By: Deacon Desirée Johnson, assistant curate at
Christ the King Anglican Church.
Nassau, Bahamas.
Let us pray: Creator Spirit, who hovered over the waters at creation’s birth, who descended in the form of a dove at Jesus’ baptism, who was poured out under the signs of fire and wind at Pentecost: Come to us, open our hearts and minds, so that we may hear the Word of life and be renewed by your power, for you live and reign with God and Christ now and forevermore. Amen.
Some words from our Gospel reading, Mark 1:11:
And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”
We began our new liturgical year last November in the Season of Advent, waiting in the dark for the long-expected Messiah and the return of our coming King. Then, during the festive Season of Christmas, we heralded the fulfillment of God’s promise of a Saviour and the coming of Jesus, the one true Light, into the world. We are now in the Season of Epiphany, the season of growing light, where we celebrate the revelation or manifestations of God as a human being in Jesus Christ.
These showings of Jesus’ divinity include the coming of the Magi, the revelation of Christ to all the nations, his baptism, and the miracle of the wedding at Cana-in-Galilee where he miraculously changed water into wine.
Today, on this First Sunday After The Epiphany, we celebrate The Baptism of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Each of our lectionary readings this week point to the revelatory manifestations of God – that is, they show God’s presence and movements in the world.
- In Genesis 1, God is present in creation: In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth… Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light.
- In Psalm 29, God’s glorious presence is in a storm that God brings about, controls, and then releases: The voice of the LORD is over the waters… The voice of the LORD shakes the wilderness.
- In Acts 19, the people experience the presence of God in their own bodies: When Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied.”
- And in Mark 1, God is present in Jesus Christ as he begins his public ministry: And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”
In the opening chapter of the Gospel according to Mark we read about the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist in the River Jordan. Mark tells us that John’s baptism was one of repentance; it was an outward display – a cleansing by water – of an inward desire to turn from sin and turn to God. His ministry was not good news… John said that the baptism of the one who was coming after him was good news. John’s ministry, therefore, was to prepare people to hear and receive good news. Jesus’ baptism by water and the Spirit is one of transformation; it is not just an outward display of desire to be free from sin. It is also the inward change, by God’s grace, of turning that desire into reality by the transforming power of the Holy Spirit.
But why did Jesus – who knew no sin – come to John to receive the baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins? Matthew 1:21 tells us that Jesus came to save his people from their sins. And, as we discussed in our Bible Study last week, the very name Jesus means “Yahweh/God saves.” So, by getting in that line and identifying himself with sinners Jesus serves as the bridge between humanity and God.
The immersion of Jesus in the Jordan revealed his relationship with humanity. Since his baptism was witnessed by people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem who confessed their sins and were baptised by John in the river Jordan and, we know that:
- Jesus’ place was among the sinful,
- Jesus’ power was for the sinner, and
- Jesus mission was to the sinner.
My sisters and brothers in Christ, Jesus came to save the lost. He did not need to repent or turn from sin, rather, his baptism served as a sign to John, and future generations of believers, that he was the Messiah.
By consenting to this baptism, John and Jesus acted together in obedience to God. Baptised by John and anointed by God, Jesus is now ready to begin his ministry in solidarity with the lost…to begin his journey to the cross.
Being counted with sinners in baptism, Jesus would die as a sinner, crucified on a cross. And as he rose from the waters of baptism, Jesus would, in his glorious resurrection, rise from the grave victorious over death.
Jesus comes up from the waters of baptism, his identity and purpose renewed and sealed, ready to begin his public ministry. God’s spirit descends on him like a dove, and God’s voice, echoing the prophecy of Isaiah, says, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”
By his proclamation at Jesus’ baptism, God reveals three things about his relationship Jesus:
- that Jesus belongs to him,
- that Jesus is chosen by him to love, and
- that Jesus delights his soul!
And this is Good News for us as Christians today because by our own baptisms we share in the loving union of the Trinity – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Apostle Paul tells us that: “When you were buried with him in baptism, you were also raised with him through faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead.” Jesus’ baptism released God’s Spirit in a new way; through Jesus, the Holy Spirit would be offered to all!
So, let us reflect briefly on each of these three things that Jesus’ baptism revealed about his relationship with God and on what that means for us.
A sound like thunder proclaimed: “You are my Son.”
At his baptism, God claimed Jesus as his Son…meaning that Jesus belonged to him, that he was a part of his family. At our birth, we usually belong to our parents – and that sense of belonging is supposed to give us security and stability as we grow up. However, we know that sometimes our parents fail us: they fail us by their absence, abuse, lack of love or acceptance. And we feel rejected.
At our baptisms, we are marked as God’s own and belonging to God should provide us with a level of comfort that surpasses all others…even that of our earthly parents. Belonging to God is consistent, pure, selfless, fulfilling, and everlasting. As God’s children, we can always rely upon Him for guidance, correction, protection, and salvation. His Word says He will never leave us or forsake us. God intends for us to know that as his children we are wholly accepted by him and welcomed into his family.
A sound like thunder proclaimed: “You are the Beloved.”
God’s use of the word “beloved” teaches us a key principle about his kind of love. Beloved indicates an action on the part of the one doing the loving…it indicates that God has intentionally chosen Jesus to pour out his love upon.
1 John 3:1-2 states: “See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and that is what we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God’s children now.”
It is difficult for us to accept unconditional love today; maybe because the world is lacking this kind of love…opting instead for a reciprocal or conditional kind of love… the you scratch my back and I’ll scratch your back kind of love. The what’s in it for me kind of love. But the God of the universe has chosen to love us… not because of who we are, but because of who He is. Our role in our relationship with God is simply to BE-LOVED.
A sound like thunder proclaimed: “With you I am well pleased.”
“Well pleased with WHAT?” Because at this point in the Gospel narratives Jesus really had not done anything to warrant God’s pleasure. The first public act that Jesus does is to HEAR the voice of God, the voice of love, affirmation, and acceptance. Before he heals, teaches, walks on water, or overturns the tables of the money changers, Jesus pleases his Father, delights his Father’s soul, and receives his love and approval.
Unfortunately, it is not so easy for us to hear the voice of God today, to hear “You are my son, my daughter, my beloved; in you I am well pleased.” It is hard to hear that we are enough…that God loves, approves, accepts, and delights in us …just because we are his children. That we do not need to do anything or earn his love and acceptance.
It is easier for us to hear the negative voices that constantly say to us that we are not enough: not rich, smart, successful, pretty, or thin enough. These voices too often drown out the voice of God which tells us that he delights in us.
Psalm 149:4 says that we can know that God delights in us because he saved us. “For the LORD takes pleasure in his people; he adorns the humble with victory.” We have the assurance that God has crowned our lives with the best and most beautiful adornment – the gospel of his beloved Son, who laid down his life for our sins!
My sisters and brothers in Christ, on this day we celebrate not only Jesus’ baptism but our own as well, for our baptism is rooted in Christ. Baptism joins us to Christ and his church, and with all the baptised we are called to share in Jesus’ ministry. In the waters of our baptism, we are buried with Christ, cleansed of our sins, and raised to share in his resurrection. The Holy Spirit is given to us and we are declared the children of God.
There is a phrase that we can adopt to help us not only remember but live out our baptismal identity daily – that phrase is “living wet.”
Living wet means that we live with an awareness, an acceptance and an embrace of our baptismal identity: that we belong to God, that God has chosen to love us, and that God takes great delight in us – not because of who we are but because of who He is.
So, “live wet” my sisters and brother’s in Christ…because…
YOU are God’s son, YOU are God’s daughter, the Beloved; in YOU he is well pleased. Amen!