Sermon Talkback 12 7 2008
Mark 1:1-8
Preparing by Repentance
The context of John the Baptist’s preaching places Jesus in the Jewish apocalyptic-prophetic tradition and that people can join the community expecting the apocalypse to happen by means of repentance and baptism. In Mark 1:1-2, Mark quotes Malachi 3:1 in Mark 1a and Isaiah 40:3 in Mark 2b-3 to interpret the significance of John. From Malachi, we anticipate the coming of a figure who will condemn evil doers, including leadership at the Temple and will be God’s agent in being a part of the “refiner’s fire,” a flame purifying and sanctifying.
Isaiah describes the vocation of the prophet as crying out for the people in exile to prepare a straight roadway through the wilderness so that God can come to them in a great festal procession, release them from exile, and return them to their homeland.
Baptism of Repentance
John preaches a baptism of repentance for forgiveness of sins. The term for repentance, metanoia, implies a change of mind, a change of heart. In Jewish perspective, repentance is more than a mental activity. It is a positive, dynamic action of turning away from complicity with the old world and turning to embrace God and the coming realm.
The old age is marked by the rule of Satan and death. The coming realm of God is characterized by God’s direct rule in all relationships, forgiveness, justice, social support, abundance, health, partnership between humankind and nature, peace (shalom) and life eternal. To repent is to reject the values and practices of the old world and to embrace and live according to those of the new Realm. John identifies Jesus as the agent of the new Realm.
One commentator said that John’s lifestyle embodies the message of repentance. The camel’s hair garment and leather belt are similar to the clothing that people wore just as they came out of the Garden of Eden. The locusts and wild honey represent going back to the beginning of the human family, starting over.
Paving the Way
In Mark 1:7, John is clearly not God’s agent in actively bringing the apocalypse. John’s role is to prepare people to receive that one by creating a community of the repentant and expectant. Not only does he not have the power, John is also not worthy to be the house-servant to untie the sandals of the one coming.
Mark 1:8 indicates that John baptizes with water but the coming one will baptize with the Holy Spirit. Many Jewish authors believed that God would send a special outpouring of the Spirit in the last days before the apocalypse. The coming one will empower that community with the Spirit that causes the community to receive aspects of the coming realm while still in the midst of the old age.
1. Being a member of the community empowered by the Holy Spirit, how in your baptism are you living and serving in the new Realm while still living in the midst of the old age?
2. How do we prepare for Christmas? (In our theological and biblical understanding, we prepare for Christ’s birth by repenting.)
DN, 12/7/2008