Mark 1:4-11
Introduction
We are all familiar with the phrase T.G.I.F.—Thank God It’s Friday. People have been offering this prayer of thanksgiving for years because on Friday the work week is finally over and happy times are here again! This is why the popular restaurant calls themselves T.G.I. Fridays, right? Because who would want to go a restaurant called: H.M.J.I. Mondays— “Help Me Jesus It’s Monday”? No one. People don’t like Mondays. Mondays bring us down to the point where— to quote the 1999 cult classic film “Office Space”, “Somebody has a bad case of the Mondays.” (I resisted the notion to watch the 1999 cult classic film “Office Space” and justify it as “research” for this sermon.)
But what if I were to tell you researchers have uncovered people are not any happier on Fridays than they are on Mondays—because that is in fact what researchers have discovered. Our moods apparently don’t change dramatically over the course of the week—but what is different is that we remember Fridays as happy days because of the meaning and emotions we attach to Fridays. Friday is when we’re liberated from the work week. It’s when we turn from business to pleasure. It’s when the door to the weekend is thrown wide open.
Professor Charles Areni says, “In short, Mondays are not actually blue, but people persist in the belief they are—that Mondays are blue and Friday is best. These are the meaning and emotions we attach to Monday and Friday—they have a connotative and emotive significance and it affects and shapes our memory of how we actually felt on a particular, or many particular Mondays or Fridays. And because we remember Fridays as happy days, we believe all Fridays are happy days. And why? Because meaning shapes memory.”
Professor Areni continues, “A bride says her wedding day was the happiest day of her life, but in fact, it was incredibly stressful. The meaning of marriage, however, turns it into a happy memory. A man says the birth of his first child was a joy, but truth is it was terrible to watch his wife suffer through labor. The meaning of childbirth, however, makes the memory a positive one.”
Meaning shapes memory. It’s true, right? I have meaningful memories of Fridays growing up—every Friday was pizza night. And not store or parlor shop bought pizza—homemade pizza, handmade with training from the culinary genius Chef-Boyardee. Our pizza had thick sliced stick pepperoni and a moderate amount of both store brand parmesan and mozzarella cheeses. My whole family gathered around the kitchen table for this festive Friday feast; my brother and sister and I lovingly fighting for our fair share of just one 16 ounce bottle of Pepsi.
Friday was always special to me. And still is, mostly. Except nowadays, every Stow-Munroe Falls School on Fridays gets a visit from Dominoes or some dude named Big Daddy who apparently makes a pretty good slice of pizza, which means I no longer get to have the joy of Friday night pizza with my family because “We had pizza for lunch. We want something different.”
Meaning shapes memory—even memories that won’t be made.
Our text for today is the “Baptism of the Lord,” and it presents us with an opportunity to recall the memories of this event—both Jesus’ and ours—and reflect upon the meaning both give, which can help us better understand the significance of what happened to Jesus in the Jordan River at his baptism and what it means to be baptized.
Move 1
The day Jesus was baptized was no doubt a meaningful day. John the baptizer is in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, and people are flocking to confess their sins and be baptized in the Jordan River. After years of living with a buildup of sin and unrighteousness, the people are relieved to be washed clean and made right with God. John’s providing a much-needed spiritual service. It wouldn’t be surprising to hear the people saying, T.G.I.J.— Thank God It’s John.
But while spiritual cleansing is part of the sacrament, John also proclaims, “The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me … I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” Meaning John is not simply in the purification business. He’s looking at his ministry from a cultural point of view. Here’s John the Baptist, not so neat, not so clean, with a wild appearance, demonstrating the spirit of inclusiveness to all people—no matter their cultural status. It’s a counter cultural twist on society’s hierarchical power structure—the haves and have-nots.
It’s easy to look at John and call him a ‘hippie,’ but he’s more “Rage Against the Machine” as Pastor Rob Bell calls him. A counter cultural voice, speaking truth to power, showing the oppressed AND those in power, that here is this wild-looking guy who God chooses to baptize God’s Son. Meaning, John is included in, and doing something extraordinary, which is an incredibly meaningful gift to the people looking on because they can say, “Hey, he’s one of us… and look at what he’s doing… that means we can do something extraordinarily meaningful too.” Meaning shapes memory.
Move 2
When we look at the actual events that occurred at the Jordan, we see a variety of emotions. Surprise and shock at the sight of the baptizer’s camel’s hair clothing and diet of locusts and wild honey—but still gratitude for the gift of forgiveness. And there’s certainly confusion about the identity of the powerful one who’s coming after John. The actual experience of John’s ministry is therefore a jumble of emotions and meanings, not a carefully crafted stained-glass picture of pure joy and happiness. But all of this changes when Jesus arrives, because meaning has a powerful effect on memory.
Mark tells us Jesus is baptized by John in the Jordan, and just as he is coming up out of the water, the heavens part and the Holy Spirit descends on him like a dove, and a voice from heaven says, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.” This is the meaning of baptism: Jesus is God’s Son, the Beloved. The mix of feelings up to this point—surprise at the baptizer’s clothing, gratitude, confusion— are suddenly pushed aside, and new meanings emerges: joy… elation…hope.
And after witnessing his baptism, we don’t have to wonder any longer about who Jesus is. We know his true identity and we now know what this means—that God is at work, in the Messiah, to change everything, and bring for new and renewed life.
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The memory of our own baptism can elicit the same meaning.
Through baptism we are connected to the body of Christ— the universal community of Christians that’s nothing less than the flesh-and-blood physical presence of Jesus in the world today. In this sacrament, we become children of God, no less loved and accepted than Jesus Christ himself. This is the meaning of baptism: Baptism connects us to the body of Christ. It enables us to die and rise with Jesus—showing us each time that no matter what, no matter who others say we are, no matter where today’s culture tries to put us (which is unusually down) we are beloved, we are never left on our own, and new life is always possible—no matter life’s varied circumstances.
Move 3
Pastor Joy McDonald-Coltvet tells about this discovery of meaning every time she leads a group of youth on an immersion trip to Mexico. She tells how on every trip that goes to places of extreme poverty and need, always within the first days there is at least one young person who will come to her and confess how overwhelmed they feel.
Pastor McDonald-Coltvet tells of one particular young person who described their emotional overload by saying, “I feel like I’m drowning.” This young student was experiencing the flood of the world’s pain— and that’s not a bad thing. That’s why it’s called an “immersion” trip.
Reflecting on this immersion experience of her youth; pastor McDonald-Coltvet says, “It’s when we feel like we’re drowning— overwhelmed by the flood of the world’s anguish, pain and loss— when we are reminded Jesus is the resurrection and the life. We realize baptism is daily dying and daily being raised to new life. We discover we are raised up, gasping for air, and it is the breath of God that fills us.”
When we feel like we’re drowning—in the world’s pain, in our own pain— we are raised up, and the breath of God fills us. When we feel joy, elation, and hope, we are raised up—and the breath of God fills us. That’s not just a memory of baptism; it is the meaning of baptism.
Conclusion
Through baptism, we are identified as children of God—which means we are both forgiven and loved, chosen by Christ to be his people in the world.
Dutch priest Henri Nouwen, writes, “The truth, even though I cannot feel it right now is that I am the chosen child of God, precious in God’s eyes, called the Beloved from all eternity and held safe in an everlasting embrace.” That is the meaning of baptism. And when we grasp this meaning, when we remember and live forth from this meaning, then the meaning of everything else stems from it.
When we get the meaning that baptism marks us as beloved children of God, then no matter the day—good days, difficult days; Friday, Monday, Wedding day, Birthday, days we have to say goodbye— we know without a doubt we are not on our own. We know that the blessings of what is, or what has been, come from God—the source of all life and love. And that meaning can, and should, shape how we perceive everything—with joy… elation… hope. Because in everything—the good and the difficult—we are always, always, being raised up to newness of life, and filled with the breath of God.
That is the meaning of Jesus’ baptism…and ours. Amen.
Pastoral Prayer, January 16, 2022, Baptism of our Lord
God of grace, of forgiveness, of rebirth, of new life… we are your holy and beloved children; born of water and the Holy Spirit—and for such we give you our thanks and praise.
We give you our thanks and praise because we can recall the meaning of the creative force of your breath, moving over the waters of chaos to bring life and light.
We remember your mercy in saving a remnant through the great flood to give us a new beginning.
We remember your faithfulness to deliver Israel— and all your people— from slavery into freedom.
We remember Jesus’ baptism in the Jordan, and through his life he became living water for us.
We remember the water of Christ’s pierced side, for through his death and resurrection we are set free from sin and death.
We remember your grace, O God, extended toward each of us through the water of our own baptisms—where by your Spirit descending upon us we were redeemed and reborn to live as Christ’s disciples in the world.
By our baptisms, we know the meaning of being your beloved children, and so we pray you continue to bless us to live as those who understand that meaning; to live as those who share the blessings within with any and all, in whatever way we can. For this is how we build a beloved community—a community we all long for; a community we take time this weekend to intentionally envision, while remembering those who preached and prayed and fought to move our nation and our world closer and closer to it.
May the work of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and the work of so many who strove to bring forth meaningful change through faith in you, and by example of your son, continue to inspire us to live and strive too for meaningful change that honors your vision and redemption of the world, and gives grace and dignity to all.
Hear now the prayers of our hearts, lifted to you in this time of Holy Silence.
All this we pray in the name of Christ Jesus, our Lord and Savior, who taught us to pray saying, “Our…”