Notes on Mark: The Baptism of Jesus

Stained glass window of Jesus's baptism by Tiffany

MARK 1:9-11

I'm so used to reading these passages and accepting them as matter of fact when, of course, there is nothing matter of fact about them. First, Mark sets it in a time when everyone could bring it to mind. It makes me think of how we say now, "This was before 9/11" or "That was during the pandemic." No more need be said to set the scene. What a huge uproar there must have been over John the Baptist to use just a few code words. 

9 It was in this setting

Literally, "in those days." The translation is free but also accurate. In Mark's day ordinary people did not use a calendar. They dated events in rleation to who happened to be in authority at the time or some cyclical event, such as the Olympiads. Mark is saying, in effect, "You want to know when Jesus burst upon the scene? That dates back to the time when there was that widespread religious reawakening of people going out to the desert to see John."

The Memoirs of St. Peter by Michael Pakaluk

Then we have the actual baptism of Jesus to think about. The "simple" fact of Jesus' baptism carries a wealth of information that affects us deeply, as we can see. This not only helps me understand the great power of our own baptism, but how intricately interwoven everything is in the balance of salvation history and our own relationship with Christ.

Jesus' coming up out of the water (anabaino) is answered by a coming down (katabaino) of the Spirit from above. According to the Old Testament, sin creates an insuperable barrier, distancing humanity from the holiness of God (see Isa 59:2). God would "come down" to his people only after they had been cleansed of impurity (Exod 19:10-11). The Spirit's descent upon Jesus foreshadows his descent upon the Church at Pentecost, after sin has been removed by the cross.

The whole cosmos is impacted by Jesus' act of humility. The heavens are not gently opened but torn asunder--a sign that the barrier between God and man is being removed. Israel had pleaded for God to intervene decisively in human events: "Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down" (Isa 63:19). Now that plea is answered! The same verb "tear" will reappear at a crucial point near the end of the Gospel, when the curtain of the temple is torn from top to bottom at Jesus' death (Mark 15:38), completing the reconciliation of heaven and earth that began at his baptism.

Gospel of Mark, The
(Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture) by Mary Healy

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