Readings
Genesis 1:1-5
Psalm 29
Acts 19:1-7
Mark 1:4-11
Do you know who you are?
The easy answer is “yes, of course I do.” It is easy for us to list all things in our life that make us who we are: spouse, parent, professional, laborer, friend, colleague. Then there’s the social clubs we belong to, the passions we might have.
For years I thought I knew who I was. When confronted with such a question, for many years I was quick to say that I was a priest, a husband, a father, a compassionate listener, a friend to many, a person who loves Star Trek, an avid reader, a perpetual student, a person of curiosity, an avid cyclist, and a person of faith. This could go on further, but you get the point. This is the reasonable way we describe ourselves when asked the question “who are you?”
And we can imagine that Jesus, for much of his life, was likely prone to answer the question similarly. We actually don’t know much about the bulk of Jesus’ life. Other than the stories associated with his birth in Matthew and Luke we hear little about the life of Jesus before his baptism. For about 30 year there is a big blank.
But if our claim that Jesus is both fully human and fully divine is true, we can imagine he lived a fairly normal life up to that point. We can imagine that he would have been tempted to answer the question “who are you?” in a similar fashion to how we do today. Yes, there would have been a much more communal emphasis than we tend to have, but he would have likely relied on all the social, work, and leisure things that we do when describing ourselves. In other words, it is likely that Jesus wasn’t much different than you and me.
But then something significant occurs. Jesus goes to John the Baptist, who we are told is offering a baptism for sins. Jesus, who is without sin, is seeking out to be baptized just like everyone else.
Now that begs the question, did he know he was sinless? Or was it that he was confronted with all the limitations of his humanity and wanted to acknowledge that through this ritual? Either way we can know this, Jesus was humble. His path was one in which he did not presume to be more than another person on the journey we call life.
And having taken that step, we are told that the heavens were torn open and that the Spirit of the Lord came down upon him like a dove, and Jesus heard God say to him, “you are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”
In that moment, we can imagine that everything Jesus thought he knew about himself changed. In that moment Jesus had a clarity about himself that propelled him forward in a new way. For Mark, in this Gospel, this marks a turning point for Jesus, and he begins his public ministry. A ministry that will lead him to suffering, that will ultimately lead him to his crucifixion and death, an identity that will lead to his resurrection and the reordering of all creation.
Jesus has clarity from that point forward that the only thing that is important, in terms of who he is, is that he is God’s Son and that his ministry is to proclaim the in-breaking of the Reign of God. He is to offer to us a new way of being and a new understanding of how God is at work in the world. He is to be a direct connection to God, who is no longer wholly other and beyond, but near and intimate with us.
Today we are baptizing three people. On this day they will be baptized with water and the Holy Spirit. And while we don’t necessarily expect the skies to be torn open, we can expect that they will receive a new identity, a new way of answering the question “who are you?”
Because of their baptism, their primary identity shifts from all of those other things they might list to their new identity in Christ. They now are, through Christ’s own baptism, made by adoption a child of God. They are called to live no longer only for self, but for Christ and for the world.
Will that bring suffering as it brought Jesus suffering? Possibly. But baptism also brings blessings. Through the work which the spirit calls them to, they will know the love of God and the hope of God’s vision for all of humanity and for the whole of creation. They can take comfort in the Reign of God rather than be despondent from the woes of the world.
But they are not alone. Each of us have been baptized. We are being called to recall that baptism and claim the primary identity of our lives. We are being called to remember that we too, through adoption, have been made the children of God. We, like they, have been called to be Christ’s hands and heart in this world. We like they, may well face suffering along the way, but we need not be despondent. No, the vision of God’s Reign which Jesus proclaimed is ours as well. We too can take comfort in the face of the woes of the world, even as we work for justice and peace.
Today after the baptisms I will be sprinkling you with water. Take that as an opportunity to claim your primary identity as a child of God, as one of God’s own beloved. Reach into yourself and ask what the spirit is driving you to do in the world as you proclaim God’s Reign. And take heart, dear ones, knowing that it is God’s good will to reconcile all creation to himself even as we face a broken and hurting world.
Who are you? You are a child of God. You are beloved. With you God is well pleased.