Sunday Sermon 10th Jan 2021

 Mark 1:4-11

I have been fortunate to visit Israel three times, and on two occasions,  we were taken to a place called Yardenit on the river Jordan, which is supposed to be the site of John’s ministry and the place where Jesus came to him to be baptized.  I should say that this is just one of the sites which claim to be the place of baptisms.

But Yardenit is well-established and a great commercial enterprise.  To get close to the river, you pay an entrance fee.  Then you walk through a well-stocked gift shop.  You can also be baptized in the river there, for which you pay a fee and you must wear a long white robe for which you pay another fee.  A great number of people were walking into the river to be baptized, and we were amongst those looking on.   We chose not to be baptized, because I don’t believe we need more than one baptism, and because the river Jordan contains the biggest catfish and water rats I have ever seen.

As you can probably tell, I was not particularly impressed with the set-up.  In fact, I commented to my husband Mike that I thought Jesus would have been appalled at all this commerce.  I was reminded of Jesus going into the Temple to turn over the tables of the money changers.  Because to come to God, there is no cost; we do not have to wear particular clothes or pay an entrance fee.  So as wonderful as it was to see this site, it left me somewhat disappointed.

I am sure that neither John nor Jesus would recognize the site now; it must have looked very different when Jesus appeared before John asking to be baptized.  There has always been much speculation about why Jesus felt the need to be baptized – he was without sin.

One theory of his baptism is that he was making a public confession on behalf of the nation of Israel.  Another theory suggests that he did it to show his support for John and his ministry. For me, it was more that Jesus was identifying with the penitent people of God, and that he was about to begin his public ministry.  Because from the moment Jesus came up out of the water and received the spirit of god descending on him, things changed.

The doctrine of the trinity is present at Jesus baptism.  God the son is baptized; God the father speaks and God the Holy Spirit descends on Jesus.  God is completely present with humanity.

Everything changes for Jesus from now on. No more going back to Nazareth and working as a carpenter.  From now on Jesus will accept the ministry which has been his since before his birth.  I cannot remember my baptism at all; I am of the age when the decision of parents to bring children for baptism was not even considered – children were done without argument, even in a family like mine which never went to church.

I doubt very much the children we baptize have any idea of what their parents are asking on their behalf.  Because in baptism a life of faith has begun.  It is the beginning of getting to know and understand what being loved and accepted by God means.

Baptism for each of us unites us with Jesus and with each and every believer through the ages.  We become aware of the divine, and we are changed forever.  It was the same for the magi and the shepherds who went seeking the baby Jesus.  They came searching for the messiah and after they found him they returned to their homes by another route.

The different route home for the magi show the changes which they experienced after meeting the divine.  They were changed men, and the old routes and paths were no longer the right way home.

The scriptures are full of stories of people who encountered Jesus and who were never the same again.  Not just those people he healed, not just those people to whom he showed unconditional love; even those people who despised Jesus were never the same after they met him.

When we really encounter Jesus we become changed as well.  We cannot go back pretending that we do not think or feel differently. We cannot unknow what we now know. We do not see the world in the same way, and we cannot accept things which were previously acceptable. 

We cannot pretend that we have not encountered God, and try to deny that encounter, because many people, myself included, have tried that, and on that route there is only misery, and the knowledge that there is within us a God-shaped hole which must be filled for us to be whole and happy.

I do not know if any of you have made the famed New Year resolutions.  But let me suggest that a resolution we should all make and keep is to keep walking towards God, accepting the twists and turns and bumps in the road. Let us live such lives that people recognize that there is something different about us.  We are changed people, not perfect people, but people who know what God’s love is worth.

Faith is a journey onto which God has invited us.   God invites to encounter him and then to go back to our lives, but this time taking the divine with us. That is the journey of faith.

We all have our own journey, but we travel together.

AMEN