Sunday, January 8, 2006
Sermon: “Be Ye Baptized”
Scripture: Mark 1: 4-11

Reverend Larry Gerber 

Baptism in the Jordan river — a muddy, dirty river — was merely a sign for Jesus of the journey that lay before him.

Flip on the telly during the NFL Wild Card football games this weekend and you’re likely to see a bunch of commercials touting a variety of next-generation SUVs.

Each ad looks about the same — attractive people load up their oversized 4x4 to head out over some terrain negotiable only by Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep, throwing up dirt and gravel all the way. The automotive action is usually followed by an image of the same folks setting up camp or jumping into a kayak or dangling off a rock.

Looks like fun — looks being the operative word here.

The truth is that only about 5 percent of SUVs are ever taken off-road, which means that you’re more likely to see a Range Rover at Starbucks, for example, than anywhere near a mountain lake. For most SUV owners, the look and the possibility of one day actually locking in the four-wheel drive are worth the extra bucks in the purchase price.

But wait! Thanks to a new product, SUV owners don’t need to put up with either the guilt or the critics. With “Sprayonmud” they can create the illusion that their SUV has, on more than one occasion, been baptized in mountain mud.

For a mere $14.50 per quart-sized bottle you can buy actual mud to spray on your vehicle in order to make it look as though you’ve just bumped back from a wild ride in the wilderness when, in fact, you’ve been merely hiking through the aisles at Costco.

Says the promotional material, “If you’ve got a 4X4 or off-roader, Sprayonmud will send a message to anyone who disapproves or is just plain envious — you use your off-roader, off the road as well as on it.” Inside each quart-sized plastic container is real dirt from the UK (where the product originates), mixed with water and a “secret ingredient” which helps the mud stick to the vehicle’s body. 

Now, we can assume that anyone willing to shell out nearly three bucks a gallon to gas up a vehicle whose mileage is measured in single digits will have no problem paying for mud. Real off-roaders, though, know that the best mud is free and generally available. Their vehicles wear that mud as a badge of honor, marking them as adventurers. 

When Jesus burst on the scene in first- century Israel, one of his first actions was to mark his life and ministry with some real mud. He traveled way off-road, all the way out into the Judean wilderness, to see his cousin John, the quintessential rugged individualist. In the manner of other ancient Israelite prophets, John lived a solitary life amid sand and snakes but preached a message so compelling that people were willing to get their feet dirty to go find him.

Standing there in the notoriously muddy water of the Jordan River, John offered a “baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins” (1:4). First-century Jews were used to ceremonial washings, but the only one that involved immersion was for those converting to Judaism. John called everyone, even ethnic Jews, to be baptized or “marked” as being in need of forgiveness and salvation — the mud and muck of human sin being washed away and replaced with a real mark of repentance and confession. John’s baptism was, in a real sense, a great equalizer, declaring that rich and poor, Jew and non-Jew, righteous or roustabout (or, for our purposes, drivers of Navigators or Neons) all must turn toward God.

And herein is a paradox. You don’t wash dishes in dirty water. Yet John calls his disciples to be “washed,” marked, or cleansed in the dirty waters of the Jordan. Baptized in dirty water.

The followers of Jesus are called to come to where Jesus is. But Jesus is standing in dirty water, the muddy Jordan. He might as well have said, “Don’t expect room service, and a mint on the pillow, Perrier and afternoon lattes.” You walk with Jesus, you start in the muddy Jordan and you end up dying on a cross that Jesus himself will invite you to embrace.

When Jesus came to the edge of the water, John recognized that he was “the one” who “is more powerful than I ... I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals” (1:7). If anyone needed to skip this particular mud bath it was Jesus. In Matthew’s version, John is incredulous that the Messiah would need any kind of baptism — “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” (Matthew 3:14). Yet Jesus willingly steps down into the brown water to take on the same muddy mark as his people.

When we’re baptized we take on that same mark. Jesus’ baptism is the prototype for those of us who would follow him. What does our baptism say about us?

We understand baptism as a mark of God’s favor. Look at verses 9-11. Jesus comes to the Jordan River to be baptized by John and for him it is a form of anointing — not just with water but with the Spirit. Here we see the Trinity in action: the Son receiving the blessing, the Father expressing his love for the Son, and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. Baptism marks Jesus as “the Beloved” in whom God’s own nature is revealed and with whom God is “well pleased.” It’s a powerful expression of the intimacy of God’s own relational nature.

For us, baptism is a sign of God’s favor as well, but it is favor that is unmerited. We recognize that we can’t fake out God and be something that we’re not, so we “come clean” through repentance and confession and simply receive the love of God who created us and sees us as being “very good.”

There’s more. The baptism of Jesus was a form of anointing by which the Messiah, the promised One, would save Israel and the whole world. Israelite kings were marked as a symbol of their office and their responsibility. For Jesus, and for us, baptism is preparation for ministry.

Baptism is a sign that we pledge allegiance to a different kingdom — the kingdom of God. And that allegiance is worked out in our service to others. Baptism marks us, sets us apart as different from the world’s idea of power. 

In other words, we’re called to “go” into the world and get dirty serving others. There’s no room for pretending or keeping to our own side of town. Our baptism is a commission and a call to go into the wilds of a hurting world.

What we do now matters — to be agents of the in-breaking kingdom where we are today, be it on an urban street or a rural back road. We can experience the promises and purposes of God in our present lives. Our baptism, then, invites us to live in that new reality — a heavenly, God-ordained reality, seeing eternity not “out there” somewhere but seeing God at work here and now.

Living as baptized followers of Christ is something we can’t fake. No amount of spray on mud or religiosity can hide who we really are. As Jesus waded into the muddy water, he set the example for us.

Bottom line: If the Son of God is willing to get dirty changing the world, we who follow need to do the same. BUT, we also need to come back to the water for a clean start, every now and then. Come to the water (here, an invitation to come forward and receive the renewal of baptism will be offered)

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Sources:

Andrews, Robert. “Spray-On Mud Makes a Splash.” Wired News, June 10, 2005. wired.com. Viewed July 5, 2005.

“Spray-On Mud gives SUVs panache.” Arizona Daily Star (Tuscon), June 19, 2005. dailystar.com. Viewed July 5, 2005.

Sprayonmud Web Site. sprayonmud.com. Viewed July 5, 2005.