the pandemic.  But we made sure people who qualified were able to keep a roof over their head, their utilities on, and that they were fed.  How did that happen?  Again, God.  Sure, we know the government invited us because of our work at our pantry, but do any of us really think our government is “holy”?  Attuned to God?  And, just as a reminder, when I got the call, I had been researched.  I was warned that my BOM experience prepared me for what would happen in this program, that if we participated in or encouraged fraud, it would cost us money.  I knew it would also dishonor God.  But we did the job legally and faithfully.  And for our faithfulness, God provided some funds for some of our much-needed deferred maintenance items, right?  But people at risk in our community know us as a community of Christians who try to do all that they can to ameliorate suffering and oppression.  Each week, I get a couple calls asking if we can help because we helped in the past or helped a friend in the past.  And I can always offer food in God’s Name.

     And what of the assistance we provide to other ministries in our community?  Outreach Ministry Sunday gained a reputation, y’all gained a reputation, among those working to fight oppression in our midst such that they accosted the bishop from time to time asking him to make me let them present to the parish.  Y’all cannot understand the loneliness and challenges of silo ministry.  As much as the financial or volunteerism support they received from our parish, the ministries that presented before the pandemic loved the affirmation and encouragement we gave them.  And now that it has relaunched, I seem to have no shortage of directors and leaders asking to present at Advent.  How do you appear in their eyes?  How do you appear in the eyes of those whom they serve?

     In truth, I could go on and on and on.  I wish we had a collector and writer of Body & Soul stories.  I wish y’all had the patience to let me share all the stories that popped into my mind about your work this as I prayerfully composed this sermon.  I suspect the Holy Spirit is speaking to each of us individually as I preach, about how our work is not unlike that of the angels of God, that we are supposed to be doing His Will here, in the wildernesses or shadows of the world.  Part of our work, empowered by the Holy Spirit, is to do these works, these ministries in God’s Name, that the closing verse might be fulfilled in those around us.  Everyone we encounter is included in Christ’s invitation and promise this morning.  We do these things not to earn salvation, not to esteem ourselves, but to point others to One in Whom God dwelt among us, to give thanks to God for His willingness to save each one of us, and to mirror the incredible grace offered by God through the saving embrace of our Lord Christ.  Just as He promised, all of you have seen.  Now He asks that you do the works He has given each one of you to do, both individually and corporately, that others may see, too!  Or, to put it in the words of one of our Epiphany blessings, He offers to be manifest in you, that your life and our lives might be a light unto the world around us!

 

In His Peace and Empowering Grace,

Brian†

On Re-creating and writing more about His story . . .

      Today we are in one of those transitional times in the Church and in the parish.  We have sped through Advent and the Season of Christmas and are now in the season of Epiphany.  In fact, those present with us last night celebrated the Feast of the Epiphany, the manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles.  Today is celebrated as the Baptism of Jesus, which is not to be confused with the Holy Name of Jesus on January 1 or, as I reminded Funmi earlier, the Presentation of Jesus, which she preached on last Sunday.  Part of the challenge or liturgical whiplash is the fact that we bounce around the times.  We pay close attention to John the Baptizer and Mary the Mother of Jesus in Advent.  Then we celebrate the Nativity.  Then we remember the Feast of the Holy Innocents.  Then we go back to the Epiphany.  Then we fast forward about 28 years or so to remember Jesus’ Baptism.  Liturgically speaking, we are a bit all over the place.  And, much like the Marvel Multiverse, our timeline is all out of whack!

     But, as you have seen and heard from the readings, we are celebrating the Baptism of Jesus today.  The event is so significant that we read about it the 1^st Sunday after the Epiphany in each of the three liturgical year cycles.  This year, we get Mark’s version of the event.  Hopefully, this version will remind us that some of our “categories” of understanding are not entirely accurate or distinct.  It should be easier to see, given that we read John’s Prologue a couple times right after the Nativity and I preached on it for Christmas Day.  John gets credit for being theological and artistic, while the Synoptic authors get credit for giving us the eyewitness accounts, as if John did not see or witness those stories he shares with his reader to convince us that Jesus is the Messiah.

     Part of the artistic flair of Mark that we miss, particularly when we do not study the Old Testament Scriptures, is the setting.  John the Baptizer appeared in the wilderness and is baptizing people in the Jordan.  Yes, we understand that John’s ministry is to call out the coming of Messiah.  We are not surprised at His description at all.  For Mark’s audience, however, the wilderness is full of meaning.  Wilderness was the opposite of civilization.  Wilderness was the opposite of tame.  Wilderness was the opposite of creature comforts.  Wilderness was also the place where God shaped His prophets and His people to depend upon Him and His provision.  Think the Exodus 40 years.  But remember His work with Moses or Elijah.  It is in the wilderness that God’s people learn both God’s will to provide for them and His power to accomplish His will.

     Speaking of power, the Jordan should remind us of the figures who led God’s people into His Promised Land.  Joshua, Elijah, and even Elisha, empowered by God, all stop the Jordan in its courses so that the people and they might enter into the blessings God has prepared for them.  Those in Larry’s Bible study spent time on Gilgal and its symbol.  The crossing of that river as if dry ground should always bring God’s people back to the Red Sea and the Exodus, right?  God will deliver His people and nothing, not even chaos, can prevent Him from His purposes.  Marks’s audience would see this symbolism, would understand its meaning, and recognize that Mark was claiming God was on the move again!

     Mark’s Gospel is often described as a Crucifixion story with a bit of prologue.  I see a couple nods, but I see some confusion.  By that, Mark’s Gospel is incredibly focused upon the Crucifixion of Jesus, and the Gospel that bears his name only has a few chapters of introduction before it gets to the arrest of Jesus.  You can see what experts mean when they say it by looking at the opening.  Matthew and Luke give us the details we are told about Jesus’ birth.  Mark has none of that.  Mark does not talk about the Annunciation, the Virgin birth, the birth of Jesus, the shepherds, the star, the coming of the Magi, the slaying of the Innocents, or anything else that caught your eye or attention just thirteen days ago.  Our English teachers would likely even mark Mark’s story down for his overuse of the word “immediately.”  Mark moves immediately from one story to the next until he gets to the Crucifixion.  Compared to other writers, Mark seems in a bit of a rush.  Mark’s account begins with the appearance of John the Baptizer.  It might seem a strange way to begin such a magnificent story, but the author seems to be concerns with the what happens as a result of God becoming Incarnate rather that His coming into the world.  For the author Mark, what is important in Salvation History is that John the Baptizer is proclaiming the coming of the One, upon whom John is unworthy to perform the most menial of tasks, and who will baptize people into the Holy Spirit.

     Then, in verse 9, Mark shifts his focus to Jesus with the formulaic announcement “In those days.”  No doubt some of you are trying to remember when you have ever heard that introduction and why I call it formulaic.  Those of us who have studied Judges and Samuel should be familiar with it.  The phrase is used to introduce the fact that God is about to change the way things are – God is going to act in history for the benefit of His people, even though they do not see or understand or even want it.  In Judges, everyone does as he or she sees fit; the same is happening at the beginning of Samuel.  But God has plans for His people, and He will not allow them to wallow in their sinful rebellion.  God will send them a prophet who will speak God’s word to them.  Oh, they will not always listen to the prophet.  But some will some of the time.  And God’s plan of salvation will continue.  Jesus is introduced by Mark in that way.  The coming of the Messiah, finally, is unremarkable and unnoticed even among those who are supposed to be looking for Him, preparing the people of God to see and follow Him.

     Mark gives us a couple other details about this rather unremarkable looking fellow, Jesus.  He’s from the town of Nazareth in Galilee.  Wait, why is Messiah not from Rome?  Or Jerusalem?  Or some other important town in the world?  Nazareth?  One of Mark’s colleagues will wonder aloud if anything good can come out of that place, rightfully so.  It would be like someone in our area today bragging about being from Tullahoma rather than Nashville or Memphis.  Oh, Please, most of the country thinks there are only three cities in Tennessee, and I bet all y’all claim you are from Nashville when travelling, rather than Brentwood or Gallatin or Spring Hill.  Besides, I would have used Alabama, but Robert tells me it’s long-hanging fruit.  Everybody offended now?  Good.

     Jesus, just a member of the crowd from an unimportant town, is baptized by John, giving us our first big worry.  Why is Jesus being baptized into a baptism of repentance?  If Jesus is sinless, isn’t this unnecessary?  Or are the non-Christian pundits who argue Jesus sinned and was not fully God correct?  The answer is a matter of perspective.  Think to your own baptism or, if you were baptized as an infant, your Confirmation or the baptism of a loved one.  What happens in that Sacrament?  It all hinges on that word repentance, which you have probably been reminded over and over through the years means turning.  Mostly, when we are describing baptism to people quickly, we talk about turning from our selfish desires, right?  We talk about how we need to quit selfishly focusing on our desires, our wants, our passions and turning from them.  We might say that understanding is the “negative” perspective of baptism.  We are turning away from our sins and Satan.

     But to Whom do we turn?  That’s right, God!  We might for argument’s sake say this is the positive perspective of the Sacrament.  We undertake to do those things God intends for us to do and avoid those things He teaches are unhealthy or immoral for us.  Good, I see nods.  We are asked a series of question to remind us both what we are turning from and that to which we are turning.  We turn from selfish desires to the Breaking of Bread, the fellowship, and the prayers.  Best of all, perhaps, we promise that when we sin, when we stumble and turn back to the way we were rather than struggling to live the way we are called by the One who created each one of us, we repent and try again.  Everything we do here is meant to teach us about what it means to have chosen God over the world or the self.  Today, I am addressing why Jesus was baptized and why we are baptized.  Last night, we talked about manifestation.  The two, of course, are inter-related.  We are baptized into God’s family so that we might manifest His grace in the world around us.  Put in more Christmas-y language, we are baptized so that we might incarnate in the world around us the saving grace of God.

     Now, here’s the peek ahead in history.  How are we empowered?  Good.  Someone said the Holy Spirit.  I’m glad you are paying attention to Mark this morning.  Some of us raised in other denominations might express it differently.  Jesus promises to dwell in our heart.  We become sons and daughters by adoption.  The Holy Spirit empowers us.  The language is all pointing to the same idea that God dwells with His children and uses them in His efforts to save all in the world.

     Now, back to the unanswered question about why does Jesus get baptized?  In short, we would say Jesus is accepting God the Father’s call on His life.  We talk about the Holy Mystery of the Incarnation, so we realize we cannot fully understand how it all works.  But Jesus has free will just like all of us.  We may talk more about His free will next week when we ponder the Temptations of Christ, and we will certainly wonder at it in Gethsemane when He accepts the Cup, right?  But Jesus has a choice.  His choice is to do what God planned for Him, knowing the suffering and rejection and death that was to be faced by Messiah.  So, the baptism of repentance is not for any sins but to acknowledge the will of the Son to do the will of the Father, the will of the Son to be obedient.  As good Episcopalians, we would say this is the outward sign of the inner spiritual grace of Jesus.  I know.  And since Jesus is a pattern for Holy living for us, ponder those implications.

     Mark, though, forges ahead in his story of this baptism.  As Jesus is coming up out of the water, He sees the heavens torn.  Notice the emphasis by Mark on the personal, private experience of Jesus.  Nobody else seems to see this.  Those who wonder where Mark heard this, where do you think he heard it?  He spent three years with Jesus listening to His stories and teachings.  He also spent years listening to John the Baptizer’s disciples.  Did they hear the thunder?  Did they see the Spirit?  Did they even know what they were seeing or hearing?  For his part, Mark uses the word schizo to describe the event.  Put in modern vernacular we might say “All heaven is breaking loose.”  You are laughing, but that is a fair understanding of what is occurring.  Mark uses the word here, at the beginning of the Gospel and one more time near the end of the Gospel.  The same word is used to describe what happens to the curtain surrounding the Holy of Holies upon Jesus’ death.  The curtain or veil is torn from the top, signifying to all who see it that it was God’s work and that the relationship for humanity has changed as a result of this Jesus’ death on the Cross.  The locus of God is no longer in that special place in that special building in that special city.  God dwells with all His people.  Or to use our Baptismal language, He empowers His people through His Spirit to do His will.  And His Will is that His people will be a blessing to the world!

     The Spirit is described by Mark as descending like a dove.  Notice, it is not a “dove-like” spirit.  Those of us who want to think that Jesus is merely a hippy dippy cool guy who tapped into some level of consciousness that we all need are wrong.  Jesus, by virtue of His baptism, has committed Himself to God’s plan of salvation.  For Him, that means three years of work, three years of frustrating misunderstanding and rejection.  Betrayal by one of His Twelve.  Betrayal by those who should have identified who He was.  Torture.  Death.  Mocking.  This is not an easy path for Him, to be sure.  But His path is purposeful.  His path is the means by which humanity will be restored to a possible intimate relationship with their Father in Heaven.  His path is the means by which the curse of sin, the distrust of the Father’s instruction as what is best for each one of us, will be redeemed.  That Spirit will allow Him to work the miracles you and I love.  That Spirit will enable Him to feed the crowds, heal the crowds, teach the crowds.  And on occasion, that same Spirit will empower Him to criticize those who are wolves among the sheep and even flip over tables in the Temple!  But, perhaps most of all and more to the point why Mark describes it here, the Spirit will be the sign of the Messiah.  Yes, this seemingly unremarkable Man, from nowhere significant, is identified by the Spirit!  That same Spirit that brooded over the waters in Genesis, as we just read, now is described as descending like a dove to this Jesus.

     Then comes the voice, again according to Mark, a private experience for Jesus’ ears.  “you are My Son, the Beloved; with You I am well-pleased.”  Who was God’s son initially, at least from our perspective, our study of the Old Testament?  No guessers?  Israel.  How does God describe Israel when He calls them from bondage in Egypt?  That’s right, my son.  God describes Israel as His son throughout the OT.  And when Israel does what God instructs, He is pleased.  When Israel ignores Him, let’s just say He is disappointed, right?  And like a loving Father, He instructs, He fusses, He even disciplines, but He does so to help His son mature, to grow.

     For Israel’s part, how have they done with their part of the relationship?  In many ways, they are no different than you and I, right?  They have turned from the Father to do things their own way.  They have ignored His warnings.  They have received the curses of the Covenant that are meant to call them to repent and return to Yahweh, but they still have not inwardly digested what He has taught in His torah.  Even now, as this story takes place, Israel is oppressed by another conquering empire, Rome.  What can they do to cast off the oppressor?  Nothing, themselves.  Rome is too powerful.  Rome is too big.  That’s why many expect or want Messiah to be a conquering, liberating figure.  In agreeing to do God’s Will, Jesus becomes the Seed of Abraham the Israelite who will do what others cannot.  Make no mistake, God was never surprised by our rejection in the Garden of Eden.  He was not shocked that Israel ran lukewarm and cold to His teaching.  He was not grasping for plans when each one failed.  No, this was the plan from the beginning, but it required that Jesus be born, agree to walk this path, to do the Will of His Father.  This day in Scripture, which we call the Baptism of Jesus, marks the day that Jesus begins that intentional work.  To speak a bit more from our own experiences, this is the day that Jesus takes the first step on that path laid out before the foundation of the world!

     Notice one last change in perspective though.  All this at the beginning of the story, is presented to Jesus.  We might say the tearing of the heavens, the descent of the Spirit, and the praise of the voice were privately for Him.  What happens, though, as a result of His decision?  All that unfolds, including the Crucifixion, happens publicly.  Jesus’ willingness to do what the Father planned in private, is very much lived out in public.  The miracles and teachings that Mark includes in his story, the rejection and threats of the leadership, the betrayal, the rejection, and even His death, are very public events.  They are seen by all in that place and in that time so that all may make their own decision, come to their own conclusion about Jesus.

     What happens when we are baptized?  It is in some respects similar to this pattern established by Jesus, right?  We make a decision, be it at Baptism or Confirmation, to try and do those things which glorify our Father in Heaven and avoid those things He declares to be sin.  That decision which we make in private, though, is played out in public.  It begins with the liturgy of the Sacrament of Baptism, where we state our allegiance and purpose and make our oath.  And what happens?  God promises to dwell with us and promises each one of us that He shares our honor and dishonor.  The rest of our lives becomes that struggle between our desire to follow God and the desire to follow the devices and desires of our own hearts, to use familiar language.  What happens to those who faithfully and intentionally live as God calls them?  They become heralds of God’s grace in the world around them; they become the saints in the lives of those whom they are trying to reach in His Name.  Our ascent, like Jesus’, is lived out in the world us, that others may make the decision to accept His embrace from the Cross.  And because of that public nature of our work, we know our sins dishonor the Lord who saved us when we could not save ourselves.  We know there is a consequence to how we act, how we speak, and how we behave.  None of us seeks that or even thinks about it as we begin that walk with God in Baptism or reaffirm it in Confirmation, do we?  Yet, as we approach the end of our walk with God in this place, what is our desperate hope?  That when we meet Him face to face He will be a friend and not a stranger, that He will pronounce upon each one of us that “well done, good and faithful servant,” that we will each enter into the blessed joy of intimacy with Him for eternity, that we will join the great cloud of witnesses.

     Make no mistake.  Mark will remind us this year that our walk, our journey, is full of cross-bearing and suffering.  But Mark will also remind each one of us that we get to write the next chapter in the Gospel that bears his name.  If you go home and start perusing through the Gospel of Mark, or even studying it, you will see his true artistry at work at the end.  This great story that starts with a prophet coming out of the wilderness to baptize the Messiah from Nazareth has a curious ending.  Mark tells us at the end that the ladies who went to the Tomb found the stone rolled away.  Upon entering they encounter a “man” dressed in white.  The man instructs them that Jesus, who was crucified, has risen.  They are to go to His disciples and Peter and tell them that Jesus is going ahead of them to Galilee.  There they will see Him, just as He promised.  How does Mark’s Gospel end?  They told nobody anything because they were afraid.  Those reading or hearing the Gospel are meant by Mark to reflect.  If they did not tell anyone, how did this story make it to me?  Just as the story made it to us from those whom we respected and loved, we are to share it with others, that they might choose Christ over the world, God over the enemy.  And though words can be powerful tools, they pale in comparison to lives lived as if these words are true.  My friends, our lives, by virtue of our Baptisms, become the next chapter in Mark’s story and God’s plan of salvation history.  For reasons known only to Him, perhaps, He entrusts this amazing hope and promise and power to us and invites us to follow Him, wherever He may lead us, knowing that one day, one glorious day when He returns to finish the re-Creation He has started, we will dwell with Him for eternity!

 

In His Peace and in His Promise!

Brian†