A Lectionary Reflection for the people of Thankful Memorial Episcopal Church for worship from home, January 10, 2021, Year B, 1 Epiphany

Genesis 1:1-5
Psalm 29
Acts 19:1-7
Mark 1:4-11

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

“And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.”  So ends the reading from Genesis this Sunday, and there’s something really lovely about it.  The first day.  A phrase filled with possibility.  A week or so ago, we celebrated the first day of 2021, grateful to leave 2020 behind, even though we all know, rationally, that the start of the new year doesn’t really make any difference.  But there’s something about the first day – of the year, of school, of a new job or a new relationship, whatever – there’s something about a first day that lends itself to renewed energy and excitement. 

First days are wonderful, beautiful things because they are all about fresh slates with no regrets, full of possibilities, of potential, of hope, of light.  And if that’s true for the first days of a new year or a new job, imagine what it was like for the first day, for the very first day of all creation.  “And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.”  Thanks be to God!

And all the power and potential of that first day of creation is called up and repeated in the account we get of Jesus’ baptism from the Gospel of Mark.  Here we discover another first day– the first day of Jesus’ ministry.  And just as the voice of God separates darkness from light on that original first day, so, too, on this first day at the Jordan River, God’s voice separates the heavens themselves, tearing open the sky so that the Spirit of God can do God’s work in creation through the Beloved Son incarnate.

For the writer of the Gospel of Mark, this first day on the Jordan River is just as important as that original first day of creation and even more important than the Christmas story we’ve all come so freshly from.  Indeed, Mark’s Gospel doesn’t even include a story of Jesus’ birth.  For Mark, this is the real beginning, the powerful first day of the good news of Jesus Christ.  Whatever happened before is irrelevant for this Gospel-writer because here, as Jesus comes up from the waters, is the new start to the rest of God’s work of salvation and redemption.  Here, at Jesus’ baptism is the beginning of a new creation, full of promise and potential and light.

But, you see, the thing about first days is that they’re always followed by second days, which, by themselves, are no bad things, really.  But second days are always followed by third ones, and those by fourth ones and before you know it some of that potential seems to have faded away.  Some of that promise seems to have slipped through your fingertips; some of that light and hope seem to have dimmed.  And I imagine it must have seemed that way to Jesus, too, because immediately after this great first day, when he sees the heavens opened and hears the voice of God calling him the Beloved Son and feels the Spirit alight upon him, that same Spirit pushes Jesus out into the wilderness and into temptation.  (We don’t read that part in today’s gospel lesson, but I promise you, it’s there, in the very next verse of Mark’s Gospel).  That freshness of Jesus’ new beginning immediately comes up against the dusty, wild wilderness of the second day of his ministry.  And, as we all know, the ministry that starts for Jesus today is only going to get more and more challenging, more and more difficult for him to follow, though he will follow it, all the way to the cross. 

But, let’s not rush into things, because today is about the first day of that ministry, marked by Jesus’ baptism at the Jordan and remembered every time any one of us in the Church is baptized in water, in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.  As Christians, our own baptisms marked a first day for us, too, filled with the same promise and power and hope and light as that original first day of creation.  On the day of our baptisms, each of us became new creations; we were given new beginnings and fresh starts as beloved children of God.  And like Jesus, on the day of our baptism, on the very day of that fresh start, each of us was pushed out by the Spirit into a weary world, a wilderness of temptation. 

And this is the reason why we’re holding off now on baptizing so many new babies at Thankful until we can all gather in person again.  Because the freshness of baptism, the power and joy in that moment is best witnessed by the many who will support the baptisand in his or her journey through the wilderness to come, to remind each of us of the fresh start we have in our baptism.  

Because chances are, we are not going to do quite so well as Jesus did in the wilderness.  Who could, really?  Chances are, we won’t resist temptation, submit ourselves to God’s will, serve God faithfully and joyfully no matter the challenges.  And if you were baptized as an infant, as I was, perhaps you, like me, aren’t feeling quite so fresh anymore.  Perhaps you feel as though the dustiness of that wilderness has tarnished the fresh start of baptism.  Perhaps you feel like that first day we were given by God’s grace has been followed by second and third and 4,444^th days that don’t seem to hold the same kind of power and promise and potential anymore.  Perhaps you feel like you’ve fallen down a bit on that job of doing God’s work in the world in the name of Christ, by the power of the Spirit. 

Well, here’s some good news for those of us feeling a little less fresh than we’d like: implicit in today’s Gospel reading is one more first day – not just the first day of creation but that first day of the week, that fresh, early morning when the women went to Jesus’ tomb and found it empty.  That first day is foreshadowed in this first day at the River Jordan, remembered in every baptism, relived in every day of our lives.  It is the promise of fresh starts for all of us, in every moment, because through our baptisms into Jesus’ death and resurrection, we were ushered into a new creation in Christ.  Every day, by the grace of God, that Spirit we were given at our baptism works within us to make us more and more into little images of Christ.  Every day, by the grace of God, we are given the opportunity of a fresh start, a clean slate, to participate in the life and work of that Spirit in the world.  Every day, by the grace of God, we are given a new beginning, a new day, as fresh and bright and powerful as that very first day.  Thanks be to God.  Amen.