Baptism of Our Lord – Year B (Mark 1:4-11)

I remember that one of the first things I heard about the Gospel of Mark when I started studying theology was that Mark is a passion narrative with a long introduction. The implication of that hyperbolic statement is that everything in Mark is about the cross, including Jesus’ baptism in the Jordan. From that perspective, the Father’s statement of love and pleasure in the Son is not so much about the act of baptism per se, but rather about Jesus’ immersion into the way of the cross.

And so then we quickly move to what it means to be a follower of Jesus, to be one of those who has been baptized with the Holy Spirit. The baptism of the disciple is also into the cross. In this sense, the theory that Mark is primarily an interpreter of Paul for a post-pauline community rings true. True power is found here in the Jordan and, ultimately on the cross, far from the centers of wealth and power in the Roman Empire.