January 10, 2021
St. John’s United Church of Christ, Union, Illinois
Mark 1:4-11[1]
This is not a sermon
about current events.
Did Jesus sin? Most
people would shout “Of course not!” But why, then, did Jesus get baptized? John
was “proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.” (1:4). The Nicene Creed, adopted by the
Church in 325 CE, states that Jesus “became truly human.”[2] Jesus was born, lived, and died as a human,
and we likely agree that all humans sin. Now, I’m not really trying to make a theological
argument, or even really focus on whether or not Jesus sinned, whether or not
he was perfect. My point is this: Jesus was born in to a world where no one is
without sin, and he sought out the baptism of John.
Our world is not
dualistic; there is no pure black and white, good and evil, right and wrong.
There are only shades of gray. Every decision we make, every action we take
exists in a complex web of interaction with every other person, every other
being. Perhaps an illustration here would help.
Exodus 20:15 reads
“You shall not steal.” It is one of the Ten Commandments. Roseanne (not her
real name) was caught stealing from Jewel. At her trial, it became clear that,
while she was guilty, she did it in order to feed her child. She is a single
mother, the baby’s father long gone. Her parents died in a house fire a few
years ago, and she doesn’t have any relatives that she knows. She can’t hold a
job because she can’t leave her child alone, and can’t afford daycare. Was it
absolutely wrong for her to steal? I’m not so sure. But let’s take a step back.
She lives in an
apartment building a few blocks from my house. I have seen her before, but
never spoken to her. I am her neighbor, yet I can’t honestly say that I love
her as myself. I live as if completely detached from her existence, yet we both
shop at Jewel. I vote and pay taxes, so I am an active participant in the legal
system that will imprison her. Is it a sin to force a mother to abandon her
child? If so, then isn’t the system itself implicated in sin?
Many of my clothes
were made in a sweatshop in China or Vietnam. Is it a sin to oppress workers? The
natural gas that cooks my food came from a fracking operation that has poisoned
the well water of hundreds of people in North Dakota. Is it a sin to poison
water? Sin surrounds us; that’s just the way it is. However much we wish to distance
ourselves, we are linked with school shooters, drug dealers, and soldiers who
tortured prisoners in
This is the world
that Jesus was born into. Did he sin? Probably not intentionally, but he was a
real human being living in the real world where sin permeates the very air. He
is one of us and all of us, every one of us, need forgiveness. So, let’s go
down to the river to pray.
The people were
filed with expectation, and they hoped John would have some answers for them.
One after another they ask him, “What should we do?” The world is full of sin,
and so am I, so what am I to do? The economy is struggling, jobs are scarce,
people are sick and scared, and we are still at war. What are we to do? So,
they came out to be baptized by John. It helped to be baptized, to be washed
clean inside and out. But still, something was missing. Something more powerful
was needed in order to really change things. The water was nice, but where was
the fire? Where was the Holy Spirit?
Jesus was baptized, along
with “people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem”
(1:5). The baptism of Jesus wasn’t something unusual. There was no special
ceremony just for him, or even a bit of dialogue between John and Jesus in Mark’s
story. Instead, Jesus just gets in line and is baptized along with everyone
else, mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, sinners. It is only after the baptism, when Jesus comes up
out of the water, that the Holy Spirit descends from heaven. For Mark, this is where
it all begins, down by the river, with baptism and prayer.
Jesus, in this
moment, was more like us than we expect. He didn’t just appear and march right off
to save the world. Before he started his ministry, he went with the sinners
through the waters of baptism; he was washed clean, made ready for a new
beginning. He prayed for strength and received power beyond himself. He faced
the temptations in the wilderness, testing his commitment.
Messiah, son of God,
member of the Trinity Jesus may be, yet the power of God’s Holy Spirit had to
be received. And just as he did, we receive the Holy Spirit through baptism and
prayer. We celebrate baptism only once, though we may remember it from time to
time. It is through prayer that the disciples learn the power God from Jesus,
and prayer will renew and strengthen the disciples and to enable them to endure
suffering, face hardship, and find guidance for their ministry, through all the
centuries, even to this day.
Baptism is where we
find renewal. We acknowledge who we are, and what has come before, and we ask
for forgiveness. We repent of sin, turn away from evil, and turn toward God. We
ask for a new beginning, and we are given a fresh start. Every time we remember
or celebrate a baptism, a confirmation, or welcome a new member, we renew our promise
to be Christ’s disciples. And it is in prayer that we receive the power to
fulfill that promise. Through prayer we open ourselves to the influence of
God’s Holy Spirit.
Like a dove it came,
as the heavens were torn apart, descending upon Jesus. It was the Spirit,
filling Jesus, which powered his ministry. And the Holy Spirit is not limited
to Jesus alone. The message of Pentecost is the promise that the Holy Spirit is
available to all of us. In the second chapter of Acts, when they were all
together in one place, “All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:4).
Just as the Holy
Spirit gave Jesus the power to teach and to heal and to continue on in the face
of opposition and threats, we are also able to tap into that power. The Holy
Spirit gave the disciples the encouragement, the patience, and the strength to
carry on the ministry of Jesus, and to love an angry, sinful world, and angry,
sinful people, again and again. We too can depend upon the Holy Spirit to give
us the spiritual stamina to carry on through difficult times, to make a
difference in people’s lives, and to bring love and peace to our sinful world.
But if we are to
trust in that power, if we are to trust that prayer really does connect us to
God, perhaps we need to remember what else happened in that moment by the
Jordan River. “A voice came from heaven, ‘You are my Son, the Beloved; with you
I am well pleased’” (4:11). Jesus, born as a human being, one of us, is
identified as the child of God. It was in that moment that Jesus knew who he
was, and whose he was. When Jesus heard those words from God, they changed his
life forever. And they can change our lives as well.
The world is a hard
place to live when you don’t know who you are. We wander as though we are lost,
searching for ourselves. But we need not be lost. We need only remember our
baptism. As the water dripped down from our hair, with family and friends
gathered round, we heard these words: “The Holy Spirit be upon you, child of
God, disciple of Christ, member of the church.”[3] You are a child of God. You are loved. God
is pleased with you. The words that came from heaven that day were not for the
ears of Jesus only, but for all of us. As we pray for the strength to live and
to love, let us hear what God is saying to each of us: “You are my child. I
love you. You make me very happy.” Amen.
[1] The
scripture quotations contained herein are from the New Revised Standard Version
Bible, copyright © 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National
Council of the Churches of Christ in the
[2] First
Council of Nicaea, 325 CE. Translation used by permission of the United Church
of Canada.
[3]
Reprinted from Book of Worship © 1986
by permission of the United Church of Christ Office for Church Life and Leadership,
p. 143.
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