The lectionary readings for these past couple of weeks have
started to feel like a screenplay by Quentin Tarantino - without the excessive
violence; we started out in linear narrative fashion, reading straight forward
through the pericopes of the first chapter, but then last week, without
warning, we jumped forward to the transfiguration event in chapter nine. And now this week, were flashing back to the
baptism and temptation of Jesus from the opening of Mark’s gospel. It can be a little confusing.
But reading the story in this nonlinear way can highlight
some things that might otherwise be missed, can highlight similarities and
connections that might not be noticed in stories separated by several chapters.
At the baptism of Jesus, Mark tells us that, “at the moment
when Jesus was coming up out of the waters, he saw heaven being torn apart and
the Spirit like a dove descending to him.
A voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved One. On you my favor rests.”[i]
We’re not able to determine from Mark’s telling of this
story whether or not this event was witnessed by others that day. It seems to have been a personal experience
for Jesus, a visionary experience to confirm for Jesus his intimate
relationship with God in heaven.
But this isn’t a calm and blissful spiritual
experience. There aren’t many of those
in the gospel of Mark. No, the
overwhelming emotional experience of Mark seems to be one of Fear and
Wonder. In Matthew and Luke’s account
the heavens “were opened,”[ii]
but in Mark’s the heavens were “torn apart”- violently and dramatically (even
if it were only seen by Jesus.) And
then, immediately, Jesus was “driven” - forced - into the desert by the Spirit
to confront the temptations of Satan and the threatening presence of wild
beasts.
Just last week we read about Jesus’ Transfiguration[iii]
– but even this “mountain-top experience” is one overwhelmed with fear. Three of Jesus’ disciples (Peter, James, and
John) saw him enveloped by a cloud, and then changed. His clothes and face became dazzling
white. And that voice from heaven spoke
again, “This is my Son, the Beloved. Listen to him.”
Again, the voice from the cloud speaks to confirm Jesus’
relationship with God in heaven – and, this time, to confirm for his followers
his authority. And again Jesus is driven
not immediately into the desert this time, but towards Jerusalem where he would be surrounded by
wild beasts of another sort, where he would be delivered into the hands of men
and killed.
We can also expect victory, and comfort, and resurrection,
but that may be jumping ahead in the story…
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