Aligning with Jesus
Today is the 1st Sunday in Lent – it seems to have come early this year ! Wasn’t Christmas only a few weeks ago ?
Anyway, Lent is a time for reflection, a time for thinking about where we are in our relationship with God. Of course, it’s often associated with giving things up, particularly nice things ! Things like chocolate for example…
But it’s actually much more about deepening our relationship with God – not just for a specific time from now up until Easter, but doing something that makes a lasting difference for us… In our gospel reading today (Mark 1: 9-15) we have the account of the baptism of Jesus in the River Jordan.
It’s an interesting reading for the start of Lent because it’s not about giving things up or doing things better, it’s about seeing Jesus more clearly, and recognising what he does and has done for us…
I read some time ago about a New Testament professor who visited a high school youth group. After the professor finished speaking about the significance of Christ's baptism as a revelation of God's presence in Jesus, one of the students said without looking up, "That isn’t what it means."
Glad that the student had been listening enough to disagree, the professor asked, "What do you think it means?" "The story says that the heavens were opened, and the Spirit of God came down, right?" "That's right."
The boy finally looked up and leaned forward, saying, "So it means that God is on the loose in the world. And it is dangerous." After his baptism, Jesus went into the wilderness, and it was dangerous. Jesus taught in the temples, and it was dangerous. Jesus healed on the Sabbath, and it was dangerous. Jesus confronted the authorities and turned over the tables, and it was dangerous.
I suspect if we are asked to define something about baptism, whether Jesus’ baptism, or our own, or baptism in general, one word we will not use is dangerous, but actually I think the student was making a good point – because baptism, very simply, represents all of God’s love and mercy poured out onto an undeserving world.
At the beginning of Lent we are being asked to consider what that might mean to us and to the world around us…
Jesus had no need to be baptised – in other places, we read that John the Baptist couldn’t understand why Jesus wanted to be baptised, but in that action of accepting baptism by John, Jesus was declaring himself ready to be used by his Father in whatever way necessary to ensure salvation for as many people as would call on him.
He was beginning his ministry by declaring that he, God in human form, perfect and sinless in every way, was ready to accept all that humanity could throw at him, by being human himself. Jesus was aligning himself with the people he was desperate to call his followers.
And today we are challenged to align ourselves with Jesus, and if we do that, then our calling is indeed a dangerous one, because God is wanting to use us to share out his power and his love on a world that desperately needs him.
The story is told about the baptism of King Aengus by St. Patrick in the middle of the fifth century. Sometime during the rite, St. Patrick leaned on his sharp-pointed staff and inadvertently stabbed the king's foot, which you wouldn’t have thought was an altogether wise thing to do.
After the baptism was over, St. Patrick looked down at all the blood, realized what he had done, and begged the king's forgiveness. Why did you suffer this pain in silence, the Saint wanted to know. The king replied, "I thought the pain was part of the ritual."
Baptism is a wonderful gift of God which we rightly celebrate and enjoy, but baptism is also an acceptance of commitment to God, and with the joy and benefits of commitment, so often comes pain – it is a lesson that the members of the early Church knew all too well as they faced up to persecution for their faith – but it is a lesson that is easily sometimes forgotten in our comfortable Churches and society.
Baptism is the beginning of a new life, whether it is administered to a child who will make up their own mind later on, or whether to an adult, making a fresh commitment for themselves – this new life is as part of a family that spans countries and people and generations, with Jesus as our head. And Jesus through his own baptism was identifying himself as part of that family.
And the Holy Spirit descended on him at baptism we are told – the gift of the Holy Spirit is one that is given to all Christians, but it is a gift that we so often ignore, seeking to do out own thing rather than God’s, seeking to follow our own will, make our own decisions, worry about things we can do nothing about…
There’s an apparently true story about someone who wanted to be a writer from an early age, but when he went to college, his mother took him aside and said, "I know you want to be a writer, but I have a better idea. Why don't you be a brain surgeon. You'll keep a lot of people from dying, and you'll make a lot of money." But the son replied, "No mum, I want to be a writer."
Sometime later his mother spoke to him again and said, "I know you want to be a writer, but listen to me. Be a brain surgeon, they keep a lot of people from dying, and you will make a lot of money." Again the son replied, "I want to be a writer."
And the conversation went on throughout his college years until, at the end, his mother in desperation again said, "you're wasting your time. Be a brain surgeon. You'll keep a lot of people from dying, and you'll make a lot of money."
Finally, the son exploded, "Mum, I don't want to keep people from dying. I want to be a writer and show them how to live!"
The gift of baptism is God’s invitation to join his worldwide family – it is God’s way of saying that he doesn’t care what we have done or failed to do, he still loves us and wants us, and the gift of the Holy Spirit takes us on from there, as that is God’s invitation to see how we can live – fully, abundantly, joyfully and peacefully, surrounded and protected by his love.
Following Jesus’ baptism, we read of him heading off into the wilderness for 40 days. Lent is our invitation to grow closer to God, and that invitation includes setting time aside, our wilderness time, to think of where we are now, and where we want to be, and even more importantly, where God wants us to be....
May we each open our lives to the Spirit of God, and allow God to bless us in this season of Lent, so that we can be the people he wants us to be, being used to pour out his love everywhere. AMEN
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