New Beginnings – Good News!

Rev. Ann Beaty
Tarrytown United Methodist Church

January 8, 2006

Text: Mark 1:1-11

When I first read the scripture for today from Mark's gospel, I found myself thinking about three different passages of Scripture all about beginnings… ALL spectacular beginnings! The beginning of God's creation as told in the Genesis scriptures, “In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth… ” And then from the opening words in John's gospel as he tells the story of Jesus, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God.” And then from today's scripture, the start of Mark's gospel story, “The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.”

It's interesting to me that Matthew and Luke begin their gospels with the birth narratives. Those scriptures are where we go to get our story about Mary and Joseph, the angels, shepherds, wisemen, and the birth in the stable in Bethlehem. John and Mark don't tell us that story. They want us to know something else about the beginning of the story of Jesus.

Mark is clear about what is important to him in the opening line. “The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” Mark wants us to know that we are at a beginning point and that beginning point is centered in and focused on the coming of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. And most importantly, he wants us to know that this new beginning is indeed good news.

Mark's gospel begins with Jesus all grown up, heading off into the wilds of the desert to find his cousin, John the Baptizer. We've skipped right over any of Jesus' growing up and gone right to his first adult decision, and his first adult appearance in public: presenting himself to John for the baptism of repentance…it is a new beginning, of sorts, for Jesus.

We've seen John the Baptizer before. He comes on the scene at the beginning of Advent in his prophetic role, the one who preaches that it is time for repentance and return to covenant relationship with God, because he believed these were to be the last days of life on earth as the people knew it: the Messiah was coming. But here he is today in his other role - administering a ritual washing in rivers and streams, a sign of repentance from sin and return to the Covenant between God and the People of God.

Now, why on earth would Jesus go out into the wilderness to be baptized with this ritual cleansing of repentance and return? After all, if Jesus is who we say he is - the Son of God, - the Savior, who takes the burden of our sins into his own sinless life, and puts them to death when he himself dies on the Cross. Surely Jesus did not need a baptism of repentance to mark the beginning of his adult public life and ministry? So what is going on here?

There are a variety of historical and theological responses to these questions, but for me, there is one bottom line reason. In the words of Paul, "God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself...," [2 Cor.5:19]. To put this in another way: in everything that Jesus says and does, God is at work, showing us how closely and intimately God relates to human beings who do sin, who do separate ourselves from God's love, and who do desire to turn again, in repentance, towards God in covenant relationship.

Jesus stands in the Jordan River, just as he lay in the stable as a baby, just as he will hang on the Cross of his death, because God is in Christ, identifying himself with us in every aspect of our births, lives and deaths. Jesus is in each of those moments, standing in solidarity with us. This is why we say Jesus is "Emmanuel," -- God-with-us -- God for us, God with us most especially in our deepest need for repentance – our need to turn in towards God's loving embrace more deeply.

So Jesus does not hesitate to join the crowd of repentant sinners at the River Jordan who are seeking to return to right relationship with God in the framework of Covenant and Law. By showing his baptism by John, Jesus is doing what God in Christ always does: standing by us, standing with us, and standing for us in our great need for God.

I agree with Mark. If this isn't good news of a new beginning, I don't know what is! Jesus baptism is a new beginning for him – a sign of his acceptance of God's claim on his life and heart and a sign of his ministry. Jesus' baptism is a sign for us – a sign of God's desire for us to know how truly beloved we are by God.

The scripture goes on to say that following Jesus' baptism, and just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. A voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, my Beloved; with you I am well pleased. “ It is as though God is so excited and joyful about Jesus' first public act of solidarity with humanity, that God bursts through the very fabric of creation with the authoritative word of God's voice: "This is my Son, my beloved."

Try to imagine the scene in your mind… Hear what it sounds like for the heavens to be torn apart. Envision what it looks like to see God's Spirit-Wind descending on someone. Now try to let the imaginative gift of the Spirit, which is yours in Holy Baptism, help you hear those words spoken to you, this morning. You are my son…my daughter…the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”

This message IS for us because we are Christ's Body. We proclaim that we are Christ's body every time we participate in the Sacrament of Baptism. As we come up from the waters of our own baptism, these words are meant for us: “You are my Beloved; I am well pleased with you” .

What would it be like to accept our belovedness…I mean REALLY accept our belovedness? How would it feel to know, to really know deep inside in the most secret places of our being that God is well pleased with us? Most of us, if we are honest, would have to admit that it's hard to believe these words for ourself.

I can't know this for sure, but I suspect we come into this world as a tiny infant knowing this divine belovedness, BUT I think that over time, we forget that we knew it.

There is a sweet urban legend that shares in this possibility. Some of you may have heard it. It floats around the internet from time to time. It tells the story of little Sachi, who soon after her brother was born, began to ask her parents to leave her alone with the new baby. They worried that like most four-year-olds, she might feel jealous and want to hit or shake him, so they said no. But she showed no signs of jealousy. She treated the baby with kindness and her pleas to be left alone with him became more urgent. They decided to allow it.

Elated, she went into the baby's room and shut the door, but it opened a crack -- enough for her curious parents to peek in and listen. They saw little Sachi walk quietly up to her baby brother, put her face close to his and say quietly, "Baby, tell me what God feels like. I'm starting to forget."

If we believe God's grace is with us before we ever know it, it is possible, even probable, that we come into this world knowing God's divine belovedness.

But, over time, as we grow up and experience some of the harshness of the human world we live in, we forget who we are and whose we are. Sadder still, we sometimes come to believe that this could not possibly be God's word to us, here, now, today.

Yet, to believe this is to separate our selves, our very self, from the love of God. And to separate our self from the love of God is what our Baptismal service calls sin.

This is perhaps our most fundamental sin: to forget that we are God's Beloved; that God is well pleased with us. Such forgetting is the beginning of so much that troubles us. Such forgetting makes it nearly impossible to follow and obey Christ as our Lord and Savior.

Some of you may know Ruth Boyce. Ruth is a member of our church and now in high school, but I remember distinctly Ruth's baptism in this sanctuary when she was about 6 years old. Ruth was one of those children who was 6 going on 35. She was bright and intelligent and inquisitive. She still is!

As many parents do, her parents brought her for the Sacrament of Baptism, and knowing June and James and Ruth, I'm sure there had been much conversation about why they were presenting her for the Sacrament and what would happen during the service.

After going through the baptismal liturgy and asking her parents the appropriate questions, Jim asked Ruth to kneel at the altar railing and when the appropriate time came, he put the water on her head.

Now I could see all of this from a different view than the congregation because I was standing back here (gesture) waiting to light the baptism candle on the altar for Ruth.

So, I had a direct line of sight to her face since she was kneeling and facing me. Her head barely came up above the railing. As with all baptisms, Jim wanted Ruth to see and feel the water, to experience this symbol of God's cleansing renewal washing over her. The small amount of water landed on her head and dripped down a little bit on her face and shoulders.

Well, you could tell the amount of water on her head took even Ruth off guard, and I wondered in that brief moment, if she would be upset or afraid. But, true to Ruths' personality, she, in her surprise, did this wonderful thing when the cold water ran down her face. She laughed – out loud!

Ruth let out this tremendous giggle when the water hit her face. And the congregation heard it and laughed in response with her. It occurred to me at the time – what a wonderful response to God's loving action in this Sacrament of Baptism– laughing and giggling and responding in joy to the gift of this belovedness.

I believe, in her heart of hearts, Ruth, as a young child, still had some memory in her heart of this belovedness we are born with. Most of us, as we grow older, have to make a conscious effort to remember who we are and whose we are. Children quite often already know.

For adults, it usually takes daily reminders to accept our belovedness. It takes daily remembering to internalize this Good News of our Baptism into a living force of God's Spirit alive within us and beyond us.

There are ways we can remind ourselves of this belovedness. We can remember it each time we participate in the baptism of one of our own and renew our own vows as part of the liturgy. The pastor asks the congregation: “Do you, as Christ's body, the church, reaffirm both your rejection of sin and your commitment to Christ?” This question is asking us if we will reject living apart from God's loving presence and trust our belovedness so we can commit ourselves to living in Christ's ministry.

“Will you nurture one another in the Christian faith and life and include these persons now before you in your care?” Will you be the beloved body of Christ for one another in the world? Will you help others trust in the gift of their own belovedness?

There are many scriptures that can remind us of our belovedness. One of my favorites is Psalm 139. Henri Nouwen in his little book, Life of the Beloved builds on the words of the Psalmist. Listen to these words with great inner attentiveness. And believe as I read that at your center is a voice that says:

I have called you by name, from the very beginning. You are mine and I am yours. You are my beloved, on you my favor rests. I have molded you in the depths of the earth and knitted you together in your mother's womb. I have carved you in the palms of my hands and hidden you in the shadow of my embrace. I look at you with infinite tenderness and care for you with a care more intimate than that of a mother for her child. I have counted every hair on your head and guided you at every step.

Wherever you go, I go with you, and wherever you rest, I keep watch. I will give you food that will satisfy all your hunger and drink that will satisfy all your thirst. I will not hide my face from you. You know me as your own as I know you as my own. You belong to me. I am your father, your mother, your brother, your sister, your lover, your spouse. Yes, even your child. Wherever you are I will be. Nothing will ever separate us. We are one.

God's Spirit-Wind hovers above us, below us, within us, and beyond us, night and day, calling us, forming us, making us God's own. Listen for the voice of the Lord in your heart. Our Lord's baptism which we remember today is our Baptism. And when we come to the day when we are aware of ourselves as God's beloved- if even for a moment -, and it causes us to smile, or even maybe giggle out loud as Ruth did, then our repentance is true and real and God rejoices with us.

We are at a time in the calendar year of new beginnings. Advent brought for us a new beginning in the church year. Epiphany brings about another new beginning – Jesus' baptism and the beginning of his recorded ministry. It is a beginning for us as well. May we each embrace our belovedness and our call to follow Christ. Amen.