Mark 1:4-11
proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 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. Now John was clothed with camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. 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. I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”
In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 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. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”
Here we are at the beginning of the year and here we are at what Mark calls, “The Beginning of the Good News of Jesus Christ, the Son of God”. The beginning for Mark happens as Jesus comes up out of the water, and God says “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.” For Mark it didn’t start with the manger, shepherds or any angels heard on high. It starts, with Baptism. It starts with God saying to Jesus, “With you I am well pleased.” But well pleased about what? I mean, up to this point Jesus hadn’t done… well anything! No healings, no miracles, no walking on water, no water into wine, nothing! He’s maybe been helping out his step dad with the Goldstein kitchen remodel but that’s not really heaven-opening stuff. So what has Jesus DONE to make God so pleased with him? The answer is… NOTHING! Jesus has done absolutely NOTHING to make God well pleased with him! And THAT, my non-fundamentalist, Lutherpalian friends, is the WHOLE point! THAT is what makes this GOOD news!
God is not just pleased, but WELL pleased, simply and only because Jesus is God’s Child… simply and only because they are forever bound together in love. And here’s why Jesus’ Baptism is not just the Beginning of the Good News for Jesus, but is the Beginning of the Good News for you and me as well… YOUR BAPTISM IS NO DIFFERENT THAN JESUS’ BAPTISM!
When any of us come up out of the water, whether sprinkled, poured, dunked, or hosed down from head to toe… each and every one of us pleases God… not for anything that we’ve done or anything we will or won’t do in the future, but simply because we are, like Jesus, God’s child! God declares here on earth what has already and always been true in heaven… That God is not just “regular” pleased with you, but “Well Pleased” with you… WELL PLEASED that you and God are bound up together in an infinite and unbreakable love beyond all human understanding.
Now I know that the “unlimited and unbreakable Divine love” sort of Christianity (a.k.a. genuine Christianity) isn’t the sort that the LOUD and ANGRY people like. They would rather you live in constant fear that God will be disappointed in you, smite you, or abandon you to hell for all eternity if you poke even one pinky toe outside the lines they’ve drawn. They want you live paralyzed by worry that “If I fail, if I go the wrong way, if I’m misled somewhere, if anything leads me off the path, then God won’t like me anymore.”
BUT Mark’s Gospel makes it clear, GOOD NEWS does not begin in FEAR! GOOD NEWS begins in Baptism and that Good News is that you JUST CAN’T MESS UP BAD ENOUGH FOR GOD TO EVER STOP LOVING YOU! That GOOD NEWS is that you have been set FREE! FREE from the worry and fear that God could ever be disappointed in you, smite you, or abandon you to hell for all eternity for poking a pinky toe outside the lines.
Remembering that GOOD NEWS is an excellent place to begin 2024. A year where fundamentalists, Christian Nationalists, and all the other merchants of fear (who are Legion) will be raising their already loud, angry, and relentless sales pitch to never before imagined levels in this country. They will be hard-selling their product of “paralyzing fear” to us and our neighbors with whatever it takes: confusion, hatred, bait and switch, bombast, threats of violence and actual violence as well. They will be selling this paralyzing fear falsely labeled as “christianity” and trying to get you and your neighbors to believe that the best thing… the faithful thing… for us all to do this year is to stay home, lock the door, keep our heads down, keep quiet, and toe whatever line they draw.
They are selling it but I’m telling you, “DON’T BUY IT!” It’s a load of manure! It’s actually not anywhere near as good as a load of manure. Manure you can at least compost and put on your garden. What they’re selling is a toxic sludge no one needs! They will be selling it loudly and relentlessly this year BUT YOU DON’T NEED IT! Why? Because you are Baptized! Because your Baptism has set you free from all they're selling! Instead, let us all begin this year with a relentless determination to live into the GOOD NEWS that begins in Baptism and not in Fear!
What’s that look like? Well in that department, I think the loud and angry people can actually be quite helpful. They have become almost perfectly anti-Christ in their positions. So, if you listen to what they say (and they’re so dang loud you can’t help but here them) and then live into your Baptism by trying different ways to do the opposite, you'll be off to a good start. When they loudly proclaim hatred, we’ll dream up new ways to be about love. When they call people vermin, we’ll know exactly the people we need to reach out to in welcome. When they promote violence, we’ll embrace non-violence. When they want us to be exhausted, stay home alone, and out of the way, we’ll know we need to get up, gather here, recharge one another for the week ahead and live in the world like the fearless, bold, forever loved, baptized children of God we are! Let us not make this a year where we are held captive by fear! Let us make 2024 a year where we live powerfully into the GOOD NEWS of God’s infinite and unbreakable love for all of creation! After all... WE ARE BAPTIZED! Amen.
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