Mark 1:9-15

In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him.

And a voice came from heaven, ‘You are my Son, the Beloved;* with you I am well pleased.’

And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. He was in the wilderness for forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him.

Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news* of God,* and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near;* repent, and believe in the good news.

I don’t remember my baptism. It was thirty years ago at the church my parents still go to; same baptismal font my brother and his daughters were baptized in. Water was poured on our heads from a little bowl in a sanctuary filled with red carpet. As you can see, I had on a white gown, a banner hung with my name on it. I’m sure there was a little reception after in the parlor. As far as Lutheran baptisms go, it was pretty standard.

To some folks though, my baptism might seem pretty strange; I mean why baptize an infant? Why not wait till the person is older, knows what's happening, chooses for themselves? Or why sprinkle only a little water? Why not full immersion in a river or lake or a huge, heated pool right here on the altar? Baptism is so ubiquitous in the church that we rarely stop to ask the hard questions: What makes a baptism, a baptism? Does a little bit of water really make a difference? What does it really do?

I read an article in the New York Times that talked about all the different ways baptisms happen these days. In South Florida, one church does their baptisms in the Atlantic ocean, amid the waves and keeping an eye out for sharks. At Creekwood Church in Texas, they rent out a waterpark and baptize with huge slides overhead. Nowadays, instead of white robes or gowns, people get custom t-shirts with mottos on them like #washed, best day ever, no turning back.

Now I’m not saying these practices are wrong, except for the waterpark… that I've got some questions about. Still they aren’t wrong. They have all the things necessary for a baptism, which really is only two things: first you need water, and really any water will do. Tap water, distilled water, chlorine filled water, salt water, it doesn’t matter what kind of water; because what really matters, at least for Lutheran Christians, is that the water is joined together with the Word, (with a capital W) of God, meaning the water is joined together with the real presence of Jesus and all the promises he gives.

Just as we believe Jesus is truly present in, with, and under the bread and wine at communion, we too believe Jesus is in, with, and joined to the water at a baptism. So these other forms or settings (oceans, waterparks, t-shirts) don’t make it any more or less of a baptism. But they do make baptism more of an experience.

A pastor in Linwood Kansas says in that NYT article, “We live in an age where people like experiences. It’s not that it looks better, but it feels better. It feels more authentic, it feels more real.”

Now I don’t know about you, but I didn’t feel much at my baptism… does that mean it was less authentic? There wasn’t much of an experience either, for me and anyone else there. Does that mean it was less real? It’s not the experience that matters, or the feeling you get coming out of the water. Truth be told, baptism isn't about you…

by that I mean its not about the decision you make, or even about giving your life to Christ. Because its not you who's doing the work. It’s not you choosing to get closer to God. If all it took was one decision by us to be put in God’s good graces, there would be no need for Jesus’ own baptism nor his death and resurrection. Christ has already given his life for you, suffered once for all as Peter tells us. Why do we try to make it obsolete?

Baptism then isn’t about what you do, it’s about what God does for you, to you. It’s God getting closer to you on account of Christ; because through the water and Word, we are joined to the death and resurrection of Jesus.

I like how one baptist preacher describes this. He said: “we Baptists believe in water. So when it comes to baptizing, we don’t mess around with a few sprinkles. We put people under until they bubble. We want them to feel just a moment of panic, so they can appreciate the resurrection.” And while I think that is terrifying and fits the description of torture, I like the symbolism.

Because more than anything else, baptism is death and resurrection. Luther describes it as the drowning of the old, sinful self (which is a rather good swimmer) and rising to new life. It’s not simply “a removal of dirt, but an appeal to God so that once we are covered with that water, God no longer remembers our sin, but looks upon us with steadfast love, just as God did with Jesus at his baptism.

To be clear, being baptized doesn’t mean that you’ll never sin again. You remain a sinful person. But it does mean that God’s grace and forgiveness abound all the more, working on you each day to put to death that old self and live as one who reflects the love and goodness received from God.

Being baptized also doesn’t mean life gets any easier. If anything, baptism means life will get harder! Notice that the same spirit Jesus received at his baptism immediately put him into the wilderness.

Rachel Held Evans puts it this way,

“baptism declares that God is in the business of bringing dead things back to life, so if you want in on God’s business, you better prepare to follow God to all the rock-bottom, scorched-earth, dead-on-arrival corners of this world, including the ones in your own heart - because thats where God works.”

Which is why its a courageous statement, dangerous even, we make when baptizing babies.

We are acknowledging that this spirit you receive will call you, drive you into places you wouldn’t otherwise go; its saying this beautiful, seemingly perfect little baby is in fact not so perfect and needs God’s grace just like the rest of us; And that it is God’s desire for this child to be a member of God’s holy, loving, struggling family. That’s why we baptize infants.

That’s why we don’t make it much of an experience, like at a waterpark or with t-shirts. And that’s why we say it’s not about you, but about what God does, says, and works in you through the waters of baptism.

It’s less about us declaring something to God, and more about God declaring to us and to all the world, This is my beloved child, forgiven, grace-filled, and ready for the journey.

Held-Evans again: “It is death and resurrection, over and over again, day after day, as God reaches down into our deepest graves and with the same power that raised Jesus from the dead [pulls] us out of that dirt, bringing us into the light of a new day, every day.

If you’ve been baptized, put your hand in the font today, remember your baptism, remember what God has done, is doing, and will do every day and live as baptized people, proclaiming the good news of Jesus in both word and deed and with as many people as we can.

But if you haven’t been baptized and want to be, please talk with me or Pastor Mark. There is no test to see if you’re ready; you don’t need to feel holy enough or ready enough, or like you’ve got it all together in life and in faith. That’s not how this works. The decision is made and God has chosen you. You are already God’s beloved, so let God declare it to you and all the world,

in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit. Amen

Mark 9:2-9

Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter, James, and John, and he led them up a high mountain, apart, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them and his clothes became a dazzling white, such as no one on earth could bleach them. And they saw there Moses, with Elijah, talking with Jesus.

Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here. Let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” He didn’t know what to say, for they were terrified. Then a cloud overshadowed them and a voice came from the cloud, saying, “This is my Son, the beloved; listen to him!” And when they looked around, they saw no one there except Jesus, himself, alone.

As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus ordered them not to tell anyone about what they had seen, until the Son of Man had been raised from the dead.

I’m a sucker for “Before and After” stuff. You know what I’m talking about. A good home makeover on HGTV where someone transforms a goldenrod and avocado-colored kitchen from 1978 into a stainless steel and subway tiled jewel for the 21st Century. Or a weight-loss reel where a poor, pudgy, picked-on high schooler becomes a ripped, muscle-bound college kid in just over a year. Or anytime those “where are they now” things pop up and you can see what child-stars from your favorite old TV shows look like as grown-ups.

But the latest iteration of this “Before and After” fascination had me thinking a bit about Transfiguration Sunday and Jesus’ experience up on that mountain with Peter, James, John – and Moses and Elijah, too. Sadly, thanks to the power of Tik Tok and the proliferation of meth, heroine, and other drugs in our culture, the last few years, these “Befores and Afters” are much harder to look at. They show the damage and destruction these drugs can do in less time than a team of contractors can remodel a kitchen or a teenager can reshape and rebuild his body.

I was going to show you what I’m talking about, but decided against it. It didn’t seem right to exploit that kind of sadness and struggle, just to make my point. So trust me when I say – if you haven’t seen them – these pictures (which are actually a series of an individual’s mugshots, over time) show that in just a few months’ time – or a couple of years, maybe – fresh-faces get covered with open sores; bright eyes become bloodshot and vacant; beautiful smiles become smashed-out window panes; otherwise healthy bodies lose their hair and more weight than seems possible. And all of that, of course, is only what we can see changing on the outside.

And, it may be odd, but the reason this made me think of Jesus – and the Transfiguration moment on that mountaintop we just heard about – is because of the first three words we heard from Mark’s Gospel as part of that story: “Six days later…” “Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter, James, and John …” “Six days later…”

Even though this amazing, wonderful, miraculous thing happened up there on that mountain for and with those three lucky disciples, it didn’t happen in a vacuum. And if you check out what Jesus was up to six days EARLIER in Mark’s Gospel, it puts it all in a different kind of light.

See, we don’t know what happened in the meantime because that doesn’t seem important to whoever wrote Mark’s gospel. But, six days earlier, Jesus had had some pretty hard, holy conversations with his disciples. We’re told that, six days before today’s mountain-top experience, Jesus “began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.” We’re told that six days earlier, “Peter took [Jesus] aside and began to rebuke him.” We know that Jesus then rebuked Peter and said “Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”

And we know that six days earlier, Jesus called the crowd with his disciples, and gave them that hard, holy teaching: “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” And he said, “For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? Indeed, what can they give in return for their life?” And so on…

In other words, the you-know-what is about to hit the fan. Jesus and anyone who followed him – really followed him – were about to find themselves in some deep kimchi, as my high school history teacher, Mr. Huovinen liked to say. According to Jesus, this discipleship stuff; this “following me and fishing for people” business can be hard. It isn’t always pretty, or easy, or safe, or for the faint of heart, either.

And it makes me think about this thing we celebrate in the Transfiguration of Our Lord, and the way it might prepare us for the season of Lent that’s on the way – and for life in this world, really.

Because what happened “six days later” – where we find ourselves this morning – is that Jesus revealed himself to his closest friends as the next, and the best, and as the end in a line of the great prophets of their faith, like Moses and Elijah – the ones who showed up next to him on that mountain. What happened was that Jesus revealed himself in some larger-than-life way as the Messiah and as the Son of God and all of it was in preparation for what was coming next.

And, what was coming next for Jesus was even more unbelievable than what happened on that mountain – even with all of those ghosts, talking clouds, and dazzling white laundry. What was going to happen was that Jesus would be crucified. Jesus was about to share a meal with the rest of his disciples; he would be arrested; he would be denied and betrayed by these very same disciples, Peter, James, and John, just to name a few and then he would die a terrible death – whipped, beaten, mocked, spit upon, crowned with thorns, and nailed to a cross.

And all of this was even more unbelievable than what happened on that mountain, really. Why would God suffer? Why would someone who could heal anyone of anything not simply save himself from all of it right from the get-go? And why would Jesus ask the disciples to follow him through all of this only to die and leave them to deal with the emptiness, anger, pain, persecution, and grief that were sure to follow?

I think maybe God did all of that, in Jesus, because God knew that we would know so many people going through it. Or because God knew we would find ourselves going through it, at some point along the way. And we do, do we not – know people suffering and struggling in so many ways? Cancer and cardiac emergencies. Ugly divorces and dangerous relationships. Financial crises; mental health concerns; legal issues; struggles with aging; deep, abiding, grief; relentless addiction; fears, anxieties, and stresses too numerous to name.

So, “six days later,” six days after his hard, holy conversation about his own suffering and struggle, when Jesus orders the disciples not to tell anyone about what had happened on that mountaintop until after the Son of Man had been raised from the dead, I think maybe he wants them – and us – always to see the mountaintop of his Transfiguration, and the one of Easter’s resurrection, too – in connection with the suffering and struggle of our lives in this world. I think he was showing that God is with us in all of it; that God is not afraid of any of it.

I think he might be saying, just wait until you – and they – can see that I’m going through it, too. That we’re in this together. That we’ll all find ourselves coming down from the mountain tops now and again – deep into the valleys of life in this world, more often than we’d like.

Because whether you’re in the throes of a deep, dark addiction, being rocked by a relationship in ruins, or staring death in the face, this is where God does God’s best work – not just in miracles and magic and mountaintop experiences – but by coming down from the mountain, entering into the broken places, and making them whole; by finding what’s lost; by turning shadows into light; despair to hope; sin to forgiveness; by transforming death into new life, even, by a grace that’s hard to believe until you’ve seen it for yourself – which we will – all of us, by the love promised us in Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen

It's Not About You

Trials and Transfiguration