Mark 1:4-11
Epiphany 1, Year B
Prayer: Come Holy Spirit, come. Take my lips and speak with them. Take our minds and think with them. Take our hearts and set them on fire with love for you. In Christ’s name, we ask it. Amen.
So it was a Friday night in December my senior yea r of college at UT and, though I should have been studying for finals, I spent the night out on the town with friends. When I got home about two in the morning, I jumped into bed and flipped on the television and there on the screen was an infomercial for something like the greatest Christmas hits of all time. Scrolling on the screen were the names of all the songs and singers that were on this Christmas compilation. And playing through the speakers were short clips of each song…Nat King Cole crooning away at Winter Wonderland and Bing Crosby singing White Christmas and the such.
Well I began getting a little nostalgic, a little teary-eyed. I am certain the festivities earlier in the night with my friends had helped my sentimentality along. Well I began thinking…a little less than logically…I am a senior in college…graduating in May…I am becoming a grown-up…I’m 22...need to find a job…start a family…buy a house…but what if I am not ready to be all grown up…I wonder…I just wonder if I will still always be able to go home for Christmas. So in my moment of anxiety and homesickness, I picked up the phone and called mom.
Mom answered the phone after a couple of rings and in a sleepy and slightly concerned voice said, “Hello.” I responded immediately, “Mom, it’s Miles.” She said, “I know.” I continued, “Mom, now that I am graduating from college and entering the “real” world will I still be able to come home for Christmas?” There was a very long pause…finally she responded simply, “You better.” Then after a moment she added, “And don’t ever call me at two in the morning again unless you are in jail or the hospital.” Then there was another pause following which she concluded, “Check that…only if you are in the hospital.” And she hung up.
With tears in my eyes, I repeated her words out loud, “You better…you better.” But those words that night said to me much more…so much more… than simply “you better”. She said to me in her own way that night, “You are my son…I love you…and even if you call me at two in the morning…I am pleased with you. You are my son and with me you will always have a home…a home within the arms of my loving embrace.”
Our gospel lesson today tells the story of Jesus’ baptism in the Judean wilderness, in the water of the River Jordan, by his cousin John. Jesus’ baptism marks the beginning of his active ministry: preaching and teaching about God’s incredible love and offering healing for those who needed it on the inside and out. And in Mark’s gospel, as the water flowed past Jesus’ ears and his head emerged from the river, Jesus heard his Father say, “You are my son, the Beloved, with you I am well pleased.” Like I experienced that night on the phone with my mother, I imagine those were the exact words Jesus needed to hear just at that moment, as he began his ministry of teaching and healing…words of blessing, encouragement and great love.
In fact, this is not the first time, though, that these words are found in scripture, Psalm 2, which is a coronation psalm used during the anointing of the kings of Israel, reads, “I myself have set my king upon my holy hill of Zion…‘You are my Son; this day have I begotten you. Ask of me, and I will give you the nations for your inheritance and the ends of the earth for your possession.’”
Jesus who was steeped in the words of the Hebrew Scriptures would certainly know this passage well, and, therefore, hear his Father call him son…tell him he is beloved…that his Father is well pleased with him…and further that he is God’s anointed one…God’s King and Messiah. The one who, also as Jesus would know, that Isaiah prophesied about, when he said, “The spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me; he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to the prisoners; to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
So what sort of king or messiah would Jesus be? Well certainly not one ruling through political power or military might…but one who brings to God’s people healing and freedom and good news to those who so desperately need to hear that they are loved and that they always have a home within the arms of God’s loving embrace.
There were likely hundreds maybe even thousand of people who were watching Jesus go under and come up from the river that day, people who had wandered out into the wilderness to enter the water of the River Jordan to receive their own baptism. So what was calling them out of the comfort and the convenience of their villages and cities? What led them on this journey to the wilderness and into the hands of a strange man named John, dressed in camel’s fur who lived off of locusts and wild honey? What initiated their quest to this remote place in the Judean desert? What were they hoping to find and hear as their heads dipped beneath the rushing water of the River Jordan? What were they looking for? What did they hope to hear?
Perhaps the answer is something like what I hoped to find and hear that late night I picked up the phone and called my mom…perhaps they were looking for someone to call them son or daughter…to hear that they are loved…that someone takes great delight in who they are, as they are…to know they have a home within the arm’s of love Himself.
And this is our journey, our quest, as well. We all wander through desert times in life when we feel isolated or are missing a loved one separated from us by distance or death. We all find ourselves, at times, lost in the wilderness formed by our own poor choices. We are all looking, at one time or another, to be washed by clean, flowing water that removes the stain left by a heart badly broken. We are all looking for a home that promises acceptance and healing…a home that is made not of bricks and mortar…but of love…a home that is not a place but a person…our Messiah…our King…Jesus.
And the good news today is that we have already found that home through the water of our own baptisms…whether that was in the rushing water of a river, or the still water of a pool or the sprinkling of water over a head above a font in a church.
So whenever you hear the sound of water rushing by, or gurgling in a fountain, or just rushing out of the tap into your tub…hear your King, your Messiah, Jesus say…you are my child…I love you…I take delight in you…you are within the arms of my loving embrace…you are home. Amen.
Epiphany 1, Year B
Prayer: Come Holy Spirit, come. Take my lips and speak with them. Take our minds and think with them. Take our hearts and set them on fire with love for you. In Christ’s name, we ask it. Amen.
So it was a Friday night in December my senior yea r of college at UT and, though I should have been studying for finals, I spent the night out on the town with friends. When I got home about two in the morning, I jumped into bed and flipped on the television and there on the screen was an infomercial for something like the greatest Christmas hits of all time. Scrolling on the screen were the names of all the songs and singers that were on this Christmas compilation. And playing through the speakers were short clips of each song…Nat King Cole crooning away at Winter Wonderland and Bing Crosby singing White Christmas and the such.
Well I began getting a little nostalgic, a little teary-eyed. I am certain the festivities earlier in the night with my friends had helped my sentimentality along. Well I began thinking…a little less than logically…I am a senior in college…graduating in May…I am becoming a grown-up…I’m 22...need to find a job…start a family…buy a house…but what if I am not ready to be all grown up…I wonder…I just wonder if I will still always be able to go home for Christmas. So in my moment of anxiety and homesickness, I picked up the phone and called mom.
Mom answered the phone after a couple of rings and in a sleepy and slightly concerned voice said, “Hello.” I responded immediately, “Mom, it’s Miles.” She said, “I know.” I continued, “Mom, now that I am graduating from college and entering the “real” world will I still be able to come home for Christmas?” There was a very long pause…finally she responded simply, “You better.” Then after a moment she added, “And don’t ever call me at two in the morning again unless you are in jail or the hospital.” Then there was another pause following which she concluded, “Check that…only if you are in the hospital.” And she hung up.
With tears in my eyes, I repeated her words out loud, “You better…you better.” But those words that night said to me much more…so much more… than simply “you better”. She said to me in her own way that night, “You are my son…I love you…and even if you call me at two in the morning…I am pleased with you. You are my son and with me you will always have a home…a home within the arms of my loving embrace.”
Our gospel lesson today tells the story of Jesus’ baptism in the Judean wilderness, in the water of the River Jordan, by his cousin John. Jesus’ baptism marks the beginning of his active ministry: preaching and teaching about God’s incredible love and offering healing for those who needed it on the inside and out. And in Mark’s gospel, as the water flowed past Jesus’ ears and his head emerged from the river, Jesus heard his Father say, “You are my son, the Beloved, with you I am well pleased.” Like I experienced that night on the phone with my mother, I imagine those were the exact words Jesus needed to hear just at that moment, as he began his ministry of teaching and healing…words of blessing, encouragement and great love.
In fact, this is not the first time, though, that these words are found in scripture, Psalm 2, which is a coronation psalm used during the anointing of the kings of Israel, reads, “I myself have set my king upon my holy hill of Zion…‘You are my Son; this day have I begotten you. Ask of me, and I will give you the nations for your inheritance and the ends of the earth for your possession.’”
Jesus who was steeped in the words of the Hebrew Scriptures would certainly know this passage well, and, therefore, hear his Father call him son…tell him he is beloved…that his Father is well pleased with him…and further that he is God’s anointed one…God’s King and Messiah. The one who, also as Jesus would know, that Isaiah prophesied about, when he said, “The spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me; he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to the prisoners; to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
So what sort of king or messiah would Jesus be? Well certainly not one ruling through political power or military might…but one who brings to God’s people healing and freedom and good news to those who so desperately need to hear that they are loved and that they always have a home within the arms of God’s loving embrace.
There were likely hundreds maybe even thousand of people who were watching Jesus go under and come up from the river that day, people who had wandered out into the wilderness to enter the water of the River Jordan to receive their own baptism. So what was calling them out of the comfort and the convenience of their villages and cities? What led them on this journey to the wilderness and into the hands of a strange man named John, dressed in camel’s fur who lived off of locusts and wild honey? What initiated their quest to this remote place in the Judean desert? What were they hoping to find and hear as their heads dipped beneath the rushing water of the River Jordan? What were they looking for? What did they hope to hear?
Perhaps the answer is something like what I hoped to find and hear that late night I picked up the phone and called my mom…perhaps they were looking for someone to call them son or daughter…to hear that they are loved…that someone takes great delight in who they are, as they are…to know they have a home within the arm’s of love Himself.
And this is our journey, our quest, as well. We all wander through desert times in life when we feel isolated or are missing a loved one separated from us by distance or death. We all find ourselves, at times, lost in the wilderness formed by our own poor choices. We are all looking, at one time or another, to be washed by clean, flowing water that removes the stain left by a heart badly broken. We are all looking for a home that promises acceptance and healing…a home that is made not of bricks and mortar…but of love…a home that is not a place but a person…our Messiah…our King…Jesus.
And the good news today is that we have already found that home through the water of our own baptisms…whether that was in the rushing water of a river, or the still water of a pool or the sprinkling of water over a head above a font in a church.
So whenever you hear the sound of water rushing by, or gurgling in a fountain, or just rushing out of the tap into your tub…hear your King, your Messiah, Jesus say…you are my child…I love you…I take delight in you…you are within the arms of my loving embrace…you are home. Amen.
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