Baptism: The beginning of the good news...

Sermon planned for Sunday, December 4th, 2011

Text: Mark 1:1-8

I invite you to join me, in your bibles, in the gospel of Mark, chapter one, beginning at verse one. But before we dig in, I invite you to join me in prayer:
Spirit of the Living God, move in our midst. Transform our unseeing eyes so that we'd be able to see you more clearly. Unplug our ears, that we would hear Your Word for us this morning. In all things, draw us closer to Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
The passage we are looking at this morning is one of my favorites in the gospel of Mark. What I like about it is that he starts off his story about Jesus by telling us who Jesus is right off the bat. "This is the beginning of the good news about Jesus Christ, the Son of God." You don't have to wait to the end of the story to find out who Jesus is. You don't have to solve some riddle. The author of Mark tells you who Jesus is: Jesus is the Christ. Jesus is the Son of God.

There's a variety of ways that an author can start-off a story about a main character. If Bernie and Tammy were asked to write a story about Ray, Jo, and Dexter, I'm sure they could tell each one in a variety of ways. Each of the four gospels tell the story of Jesus' beginnings in a unique way. Matthew and Luke tell us stories about Jesus' infancy, about Joseph, and about an unwed pregnant Mary. Matthew tells us about wise men, come from the east, to worship and give allegiance to the newborn King. Luke tells us about Shepherds hearing the angel's message; and about the manger scene. And then there's the gospel of John . John tells us about the Word that was in the beginning with God – the Word that is God, which was made flesh.

These four authors all spoke about the 'good news' about Jesus' coming into the world. Each of them saw the goodnessof the gospel in unique and important way. If you had to tell the story of God's good news in your life, how would you tell it? What good has that news accomplished in your life? When we celebrate baptism we also listen to testimonies. We take time to hear the stories of how God has done good things in the lives of those about to be baptized. I'm sure that the way Dex, Ray & Jo will tell their story is different than the things many of you might mention if you told their story... that's the nature of giving a testimony. Mark's testimony is like that too; it offers us a very specific glimpse of who Jesus was.

One of the things we notice, when we look at Mark's gospel, is that he begins his story about Jesus very differently than the other three gospel writers. I invite you to join me, in your bibles, in reading it together once again:
The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. 2 As it is written in the prophet Isaiah, "See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way; 3 the voice of one crying out in the wilderness: 'Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight,'" 4 John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 5 And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. 6 Now John was clothed with camel's hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. 7 He proclaimed, "The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. 8 I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit."

The first eight verses of the gospel of Mark are, in my opinion, written in a special kind of literary structure, which is often used in the bible, called a chiasm. I've mentioned the 'chiasm structure' before in one of my previous sermons, but I'll quickly review what it means. The kind of chiasm we're dealing with in these eight verses is the A-B-C C-B-A structure. What does that mean? Well, it just means that the first thing in the story gets talked about again at the end, the second thing gets mentioned second-last, and the two things talked about in the middle are at the heart of the story. An example of this can be found in John chapter one:
In the beginning was the Word, (A)
and the Word was with God, (B)
and the Word was God. (B')
He was in the beginning with God. (A')
At the start and at the end we hear about The Word being in the beginning with God – a focus on the "WHEN" of God's Word. In the central piece of this structure, we read that the Word is God and is with God. The Son and the Father are One and in communitywith one another – the key part of John's gospel.

This same kind of structure is what I see going on in the first eight verses of Mark. Why is this important? A chiastic structure helps us to understand the main point Mark was trying to make. So le'ts go through these verses and see it for ourselves. Mark begins this piece of scripture by telling us about Jesus – that he is the Christ, and that Jesus is the Son of God. In verse eight, Mark's focus is again on telling us more about Jesus, but this time by the mouth of John the Baptist. Here we learn that Jesus is mightier than the prophet John, and we learn that Jesus will baptize with the Holy Spirit.

The second part of the chiastic structure is about John the Baptist. Here we read the quote from Isaiah: "Behold, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way, a voice crying in the desert, "Prepare the way of the Lord, you shall make his path straight." As with the regular chiasm-structure, this second theme is repeated again in the second-last section of our passage, where we read about John's dress code and his diet. Where, before, we hear Isaiah's words about a prophet coming from the dessert, now we read about what this desert man looks and smells like.

Finally, the third part of the chiastic structure, right in the centre of our text, tells us the heart of Mark's message here. It tells us about John's prophetic word and the people's response: "John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins." I suggest to you, this morning, that at the very centre of Mark's understanding of the good news is this call to confession, repentance and baptism.

When Mark sits down to tell us the story about Jesus, the first thing he starts to talk about is that people were told they needed to repent; to turn around and prepare themselves for the coming of Jesus; and that people – hundreds of people, perhaps thousands of people – came to John and turned away from sin and they turned towards God in the waters of baptism. When Mark tells the story about the impact of Jesus' arrival... the first thing he talks about is people turning their life around and getting baptized. Amen! This is good news!

For the author of John's gospel, it was good news to hear that God's Word assumed flesh. For Matthew, it was good news to hear that wise men from far away came to give homage, proclaim allegiance, and to honor Jesus the King. For Luke, it was crucial for the Shepherds to hear that finally... finally the Prince of Peace had arrived. But for Mark... for Mark, the good news began with people's lives being changed. It was about baptism. That's interesting because one of the most controversial verses in the gospel of Mark is about this very thing – about baptism. In Mark 16:16, part of the 'longer ending' to the gospel, we hear Jesus giving the great Commission to his disciples: "And he said to them, "Go into all the world and proclaim the good news to the whole creation. The one who believes and is baptized will be saved; but the one who does not believe will be condemned."

The controversial part of this passage is, of course, the suggestion that salvation requires baptism. There are endless debates about this. People ask whether a non-baptized person can be saved. This verse, then, gets pulled apart into many different directions. But I don't believe that was Mark's point at all. Mark wasn't arguing about the bare minimum requirements of salvation; in fact, quite the opposite. Mark was arguing about the full measure of God's good news.

You see, it's not the complete picture, if all we do is tell the story of Christmas. It's not the full gospel if we just tell people that the Word was made flesh. Some people would reject the Word. It's not the full gospel, just to hear Jesus' teachings and learn about the Kingdom of God; because the Kingdom is about more than just hearing and learning; because entering the Kingdom involves us in a complete reversal of values and worldview. It's not the full gospel, just to hear about Jesus' death and resurrection; even today there are thousands who hear this message and mock it, as though we were talking about a horror movie, with dead people coming back to life. The good news is only good if it is received... if it goes beyond hearing.

When Mark includes Jesus' words about believing and baptism, Mark is telling us about the fullness of the gospel, not about the minimum requirements of salvation. Salvation is more than just hearing about the gospel, it is responding to it, rejoicing with it, submitting our lives to it. That's why the thief on the cross, when he begged Jesus to remember him in the Kingdom, was promised eternity with Jesus in paradise – Why? – because he did more than listen... he turned to Jesus. That's why Mark's gospel includes the story of the centurion, standing watch at Jesus' crufixion, the guy who confesses, "Truly this man was God's Son". Mark's main point in the gospel is that the news about Jesus changes people's lives – in turns them around. And that's what baptism is all about – it is about turning to Jesus.

For Mark, in order for the news about Incarnation to be GOOD news means that we begin with repentance, turning away from autonomy, from sin, from selfish living... and we turn towards God. This is why the first baptismal question I ask is a question about repentance. Repentance is the first step for God's news to be God's GOOD news for us. God's revelation for us is complete only when it is received, heard, and believed in our hearts. This is the act of baptism!

This morning we are blessed to be in the presence of three young Christians who 'get it'. They know that all this news they've been hearing for years – the news about Jesus they've heard at home – the news about Jesus they've heard at Church and Sunday school – the news about Jesus they've heard at MCI... these three 'get it'... they know that the news they've been hearing about Jesus is GOOD news for them only if they turn their lives around and turn towards Jesus Christ. That's the fullness of good news... and that is what we're here to celebrate today.

May the testimony of these three encourage you – may it provoke your own decision: is all this news we hear in Church GOOD news for you? Because it can be!!! Will you take your stand? Will you claim Christ as your Lord in these water? And now, together with Mark's gospel, let's get on with celebrating the main event!