Mark 1:9-15

Jesus is baptised by John in the Jordan River – the religion of both Jesus and John is practised publicly and outdoors. How might Christianity be different if it’s religious symbolism and rites were practiced publicly and outdoors? Christians often baptise in public places such as in rivers and by the sea shore. Some Christians have celebrated the breaking of bread in public places as a symbol of Christ’s death and resurrection and as a protest for peace and hope in places of war and violence. Christians have ventured outside the doors of the church and stood on street corners and on soap boxes proclaiming the gospel. These are all ventures out before returning to the safety of the walls of the church and where we can return again to the privatisation of our beliefs and religious practices.

I get the impression from the gospel stories that these were more than ventures out into the community for both Jesus and John. Jesus’ ministry took place outdoors by a river, by the sea, on a mountain, between villages, along the road, in peoples homes, over dinner, at a wedding, as well of course in synagogues and at the Temple. There was no real division between indoors and outdoors, between place of religious designation and daily life. The only difference being that the most opposition seemed to come when Jesus went near a synagogue or the Temple. Perhaps this is why John was out in the wilderness away from the places that maintained the religious status quo, or the places where religious leaders could control the minds and actions of people. Perhaps this is why Mark uses the strong word ‘drove’ (Mark 1:12) when describing the way the Holy Spirit guided Jesus out into the wilderness. Rather than a gentle leading the force of the Spirit’s intention is conveyed as pushing hard, making Jesus go. We often ask, ‘Where is God leading us?’ But will there come a day when the Spirit drives us out, out of our buildings, out of our familiar surroundings, out from our beliefs that keep us bound?

When Jesus is baptised by John could he be ‘outing’ himself from the closed patriarchal religious system that was maintained by synagogue and Temple? Is Jesus identifying with ‘otherness’? When people are baptised they are usually thought of as being baptised into the church or being baptised into the life of Christ (baptism as initiation) but could they not also be being baptised ‘out’ of something? The water is symbolic of many things: a washing away of the old, a washing away of sin, a sign of repentance, a sign of turning away from one way and a turning towards another way.

 

In Matthew’s Gospel (3:1-12) The people from Jerusalem and all Judea were going out to John to be baptised and when John also sees the Scribes and Pharisees coming out to him John lambasts them, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?” The repenting was not a turning away from sin but rather a call to prepare the way of the Lord. The ritual washing of Judaism was all about being ‘clean’, being in a state of ritual cleanliness so that one could participate in both religious and communal life. John and Jesus took this to a new level of preparedness to now welcome the way of God as proclaimed by Jesus in both his words and very life. The ritual pointed to something greater, to something real, to something to be entered into fully with one’s whole being, heart, mind and body.

As Christians we have rejected the ritual religion of Judaism and have looked on it with scorn while at the same not realising that we may have replaced it with another religion that is no more than ritual – a ritual without a reality. Ritual is but a metaphor or symbol of a greater reality. It is ‘acting’ rather than ‘actual’. In the church we tend to spend lots of time and effort making our rituals more meaningful, infusing them with meaning to make them more attractive, and we protect them and elevate them to a holy place. We have argued over the meaning and practice of these rituals, even killed one another in the name of these rituals.

I don’t think that rituals are the problem. The problem lies in how we view and practice rituals, and how we have separated rituals from the reality of daily life. Rituals are more about living, about daily life and helping us to sustain a sense of goodness, love and justice in the world. These rituals I believe are not to be restricted to ‘believers’ in God or to followers of Jesus but be ones than all people can partake in and find meaning and sustained hope for ourselves as individuals, as communities and the world as a whole. After all the good news is for everyone.

PS. Have you noticed the sign in the photo? It is from a private chapel in a Country House in Ireland.