Mark 1:1-8
With thanks to Fr. Antony Hughes
Christ is Born!
Gospel of Mark: not an infancy story. St. John the Baptist (last of the OT prophets: classic)
John the Baptist: Two messages
- First: repentance and baptism for the forgiveness of sins
- Second: about the Messiah that was coming
- Was holier than him (thong of sandal)
- That He would bring more than an earthly baptism (of the Holy Spirit; a heavenly one)
Let’s talk about that first message: what was John doing in the wilderness of the Jordan?
- Calling for repentance and and offering baptism for the forgiveness of sins
- Admit moral failings… and repent of them (i.e promise a new start)
- Individual, but also for the entire society
- This is classic prophecy: speaking truth to power
- Holding everyone responsible for how they treated the poor and weak
- Proclaimed the coming judgment as a result of oppression
- As a result, prophets were wonderful for the poor and repentant
- But NOT popular with the authorities!
- This is why so many were murdered
- This is why St. John the Baptism himself was murdered
- Worth noting that the Church continues this prophetic tradition
- Common misconceptions of prophecy
- That its days are over
- That it is mainly predictive
- Not fortune-telling, but truth-telling
- Old Testament prophets revealed mystical things about the future
- But it was within the context of even more fundamental truth-telling
- Pointing out the moral failings of the authorities and nation
- Describing God’s attitude towards moral failings (fire and brimstone)
- Describing God’s plan to restore goodness and heal the world’s pain
- The Church is prophetic in this way!
- But it is also the object by God restores goodness and…
- The way that He is healing the world’s pain
This is the second of St. John’s messages (the first was repent!) – the Messiah is coming, and He is bringing the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, a Baptism of Holiness.
- “A baptism with the Holy Spirit implies something that only God could do, a baptism that would not only bring forgiveness of moral failings, but a transformation of the whole person. The Gospel of Jesus is about far more than the correction of moral failings. Transformation is about change from the inside out.”
- It is not enough for us to just behave better… our goal is to actually BECOME better.
- To die to the old way – they way that is compromised by sin
- And to be reborn into a new creation that is not compromised by sin
“We are in need of a deep cleaning in those areas of which we are conscious and those of which we are not conscious. Only God the Holy Spirit can accomplish this. Only a Baptism with the Holy Spirit can penetrate to the secret corners of human consciousness. As the Resurrected Jesus could pass through walls in his body, the Holy Spirit can penetrate all the closed doors and dark corners of the heart and mind. John the Baptist’s baptism was only an introduction to something far more significant.” (Fr. Anthony Hughes)
This is HUGE: we are being offered healing and the opportunity for a new life. Something that is not possible through our own efforts, but is made possible through the GRACE OF GOD.
- That is why we are here: the Holy One that St. John the Baptism proclaimed came; He taught us; He suffered and died to free us from sin; He was resurrected to open the way to paradise to us, His adopted brothers and sisters; and He established His Church and empowered it by the Holy Spirit so that we might grow in peace and perfection.
- Our repentance and our commitment to a moral life are no longer just a band-aid for us and a small balm for a broken and unjust world, but become the mechanism of our theosis and the restoration of the world’s goodness.
Conclusion
This transformation is not a transformation into something new. The spiritual life is not the discovery of something “different”, but rather a return to the truth of what really is. God created everything and called it “good”. When he created human beings he called them “very good”. That goodness has never been undone. The creation remains ‘good” and humanity “very good” in spite of the not-so-good stuff we participate in and see going on around us. The coming of Christ into this world reveals this truth and wakes us up.
When we bless water this week we will see this truth in action. We add nothing to the water. The water does not change into something other than water. Filled with the transforming power of God it is revealed to be what it was created to be, a means of communion with God. The Holy Spirit’s descent enlightens us and reveals the innate beauty and holiness of the water.
Similarly, the Bread and Wine in the Eucharist (we celebrate today) remain bread and wine and yet become also the Body and Blood by the power of the Holy Spirit, filling them and revealing them to us transformed into God.
The Christian spiritual life reveals the same thing about us. Our original goodness remains intact, but we have become oblivious to it. We begin to believe we are not good, that we are not worthy, that the sin we commit is what defines us, the thoughts and feelings we have are what define us. No wonder we are so unhealthy!
Whatever we do we cannot undo our own goodness. The light in us can never be put out. Dwelling on the essential ground of our being takes us immediately to the One who put it there to begin with. Looking within we see Him. The Light is God and the light is us.
– Fr. Anthony Hughes
God takes the smallest spark and joins it to His Eternal Flame. He takes the smallest portion of a tear of repentent and multiplies it into the waters that wash over and purify our souls.
We were made good. Through Him, this goodness within us is restored, multiplied, compounded, and poured out on those around us.
This is the message of the voice of one calling in the wilderness; “Repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand!”
