Introduction
“From Scratch.”
When you hear the phrase what does it connote to you? How do
you use the phrase?
“Built from scratch.” “Baked from scratch.” “Made from
scratch.”
Merriam-Webster offers the following explanations[1]:
To create something from scratch is
to make it without any ingredients or materials prepared ahead of time. The
scratch in from scratch originally referred to the starting line of a race
"scratched" into the ground, from which all runners would be starting
without a head start…
In cooking, to make something from
scratch means to use only the most basic ingredients, with nothing premade…
Building a structure from scratch
means using no prefabricated parts…
To build a business or livelihood
from scratch means to start with nothing provided in advance…
In these there is a strong sense of creating something
significant out of nothing, or almost nothing. And that is how the biblical
Creation account of Genesis chapter 1 has traditionally been viewed.
Genesis 1 Creation Account
We are probably quite familiar with the King James
translation of the first two verses of Genesis.
1
In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. 2 And the
earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep.
And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. (Genesis 1:1-2 KJV)
From these verses it seems quite clear that there was
nothing and then God created everything. But this may be yet another case of
interpretation influencing translation.
The idea that God created everything from nothing is dated
to just a couple of centuries prior to Jesus, during the time of the writings
of the Maccabees. The Jewish Christians continued this thought and by the third
and fourth centuries after Christ, it was held as orthodox theology.
But as you might have inferred, the text of Genesis predates
Maccabees by another couple of centuries, at least, and is based on earlier
creation mythologies, stories, and traditions. As recent scholars have studied
and learned more about ancient creation stories, Bible translators have
incorporated what could be considered a more accurate rendering of the one
found in Genesis. The Common English Bible translators render the first two
verses in this way:
1 When God began to
create the heavens and the earth—2 the earth was without shape or
form, it was dark over the deep sea, and God’s wind swept over the waters (Genesis
1:1-2 CEB)
This more accurately conforms to the Creation mythologies
that are found throughout the Ancient Near East. Rather than a total void,
there was already something, but what was there was seen as complete chaos.
What God does through Creation is bring order out of chaos. That is the story
of the Creation account in Genesis 1.
For the ancients, the sea was a place of chaos and where
evil dwelt. The instances of Jesus taking control over the waters are significant
because they are evidence of a power greater than the greatest chaos that
humans know. They are evidence that Jesus is greater than the powers of this
world.
This does not mean that God couldn’t have created matter out
of nothing, but the Bible is silent on where and how matter and the universe
originated. As far as the beginning of this world, something already existed,
and God took those raw materials and placed them into proper order to bring
about the world that humans know.
When you think about making something “from scratch,” that is
what it means. Anything created depends on something that already exists. Even
the most creative and original thought depends on and utilizes ideas that
already exist. Something new is a result of a reordering of existing materials
and ideas.
Baptism of Jesus
Let’s review today’s reading from Mark.
4 John the Baptist was
in the wilderness calling for people to be baptized to show that they were
changing their hearts and lives and wanted God to forgive their sins. 5
Everyone in Judea and all the people of Jerusalem went out to the Jordan River
and were being baptized by John as they confessed their sins. 6 John
wore clothes made of camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist. He ate
locusts and wild honey. 7 He announced, “One stronger than I am is
coming after me. I’m not even worthy to bend over and loosen the strap of his
sandals. 8 I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with
the Holy Spirit.”
9 About that time, Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and John
baptized him in the Jordan River. 10 While he was coming up out of
the water, Jesus saw heaven splitting open and the Spirit, like a dove, coming
down on him. 11 And there was a voice from heaven: “You are my Son,
whom I dearly love; in you I find happiness.” (Mark 1:4-11 CEB)
There is much that could be spoken about this selection, but
I want to focus on the last few verses which describe Jesus’ baptism. While it
may not be immediately obvious, there are images that parallel the Creation
account of Genesis.
The first is that of wilderness and water. Both communicate
ideas about disorder and chaos. They are where the world is wild and
uncivilized, where dangers lurk, and threats abound. Yet that is where Jesus first
appears in the Marcan gospel. Even more, the key aspect of this appearance of
Jesus is that of coming up from out of the water. Just as the entire world and
all of humanity finds emergence in the primordial waters, Jesus is depicted as
appearing from out of the water.
The image of heaven splitting comes from a text in Isaiah
64. But it could also allude to the Creation account in Genesis where God
separates light from darkness, waters from waters, dry land from the sea, and
day from night. The allusion can also be to the momentous occasion at Sinai
where God split open the heaven to come down to the mountain to speak with the
people, which also occasioned the identification of Israel as God’s chosen. And
the prophetic texts of the Hebrew scriptures speak of Israel as God’s son.
The image of the Spirit coming down is like the spirit,
breath, or wind that is found at the beginning of the Creation account – an
entity that is a participant in the initial creation of this world.
Finally, there is the image of Jesus being proclaimed as
God’s son. In our language and interpretation, we most likely see this as singular,
i.e., the object of “You are my Son” is specifically and only Jesus. But I
mentioned just a few moments ago that Israel (in the collective) was also
referred to as God’s son. In Luke’s genealogy he ends the list with “Adam son
of God.”[2]
While Adam could refer to a single individual, Adam is also often used in the
Bible as a representative for all of humanity.
What Might Baptism Mean?
We have all heard the result of baptism referred to as a
“new creation” or a “new creature”. What does that mean in light of some of the
ideas brought out today?
One point to be made is that baptism is not suddenly
creating something that didn’t exist before. Nor does it result in a
discontinuous existence that is unrelated to what has already existed. What it
is, however, like the Genesis Creation account, a bringing and restoration of
order into chaos. And that, I think, is good news. Our lived lives don’t
suddenly change after baptism. What came before has value. Our life and
experiences prior to baptism are being redeemed and brought into proper order.
We continue to experience the same problems that already
exist and are part of our lives. But what we do acquire is the Holy Spirit that
moves and empowers us to partner with God in bringing order into the chaos that
is human experience. Just as the sea continued to exist after Creation and with
it the chaos it represents, there are still storms that exist about us and
buffet us. But we can have assurance that the Word and Breath of God continues
to restore order where there is chaos. There is a promise that chaos will
eventually disappear, but it only comes in the book of Revelation, after all
creation is recreated.[3]
A second point made is that God entered the chaos of
humanity and made the choice to identify with us. When Jesus underwent the
ritual of baptism, it was not because he had any sins to be cleansed from (a
point which troubles Matthew and Luke). Rather, it was a deliberate decision to
identify and enter fully into human experience, with all of the results of sin
cast upon it. The good news here is that God knows and feels our confusions and
our hurts, and Jesus offers us life patterns that can help us walk through those
times.
A third and final point made is that baptism is not only an
individual action, but it is something that is communal. Baptism is not merely
about an individual confession of sin and repentance, but an entry into a
collective, new community which exists beyond the physical boundaries of space
and time. A baptized individual enters the community that is represented by
Jesus. The entire community is declared by God, “You are my son, whom I dearly
love.” Jesus may have been the individual who heard those words, but he hears
it as a representative of the entire community that he began to build and
continues to strengthen with each person added to it.
Bibliography
Bartlett, D. L., & Taylor, B. B. (2008). Feasting
on the Word: Year B, Volume 1 (Preaching the Revised Common Lectionary).
Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press.
Dunn, J. D., & Rogerson, J. W. (2003). Eerdmans
Commentary on the Bible. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans
Publishing Co.
Enns, P., & Byas, J. (2019). Genesis for
Normal People. The Bible for Normal People.
Jacobsen, D. S. (2014). Fortress Biblical
Preaching Commentaries: Mark. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press.
Jarvis, C. A., & Johnson, E. E. (2014). Feasting
on the Gospels: Mark (A Feasting on the Word Commentary). Louisville, KY:
Westminster John Knox Press.
Merriam-Webster. (2024, January 5). Scratching
the Surface of ‘From Scratch’. Retrieved from Merriam-Webster Dictionary
and Thesaurus: https://www.merriam-webster.com/
Sabin, M. N. (2002). Reopening the Word: Reading
Mark as Theology in the Context of Early Judaism. New York, NY: Oxford
University Press.
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