January 10, 2021
4 John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 5 And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. 6 Now John was clothed with camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. 7 He proclaimed, “The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. 8 I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”
9 In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 10 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. 11 And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”
Parker was helping me clean out my home office recently. We purged many things. But one thing I could not let go over, to Parker’s dismay, was my Rand-McNally map for the United States. I know it does not have the same value it once did, when it helped my cross the country on a road trip, but I just like having maps I can see and touch. GPS can get me to my destination, but it does not orient me to the world around me. Maps do. When I first moved here, maps helped me to see that Santa Cruz is north of Aptos, that the San Leandro river emerges from the Santa Cruz mountains and gave a perspective on what “The Hill” really means on the way to San Jose.
Our Gospel lesson also gave many geographic landmarks – Judean countryside, Jerusalem, the Jordan River and Nazareth. We see all of those on the map- the Judean countryside is between the Dead Sea and the Mediterranean. I almost wanted to liken those to Aptos, Santa Cruz, the San Leandro River, and San Jose, because that is how they would be heard. When we consider this biblical story in that light, we realize that place is important, and maps are important.
“For this reason, Christians are ever in need of a map of the world from a biblical point of view; and that is what the Gospel of Mark holds before us on this Baptism of the Lord Sunday” an article in Presbyterian Outlook expressed. The article continues, “Its opening chapter narrates the launching of Jesus’ ministry at the moment of his baptism, when his identity and the direction and focus of the ministry before him come into clear view. Before he even appears on the scene, John the baptizer identifies him as one who provides the pattern, the orientation, the direction, the path that we are to follow — one that begins with baptism and the reception of the Spirit, and leads to mission, opposition, a cross and resurrection” (Presbyterian Outlook, 1.10.21).
When the Holy Spirit descends upon Jesus, it is described as a dove, taking us back to the dove bringing the olive branch after the flood and the new mapping of the world. At Jesus’ baptism, the dove does not simply alight on Jesus, because in the Greek, eis auton can be said to have come into him. He is infused with the Spirit from God. That is why John said, Jesus will baptize you with the Holy Spirit. A new reality has come into the world, through baptism.
Baptism is one of only two sacraments that we practice- the other being Communion. Yet many of us do not even remember our baptism. That is why when we honor the baptism of Jesus, we often recall our own baptism and the power it has in our lives.
Recently Carolyn Crocker mentioned her appreciation of the us reclaiming our baptism a few years back by taking a blue stone from a basin of water. This is the stone I claimed from the waters that day, one that I keep in on my nightstand. It is a way of reminding us that our baptism is more than water on our head, it is a sacred moment when we join with Christ in his death and resurrection and are filled with the Holy Spirit, infused with the Holy Spirit. Our baptism is an orienting moment in our lives, one that defines who we are as Christians. Keeping with the mapping theme, our baptism is our compass in the world helping us find our way and guiding us. Jesus is always our true North, giving bearing and direction to our lives.
We are in need of a compass, a map after the week we have had. A place, the seat of our nation’s legislature, was breeched and violence ensued. The Capitol Building is a symbol for our country and the democracy we hold so dear. We were horrified and dismayed when we saw how these historic halls were violated, and our leaders threatened. It unsettled us as Americans, it darkened the light of our democracy, it was a sad day for our country. It will be a long while before we come to terms with all that happened, but it is important to know that our Constitution is strong and continues to be a map to guide our way as a republic.
In a similar way scripture guides our way as people of faith. Returning to the Presbyterian Outlook article we hear, “Mark tells us that when Jesus first shows up on the scene, he does not appear where we might have expected — not in Jerusalem, in the temple, the holy place, in the company of holy people. Rather he shows up in the wilderness and submits to John’s baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, which places him alongside sinners and broken people.” Places him alongside us. Jesus shows us the way to the grace of baptism, to the transforming power it holds and how it orients our lives.
“But most important of all: When Jesus emerges from the waters of his baptism, something happens that remaps the world, that entails nothing short of what Gordon Lathrop in “Holy Ground” calls a remapping of the cosmos. For Mark tells us that as he came up out of the water, he saw the heavens being “ripped apart” and the Spirit descending like a dove upon him — identifying and empowering Jesus as one who maps the very trajectory of God in the world and as one in whom God is decisively at work to reclaim and restore God’s good creation. It is important to note that the heavens do not simply “open,” for something that opens can close. Mark tells us that the heavens were ripped apart – that reality was irreparably altered as a fissure in the heavens appeared – marking a permanent elimination of the boundary between heaven and earth. Lathrop describes it as the hole in the cosmic map of the universe. And as Jesus’ baptism prefigures our own baptism, it is this hole in the map of the universe that orients our lives. This means that for Christians, the center of our maps is not in the nation’s capital city — it is not Washington, D.C….. Neither is our current locale the center, wherever that may be. It is not in Jerusalem or New York or London or Beijing or Rome. The center of the Christian map is the baptismal font, over which there is symbolic hole in the heavens. This is where we hear a voice that tells us the truth about ourselves, claiming us as God’s own beloved children, and where God’s own Spirit claims us and anoints us for service. The hole in the cosmic map of the universe also means that God is on the loose in this world in Jesus’ ministry and in our own in discipleship to Christ. God’s transforming power is on the loose in this world, challenging everything that distorts and disfigures human life and God’s good creation, and empowering us to lend our energies to God’s project of healing what is broken” (Presbyterian Outlook 1.10.21).
So we as baptized Christians,
will soon reaffirm our baptism,
will reclaim God’s Holy Spirit descending upon us,
will bear witness to God’s remapping of the world around the baptismal font. Let us open our hearts once again to the Holy Spirit and the power of God to remap our lives as servant Christians. Amen.
