The Baptism of our Lord | Epiphany 1 | Ordinary Time 1
Preaching
Lectionary Preaching Workbook
Series VIII, Cycle B
Revised Common
Genesis 1:1-5
Acts 19:1-7
Mark 1:4-11
Roman Catholic
Isaiah 42:1-4, 6-7
Acts 10:34-38
Mark 1:7-11
Episcopal
Isaiah 42:1-9
Acts 10:34-38
Mark 1:7-11
Theme For The Day
Jesus' baptism reminds us that our own baptism can be a powerful sign of God's presence in our lives.
Old Testament Lesson
Genesis 1:1-5
And God Created Light
These are the beginning verses of the first of two creation stories in Genesis (the second begins at Genesis 2:4b). Out of the void -- out of nothing -- God creates the heavens and the earth. More a theological than a scientific commentary, this deeply loved poetic account portrays a Creator who pushes back the dark void -- the sum of all human fears -- displacing it with a good creation. Displaying mastery over the darkness, God names it night.
New Testament Lesson
Acts 19:1-7
Paul Baptizes Some Disciples Of John The Baptist
In Ephesus, Paul encounters some believers who claim to be Christians -- although upon closer examination it becomes clear that their baptism is in the tradition of John the Baptist, rather than one of the apostles. With a true missionary's flexibility and pastoral sensitivity, Paul affirms the essential goodness of the baptism these earnest seekers have received, then rebaptizes them in the name of Christ. The visible manifestation of gifts of the Holy Spirit that follows is a sign to all of the legitimacy of Paul's apostolic mission.
The Gospel
Mark 1:4-11
The Baptism Of Jesus
We considered the first part of this passage not long ago, on the Second Sunday Of Advent, when Mark 1:1-8 was the Gospel Lesson. The overlapping portion, common to these two Sundays, vividly describes John the Baptist's activity in baptizing the repentant in the Jordan River. It also makes clear John's subordination to Jesus: he is awaiting one greater than himself, whose sandal he is not worthy to untie. The second part of today's selection describes the baptism of Jesus himself, with the heavens "torn open," the Holy Spirit descending "like a dove" and a heavenly voice declaring "You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased." Mark's use of schizomai, "torn apart," in verse 10 is significant, because the only other time he uses this word is in 15:38, when the temple veil is torn from top to bottom at Jesus' death. The beginning and the end of Jesus' ministry are thus bracketed by God's direct intervention: cracking open the boundary between the heavens and the earth, the sacred and the profane.
Preaching Possibilities
The Baptism Of Our Lord -- which for most churches today is one of the lesser celebrations of the Christian year -- was of prime importance for the early church. One of the few events recounted in all four gospels, the details of each account are substantially similar. The details of this incident -- particularly the clear subordination of John the Baptist to Jesus -- served for the early church as an opportunity for teaching Christology, in opposition to various false teachers who portrayed Jesus as either pure spirit or less than divine. In submerging his body in the river in this very physical rite, Jesus takes his place with ordinary men and women. At the same time, in receiving the spectacular supernatural blessing from God, Jesus is shown to be spiritually unique.
Later generations have struggled with the question of whether Jesus' allowing himself to be baptized is consistent with his sinless nature, particularly since John's baptism is described as "a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins" (v. 4). This does not appear to be a question that troubled the early church; they would have been far more interested in the theophany and divine benediction aspects of the story, and in John's comment about one greater than himself coming after him. There is, in fact, no mention of Jesus confessing sins in the context of his baptism. We can view it as an act of solidarity with fellow-believers, in much the same way as Jesus seems to have undergone every other religious rite an observant Jew of his day would have participated in. Does Jesus himself need to be baptized? No. Do we need him to have been baptized? Yes.
The Baptism Of Our Lord is a prime opportunity to teach the significance of the sacrament of Baptism. For centuries -- at least in churches where infant baptism is the norm -- the sacrament has been relegated to a peripheral role, becoming at times little more than a celebration of childhood and family life. In church architecture, the baptismal font itself has too often been located in an inconspicuous place -- or worse yet, it has taken the form of a small bowl that's hidden away entirely, and brought out only when needed. The liturgical renewal movement has urged Christian believers to rediscover the centrality of our baptism -- not just at the beginning of life, but through all our days. This is consistent with today's text: if Jesus thought it important enough a rite to receive it himself, and if all four gospel writers give it a central role, then who are we to let it degenerate into a celebration of babyhood?
This Sunday is an excellent opportunity to lead the people in one of the excellent modern liturgical rites for the reaffirmation of baptismal vows. Some congregations have started doing a formal vow-renewal celebration each year at this time.
George MacLeod, founder of Scotland's Iona Community, is well known for his concept of "thin places," geographical locations where God seems to be especially present. Baptism is a sort of thin place, although in a non-geographical sense. We no longer espouse the sort of cosmology evident in the narratives of Jesus' baptism -- in which heaven is "up there" and we are "down here" -- but still we can see the sacrament as an occasion in which God does create (if only for a moment) a gap in the boundary separating earth from heaven. As Martin Luther used to take comfort in recalling his own baptism, so we, too -- at any stage in life -- can discern the gracious intervention of the Spirit in our baptisms, and consider it as a sign of God's gracious accommodation to our needs.
Prayer For The Day
We acknowledge, O God, that we all have a watermark. It's not a mark that we or anyone else can see. But marked we are: marked with your love. Help us to remember that, in our baptism, we are set apart -- set apart for service. Amen.
To Illustrate
"You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased." What a wondrous thing it is to feel the pleasure of God. It's what we feel when we respond to God's call in our life -- quite independently of any success we may experience.
It's what the character Eric Liddell feels in the movie, Chariots of Fire. Eric Liddell was a real person, a track star who just may have been the fastest man in the world in 1924. Yet, Eric is also the son of a missionary, and in the film his sister is trying to talk him into returning to China, rather than going for the gold in the Paris Olympics.
"God made me fast," Eric tells his sister, "and when I run, I feel his pleasure." Eric goes on to win the 400-meter race: a much longer race than the 100-meter for which he had trained, but from which he had dropped out because the qualifying heat was on a Sunday.
***
There is another Olympic story that has to do with feeling the pleasure of another -- and it's one of the most remarkable stories in sporting history. In the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, Derek Redmond of Great Britain had dreamed all his life of winning a gold medal in the men's 400-meter -- the same race, incidentally, in which Eric Liddell won his gold. Redmond's dream seemed to be in sight, as the starter's gun sounded at the semifinals.
As he rounded the turn into the backstretch, Derek Redmond felt a piercing pain in the back of his right leg. The next thing he knew, he was lying face down on the track, having experienced the runner's worst nightmare: a torn hamstring.
What happened next has become the stuff of sporting legend. As the first-aiders approached, Redmond somehow struggled to his feet. "It was animal instinct," he would say later. He began hopping, in a crazed attempt to finish the race.
The crowds looked on, in silent amazement. When Redmond reached the home stretch, a large man in a T-shirt leaped down from the stands, hurled aside a security guard, and ran over to the runner, embracing him. It was Derek's father.
"You don't have to do this," he told his son.
"Yes, I do," insisted the son, through bitter tears. "Well, then," said his father, "we're going to finish this together." And there, before the eyes of the entire world, the son's head sometimes buried in his father's shoulder, the two men hobbled along in his lane all the way to the end, finishing the race.
The crowd went wild. Derek Redmond did not leave Barcelona with his dreamed of gold medal. But he did return home with a precious memory of a father who looked down on his beloved son, with whom he was well pleased.
***
It can be a powerful thing to know we are in God's favor. There's a story that illustrates this, told by the preacher Fred Craddock. It seems he and his wife were vacationing in the Smoky Mountains, when a distinguished older gentleman came to their table in the hotel dining room. He was, as it turned out, a celebrity: a former governor of Tennessee. When he discovered Craddock was a professor of preaching, the man said he had a story to tell him, about a preacher.
It seems that, when the governor was born, his mother wasn't married. He never knew his father. In the Southland of that era, that led to a difficult childhood. The other children used to taunt him and call him names. They used to ask him when his father was coming back. Whenever he was out with his mother in public, he was painfully aware that he had but one parent.
One day, when he was about ten, this boy was in church. Usually, when the service was over, he found his way discreetly out the back door -- which meant that he never talked to the minister, never had to share his name. On this particular occasion, though, the boy got swept up in the crowd -- and before he knew it, there was the pastor, at the front door, his hand extended.
"Well, son," the preacher's voice boomed out, "whose boy are you?" He could hardly have asked a more embarrassing question. The boy flushed and started to stammer -- but before he could say anything more, the preacher (still gripping his hand) said: "I know! ... You're God's son!" He slapped him on the shoulder and said, "Boy, go claim your inheritance."
The boy never forgot that incident. He never forgot the preacher's kindness in not drawing attention to his single-parent family. He never forgot the way he sent him out, either: "Go claim your inheritance!" Long after he became one of the most popular governors in Tennessee history, this man still delighted in telling the story of the day the preacher told him he was a child of God.
Genesis 1:1-5
Acts 19:1-7
Mark 1:4-11
Roman Catholic
Isaiah 42:1-4, 6-7
Acts 10:34-38
Mark 1:7-11
Episcopal
Isaiah 42:1-9
Acts 10:34-38
Mark 1:7-11
Theme For The Day
Jesus' baptism reminds us that our own baptism can be a powerful sign of God's presence in our lives.
Old Testament Lesson
Genesis 1:1-5
And God Created Light
These are the beginning verses of the first of two creation stories in Genesis (the second begins at Genesis 2:4b). Out of the void -- out of nothing -- God creates the heavens and the earth. More a theological than a scientific commentary, this deeply loved poetic account portrays a Creator who pushes back the dark void -- the sum of all human fears -- displacing it with a good creation. Displaying mastery over the darkness, God names it night.
New Testament Lesson
Acts 19:1-7
Paul Baptizes Some Disciples Of John The Baptist
In Ephesus, Paul encounters some believers who claim to be Christians -- although upon closer examination it becomes clear that their baptism is in the tradition of John the Baptist, rather than one of the apostles. With a true missionary's flexibility and pastoral sensitivity, Paul affirms the essential goodness of the baptism these earnest seekers have received, then rebaptizes them in the name of Christ. The visible manifestation of gifts of the Holy Spirit that follows is a sign to all of the legitimacy of Paul's apostolic mission.
The Gospel
Mark 1:4-11
The Baptism Of Jesus
We considered the first part of this passage not long ago, on the Second Sunday Of Advent, when Mark 1:1-8 was the Gospel Lesson. The overlapping portion, common to these two Sundays, vividly describes John the Baptist's activity in baptizing the repentant in the Jordan River. It also makes clear John's subordination to Jesus: he is awaiting one greater than himself, whose sandal he is not worthy to untie. The second part of today's selection describes the baptism of Jesus himself, with the heavens "torn open," the Holy Spirit descending "like a dove" and a heavenly voice declaring "You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased." Mark's use of schizomai, "torn apart," in verse 10 is significant, because the only other time he uses this word is in 15:38, when the temple veil is torn from top to bottom at Jesus' death. The beginning and the end of Jesus' ministry are thus bracketed by God's direct intervention: cracking open the boundary between the heavens and the earth, the sacred and the profane.
Preaching Possibilities
The Baptism Of Our Lord -- which for most churches today is one of the lesser celebrations of the Christian year -- was of prime importance for the early church. One of the few events recounted in all four gospels, the details of each account are substantially similar. The details of this incident -- particularly the clear subordination of John the Baptist to Jesus -- served for the early church as an opportunity for teaching Christology, in opposition to various false teachers who portrayed Jesus as either pure spirit or less than divine. In submerging his body in the river in this very physical rite, Jesus takes his place with ordinary men and women. At the same time, in receiving the spectacular supernatural blessing from God, Jesus is shown to be spiritually unique.
Later generations have struggled with the question of whether Jesus' allowing himself to be baptized is consistent with his sinless nature, particularly since John's baptism is described as "a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins" (v. 4). This does not appear to be a question that troubled the early church; they would have been far more interested in the theophany and divine benediction aspects of the story, and in John's comment about one greater than himself coming after him. There is, in fact, no mention of Jesus confessing sins in the context of his baptism. We can view it as an act of solidarity with fellow-believers, in much the same way as Jesus seems to have undergone every other religious rite an observant Jew of his day would have participated in. Does Jesus himself need to be baptized? No. Do we need him to have been baptized? Yes.
The Baptism Of Our Lord is a prime opportunity to teach the significance of the sacrament of Baptism. For centuries -- at least in churches where infant baptism is the norm -- the sacrament has been relegated to a peripheral role, becoming at times little more than a celebration of childhood and family life. In church architecture, the baptismal font itself has too often been located in an inconspicuous place -- or worse yet, it has taken the form of a small bowl that's hidden away entirely, and brought out only when needed. The liturgical renewal movement has urged Christian believers to rediscover the centrality of our baptism -- not just at the beginning of life, but through all our days. This is consistent with today's text: if Jesus thought it important enough a rite to receive it himself, and if all four gospel writers give it a central role, then who are we to let it degenerate into a celebration of babyhood?
This Sunday is an excellent opportunity to lead the people in one of the excellent modern liturgical rites for the reaffirmation of baptismal vows. Some congregations have started doing a formal vow-renewal celebration each year at this time.
George MacLeod, founder of Scotland's Iona Community, is well known for his concept of "thin places," geographical locations where God seems to be especially present. Baptism is a sort of thin place, although in a non-geographical sense. We no longer espouse the sort of cosmology evident in the narratives of Jesus' baptism -- in which heaven is "up there" and we are "down here" -- but still we can see the sacrament as an occasion in which God does create (if only for a moment) a gap in the boundary separating earth from heaven. As Martin Luther used to take comfort in recalling his own baptism, so we, too -- at any stage in life -- can discern the gracious intervention of the Spirit in our baptisms, and consider it as a sign of God's gracious accommodation to our needs.
Prayer For The Day
We acknowledge, O God, that we all have a watermark. It's not a mark that we or anyone else can see. But marked we are: marked with your love. Help us to remember that, in our baptism, we are set apart -- set apart for service. Amen.
To Illustrate
"You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased." What a wondrous thing it is to feel the pleasure of God. It's what we feel when we respond to God's call in our life -- quite independently of any success we may experience.
It's what the character Eric Liddell feels in the movie, Chariots of Fire. Eric Liddell was a real person, a track star who just may have been the fastest man in the world in 1924. Yet, Eric is also the son of a missionary, and in the film his sister is trying to talk him into returning to China, rather than going for the gold in the Paris Olympics.
"God made me fast," Eric tells his sister, "and when I run, I feel his pleasure." Eric goes on to win the 400-meter race: a much longer race than the 100-meter for which he had trained, but from which he had dropped out because the qualifying heat was on a Sunday.
***
There is another Olympic story that has to do with feeling the pleasure of another -- and it's one of the most remarkable stories in sporting history. In the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, Derek Redmond of Great Britain had dreamed all his life of winning a gold medal in the men's 400-meter -- the same race, incidentally, in which Eric Liddell won his gold. Redmond's dream seemed to be in sight, as the starter's gun sounded at the semifinals.
As he rounded the turn into the backstretch, Derek Redmond felt a piercing pain in the back of his right leg. The next thing he knew, he was lying face down on the track, having experienced the runner's worst nightmare: a torn hamstring.
What happened next has become the stuff of sporting legend. As the first-aiders approached, Redmond somehow struggled to his feet. "It was animal instinct," he would say later. He began hopping, in a crazed attempt to finish the race.
The crowds looked on, in silent amazement. When Redmond reached the home stretch, a large man in a T-shirt leaped down from the stands, hurled aside a security guard, and ran over to the runner, embracing him. It was Derek's father.
"You don't have to do this," he told his son.
"Yes, I do," insisted the son, through bitter tears. "Well, then," said his father, "we're going to finish this together." And there, before the eyes of the entire world, the son's head sometimes buried in his father's shoulder, the two men hobbled along in his lane all the way to the end, finishing the race.
The crowd went wild. Derek Redmond did not leave Barcelona with his dreamed of gold medal. But he did return home with a precious memory of a father who looked down on his beloved son, with whom he was well pleased.
***
It can be a powerful thing to know we are in God's favor. There's a story that illustrates this, told by the preacher Fred Craddock. It seems he and his wife were vacationing in the Smoky Mountains, when a distinguished older gentleman came to their table in the hotel dining room. He was, as it turned out, a celebrity: a former governor of Tennessee. When he discovered Craddock was a professor of preaching, the man said he had a story to tell him, about a preacher.
It seems that, when the governor was born, his mother wasn't married. He never knew his father. In the Southland of that era, that led to a difficult childhood. The other children used to taunt him and call him names. They used to ask him when his father was coming back. Whenever he was out with his mother in public, he was painfully aware that he had but one parent.
One day, when he was about ten, this boy was in church. Usually, when the service was over, he found his way discreetly out the back door -- which meant that he never talked to the minister, never had to share his name. On this particular occasion, though, the boy got swept up in the crowd -- and before he knew it, there was the pastor, at the front door, his hand extended.
"Well, son," the preacher's voice boomed out, "whose boy are you?" He could hardly have asked a more embarrassing question. The boy flushed and started to stammer -- but before he could say anything more, the preacher (still gripping his hand) said: "I know! ... You're God's son!" He slapped him on the shoulder and said, "Boy, go claim your inheritance."
The boy never forgot that incident. He never forgot the preacher's kindness in not drawing attention to his single-parent family. He never forgot the way he sent him out, either: "Go claim your inheritance!" Long after he became one of the most popular governors in Tennessee history, this man still delighted in telling the story of the day the preacher told him he was a child of God.
