Mark 1:4-11

 

background - Mark connects the two "prepare" phrases in vs. 1-2 with John the Baptist's appearance at the Jordan. What was meant by John’s hydro- activity in the desert? Purification? Moral reform? Forgiveness? No consensus here among commentators, but from the Christian perspective, repentance and anticipation (which we usually focus on for the 2nd week of Advent) is triggered by John’s preaching and provides a receptive audience for Jesus’ ministry. [1]

he / you / with you - The focus goes from the many to one who comes for baptism. At this baptismal service, however, notice the extraordinary-a ruptured heaven, the Spirit descending, and a voice speaking about the candidate. But notice also how Mark differs from the other gospel accounts: the whole affair is internal. "He saw . . . You are . . . with you. Jesus (and no other) experiences such strange events so that we alone are the only ones to know Jesus’ real identity; such knowledge is hidden from the story’s characters.

augustine [fl. 387-430 ] - Whichever of the Evangelists may have preserved for us the words as they were literally uttered by the heavenly voice, the others have varied the term only with the object of setting forth the same sense . . . In You I have set my good pleasure; that is to say, by You I am doing what is my pleasure. [2]

Recall / describe what you remember (or have been told) about your own baptism. What would you have liked to hear God say to you at the waters of your own baptism?

How is Jesus’ baptism in Mark 1 similar / dissimilar to Jesus’ followers?

 

Please see the DPS homily posted this week based on this passage.

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[1] The New Interpreter’s Bible VIII (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1995), page 531.
[2] Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture II  (InterVarsity Press, 1998), page 8.