Ref: Mark 1:4-11
It’s finally here. 2012 that is. I’m sure we didn’t miss it! We’re one week in – any resolutions still going? Me neither! “The year is here” the newsman declared with great excitement on New Years day. Perhaps an unremarkable achievement given that it happens approximately every 365 days but this year, 2012 is different.
It’s the year of the Olympics. I don’t think we’ll be able to forget will we? Everywhere we go, everything we watch or read seems to point us forward to the Olympics. We’ll be reminded so often perhaps we’ll be pleased when it’s all over.
In our media saturated world we’re not allowed to forget that these events are about to happen. In fact, they are usually more news before they happen than when they do.
Have you noticed how the contents of major speeches or announcements are in the news before the actual speech or announcement? This Christmas, we were told on Christmas eve what the Queen and Archbishop of Canterbury would say in their Christmas messages.
These events are signposted and completely expected. There is the fanfare, the media build-up, the expectation and excitement. But the event in our gospel reading from Mark’s gospel, the baptism of Jesus happened with little fanfare.
If we notice in the narrative, John the Baptist creates an expectation of the one who is about to come, the one who will be greater than John who will bring baptism not by water but by the Spirit. This was the great announcement.
But then there was no fanfare, there was no loud shouts, no celebration when Jesus came with the crowd to be baptised. In contrast to the expectation, Jesus comes, quietly, almost unrecognised.
So, we see that Jesus’ baptism happened within the ordinariness of everything that was happening that particular day.
The second point to note is where we are told Jesus came from. Mark tells us that Jesus was from Nazareth. This was no great city of great importance. As someone once said, it was tantamount to introducing Jesus from “Nowheresville.” What is more, Galilee, was a predominantly poor community and cut-off from Judea by Samaria. Therefore, we find Jesus not from the great and good but coming from the marginalised.
Then Jesus was baptised by John. Have you ever thought that seems odd? Why would Jesus, the Son of God need to be baptised? Surely, he would have nothing to repent of would he? What is he repenting of?
Perhaps we need to rethink what this repentance means. Jesus was baptised by John, the same baptism of repentance as the others who were crowding around John that day. It marks a moment in Jesus’ life when he rejects the world in which he has been living. It is a moment when Jesus resists the life he has lived within the structures of the social sphere he has experienced. He begins his stand against the construct of the world in which he has been raised and in which he lived.
So as Jesus descended into the waters of the Jordan, he rejected the old order and the new creation began to break in. This was the beginning of the new order that would stand against the injustice of the world around him.
This was confirmed when we have this great apocalyptic moment. This moment when the heavens opened and there was a glimpse of heaven.
In verse 10, Mark tells us that the spirit descended upon him. But it is more significant than that, a different translation of that action of the Spirit would be to say the Spirit descended into him. This was something that would consume him, equip him and nourish him. The Spirit was IN him, not merely ON him.
Then the voice came from heaven You are my son, whom I love, with you I am well pleased. This was the revelation and confirmation that Jesus was the Son of God.
At this point, the veil between heaven and earth was so thin, the two were touching. This was a vision of heaven. A vision of the new creation. This moment set the tone of the kingdom of God which began to break into the world.
So, these short verses show us how Jesus came to be baptised almost unnoticed, he came with the crowd. It was unexpected. It was a moment when Jesus rejected the world order in which he lived. It was a moment where heaven was glimpsed.
So what does this say to us in 2012?
Perhaps it asks us to look for Christ in the unexpected moments. In the mundane. In the crowd. In the places where we would least expect it and be prepared to meet with him wherever and whenever.
I think some people have found Christ in the unexpected in the last few weeks. In the halls of Headless Cross Methodist Church at the winter night-shelter. In the ordinariness and necessity of feeding and clothing and providing a dry, warm place to live – the things most of us perhaps take for granted – in that ordinary, everyday event, Christ was surely found.
Jesus came to that place amongst the volunteers of every background. He came with the hundreds of tins of food, the multitude of Christmas cake, the sacks of potatoes and sprouts, the sleeping bags, frozen hash-browns, blankets, toiletries, trousers, shirts, even the Hannah Montanna DVDs! Jesus came amongst the ordinariness.
Jesus came and the world order that meant the guests could not find shelter was taken on and new hope was found for Michael, Simon, John, Carol and John. Shelter, friendships, companionship was found. Here, Jesus came.
Jesus came and there was a glimpse of heaven.
When we are baptised by water and Spirit, we are called to follow Jesus in acts of ordinary service within the ordinariness of our own lives to bring a glimpse of heaven in our world. We called to act in our communities in which we live, in the way we live each and every-day of our lives. This is when Christ comes and is revealed.
Whether we are new or long in the faith today offers us a way of renewing our commitment to our living God. Tonight, as we prepare to gather around the table, we are invited to pray the covenant prayer offering ourselves entirely to God to partake in the mission of God. We re-commit to leaving behind ourselves and follow his will and to seek to do and go to where God calls us. We recommit to willingly offer all that we have and are to God. Then we can be instruments of God, bringing a glimpse of heaven and revealing Christ, the Son of God, the saviour of the world.
