A Sermon on Mark's Account of Jesus' baptism

            I am convinced that there are not many new ideas coming out. For the most part, folks take what already exists and put it in new packaging or reword a phrase or two and then say it’s new. Think about your cell phones. We’re bombarded with constant ads that we need new ones that are better somehow. Really it’s the same thing, just coming out of a new box.

            At times, when we follow the Church year it feels like there’s nothing new. We move from one thing to the next because, as the Church, it’s what we do. The Church doesn't really think of time like we do in our everyday lives. Generally, we think of time in a linear fashion; there’s a beginning, middle and end. So it’s already a shift in thinking when the Church year, although it technically does have a beginning (first Sunday of Advent) and end (Christ the King Sunday), is a circle. With a perfect circle there’s no beginning or end. But what if I asked you to rethink the church calendar once more? What if I asked you to think of the Church year more as a spiral? We still get to go around in a circular fashion but we don’t stay flat. Picture a spring - it goes around but also moves slowly upwards in direction. We’re still growing and changing, even though it may seem like we’re going around the same places. So what are we growing into then if we shift our thinking into being a spiral?

            This morning’s Gospel reading we go back to the first chapter of Mark and we hear again of Jesus being baptized. But there’s more to the story this time. Jesus is immediately sent out into the wilderness for his 40 days of temptation. This is where we get the number 40 for the 40 days of Lent, excluding Sundays. This section from Mark is then paired up with 1 Peter and we hear more about baptism. We've had John the Baptist’s version of the story, we just heard the writer of Mark’s version of the story and now the author of 1 Peter is telling us again about baptism. Oh the circles. But it’s not a circle – it’s a spiral. Each time we hear the about Jesus’ baptism we get to hear about new meaning. Yes it’s all connected but the community of faith in the times of these writings are growing and changing. By the time that 1 Peter is written there’s a huge problem with the early community. They firmly believed that Jesus was coming back in their lifetimes. Salvation was really at hand. But guess what – people are getting older and dying off and Jesus hasn’t returned. Now what do you do with the story of baptism, the story of death and resurrection that was made to sound like it was imamate in the “prepare the way of the Lord” language we have heard so often? We hear this story at least once a church year so what’s something new can we learn from this story?

            First let’s address the issue of waiting on Jesus to return. Jesus never said that we needed to sit on our butts and wait. Jesus told people to go out and to live and to do – they were called work to bring about the kingdom of God here on earth. They were told to go out and bring people in and not just the people like them or the people who should know about faith. They were called to bring in everyone. There was work to be done and I’m sure folks were tired and their lives were just as hard if not harder than ours today but they did it otherwise we wouldn't be here.

            Let’s look at Peter’s writing one more time. There’s a nice little phrase in the middle – “appeal to God for a good conscience.” It’s sneaky how that’s in the middle because it’s a loaded statement. A good conscience – being able to sleep at night, the knowledge of having done the best you could. When it comes to your work in the life of the Church, in being the kingdom of God in the here and now - how good is your conscience? When pastors ask this question we often get answers in the past tense. “I taught Sunday School. I brought my kids to church. I counseled church camp. I served on a board.” You name it; the statement is in the past tense. When we pastors ask folks what they’re currently doing one rebuttal is “I’m tired. I’m on a break.” And the tricky part for us pastors is when we then move to the next question – so how long is this break going to be?

            How many of us have allowed our break from doing the work of the Church, or truly living out our faith, to last longer than any break? The Church has a part in this problem too. Once we find someone who is willing and able to do the work of faith, we suck them dry. We use them to the point of burn out and then wonder why they don’t answer our calls and emails. Maybe it’s because they've finally realized that they need a Sabbath from being used. The Church has to find ways to work with people and not suck the life out of people. But how many folks have also walked away once they believe their time is served? God never said that you stopped doing work in Genesis. Just because we’re baptized, doesn't mean that the faith journey stops. While physical abilities and time commitments may change, there is still work we all can do.

            May we all, including the Church, find ways to be healthy in its work and that we keep doing our part to faithfully respond to God’s call to us.