A Sermon on Mark 1:4-11 Corinna Fong
*Acknowledgement of sources used is contained in footnotes.
Let us pray. May the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts, be acceptable in your sight, O Lord.
And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. And a voice came from heaven “You are my Son, the Beloved, with you I am well pleased.”
Have you ever had anyone tell you they were or are well pleased with you? Perhaps by someone who loves you?
Some time ago I watched a movie called the “Blind Side” starring Sandra Bullock. It was about one mother’s initial trust and wanting to help a homeless boy, Michael, whose father dies and whose mum who is a serious drug addict. He went to the same school as her son, Sean. She grew to love this boy and the family adopted him. Later, Michael improved his academic grades and went on to become a college football sensation. This was a story about initially an adopted mother’s love and then the whole adopted family’s love and support for this poor boy, who went on to make them “well pleased” and of course, it changed Michael’s life.
In the gospel passage for today,from Mark 1:4-11, God loved his only son Jesus.
Let us not underestimate the warm, fuzzy feeling we get when we are told that we have pleased someone else, especially someone who we love and who loves us in return. The gospel writer does not tell us, but I would imagine Jesus would have felt pretty good to hear God’s voice, from heaven. And seeing the heavens opened and the spirit descending would have made it even more special on the occasion of Jesus’ baptism.
Jesus wanted to identify with those who were being baptised by John.He didn’t want to draw attention to himself, but to be part of those taking up the call to God’s future. [1] Later in Mark’s gospel that is clear too.
Leading up to the time Jesus was baptised was a sad one for the Jewish people. They had suffered, and were oppressed. The heavens being torn apart was a good thing; a sign things were going to get better.[2]. Anod the anointing Spirit as Jesus comes out of the water reminds us of the creative Spirit sweeping over the face of the waters, in Genesis 1:2. Renewal, restoration this time, rather than creation.A new age is coming,that of God’s kingdom or reign. [3]
Jesus shares a special relationship with his abba, father- God and God reveals Jesus’ identity. It is also about affirming Jesus. God is pleased because Jesus is obedient and he came to earth to do the will of his father.In these verses the stage is set, and the story is paved according to God’s instructions.[4] Jesus shows this in his ministry over the rest of the gospel, of teaching and healing. The Gospelof Mark ends with a non- Jew, the centurion in 15:39 when Jesus dies, affirming Jesus as God’s son, as stated at the beginning of Mark’s gospel.
As Jesus was coming out of the water, the heavens were opened and the Holy Spirit descended on him, and Jesus heard You are my Son, the Beloved, with you I am well pleased.
We may be inclined to think this is just a good story. But it is not any story. It is a story that even though it is about Jesus, the Jews, Christians’ story as a whole, it is like a personalized t-shirt, it is also ours.That’s the best part.
The story is ours when we accept Jesus Christ’s story as our own.
In our baptism, yes, I’m assuming all here are baptised, similar things happen to us as happened to Jesus when he was baptised:
1) The Spirit of God comes into us and remains in us.
2) We are declared to be a child of God.
3) We hear that God is well pleased with us. [5]
Through baptism, there is the promise to change, sealed by water, while Jesus empowers this promise, through the Holy Spirit.[6]
With you I am well pleased. God is well pleased with Jesus; he was obedient to God his father.In Luke’s gospel we are told Jesus grew in wisdom and stature. (Luke 2:52).
Jesus’ mission as well as teaching and healingis to draw human beings in filial relationship to God as well. The latter happens in baptism.One of the most important realities of life is to know that God is well pleased not only with Jesus, but with us as well. God delights in Jesus and also delights in us. God delights in our God given uniqueness, even though we are sinful by our very nature. To know that God is pleased with us transforms our lives.[7]That doesn’t mean we are perfect, or don’t sin, or that everything thatwe do pleases God. Or that we always feel drawn to God.
I recently completed a unit of Ignatian spirituality as part of my course last year, in which one of the rules was about in times of desolation (when you feel yourself drawn away from God), you do not despair for your faith life but keep going full speed ahead!
The central message of the lectionary readings is that no matter what is weighing us down, or how badly we feel we have failed, or anyother suffering-- there is always the opportunity for a new day and a new beginning with God. That is good news indeed!
Let us remember that Baptism is a one-time event that takes our whole lives to complete. [8]God always offers us great comfort and support, as he loves us and knows we try not to fail. There are points for effort. All we need to do is ask God, especially when we feel God is absent or in difficult times. Let us always be mindful to aim to please God by our thoughts and our actions, so as to be good, obedient children of God. Just like Jesus.
In conclusion, I would like to share this Meditation from Henri Nouwen, Catholic priest and writer.
Claiming the Identity of Jesus
When we think about Jesus as that exceptional, unusual person who lived long ago and whose life and words continue to inspire us, we might avoid the realisation that Jesus wants us to be like him. Jesus himself keeps saying in many ways that he, the Beloved Child of God, came to reveal to us that we too are God's beloved children, loved with the same unconditional divine love.
John writes to his people: "You must see what great love the Father has lavished on us by letting us be called God's children - which is what we are." (1 John 3:1). This is the great challenge of the spiritual life: to claim the identity of Jesus for ourselves and to say: "We are the living Christ today!"
As TiS491 says “ Let us daily die to sin, let us daily rise with him, walk in the love of Christ our Lord, live in the peace of God”.
AMEN
The Source of All Love
Without the love of our parents, sisters, brothers, spouses, lovers, and friends, we cannot live. Without love we die. Still, for many people this love comes in a very broken and limited way. It can be tainted by power plays, jealousy, resentment, vindictiveness, and even abuse. No human love is the perfect love our hearts desire, and sometimes human love is so imperfect that we can hardly recognise it as love.
In order not to be destroyed by the wounds inflicted by that imperfect human love, we must trust that the source of all love is God's unlimited, unconditional, perfect love, and that this love is not far away from us but is the gift of God's Spirit dwelling within us.
Empowered to Receive Love
The Spirit reveals to us not only that God is "Abba, Father" but also that we belong to God as his beloved children. The Spirit thus restores in us the relationship from which all other relationships derive their meaning.
Abba is a very intimate word. The best translation for it is: "Daddy." The word Abba expresses trust, safety, confidence, belonging, and most of all intimacy. It does not have the connotation of authority, power, and control, that the word Father often evokes. On the contrary, Abba implies an embracing and nurturing love. This love includes and infinitely transcends all the love that comes to us from our fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, spouses, and lovers. It is the gift of the Spirit.
1
[1] William Loader, Lectionary thoughts.wwwstaff.murdoch.edu.au/loader
[2] Bruce Prewer Lectionary Resources.
[3]
[4]Preaching the New Common Lectionary, Year B, Advent, Christmas & Epiphany, Craddock et al., Abingdon Press, USA, 1984, pages 105-107.
[5] Sermons from Seattle. Series B- Baptism of Jesus.
[6] Excerpts from Lectionary sermons.
[7] Sermons from Seattle. Series B & C- Baptism of Jesus. seattle.com
[8] William Willimon, Peculiar Speech, Eerdmans Publishing, USA, 1992. Page 66.