Inside Out

Mark 1:1-15, CEB

1 The beginning of the good news about Jesus Christ, God’s Son, 2 happened just as it was written about in the prophecy of Isaiah:  Look, I am sending my messenger before you. He will prepare your way, 3 a voice shouting in the wilderness:  “Prepare the way for the Lord; make his paths straight.”

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.” 12 At once the Spirit forced Jesus out into the wilderness. 13 He was in the wilderness for forty days, tempted by Satan. He was among the wild animals, and the angels took care of him.

14 After John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee announcing God’s good news, 15 saying, “Now is the time! Here comes God’s kingdom! Change your hearts and lives, and trust this good news!”

INTRO

This week, we continue our sermon series, “Re-Shaped:  What We’re Made For.” Throughout this sermon series, we acknowledge that, sometimes, change is difficult for us to embrace. Yet God made us to change. As we hold these two ideas in tension, this sermon series helps us open our minds to God who created us and the ongoing call God has on our lives. Last week, we began with the prophet Jeremiah, acknowledging that we were made for this, and we embraced our call to remain as clay on the potter’s wheel, being refashioned and reshaped for the purposes that God has for us, both as individuals and as a congregation. This week, we continue our exploration of change, focusing on transformation from the inside out. 

Change is hard. Throughout this sermon series, we will continue to acknowledge the opening line of our “entering the play zone” song, “Change is great. You go first.” This is especially true when you did not ask for the change. Change requires us to reorient ourselves to new ways of being in the world. Oftentimes, it requires us to change our thoughts and our actions. In our Gospel lesson this morning, we hear Mark’s account of Jesus’ baptism. We encounter John the Baptist calling the people to show that they have indeed changed their hearts and their lives. 

 This baptismal invitation, found in the gospel as a sign of changing one’s heart, was a departure from the traditional religious establishment. Baptism was reserved for conversion; those who were new converts to Judaism were baptized. Yet, John the Baptist is baptizing those who are in the Jewish faith as a sign that God’s gonna use them in new and different ways. 

For so long, forgiveness was centered around temple sacrifice. Individuals would make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem (already a costly endeavor) and then have to purchase perfect sacrificial offerings to give in the temple. As we discussed during Lent, many times, those in the temple would find a blemish on an animal purchased outside the temple and refuse to use it for the sacrifice. This forced individuals, particularly the poor and marginalized, to buy another animal, this time a more expensive one, from the temple market to make their sacrifices and receive forgiveness. This was a costly process. 

Yet this morning, we encountered something different from John the Baptist. He is not in the temple proclaiming forgiveness. Instead, he is in the wilderness calling people to come out to him and be baptized. While this is likely an exaggeration, the text says, “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.” This was a free gift offered by God to all who came and confessed. Exaggeration or not, it was a message that resonated with the people. 

John began preaching about the coming messiah, the one greater than he who would baptize with the Holy Spirit. About that time, the text says, Jesus comes and is baptized. In three short verses, Jesus is baptized, heaven splits open, and God speaks. As quickly as that happens, Jesus is sent out into the wilderness and then begins his ministry. In his baptism, Jesus models for us the opportunity to enter into the kingdom of God, to be claimed and marked as a child of God. 

The sacrament of baptism calls us to change our hearts and our lives. I love the way the CEB words it as a change of heart and life, indicating both an inner and outer component. Eugene Peterson in The Message makes it even clearer. “As he preached, he said, ‘The real action comes next: The star in this drama, to whom I’m a mere stagehand, will change your life. I’m baptizing you here in the river, turning your old life in for a kingdom life. His baptism—a holy baptism by the Holy Spirit—will change you from the inside out.’” 

The definition of a sacrament is an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace. Even the act of baptism reveals an inside-out transformation. It is an acknowledgement that God’s grace goes before us and prepares the way. It is an acknowledgement that God is already at work within us, before we can even see it. That’s part of the reason that we baptize infants. We believe that God is already at work inside, even in an infant, calling them to new life in Jesus Christ. In baptism, we, with the outward sign of water and oil, acknowledge the work of Christ within us and welcome individuals into the family of God. The same is true for those who are baptized as adults.

Just as Jesus begins his ministry after his baptism, so too are we empowered for the work of ministry in our baptism. In our baptism, we are all called to ministry. This is why we believe that all baptized members are ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ. For in our baptism, we are all called to the servant ministry of Jesus Christ. We are all called to be ambassadors of the love, mercy, and grace of Jesus Christ. The Spirit at work within us empowers us for this work. It is why the pastor prays after a baptism, “The Holy Spirit work within you, that being born through water and the Spirit, you may be a faithful disciple of Jesus Christ. Amen.”

Part of the change of heart and life, the inside-out transformation and change we are called to includes a confession. We confess our sins at the time of our baptism, or those answering on our behalf participate in a confession. Confession is a part of confirmation and the reaffirmation of our baptismal vows. From time to time, we join in a congregational baptismal remembrance and reaffirmation of our baptismal vows. Each week in worship, we have a time of confession. Confession and repentance are essential components of the Christian life. We cannot have a change of heart and life if we are not constantly examining how we have fallen short and naming our sin, or that which separates us from God. 

This means that, in order to embrace the change that God is calling us to, we must acknowledge how we have fallen short as individuals and as the body of Christ. We name this in a corporate or collective confession. The prayer of confession offers us a chance to name ways in which the church or the body of Christ has fallen short. Even if we don’t feel that every part applies to us, we acknowledge how the body has failed. Then, in a moment of silent confession, we have the opportunity to lay before God our own personal confessions—the sins that we have committed or the things we have failed to do. Then we hear the words of Assurance, as the call to go forth, changed by God’s grace for the work of ministry in the world. 

Friends, as we look to the change that God is calling us to embrace as the body of Christ, we must name and lay before God how the church has failed. We must acknowledge the times in which we have excluded others. No one is excluded from the love of God found in Jesus Christ. Yet at times, the church has created barriers to entry. It wasn’t just the temple pricing people out of confession many years ago. Throughout its history, the church has found ways to exclude those who are different from us in one way or another. We cannot move forward, we cannot change ourselves from the inside out, we cannot change our hearts and our lives if we fail to acknowledge this before God and one another. 

As we prepare for the change that God is calling us to make in our lives as individuals and as a body of Christ, we must examine what the good news that Jesus Christ is calling us to proclaim to the world is. In some ways, the church has failed to be the good news to all people. At the same time, with all that is going on in the world around us, war, poverty, homelessness, hunger, illness, and so much more, we must acknowledge that people want something different. They are hungry for another way of doing and being in the world. 

One theologian puts it this way, “Today there is a particular hunger for good news from religion. Religion has become associated with bad news, harsh attitudes, and caustic spirits. The treatment of women, of children, of gays and lesbians, of different races, and even of visitors to our church pews has led to the idea that religion, not only Christianity, is something that comes down hard on people. The more negatively religion is perceived, the less appealing the life of faith appears. We have before us a golden opportunity and responsibility to do what Mark did for the world, when he opened his book the way he did. We can present the Christian message as good news.” 

To be clear, there is still a call to change the hearts and lives of those who become Christians. There is still a need for confession and acknowledgement of that which separates us from God. However, we must remember that we are not the judge. Thus, we must share the good news of Jesus Christ with the world. 

The good news of Jesus Christ is that God calls us to a different way of being. God welcomes all who will come to the table. God wants all to be saved. God loves the whole world. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world but in order that the world might be saved through him” (John 3:16-17, NRSVue). 

After someone is baptized or anytime someone is joining the church, they are asked this question:  “As members of Christ's universal Church, will you be loyal to Christ through The United Methodist Church, and do all in your power to strengthen its ministries?” Did you notice it? In our baptism, our whole loyalty belongs to Christ. This requires a change in heart and life. Being loyal to Christ requires that we let go of some things that other loyalties hold over us. 

It requires that we reject the ways of the world. It requires that we live our lives differently and think differently. It requires that we approach things in a different way. Rather than excluding those who are different from us or things we don’t understand, loyalty to Christ involves getting to know someone, learning more about them, and embracing their differences even when we don’t fully comprehend them. Loyalty to Christ means rejecting war, embracing the stranger, praying for our enemies, and offering the same love to our enemies that we would to our best friend. 

This is hard work. It is not easy to change our hearts and lives, to offer our whole selves up to Christ that we might embrace change. Thankfully, the Holy Spirit is at work in us, if we let her, strengthening us for this work. At the same time, we acknowledge that embracing change, being transformed from the inside out, requires all of our emotions.

In the movie Inside Out, the main character Riley, is undergoing a lot of change. As she undergoes this change, she experiences a range of emotions. I love the way it is laid out for us in the worship series material. The creators write, “The message from this award-winning animated film that really hits home is the complexity AND necessity of our emotions around change. What we learn is that we need ALL the emotions to move through any moment of change. When we try to be happy all the time, expecting that to be the norm in life, we stall the process of moving through change. Sadness is a key factor…. We must mourn what is being left behind in order to move through it. Acknowledge all the “feels.” Let the tears be part of the cleansing waters of being transformed from the inside out.” If you haven’t seen the movie, I encourage you to watch it. 

Friends, change can be scary. We acknowledge that letting go of the past and embracing new ways of being can be difficult. Yet, in our baptism, we are called to change our hearts and lives, allowing the Spirit to continue working within us and transforming us from the inside out. May we continue to prepare our hearts and lives for the changes ahead. May we allow our emotions to lead us and to guide us, mourning when necessary, celebrating when necessary, embracing righteous anger when required, that we may continue to work to change the world around us, to embrace a future where our loyalty is to Christ, where none are excluded from the love of God, and where we continue to work to be the people who God call us to be. One day at a time, working from the inside out. 

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