Thoughts on Sunday’s Lessons for Jan. 7, 2024 (Epiphany 1B/Baptism of Our Lord)

The Baptism of Christ, with donors and their patron saints (1505), oil painting on wood, altarpiece of Jean des Trompe, by Gerárd David (c.1450/1460–1523). Groeninge Museum, Bruges, Belgium. (Click image to enlarge.)

First Reading: Genesis 1:1-5

Now we turn to the season of Epiphany and visualize how Scripture reveals Jesus as Christ and Messiah. Week by week, we celebrate the various manifestations, or epiphanies, of Jesus’s divinity, beginning with the coming of the Magi on the Epiphany, January 6, and now his baptism. All four readings this Sunday speak of creation and new life through God in Word and Spirit. Our first reading begins with the opening words of the ancient creation story in Genesis. God’s Word rings out, and light shines in the darkness. Then God’s spirit breath sweeps over the face of the waters. In the beginning God creates heaven and earth. In the beginning was the Word.

Psalm: Psalm 29

“Ascribe due honor to God’s holy name.” This striking psalm, perhaps a call to worship at the ancient temple, uses the metaphor of a majestic storm to portray God’s powerful spirit wind. Such a damaging storm, breaking mighty cedars, shooting flames, and shaking the wilderness, might scare anyone into running for shelter. But it also has potential to lure us outside to feel the rain and the wind on our faces as the storm rolls through. After such an event, anyone would surely cry out in worship, thanking the God who gives us strength and peace.

Second Reading: Acts 19:1-7

The Acts of the Apostles continues the narrative of Luke’s Gospel, following the evangelist’s account of the early church after Jesus’ death. In this passage we find Paul in Ephesus, introducing a dozen followers to the Holy Spirit. They tell Paul that they have already been baptized through John’s baptism. But when Paul explains that John himself told the people to believe in Jesus, the one who was to come after him, they eagerly accept baptism again, this time in Jesus’s name. Then, like the apostles at the first Pentecost, they joyfully begin speaking in tongues and prophesying as the Holy Spirit comes to them.

Gospel: Mark 1:4-11

Last month, on the second and third Sundays of Advent, we heard Matthew’s and John’s accounts of Jesus’s baptism in the Jordan River by John the Baptist. Now here we are again, this time reading Mark’s version of the familiar story. John has been telling the crowds that one more powerful is coming, whose sandals John is not worthy to untie. In Mark’s typical brisk, no-nonsense style, we hear that Jesus arrives, is baptized, and emerges from the water to see the heavens torn apart and the Spirit coming down, while God’s voice rumbles from heaven, saying, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”

Thoughts on Sunday’s Lessons for Jan. 10, 2021

First Reading: Genesis 1:1-5

We remember the Baptism of Jesus this Sunday, and all our readings speak of creation and new life through God in Word and Spirit.

The Baptism of Christ )c.1510-20), oil painting on oak wood by Joachim Patinir (c.1480-1524). Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna. (Click image to enlarge.)

Our first reading presents the familiar opening verses of the ancient creation story in Genesis. Glimpsed through its firm monotheism, we can see an emerging idea of God in three persons: God the Creator presides. The Word that God speaks makes the light shine in the darkness. God’s spirit wind breathes over the face of the water. In the beginning God created heaven and earth, and it was good. In the beginning was the Word.

Psalm: Psalm 29

This striking, poetic psalm portrays God’s spirit wind as a majestic and powerful storm. Such a storm, breaking mighty cedars, shooting flames, and shaking the wilderness, might send us running for shelter. But it is also the kind of memorable storm symphony that might lead us outside to feel the rain and the wind touch our faces as the towering clouds roll by. It is an apt image for the God who reigns over all creation, giving us strength and peace.

Second Reading: Acts 19:1-7

In last week’s second reading we heard Paul pray that God would give God’s Spirit of wisdom and revelation to the Ephesians, enlightening their hearts. Now we turn to the Acts of the Apostles, written a generation or two later, and find Luke’s account of Paul in Ephesus, introducing a dozen Ephesians to the Holy Spirit. They had received John the Baptist’s baptism of repentance previously, but had not heard of the Holy Spirit. Now, as Paul baptizes them in the Spirit in Jesus’ name, they joyfully speak in tongues and prophesy as the Holy Spirit comes to them.

Gospel: Mark 1:4-11

Now God’s Spirit moves over the waters again, this time embodied as a dove coming down while Jesus emerges, dripping, from Jordan’s water, baptized by the prophet John. Jesus looks up, sees the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove, and he hears God’s voice from above, telling him that he is God’s Son, God’s Beloved, in whom God is pleased. Before all this, John defers to Jesus’ greater power to baptize with the Holy Spirit. He proclaims that Jesus is the more powerful one who is coming after him and whose sandals he is not worthy to untie.

Thoughts on Sunday’s Lessons for Jan. 7, 2018

The Baptism of Christ (c.1622-23). Oil painting on canvas by Guido Reni (1575–1642). Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna. (Click image to enlarge.)

Sunday’s readings speak to us of creation and new life through God in Word and Spirit, and the metaphor of water recurs. Our first reading begins with the opening words of the ancient creation story in Genesis. Listen closely and hear the idea of one God functioning in a triune way: God is present as Creator. God’s Word rings out, and light shines in the darkness. Then God’s spirit breath sweeps over the face of the waters. In the beginning God creates heaven and earth. In the beginning was the Word.

Psalm: Psalm 29

“Ascribe due honor to God’s holy name.” This striking psalm of worship uses the metaphor of a majestic storm to portray God’s powerful spirit wind. Such a damaging storm, breaking mighty cedars, shooting flames, and shaking the wilderness, might scare us into running for shelter. But it also has potential to lure us outside to feel the rain and the wind on our faces as the storm rolls by. After such an event, all surely cry out in worship, thanking the God who gives us strength and peace.

Second Reading: Acts 19:1-7

In the Acts of the Apostles, which continues the narrative of Luke’s Gospel and follows the story of the early church after Jesus’ death, we see Paul introducing a dozen Ephesians to the Holy Spirit. They say that they had already been baptized through John’s baptism, but when Paul explains that John told the people to believe in the one who was to come after him – Jesus – they eagerly accept Paul’s baptism in Jesus’ name. Then they joyfully burst into speaking in tongues and prophesying as the Holy Spirit comes to them.

Gospel: Mark 1:4-11

God’s Spirit moves over the waters again: This time the Holy Spirit is embodied as a dove that Jesus sees coming down as he emerges, dripping, from Jordan’s water, baptized by the prophet John. John is quick to tell the crowds that this man, Jesus, is the one more powerful who is coming after him and whose sandals he is not worthy to untie. Jesus, says John, will baptize not only with water but with the Holy Spirit. There’s no birth story or genealogy in Mark’s short, forthright Gospel: Jesus enters as an adult, and as he is baptized we hear God’s Word from above declaring that Jesus is God’s Son, God’s Beloved, in whom God is pleased.