The reading from the Holy Gospel according to St. Mark. (1:1-8)

Today we hear the beginning of the gospel of St. Mark. According to some scholars there is a belief that the gospel of Mark was the “source material” for both Matthew and Luke when they wrote their gospels. In fact as you compare these three gospels, known as the synoptic gospels, side by side, you will see that they have many similarities. Some scholars believe that his work was written in Alexandria, Egypt, while others believe that it was written in or near Rome.

St. Mark begins this gospel with these words, “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” We understand that the word Gospel here means “the good news.” It is a declaration of the work that God has done through His Son Jesus. St. Mark starts this gospel by attaching it to the words of Isaiah the prophet. He is connecting the work of Jesus Christ to what was anticipated and foretold through the Old Testament Scriptures. He writes, “As it is written in Isaiah the prophet, “Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, who shall prepare thy way; the voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.”

Isaiah the prophet wrote this about John the baptist, calling him the messenger who will cry out to the people and tell them to “prepare the way of the Lord and make His paths straight.” St. Mark goes on to say, “John the Baptizer appeared in the wilderness, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And there went out to him all the country of Judea, and all the people of Jerusalem; and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.”

John the baptist is mentioned in this gospel at this point in the church cycle because it is the Sunday before the great feast of Theophany (also called Epiphany) in some traditions. On this day of Theophany, which we will celebrate tomorrow evening, we commemorate and rejoice in the day that Our Lord Jesus Christ was baptized as well as the manifestation of the Holy Trinity above the river Jordan.

It should be mentioned that the baptisms of John and the Christian baptisms are not the same, however they contain some important similarities. First they are not the same because the baptism of John the baptist was mainly a symbolic baptism. It was an outward declaration of a change of heart and a change of our path. But wait a minute, did Jesus ask John the forerunner to baptize Him because He needed to change His heart or His path? Did Jesus ask to be baptized for the washing away of sins? Not at all. He was and is perfect and sinless at all times. Our Lord Jesus Christ was baptized in order to sanctify and bless the very act of baptism. He took a symbolic baptism and by allowing Himself to be baptized, he infused this activity with special grace that is given to us when we are baptized in water in the name of the Holy Trinity, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. He blessed it and gave what was a ritual, real transformative power. In fact, this baptism is necessary for each and every one of us when we become Christians.

For us as Orthodox Christians, following the teachings of all of the apostles and especially St. Paul, baptism in Christ is the giving of newness of life. Baptism is the putting on of Christ. It is burial and resurrection with Christ. It is the washing away of sins. It is the adoption into the household of God.

Closely associated with this baptism is also the reception of the seal of the Holy Spirit which was in early times given through the laying on of hands by the apostles and is now given through the anointing with sacred Chrism. A few of you who were previously baptized as Christians will receive the anointing of Chrism tomorrow evening by God’s grace. By this anointing you will become temples of the Holy Spirit and you will become small “Christs” that is you will literally be anointed ones.

While the baptism differs from that of St. John the baptist, it is also similar in that it requires a true change of heart. As we prepare to celebrate this feast we hear these words of St. John the baptist and the prophet Isaiah before him, “prepare the way of the Lord and make His paths straight.” This word is of particular importance to those who are preparing to enter the Orthodox Church, but this word applies daily to every Christian. Prepare the way of the Lord, by preparing the way of your heart. Make His paths straight by making sure that your heart aims directly towards Christ, that your desire is focused on Jesus Christ, without any winding turns or obstacles in the way. A clear path. A sure path. A path that allows Christ to reach us without difficulty. A path that allows us to see God without obstructions. That is the path of a Christian.

When we examine our lives and we see things that are taking our focus away from God, when we see sins or sinful ways of thinking and living in our lives, that is a sign that the path to God is not clear and not straight. It is a sign that I must change again and turn back to Christ or risk being alienated from God. We believe that the Holy Spirit is working ceaselessly to convict us and turn us back to God whenever we stray. But what can we say about those who have lost hunger for God, or who have lost a sense of right and wrong. Lord have mercy is all we can say. For the rest, for those who struggle honestly, then their baptism is not just a one time event, but a continuous renewal through repentance and the work of the Holy Spirit. It is our goal to join our works to the work of the Holy Spirit so that there will be synergy between God and His beloved creation.

St. Nikodemos who writes,

“The grace of the Holy Spirit which is given mystically to every Christian when he is baptized acts and is manifested in proportion to our obedience to the commandments of the Lord. That is, if a Christian obeys the commandments of the Lord more, grace acts with him more, while if he obeys them less, grace acts within him less. Just as a spark, when covered in the ashes of fire becomes increasingly manifest as one removes the ashes, and the more fire wood you put the more the fire burns, so the grace that has been given to every Christian through Holy Baptism is hidden in the heart and covered up by the passions and sins, and the more a man acts in accordance with the commandments of Christ, the more he is cleansed of the passions and the more the fire of Divine grace lights in his heart, illumines and deifies him.” + St. Nikodemos of the Holy Mountain, Christian Morality

May the Lord make it so! AMEN.

Source: Sermons