By now, many of us have moved on from the holidays. Christmas decor is carefully stowed away for another year and we’re ready to look toward what is to come in 2024.
But before we completely put everything away from Christmas, call to mind what it’s like for a young child to open a gift on Christmas morning. My experience has been that young children don’t care about “politely” opening a gift. They tear into it, doing whatever is necessary to get to the gift as fast as most physically possible.
Hold that image, and hear again two verses from our Gospel this past Sunday:“And just as [Jesus] 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.'” (Mark 1:10-11)
The heavens were torn apart. In the original text of Mark’s Gospel, it’s clear that this “tearing” was not just a simple rip. This “tearing” was something that was dramatic. Which, as we travel through the coming year of focusing on Mark’s Gospel, we’ll find that according to Mark’s perspective, God’s actions are often quite bold and decisive. When God acts in Mark, something happens.
So back to our passage about Jesus’ baptism, I had to wonder that when God torn apart the heavens, this was not some gentle process like how an adult would open a Christmas gift. This was something done in haste so that God could come to earth, and come to God’s people, as fast as physically possible.
I believe that, still today, God is tearing through barriers that we erect to come to us. And, I believe that, still today, God is breaking into our lives and our world in ways we perhaps would’ve never expected. But, are we open to percieving what God is doing? And, so we want God to break in? God’s activity will always, always lead to life. But, it also may lead to some disruption in the process; for newness and rebirth doesn’t just “happen.” And yet, it will only be by the action of God that we, and all the world, will be reformed into God’s glory.
So as we start another year, challenge yourself to pay attention to where God is breaking in. For just as God came to Jesus in his baptism, God still comes today to anoint us with God’s Spirit, and God still comes to make all things new.