Preparation

Mark 1: 9-15 (March 1, 2009)

1) The Text

9In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 10And 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. 11And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.” 12And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. 13He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him.

14Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, 15and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.”

2) The Context

The baptism of Jesus was a public event, witnessed by friend and enemy alike. But the audience extended far beyond the men and women present. In the mind Jesus' contemporaries, the cosmos teemed with all sorts of living creatures, some physical, but most spiritual. When the spirit realm heard the words "This is my beloved Son," Jesus' contemporaries thought those spirits opposed to God would try to discredit him. After the heavenly announcement, it was time for spiritual battle. God's Spirit drove the Son into the desert so the war could begin. In the lore of Judaism, the desert was the place to find oneself before God and others. Jesus faced not only Satan, but a hostile environment with wild beasts. In Mark's account, Jesus did not face Satan alone. God was ever present through the service of his angels.

In Hebrew, the word Heaven [shamayim] could be summed up as “transcendence.” Heaven to the Hebrew was literally the lofty sky above them [Gen 1:8] where the stars were located [Gen 1:14] and from where the dew emanated [Gen 27:28]. The Greek translation of heaven is ouranos, which is less a place than an occurrence. It still involves the concept of “up”, but it means being lifted up. In fact, the root words of ouranos are airo and ornis. Airo is a term that means to lift up or carry away, but it was also used for “to weigh anchor” (to get started on a voyage). Ornis was used for a bird that was lifting into the air.

3) Interpretation

This ‘snippet’ from Mark’s opening chapter focuses on the baptism, the temptation and the summary of Jesus’ ministry. 1:9-11 is very like the transfiguration story. It is symbolic narrative, like a movie clip which interprets the whole film. Here is a meeting point of heaven and earth, a deliberate ripping aside of the barrier on the part of God. Jesus is the point of intersection. To turn the cosmology upside down, in him the depth surfaces. John predicted that the coming one would baptize with the Spirit. Now the coming one has arrived and the camera shows the Spirit descending on him. The baptizing in the Spirit can begin.

This one is then addressed as God’s special beloved child. The son with whom God is well pleased is surely going to make God’s will known. It is a statement about Jesus’ status in the world of powers. It is also why acts of exorcism and healing are seen as his characteristic activity and Mark makes an exorcism the first public act of his ministry. By the Spirit he confronts the powers of oppression. He baptizes with the Spirit and so sets people free. That is why what he announces can truly be described as God’s reign, the coming near of the kingdom of God.
Given the framework, the time in the wilderness is both preparation and struggle from which Jesus emerges victorious. The victory here promises victory everywhere. John was in the desert waiting what was to come. Now Jesus is in the desert. The desert is a primal place of wild forces and wonders. It is a place of hope and new beginnings.

Preparing for liberation entails facing the raw elements. Part of that is struggle and Mark suggests this is Jesus’ first victory. Part of it is return to simplicity and trust. As John lived off nature (the providence of God), so Jesus would be ministered to by the angels. Back to basics, back to trust, becomes a key teaching of Jesus. Jesus was living off ‘bush tucker’ for a while, like John. The deliberate step into radical simplicity (driven, of course, by the Spirit) is a model for spiritual discipline and a timely focus for Lent. People need to find their desert places. For some the struggle and the fear of the struggle will be overwhelming.

It is almost stereotypical to begin the account of a great person’s life with a story of struggle. The experience here is defined by the surrounding passage. It is not any journey into inwardness, but the journey to meet the God in that inwardness who seeks to establish a reign of liberation and wholeness and grapple with the forces which are working in the opposite direction. This frame of reference gives a certain structure to the experience. It is not modeling interiority as floundering in introspection, as if the desert experience is its own reward. For some people it could be disastrous. It is the liberating Spirit who leads him there and then leads back and then provides the energy and power for Jesus to proclaim and become good news.

As we begin another Lent, today’s Gospel reminds us that no matter how many Lents we have lived through, the call is as urgent as it ever was. We have lived another year and become involved in many things which may have distracted our attention from our spiritual lives and our role in building God’s Kingdom on earth.

Today, we are reminded of the call of Jesus - and invited to listen and to respond. Over the next few weeks, we can restore things to a proper balance between our spiritual and material lives and, hopefully, find that when the two are in harmony each benefits the other.

4) Thought Exercise

What has distracted you from your spiritual life over the past year?

How can you use Lent to put things back into their right proportion?