Mark 1:4-11
4 And so John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 5 The whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem went out to him. Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River. 6 John wore clothing made of camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. 7 And this was his message: “After me comes the one more powerful than I, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. 8 I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”
9 At that time Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 10 Just as Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. 11 And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”
Baptism: More Than a Bath
If the season of Epiphany is the time to get to know Jesus, then it makes a certain amount of sense to begin with the way that many Christians throughout the world are first introduced to Jesus – through the sacrament of Holy Baptism. We just read about John’s baptizing in Mark 1. From our 21st century perspective, it may look like a weirdo out in the wilderness dunking a bunch of delinquents in a dirty river, but actually this concept of ceremonial washing would have been quite familiar to the people of that time.
Long before John baptized anyone in the Jordan River, there was this practice of ceremonially washing converts to Judaism. So, a scenario: You’re an Egyptian. You grew up in Cairo. You used to worship multiple gods like Ra and Osiris. But one winter you travel to Israel and you learn about the one, true God, the God of the Bible, the Creator of heaven and earth.
Surprising to you, and shocking to your family, you find that you believe in that God, but you have this pagan past. You might even have a tattoo given to you by a priest or priestess as part of a religious ceremony from what you now understand to be a false religion. Your pagan past literally clings to you. So, before you embark on a new life, committed to worshiping the one, true God, you publicly renounce those false gods of your past, and then you go through a ceremonial washing called baptism. You are cleansed of your former idolatry, and now you are a purified child of God.
I don’t know how many of these convert baptisms happened every day, but they were common knowledge. So, baptism itself wasn’t anything new, but John’s baptism was different. He preached a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. This wasn’t a ceremony exclusively for new believers. It was a practice for everyone because, while we may not all have grown up worshiping the sun as our god, we do all have sin that needs to be confessed and washed away.
John preached a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. Now, those are big and strong words. “Sin” literally just means to do something wrong. To be accused of sin makes you feel like someone’s wagging a finger in your face. No one likes to be called a sinner. It even sounds dirty.
“Repentance” is maybe even more severe. It doesn’t just mean that you’re an imperfect person who sometimes makes mistakes. “Repentance” means that you’re headed the wrong direction. Your whole lifestyle is wrong, and you need to make a change to your habits and maybe even your values.
John would say that we all need to repent because we’re all sinners, but, be honest with me, do you feel spiritually dirty? Do you feel like you’re going the wrong way on the road of life?
Repentance and sin are strong words, and when we first hear them, they often make us bristle and get defensive. But they’re words that we all need to hear. If I never heard God’s expectations of me, I could be steeped in sin without ever realizing it. It doesn’t take long for the little, thoughtless things to accumulate and coat you with a layer of grime and muck and sin.
We’re spending more time now in confined spaces with our family members. Do you always treat your father and mother with respect, or your children as a gift from the Lord? Do you see your spouse as heaven-sent, or have you taken to counting how many times they leave their dirty dishes on the counter, or eat the last of your favourite food in the fridge? Have you noticed how the things that used to be small are now setting you off as if they were major offenses? That’s an example of small sins that we hardly even think about, building up into a habit that we can’t even control.
We’re spending more time online and paying attention to the news, and not all of it is good. We live in time when gut reactions are instantaneously shared around the world, and no one has or takes the time to think or process or formulate a coherent or considerate response. Do you find yourself getting angrier and angrier? Have you written strongly worded posts and comments of your own, or written people off or blocked them altogether? Again, this is an example of seemingly small things that we do without thinking that become part of our lifestyle.
At any given moment you may not feel filthy and sinful – you may not feel like you need to stop and turn yourself around 180 degrees and go the other direction – but when God pops in on us and holds the 10 Commandments up to us like a mirror on a Saturday morning, what do we see?
I see someone who doesn’t worship the sun, but who can sometimes treat God’s Son more like a burden of responsibility than a blessing from heaven. I see citizens who may not storm capitol buildings, but who snipe their leaders with disrespectful comments. I see husbands and wives who get frustrated when their spouses don’t meet their expectations, but who don’t put their spouse’s needs ahead of their own. I see time thieves and deceivers. I see anger and discontent.
In short, I see sin, in myself and in you. I see a need for repentance and forgiveness. But thankfully today, after reading Mark 1, I also see the sacrament of baptism.
John was out in the wilderness washing people’s sins away. This wasn’t a bath. It wasn’t the removal of dirt from the body.[1] It was the promise that in God’s eyes, your sins have been taken away. As far as the east is from the west, so far has God removed your sins from you.[2] And it’s all because of the one John points to.
As he’s baptizing the droves of people who came out to see him, John redirects their attention to the person who matters, “After me comes the one more powerful than I, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”[3] John was preparing the people for the coming of Jesus.
And when Jesus arrives on the scene and is baptized himself by John, God the Father tears heaven open and speaks from the clouds, “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”[4]
Jesus didn’t have any sins that needed to be washed away. Jesus didn’t need to repent and be forgiven. He was perfect – the sinless Son of God, who pleased his Father in every way. But by submitting himself to be baptized, Jesus not only sanctified that water but he also identified himself with you.
Imagine that we were all covered in all kinds of grease and grime, but there was a pool where we could all dive in and be clean, but there’s a catch. Once we’re in and under that water our bodies and clothes are clean, but all that grease sits on the surface like a big black oil slick. If we tried to get back out, the grease and grime would stick to us again.
But along comes Jesus and he’s in these perfectly white, sparklingly clean clothes. He doesn’t need a bath – he doesn’t need to be washed – but he jumps into that pool anyway. And, then, when he steps out of it, all the grease and grime from all of us sticks to him and there’s no oil slick left so that we can emerge from that pool pure and clean. That’s what baptism does.
We, who are sinful, have been baptized. We’ve had our sins washed away, but they don’t just disappear. The sinless Son of God was baptized too, and when he emerged from the Jordan River, he was carrying all our cast-off guilt and shame and sin.
That’s why his Father in heaven sent Jesus into this world, so that he could lift the burden of sin from your shoulders and carry it himself to the cross. There God sacrificed his Son to save you, to take your sins away from you forever and to bury them in Jesus’ tomb. That’s why, three days later, Jesus rose to new life, to assure you that you have new life in him; that your sins cannot cling to you anymore, because they’ve been forgiven. And baptism is the way that God makes that promise to you personally.
Here at St. Peter, we have a visible reminder of that every time you walk in the door. You can see that 3,000lb boulder flowing with the water of baptism and all these little stones with your names on them and remember that you have been washed clean in Christ. You might even have the date that that baptism occurred. When you look at your stone, you can remember that your sins have been washed away, and that Jesus’ perfection became yours in baptism.
Of course, you probably don’t have a 3,000lb boulder at home. But that shouldn’t stop you from remembering your baptism every day. I have my baptismal certificate framed and sitting on my desk. You could dig yours out of the file cabinet and do something similar.
But even if you don’t have any of those things – even if you’re not a past or current member of St. Peter with your name on engraved on a stone – do you know what Luther would recommend? He’d tell you to pray in name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and as you do to make the sign of the cross because that’s what your pastor did for you when you were baptized.
I can’t think of a better way to wrap up our focus on baptism than with the words your pastor spoke over you when you were baptized:
Receive the sign of the cross on your head and on your heart to mark you as a redeemed child of Christ.
I baptize you in the name of the Father and of the Son of the Holy Spirit.
The Almighty God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – has forgiven all your sins. By your baptism you are born again and made a dear child of your Father in heaven. May God strengthen you to live in your baptismal grace all the days of your life. Peace be with you.
Amen.
[1] 1 Peter 3:21
[2] Psalm 103:12
[3] Mark 1:7,8
[4] Mark 1:11