 |
 |
||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
The Gospel of Matthew Bible Studies
The Gospel of Mark Bible Studies
The Book of Acts Bible Studies
January 2009
February 2009
March 2009
April 2009
May 2009
June 2009
July 2009
August 2009
September 2009
October 2009
November 2009
December 2009
|
Baptism of Our Lord (B) Text: Mark 1:4-11 January 11, 2009 Today, I’m going to tell all of you about a dream I had a few years ago…, an actual dream which woke me up from a deep sleep. Now, personally, I don’t know quite what to make of dreams. I haven’t come to a conclusion about them. I don’t think science fully understands them either, but the present day view of dreams seems to be that they are a natural part of our human thought processes. If this is the case, this dream was an interesting thought about Jesus…, which I don’t mind sharing with you in honesty. To tell you the truth, this wasn’t an ordinary dream for me. This one, to be honest with you, shook me up a bit. It was as striking as it was vivid. And it brought me suddenly from the dream state, and immediately to a full state of consciousness. I woke and immediately went for pen and paper to write down what I had experienced. This was part of the dream... I was walking in an open courtyard. There were people milling around, going about their business. I didn’t interfere with them and they didn’t seem to pay much attention to me. Now as I went around the perimeter of this gallery, to one side, there was a curtain or a veil. I went behind it. And in the darkness behind the veil, there was a man… a stranger, and he said to me “Let’s think about this. Let’s think about everything that has happened.” He was a stranger, yet, the more I looked at him, and especially when I heard his voice speaking to me, the more he seemed totally familiar. In fact, it occurred to me (in the dream) that I recognized him (It was like I had encountered him many, many times before: in other dreams, in life, who knows where?! At some level I knew him). And I said so, “I know you,” I said, “I know who you are!” And he replied to me with gentle and knowing eyes from behind his beard, “I don’t doubt that you do.” Now, this is very personal to me. There are many explanations for why I would be having a dream like this. It would be helpful for you to know that I was wrestling with the notion of going to seminary at the time. But before you write me off as crazy, keep in mind that there is Biblical precedent for God to communicate through dreams. If nothing else, this dream has certainly inspired me to think a lot about Jesus Christ and how he relates to us and how we know him. After all, that is who I honesty suspect this was in my dream—and that is what he told me to do—think. Brothers and sisters (most of you have been baptized into Christ). Sometimes doesn’t it seem like this is how Jesus is to us… Let me explain what I mean. In many ways, he’s a stranger to us. He’s a stranger who many people try to get to know their whole lives. We talk about him all the time at Church. We often try to understand him. Yet, at the same time, I think there is a spiritual, mystical way in which we actually experience him in creation. After all, he is the son of the Creator God. That’s why I see him as the stranger, who (deep down with our subconscious) we know. And he knows us too. And he loves us. As Christians, we have been baptized, not only in water like John the Baptist was doing to people so long ago in the Jordan river. But think about what John says, “I will baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” And this is what has happened for us… We have been baptized –drenched—in the power and activity of God. We have been baptized/ drenched / soaked in the Holy Spirit… Think about this image: God is not a stranger any more and not topic of speculation – out there somewhere. In our Gospel today, Mark shows that the Heaven’s were torn open when Jesus was baptized. From that moment on. God was right there… Dwelling with Jesus. Surrounding him. Empowering him. Renewing him for his mission. And that is how it is with us as those baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. God is here with us, even when we sometimes think of him as a stranger. God has chosen to dwell with us. Guiding us, empowering us to serve within his kingdom. Brothers and sisters, drenched in the Holy Spirit, God is as close to you now as water when you’re wet. This is what baptism is all about. This is the proclamation John gives us about Jesus. Today is the Day that we call, according to the church calendar, “The Baptism of Jesus.” Think about this story which, unlike the Christmas story, is told in all four Gospels: The people, from all over the countryside were coming down to see John at the Jordan river. He was baptizing with a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, but he was also proclaiming that there was someone else who the people should look forward to; someone stronger than him. The people were coming in droves down to the river. They were coming to get themselves ready for this agent of God who was going to come. Can you imagine yourself being in that crowd…? Coming down to the waters edge, to bear your soul, in honesty and in humility to say “wash away my sinful past and prepare me for a new future!” And then, suddenly, something amazing happened. The one they were waiting for. The one they were preparing for… he was there with them. Jesus had come down with the people. This is what strikes me today about this story… The one waited for, is also the one who waits with us! That’s who Jesus is! That’s what he is about. Jesus came down to the Jordan River, I think, not because he needed forgiveness for himself, but because—with the love of God which defines him--he stands with us. Brothers and Sisters, baptized in Christ… Today, let yourself be open (in a spiritual sense) to this notion… that Jesus Christ is with you. You have become his dwelling. When you were called at your baptism to bear his name and follow him, he promised to be with you. There is another famous poem, written by Mary Stevenson, which I think would be appropriate for us to meditate on this morning. Ironically, it too, is about a dream. Footprints in the Sandby Mary Stevenson
|
||||
