Mark 1:4-11

1 Epiphany B | January 7, 2024 | Mark 1:4-11 | Luther H. Thoresen |

Note 1: All quotes in the sermon are from the English Standard Version.

Note 2: This initial two paragraphs in italics of this sermon might be used as the basis for a Children’s message. If not used that way, one might adapt it as the beginning of the “usual” sermon, or insert part of it later in the sermon…or later in the service.

Good morning. In the Gospel reading today we heard about Jesus’ baptism. I’ll talk more about that in the regular part of the message in a little bit. For now, I ask, “Have you been baptized?” (allow answers) If so, great! Maybe ask your parents to tell you about the day, even if you remember some of it yourself. If you have not been baptized, maybe you could talk to your parents about whether that is something to do in the future. Anyway, a few years ago, I read¹ about a pastor who had baptized a 2 year old girl. Before the baptism itself, the pastor asked the girl who loved her. She pointed to each of the people who had gathered with her family for the baptism. The pastor asked the girl, “How do they show that they love you?” The pastor was thinking about things like food, play together and keeping warm. But the girl pressed a finger to her cheek and said, “Kiss.” The girl did the same thing again. Thinking on her feet, the pastor said, “Baptism is God giving you a kiss that will last your whole life long.” A year later, the pastor was at a store quite a few miles from home and a little 3 year old girl ran up to her and said, “Kiss. God kissed me. I got baptized.” Then the girl’s mother chimed in to say that all year the little girl had been telling everyone how God kissed her because she was baptized.

I like that. When we are kissed by a parent, or grandparent or a child we often feel it all through our body. Right? I think God’s “kiss” in baptism touches our whole body and soul…even if we don’t feel it in the same way. In baptism services we poured water and say words like these, “______ (name) is baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” We do not repeat those things. However, shortly after the water and those words, we often mark the person’s forehead with the sign of the cross and say, “______ (name), child of God, you have been sealed by the Holy Spirit and marked with the cross of Christ forever. Amen” That part can be repeated anytime. I think today would be a good time. I would offer to mark each of you and say those words. I use an oil that smells good (myrrh), so that you and your parents might remember that when you were baptized God kissed you. OK? If you don’t want me to mark you, that’s OK, I’ll only say the words for you and make the sign in the air. So, here we go! (time to mark each child) Let’s pray: God, thank you for sending your son as a way to show love to all people; thank you for the love you have shown to us in holy baptism; thank you for your kiss through baptism. Amen.

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen

Lightning cracks; thunder rolls…and you know that the two are related. Lightning and thunder come from the same atmospheric event. You also know that we see lightning first, and hear thunder seconds later because light travels faster than sound. We often see a flash of lightning and then wait for the “boom.” We know it’s coming. This is not to explain the tearing of the heavens at Jesus’ baptism as lightning. It is not to explain the voice from heaven as thunder. Yet the experience of these are similar.

Jesus goes into the River Jordan to be baptized by John. Jesus comes up out of the water and the heavens are torn apart. In telling the same story, gospel writers Matthew and Luke use a word for “opened”…the heavens opened. But Mark choses the words “torn apart.” The verb in Greek is schizomai. There is a related words in English – with the same root. One word is schism – a division among people. The other is schizophrenia – a mental health issue when a person seems to have a divided mind.

Tear, schizomai, is a visual word – like lightning across the sky. Also, tear seems permanent. Right? If you open a door, you can close it. But if you tear a sheet of paper it is not going back together easily. You can open a window and close it. But if you tear a cloth it will not go back together. If you tear out carpet or tear out a wall, you don’t expect them to be put back the same at all. We even speak of an “open heart” and that might also become closed. However, if a heart is torn it seems permanent.

A torn heart or a torn person may seem like a sad thing. That’s how pop artist Natalie Imbruglia used the word in a song a number of years ago simply called “Torn.” I’ll share a few of the lyrics – we are not going to sing it or hear the music, but the poetic words are interesting. The song writers penned these words: “I thought I saw a man brought to life. He was warm, he came around like he was dignified. He showed me what it was to cry. Well you couldn’t be that man…you don’t seem to know, don’t seem to care what your heart is for…That’s what’s going on. Nothing’s fine. I’m torn. I’m all out of faith. This is how I feel. I’m cold and I’m shamed…I’m wide awake and I can see the perfect sky is torn. You’re a little late. I’m already torn.”²

However, with our Gospel text, the heavens are torn, so that the Spirit might descend into Jesus. Differently than Natalie’s’ song, when a heart is torn by God it is so that the Spirit might descend into you and me.

In the text, the Spirt, the Wind, the Breath descends…like a dove. I do not know literally what Jesus saw. The Gospel writer simply describes “like a dove.” You know we cannot see the wind, or spirit or breath. We say that we “see our breath” in the cold of winter. What we do see is water vapor in our breath that is quickly freezing into ice crystals. We don’t see the air itself, like we cannot see the wind.

In the text, the Spirit descends like a dove. That is why on many baptismal fonts and baptism banners we see the figure of a dove. The Spirit came to Jesus at his baptism, and the Spirit comes to us in Holy Baptism. Part of Mark’s surprise is this: John the baptizer had said that the one who is mightier would baptize with the Holy Spirit. Yet here the mighty one is baptized by John and the Spirit comes to him.

I recall being in a college choir in the mid 1970’s.  We sang for a large congregation in suburban Minneapolis, with a large sanctuary. Just about everything in their worship space was big. The baptismal font was substantial, but not huge. However, above the font, there was a 3 dimensional dove with wings spread as if flying…with a wingspan of about 5 or 6 feet. It hung just high enough so that no one hit their head, and was suspended with thin cables.  Visually you could not miss it. Nor could you miss the implication that the Spirit is there at baptisms.

The heavens are torn, the Spirit descends like a dove “on” Jesus. Some scholars suggest that “on” might be translated “into.” This would imply that when the Spirit descends into Jesus, from now on Jesus is “possessed” by the Spirit. Later in Mark Jesus will be accused of being possessed by another spirit…an evil spirit. But, from the beginning of the story, you and I know that Jesus is possessed by the Spirit of God.

A voice comes from heaven. We heard in the 1^st reading that when God speaks things happen! God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. The Psalm said, “The voice of the LORD is powerful.” Then, there were all those poetic ways of speaking of that powerful voice. The voice “breaks the cedars…makes Lebanon to skip like a calf…flashes forth flames of fire….shakes the wilderness…strips the forests bare…” I would say that God’s voice is powerful…but not because it is loud like thunder. God’s voice is powerful because of what it does. God’s voice is just as powerful with a whisper as it is with a shout. God’s voice does what God says.

What does the voice do? “My Son…Beloved…Pleased.” All this is said of Jesus before Jesus does any ministry. Named God’s child, named as Beloved, One with whom God is pleased…before any ministry. Yet this Spirit drives Jesus into the wilderness for temptation, and then his ministry begins. This is also true for us! In baptism you are named as God’s child, Beloved, one with whom God is pleased…before we “do” anything as service to others! Paul puts it this way in the letter to the Romans (5:8), “but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Elsewhere Paul says with almost cosmic words, “he [God] chose us in him [Christ] before the foundation of the world.” (Ephesians 1:4)

Mark begins the story of Jesus with his baptism and the things that happen at the Jordan River. Like a “bookend” there are 3 or more echoes of this story at the end of Mark’s gospel.

First, at Jesus’ death, the veil of the temple is torn in two from top to bottom…a descending tear. This was probably the veil at the entry to the temple complex. The veil was described by the ancient historian Josephus as an 80 foot tapestry. It was, he writes, a “tapestry, with embroidery of blue and fine linen, of scarlet also and purple, wrought with marvelous skill…Portrayed on this tapestry was a panorama of the entire heavens.”³ At Jesus’ baptism, the heavens are torn; at his death the tapestry of the heavens is torn.

Also, you know that the Spirit descended upon or into Jesus at baptism. When Jesus died, he cried out with a loud voice and breathed his last…the breath, the Spirit was gone out of him.

Finally, you know that a voice from heaven called Jesus “son” at his baptism. Right after Jesus breathed his last, a voice of a soldier, a human voice says, “Truly this man was the son of God.”

All of this – torn heavens, Spirit, voice – all of this so that God might embrace anew all of God’s children. All of this so that you and I might be kissed by God now and forever.

Because of Jesus’ baptism, because of Jesus’ death and resurrection, Jesus stands with us in our baptism. When you were baptized, the heavens were torn apart…and I would add our hearts were torn open…and the Spirit descended like a dove into each one of you. A pastor said ______ (name) ________ (name) ______ (name) is baptized in the name of the Father, son and Spirit. At the same time, God spoke. God said, “You are my child. You are my beloved. I am pleased with you.”

Today, all because of Jesus, hearts are torn by God so that Spirit may descend anew into you. Hearts are torn by God so that a voice might speak anew into every chamber of your heart, “child, loved, pleased.” Today, you are kissed anew by God.

You are one kissed by god. You are one with Holy Spirit in you. You are one with heavens and heart torn apart. You are one called “child, beloved and one with whom God is pleased.” May you go from this place, from this time together to serve your neighbors so that they may experience the same God in Christ.

Amen.

Now, may the peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen

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Pr. Luther H. Thoresen, ELCA, STS, retired           thoresenluther54@gmail.com

¹ This anecdote was shared (with a few more details) by Pastor Ann Larson as a “comment” that was part of a conversation about baptism on the ELCA Clergy Facebook page, January 8, 2015.

² For a complete set of lyrics see https://www.lyricsfreak.com/n/natalie+imbruglia/torn_20098240.html (my source) or other online lyrics sites.

³ The article by David Ulansey I referenced for this portion of the sermon was originally published in Journal of Biblical Literature 110:1 (Spring 1991) pp 123-25. It is available online at http://www.mysterium.com/veil.html .