It’s been a challenging week, to say the least. An already tenuous election process brought fresh division and horror on Wednesday as we watched a mob of white supremacists storm the Capitol building where lawmakers met to certify the electoral college votes.
In the wake of this destruction and violence, many asked, “Is this really who we are as a nation?” The answer, to others, was clearly, “Yes.” The depth of our division and the vastly different realities we seem to inhabit just became impossible to ignore. Something was torn apart, and what was revealed was not pretty. But perhaps it means that we can finally tell the truth about who we are, and decide who we really want to be.
Torn apart. Cleaved. Divided. That’s how the Gospel writer describes what happens to the heavens as Jesus is baptized. He had joined John and the crowds in the wilderness, had stepped into the same waters as so many who were seeking forgiveness, and yet his baptism revealed something different, something more. From the torn-apart heavens, the Spirit descended and a voice proclaimed, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well-pleased.”
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| Photo by Jeremy Bishop on Unsplash |
In Mark’s gospel, there is no birth story. No Bethlehem, or shepherds, or stable. No Mary, or Joseph, or angels. Instead, in Mark’s gospel, Jesus’ baptism is the first thing that takes place. It is the grounding for the rest of his ministry. In one sense, though, the gospels all begin in the same place: with the declaration that God has come near to us in the person of Jesus. The heavens have been torn apart, and there is no longer any barrier that divides us from God’s presence. As in Mark's gospel, the good news of Jesus in our own lives begins with the proclamation of God’s presence and favor in the midst of chaos, wilderness, and uncertainty.
Though today’s designation on the Church calendar is “Baptism of Our Lord Sunday”, it is valuable to spend time remembering our own baptism, as well. We celebrate that through water and the word, God comes near and the Spirit descends on us. Through God’s declaration, we received salvation, forgiveness of sins, and new life with and in Christ.
In baptism, we hear the truth about who we are: sinners in need of forgiveness, and also beloved and well-pleasing to God. Not because we are good or deserving, not because we believe the right things, but because God declares us to be so. Baptism declares that our primary identity is “Child of God”, and all other allegiances come behind it.
In baptism, we receive the Holy Spirit. It is the Spirit’s presence that empowers us to live into the gifts and promises of baptism. Daily we die to sin and rise to new life in Christ. Daily we reject sin and anything that divides us from God and from one another. Strengthened by the Spirit, we proclaim Christ through word and deed, care for others and the world God made, and work for justice and peace.
While baptism is individual, it is also communal. In the waters of baptism, we are joined to one another as members of the body of Christ in this place and across time and space. As folks are baptized in our midst, the congregation promises to support and pray for them in their new life in Christ. Together we seek the life and flourishing of all, “give thanks and praise to God, and bear God’s creative and redeeming word to all the world.”
In these times of uncertainty, division, and fear, we rejoice that God’s promises are stronger than the things that threaten to tear us apart. Grounded in the assurance that we belong to God, we are sent to proclaim the truth of the good news of Jesus: that love is stronger than violence and hatred, that God comes to us with forgiveness and grace, and that we belong to one another in the Body of Christ.
When it seems like our lives and our world are torn apart, it can be hard to know that God is present with us in the midst of it. Let the tearing apart of the heavens in this gospel story be a comfort to you. In doing this, God declares God’s desire to be present with us in the torn-apart times of our lives, and in the midst of chaos, wilderness, and uncertainty. In tearing apart the heavens, God shows us, yet again, that nothing can separate us from God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
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