The Gospel of Our Lord Jesus Christ According to Mark

John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, and people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.

Now John was clothed with camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey.

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.

I  have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan.

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.

And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.” ( Mark 1:4-11 )

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Do you lie awake at night, thinking of the things you have done that you shouldn’t, or haven’t done that you should?  Do you struggle with stuff like that?

Well, you are not alone. Lots of people have that same problem.

Martin Luther was one such.  He struggled with his sins. He wrestled with them!!

Before his break with the Catholic church he went to confession every day and was so guilt-ridden that he would have gone every hour if he could.

On most nights, Luther slept well, but he even felt guilty about that, thinking, Here am I, sinful as I am, having a good night’s sleep. So he would hurry to Confession, and confess that.

One day, the older priest who was Luther’s confessor, said to him,

“ Martin, either find a new sin and commit it, or quit coming to see me.”

That’s what happens if you try to master your sins alone – you can’t!

In the Acts of the Apostles, we are told that Paul meets some followers of Jesus who have never heard of the Holy Spirit.

They had received the baptism of John, not the baptism of Jesus.

You might ask, what’s the difference? 

Well, if you read the preaching of John you will find that his preaching was threatening. People came to him out of fear. They got baptised to rid themselves of their sins  – out of fear. 

Jesus preached the good news. He invited people to a new relationship with the Father.

John’s preaching was a stage along the way.  People heard him, and were convinced of their sinfulness. They wanted to avoid condemnation.

Consequently, their ‘religion’ was a religion of struggle – of  trying to live up to some ideal, but without the help they needed to manage it.  

And really, as Luther himself came to realise, none of us can succeed in living a truly holy and selfless life, on our own.  

We need the gift of love that exceeds all love, to clear our hearts and minds of sin, and we need His Spirit.  

Put another way, we need the grace of God.

A carpenter from Nazareth, Jesus by name. A man chosen – before birth – before all time, in fact – to fulfill God’s plans for His people,  went up to the Jordan River, and was baptised.

And God breathed His Spirit upon him.

As Isaiah has it: Here is my servant. I have made him strong. He is my chosen one. I am pleased with him. I have given him my spirit and he will bring justice to the nations.

And Jesus knew that the time to fulfill his destiny had come.  It was time for him to risk everything!

His very life!

But he was a man uniquely chosen by God to tell us the good news of the ineffable love of the Father.

That love is why we try to live a sin-free life,  isn’t it?   Not because of guilt, or to avoid condemnation.   

The idea of being loved so much, so wonderfully, so unconditionally, makes us want to please, to worship, to work for – the source of that love. 

Guilt goes out the window. The need to confess time and again, and to be forgiven time and again, goes out the window.

We are cleansed, forgiven and God wants us to get on with it.

Get on with living an unfettered life.

And just as the Father breathed his Spirit into Jesus, so He breathes His Spirit into us.

How else could we possibly cope?

How else could we possibly handle all the things that are thrown at us in this life? 

The same way that Jesus did. He handled it with the power that came from the Holy Spirit.

And boy! he had a lot to handle didn’t he?  He was called upon to heal people, to lead them, to feed them, to save them. While he was doing this, his family thought he was mad. The leaders of the day feared him and plotted to kill him.

He was lauded by  the crowds who saw him as the Messiah, then condemned and jeered  by the same crowds when he was brought to trial.

He was shamed, ridiculed, and rejected by his own people, hunted like a fugitive, plotted against by his enemies, betrayed by a disciple, and finally deserted by his friends.

And yet, he was able to turn all this into triumph. 

Jesus accomplished what he did  because he was unbound by sin, and unbound by any earthly agenda, and empowered by the Spirit of God.

And he dared to risk his hope, to risk  his life, on that power.  On his love of, and obedience to God.

And he was glorified! 

And God delivered him!

 And God delivers us.

Through His Spirit God delivers us.

If we are prepared to rest our hope – to risk our hope – and our heart and our soul, and our life, in Him.

And we promise to do that in Baptism. Or it is promised for us.

And we promise to do  that in our Confirmation.

Or at some point when Jesus is revealed to us. 

And we promise to do that in our life as a follower of Jesus. To take the risk of faith.

Don’t we?

And if we don’t, then what are we?

If we can’t risk for the one who risked all for us, then what are we?

Here is a treatise on risk, I don’t know the author, unfortunately, but: 

To laugh is to risk appearing the fool.

To weep is to risk appearing sentimental.

To reach out for another is to risk involvement.

To expose feelings is to risk exposing our true self.

To place your ideas, your dreams, before the crowd is to risk loss.

To love is to risk not being loved in return.

To live is to risk dying.

To hope is to risk despair.

To try at all is to risk failure.

But risk we must, because the greatest hazard in life,  is to risk nothing.

The man, the woman who risks nothing, does nothing, has nothing, is nothing!

As followers of Jesus we want to do something –  spread the Good News of Christ Jesus; have something – a place in His kingdom now, and to come, and be something- energized by His Spirit.

All  involving risk.

But really, we don’t want the supposed safety of a life lived without risk.  Do we? 

We want to reach out,    to sing out,     to stand out,     to risk all for Him.  And not be found wanting in our commitment to Christ the King.

After all he did for us, that’s the least we can do, isn’t it?