Let Us Begin
Our first reading today is one of the best known texts of the Bible. It is a shame that we did not read the whole text (1:1-2:4a). I suppose that those who chose to only use the first verses of this text were giving precedence to the text from Mark since today’s theme is the baptism of Jesus. You also did not need to hear the text in its entirety it is so well known. Unfortunately this first chapter of the Bible is also most often misunderstood. I would surmise that when you heard it read your first thought was of the debate between science and creationist; most people do. But that is not where the tension in this story lies. When this story was composed – during the Babylonian captivity – the Israelites were not interested in how the world came about. They were questioning their whole lives, their faith, and their God. Their lives were in chaos. They had been defeated and taken captive by a foreign people who worshiped other gods and saw their destiny in the heavens. Had they been wrong about God? Why had God not delivered them? In this questioning and chaotic life they hear this story assuring them that God will create something new out of their chaotic lives and it will be good.
We also note that God created by speaking. Creation here is presented as a conversation between God and all that there is and we are part of that conversation. We heard an echo of this conversation last week from the first chapter of John, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” The conversation, creation, continues. God is not like a clock-maker who created, wound-up, and then left the universe to run on its own. God is in constant communication with creation, even in the midst of chaos when we are captives to fear, sin, and death.
Into the chaos of our lives God sent his Son – the Word made flesh – not to condemn but to save. We celebrate Jesus’ baptism as God’s mark of creation and with joy we also wear this mark. But this mark is not a symbol of great power and might, it is the mark of the cross. That God would choose the ultimate sign of chaos as the mark of creation is a sign to you and me that God will always be with us even in the chaos of our lives. When sadness, sickness, fear, or death approaches and it feels like the water is over our heads and the pit has shut its mouth upon us, God will deliver us from the darkness. God has created light and the darkness will not overcome it. That light shining in our chaos and darkness is his son who was baptized in the river Jordan who now speaks God’s word to us. Be comforted and know that you are God’s own creation – made, redeemed, and called into a conversation that has no end.