Genesis 1:1-5
Psalm 29
Acts 19:1-7
Mark 1:4-11
Eight years ago, shortly before Easter, we visited London where my brother and his family were living at the time. I recall going to the National Gallery and doing an audio tour of artwork depicting the life of Christ. We came upon a 15th century painting by Piero della Francesca called “The Baptism of Christ.”
I remember being totally absorbed in it as we listened to the description. The painting shows Jesus in the center facing the onlooker, with hands held together in prayer posture. He is standing in the middle of a narrow river, right at the border between dry riverbed in front of him, and water extending like a sinuous mirror behind him.
To the right, John the Baptist has one foot on the riverbed and one on solid bank, delicately pouring water over Jesus’ head with a bowl. A dove hovers directly above the bowl.
To the left are three barefoot angels standing on the grass looking almost startled as they watch what is happening.
In the background, a man on the bank is arched over the water, with a tunic bunched up over his head – is he putting it on or pulling it off? Everything about the painting is still and breathless, poised at the junction between past and future.
What’s missing, though, is the tearing open of the heavens – this image is almost too serene, cerebral, and controlled. Mark says, “just as Jesus 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.” The only indication that anything is actually amiss is the look on Jesus’ face: he can see what no one else there can see; he can hear what no one else there can hear. Perhaps in this moment, he at last understands the depth of what he has been called to – and he soberly accepts his commission. He is the Beloved Son who has come from the Father, and He is the one sent to proclaim freedom to the captives. In fact, he IS the proclamation.
This one, this human and divine one, has come to bind himself to us and carry us up out of the waters of death and chaos. This one, our true brother and mother, has come to bridge and heal and restore the division between earth and heaven. As he ascends from the water, the Holy Spirit descends upon him, and so upon us. The heavens have been torn open, and nowhere in Scripture does it say they have been closed up again. We simply have to have eyes to see, and ears to hear.
There are places on earth called “thin places” where one can feel heaven’s closeness. I have experienced this myself in northern New Mexico, and in the First Nations lands of South Dakota. Others have experienced this in Iona, and other sacred sites. In these places, the normal boundaries of space and time seem to give way to seamless connection of earth and water and sky and their creatures.
The river Jordan may be such a place in scripture. It was by the banks of the Jabbok, a tributary of the Jordan, that Jacob wrestled with the angel until he received a blessing. In the time of the Exodus, it was the Jordan that separated the wilderness from the Promised Land. Moses never made it to the Promised Land, he only saw it from a distance across the Jordan River. But he laid hands on Joshua who received the spirit of wisdom, and led the people across the Jordan to take possession of the land. Be strong, God said to Joshua, for I am with you wherever you go.
In a similar way, John the Baptist never saw the culmination of Jesus’ ministry on earth, but he baptized Jesus in the Jordan for the work of repossessing God’s kingdom from oppressive Roman rulers and corrupt religious authorities. John called Jesus the “stronger one” because he would baptize the people with the Holy Spirit. Notice Joshua and Jesus are essentially the same name – they both derive from the Hebrew expression “YHWH is salvation”, “YHWH makes whole,” or simply “YHWH, help!”
The signs of the heavens being torn open that appear in Mark are not cerebral, or serene, or controlled. Jesus was baptized to do concrete works of healing, feeding, and casting out demons. We tend today to place a lot of emphasis on how our spirituality makes us feel – this has no place in Mark’s gospel. For Mark it is about receiving supernatural grace from the Holy Spirit to love the unloveable (sometimes including ourselves) and to do good works. It is about being given authority from the Author of salvation himself to cast out the demons of our present day: injustice of all kinds, disease, violence, greed, abuse of creation, and perhaps the most incipient demon of all – complacency. It is about participating in the ongoing tearing open of the heavens, exposing ourselves and our world to the raw edges of a love so fierce that it feels more like a burning fire than a sweet white dove.
Today we will witness the baptism of three infants and a young woman. This church is a community of believers, and a river runs through it bringing the legacy of the Jordan. On one side is the wilderness of fear – on the other side is the Promised Land of abundant life. I believe that through the outward and visible sign of water, these persons will be given inward and spiritual grace to continue Jesus’ work of healing and reconciling heaven and earth. The babies will grow in grace and wisdom, just like their Savior. The young woman will receive courage and steadfastness to use her God-given spiritual gifts for the work of the kingdom in her particular day to day sphere of influence.
And all of us who witness this event will renew our own baptismal covenant, remembering that we too are the Beloved, marked as Christ’s own forever;
that we too are called to works of justice, healing, and mercy; and that we too share in the tearing open of the heavens.
As it says in Second Timothy, God did not give us a spirit of fear, but rather a spirit of power and of love.
May we all be filled with the Holy Spirit and go forth to shine light in this world and proclaim freedom to the captives.
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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Last Updated on Monday, 30 January 2012 10:41
