Sermon Tone Analysis

! The First Sunday in Lent

!!!!!!  

!!!!!! March 9, 2003

 

*TITLE:  *   Repent and Believe!

 

 

*SERMON IN A SENTENCE: *  The redemption of Jesus is in and for the real world in which we live.

*SCRIPTURE: *   Mark 1:9-15

 

 

*EXEGESIS:      (Top of page)*

* *

*VERSES  9-15:*   OVERVIEW

 

Mark covers a great deal of territory in these few verses.

They pull together Jesus' baptism, his temptation, his announcement of the coming near of the kingdom, and his call to repentance and belief.

Mark uses strong, jolting language.

The heavens were "torn apart" (v.

10).

The Spirit "drove him out" into the wilderness "immediately" following the baptism (v.

12).

He was tempted by Satan, dwelt with wild animals, and was attended to by angels (v.

13).

He calls his hearers to "repent and believe in the good news" (v.

15).

In the Exodus, Israel passed through the waters of the Red Sea into the dry air of the desert wilderness.

There they encountered many temptations during their forty-year journey.

Now Jesus passes through the baptismal waters of the Jordan and, "still wet from the Jordan, is plunged into the wilderness" (Craddock, 140).

We can almost feel the quick chill as the desert air quickly evaporates the water from his body.

There is an important difference between the experience of the ancient Israelites and Jesus' experience, however.

The Israelites often failed the test -- Jesus does not.

*VERSES 9-11:  *BAPTIZED BY JOHN IN THE JORDAN

 

/9In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan.

//10And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on /(Greek: /eis/ -- into)/ him.

//11And a voice came from heaven, "You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased."

/

 

 

Mark begins his Gospel with an account of John the Baptist "proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins" in the wilderness (vv.

1-8).

The people of Judea and Jerusalem come en masse (v. 5) and Jesus of Galilee comes alone to be baptized by John in the Jordan (v.

9):

 

-- Jerusalem is the home of the temple and the center of Godly worship, but Jerusalem will also be the center of opposition to Jesus and the place where he will die.

-- Galilee, by contrast, is located quite some distance from the temple and has a large Gentile population.

From a religious standpoint, it has little to commend it, but it is where Jesus initiates his ministry (v.

14) and enjoys his greatest popularity, and it is to Galilee that he will return to commission the disciples and to ascend into heaven (16:14-20).

Mark's description of the baptism is spare, as is most of his Gospel.

Jesus "was baptized" (Greek:  /ebaptisthe/) by John.

The passive voice of this verb serves to put Jesus in the forefront and John in the background.

It would be difficult for Mark to make less of John's action in this baptism except by not mentioning him at all.

The people from Judea and Jerusalem came for John's baptism, "confessing their sins" (v.

5).

Jesus has no sins to confess, but in his baptism he "associates himself with sinners and ranges himself in the ranks for the guilty, not to find salvation for himself, not on account of his own guilt in his flight from the approaching wrath, but because he is at one with the Church and the bearer of divine mercy" (A.

Schlatter, quoted in Lane, 58).

As Jesus comes up out of the water, language that suggests immersion baptism, "he saw the heavens torn apart (Greek:  /schizomenous/ -- ripped open), which answers Isaiah's prayer, "O that you would tear open the heavens and come down, so that the mountains would quake at your presence" (Isaiah 64:1).

Mark will use this verb once again in this Gospel to describe the temple veil being "torn in two, from top to bottom," an event followed by the centurion confessing that Jesus is the Son of God (15:38-39).

The Spirit descends on Jesus like a dove.

The Spirit responds to Jesus' "coming up out of the water" by "coming down" into Jesus (the Greek says that the Spirit descends into [Greek: /eis/] Jesus rather than on him).

The symbolism of the dove is not certain here.

Some scholars have suggested that it is reminiscent of the Spirit of God brooding over the waters (Gen.

1:2), but it is also reminiscent of the dove that comes bearing an olive branch following the flood, promising that salvation is near (Gen.

8).

"The key element in this text is the descent of the Spirit, not the dove simile" (Donahue & Harrington, 65).

"And a voice came from heaven."

In this Gospel, the Godly voice speaks only at Jesus' baptism and at his transfiguration.

The words in both instances are nearly identical.

Here the voice speaks to Jesus, "You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased."

At the transfiguration, the voice will speak to the three disciples, saying, "This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him" (9:7).

-- "You are my Son" alludes to Psalm 2:7, where the son is the king of Israel.

In the OT, only Israel, the king of Israel, and angels are referred to as God's son.

-- "My Son, the Beloved," makes us think of Abraham, who loved his son, Isaac, as dearly as any father has ever loved any son, and whom God called to sacrifice his son on the mountain (Gen.

22; see also Heb 11:17-19).

The angel stayed Abraham's hand and saved his beloved son, but there will be no angel to save God's beloved Son from death.

-- "…with you I am well pleased" alludes to Isaiah 42:1, where God speaks of "my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations."

Some scholars have proposed that, given the pronouncement of the voice from heaven, the baptism is an adoption rite at which Jesus becomes Son of God.

However, the voice will use nearly the same words at the transfiguration.

Jesus surely would not be adopted twice.

Instead, Jesus is the Son of God from the beginning, and the voice from heaven simply announces that which has long been true.

"In Mark the baptism of Jesus establishes his identity.

In Paul (Gal.

3:26-29; Rom.

6:3-11) he baptism of believers establishes our identity" (Williamson, 35).

*VERSES 12-13:  *THE SPIRIT DROVE HIM INTO THE WILDERNESS

 

/12And the Spirit immediately drove him out /(Greek:  /ekballei/)/ into the wilderness.

//13He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted /(Greek:  /peirazomenos/)/ by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on /(Greek:  /diekonoun/)/ him.

/

 

 

Jesus will be tempted (Greek:  /peirazomenos/ -- to test or tempt) in the wilderness by Satan, but is driven (Greek:  /ekballei// /-- driven -- cast out -- this is the word that will be used to speak of exorcizing demons) to the wilderness by the Spirit.

The abruptness surprises us.

We would think that, following the baptism, the angels would come to minister to Jesus -- or there would be some sort of celebration with the song of heavenly hosts.

In all of the Gospels, though, Jesus goes straight from his baptism into his temptation.

We might think of his baptism as a commissioning and his temptation as a strengthening, toughening, hardening experience.

Throughout Israel's history, the wilderness has been where the Israelites have been tested, often failing, but it is also where they have been deepened spiritually.

Unlike the Israelites, Jesus will not fail his testing.

Luccock notes that the life of a Christian is not characterized by a long series of high moments, but a rhythm of hills and valleys.

Jesus' baptism is a grand moment, but is followed /immediately/ (Mark's favorite word) by the testing in the wilderness.

So it is for us.

We have our ups and downs.

"One fortification against such inevitables is to expect them; then we are not overwhelmed by the collapse of a romantic anticipation of roses all the way" (Luccock, 655).

Jesus was in the wilderness forty days.

Forty is a number oft associated with intense spiritual experiences.

God caused it to rain for forty days and forty nights to cleanse the earth (Gen.

7:12).

The Israelites were in the wilderness forty years.

Moses spent forty days and nights on Mount Sinai (Exod.

34:28), and Elijah journeyed forty days and forty nights to Mount Horeb (1 Kings 19:8).

"Jesus' encounter with Satan in the wilderness is probably related to the baptismal scene.

In the baptismal scene we hear clearly who Jesus is.

He is the Son of God.

In the wilderness is revealed to us a major task of the Son of God.

He will overthrow the rule of Satan and bring in the fulfilled time of salvation" (Jensen).

It seems odd that Mark would mention Jesus being with wild beasts.

While there are a number of species that make the desert their home, they tend to be reptilian rather than mammalian -- quiet, hidden, unobtrusive.

The desert seems barren -- empty.

Why would Mark mention wild animals?

A number of scholars have suggested that Mark intends to show Jesus living peaceably with wild animals.

Unlike the Israelites in their wilderness wandering, Jesus has no human companionship in the desert, but he experiences harmony with the wild things that seem frightening to us.

But Edwards notes that Mark's Gospel was probably written in the 60s when Nero was having Christians torn to pieces.

"Given the ravaging of Christians by ferocious animals during Nero's reign, it is not difficult to imagine Mark including the unusual phrase 'with the wild beasts' in order to remind his Roman readers that Christ, too, was thrown to wild beasts, and as the angels ministered to him, so, too, will they minister to Roman readers facing martyrdom" (Edwards, 41).

If this Gospel was, as seems likely, written during or soon after that period of persecution, we can be sure that the mention of wild animals did not bring to mind the peaceable kingdom to Mark's first readers.

Guelich says, " 'With the wild animals' (/meta ton therion/).