We read the baptism of Jesus from Mark’s gospel this year. Mark’s gospel was the first one written and most would agree that both Matthew and Luke used it as a resource in writing theirs. John who wrote much later took a different approach. Mark’s gospel is the shortest. In comparing the 4 gospels I have heard it said that what we are witnessing is an evolution of early Christian thinking. Some look at Mark’s gospel as evidence that the early Christians thought of Jesus as simply anointed by God and called to be the Messiah and not as John proclaims at the beginning of His gospel “the word becoming flesh” or as the creeds proclaim “begotten not made being of one substance as the father”.  Mark however paints a picture and makes a proclamation just as profound as John does. Through the use of images he takes the reader back to creation making just as profound a proclamation as John or the apostle Paul. The Christian proclamation that Jesus is God in the flesh is not a result of evolving thinking but of God revealing reality to us. Mark reports that when Jesus was baptized the “Holy Spirit descended upon him like a dove”. We are familiar with the Holy Spirit being referred to as a dove because we are familiar with the New Testament and other Christian writings. When Mark wrote his gospel the only other reference to the Holy Spirit being referred to as a dove came from the Targum – an Aramaic translation of the Hebrew Scriptures. The first readers of Marks gospel would have been familiar with this translation. In the Targum, in the book of Genesis, when creation is being described it says that the Holy Spirit “fluttered over the face of the deep like a dove”. Here at the Baptism of Jesus Mark carefully, because each word Mark uses is carefully chosen, he writes with an extreme economy of words, Mark uses the same imagery. In the story of creation there is God the father, the Holy Spirit, and God’s word. Here at the baptism of Jesus there is the Holy Spirit described in the same language, God the father communicating and Jesus proclaimed as God’s communication. The baptism of Jesus creates confusion for some. Why did Jesus need to be baptized if baptism is a sign of repentance and turning to God? But baptism is actually a sign of God’s work not our work. Jesus baptism is a proclamation of the beginning of the new creation reflecting back to creation itself as Mark proclaims it. In reality the beginning of John’s gospel proclaiming the word became flesh and dwelt among us is the same proclamation as the beginning of Mark’s gospel. There is no evolution of thinking or understanding but rather a different way of articulating the same thing.

Rev. Allan Carson