Lent 1 - Hosanna - Our Wilderness
Notes
Transcript
River (Mk 1:9-15)
River (Mk 1:9-15)
I don’t know whether or not I like the feeling of putting my feet in the water.
My grandparents used to live next to a river with mudbanks that held prawns.
You would sink up to your knees. And you could dig out the prawns by hand for my dad to put on the fish hooks.
There is something kind of scary about putting your feet in that mysterious water.
But for Jesus - stepping in to the water on that day when John would Baptise him was a significant and terrifying moment.
The stakes were high.
Entering into that river meant entering into his calling.
Meant - literally - taking up the cross that he would call us to take up.
Rivers are dangerous.
Rivers are mysterious.
We don’t know what danger lurks below the surface.
And this Jordan river is the river of change.
Water (Gen 9:8-17)
Water (Gen 9:8-17)
It is hard to imagine just how far back we are thinking when we think back to the time of Noah.
A timeline could help us to figure something out - but we hardly know how to think of what happened in 1000AD.
Yet the time of the story of Noah’s Ark is (in simple Bible maths) about 3000BC.
A broad 2000 years before the time of Abraham and about 2500 years before the time of Moses and the Exodus.
It is in the bit we might call ‘pre-history’.
And when we dig that far back we need to ask “Who told the story?”
And the answer - when we look at the time line…
Is that Abraham must have passed the stories of Ur on to his family who passed them on to Moses.
But in his telling of the stories of Ur - Abraham told them a bit differently.
Stories from Ur
In the stories from Ur (which pre-date the Bible story) -
— Anu (god of the sky), Enlil (god of the storms), Ninurta and Ennugi (gods of agriculture) decide to destroy humanity with a flood on account of all the noise they make.
Ea (the god of creativity) lets on the secret of the gods plan to a man called Utnapishtim who builds a boat - following Ea’s instructions - the boat is a certain size etc. to rescue living creatures and help them survive the flood - thus tricking the other gods.
Compared with Abraham’s Telling
Abraham seems to pass the story on in a different way - making a different point about what God is like.
In the Gilgamesh story the gods plot to destroy humans because they make too much noise. And Gilgamesh through mischief escapes destruction.
The Genesis story is a bit different:
5 The Lord saw that the wickedness of humankind was great in the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of their hearts was only evil continually.
6 And the Lord was sorry that he had made humankind on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart.
7 So the Lord said, “I will blot out from the earth the human beings I have created—people together with animals and creeping things and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them.”
8 But Noah found favor in the sight of the Lord.
The stories are so similar - but so different.
In the Gilgamesh story - the one that Abraham would have grown up with…
Gilgamesh
The gods are irritable and vindictive. One of the gods fools the others by singling out Utnapishtim - survival is through trickery.
Bible
God’s heart is grieved for the pain of humanities sin. But God also sees humanities beauty in Noah…
The way that Genesis goes on to describe the nations after Noah - is to point to a common humanity.
And a common covenant shared among all Noah’s descendants.
In the Bible - Survival is for a purpose - and for a new beginning:
1 God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth.
God reminds Noah of humanity’s beauty - created in the image of God:
6 Whoever sheds the blood of a human, by a human shall that person’s blood be shed; for in his own image God made humankind.
And finally - the rainbow:
13 I have set my bow in the clouds, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth.
Water
Water
Water in the Bible is a symbol of the wild and mysterious.
The dark and unknown.
But it is also a symbol of life and renewal.
The flood story in Genesis 6-9 is about the possibility of new beginnings. About how God won’t abandon His creation to decay and destruction.
And shame - I left Jesus standing there on the banks of the Jordan - with his toes getting cold in the river.
River
River
John must have been a sight to see - and a passionate preacher.
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.”
And the symbols are easy to relate. The great flood of the Noah story in Genesis.
And now this talk about Jesus and water. And if you remember the story of Noah well - even the symbolism of a dove.
As Jesus comes out of the water:
10 And 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.
Remember - when the Ark had settled the dove came back:
11 and the dove came back to him in the evening, and there in its beak was a freshly plucked olive leaf; so Noah knew that the waters had subsided from the earth.
All of this points to the promise of fresh beginnings - new hope. New possibilities.
There on the banks of the river I imagine Jesus’ feet feeling a little cold.
And nothing like that water cold and fresh rising up around your body.
Jesus - baptised by John - and John seems to be rightly called a Baptist - because this is no sprinkling. This is deep under the water. And coming up:
Mark 1:10 (NRSV)
10 And 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.
Heavens torn open - Spirit descending like a dove. Just like the windows of the heavens opened in Genesis 7:11 - they open again in Mark 1:10 - and God the Holy Spirit violently descends upon Jesus.
Terrifying
Terrifying
I didn’t mention how scary that river crossing would have been for Jesus.
He had managed to keep a low profile up until then.
Obviously he knew about his cousin John the Baptist and his preaching.
And obviously Jesus knew the stories his mother had told him - and was making the connections necessary to understand what his vocation was.
But to step in to the water and be baptised on that day was to start something.
Was to align himself - to go public - to let the world know that he was God’s Messiah.
John the Baptist would soon be arrested.
How much more would Herod see the one that John anticipated as a threat.
In crossing the river he was numbering his days.
Hope
Hope
Why did Jesus step into the river?
Why did he take that chance?
He knew what was happening.
I speculate that God allowed for his incarnation.
His birth
His life with Mary and Joseph
And growing up in Nazareth
But I know God the Father left this part up to him.
The choice.
Just as God leaves it up to each of us.
A choice.
To trust - have faith, believe - put our hands in God’s hand and say I will cross the river trusting your plan.
Or to abandon it - to give up too soon.
Jesus, the Son of God walks all the way in - knowing that this Baptism moment will be the beginning of the path to the cross.
And if he hoped to keep things quiet - his hopes soon faded.
11 And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”
A megaphone and a spotlight - quickly driving Jesus into the wilderness.
Not just for some spiritual retreat - but as a fugitive. Knowing Herod wanted to get rid of any would be Messiahs before they would begin causing him too much trouble.
Tested he returns - John the Baptist is arrested and Jesus takes over:
14 Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God,
15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.”
Hope Beyond Suffering
Hope Beyond Suffering