Jack Hardaway
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Mark chapter one.
Crazy times. Kind of like now.
The air is tense.
The legitimacy of the government is in question.
There is talk of insurrection and reprisals.
The capital empties, the entire city, and they head out to the wilderness, the countryside empties out too, and they go way out to the boondocks, to a little stream, a little ribbon of green running through a rocky dry land.
John is there, preaching and baptizing, preaching about a change of heart and forgiveness, and starting over, and the arrival of the Holy Spirit, anointing, blessing, loving.
An unlikely revolution, drawing people to the hinterlands rather than the center of wealth and the power elite. A revolution of changing our own hearts and lives rather than finding someone else to blame, again and again and again like we always do.
No storming of the bastille, or Capitol Hill, or the latest coup, just the heart opening before God and being remade. The storming of the human heart.
Crazy times. A covert revolution, yet everyone one was there. If everyone is there, then who is the revolution against? What kind of revolution is going on?
The Holy Spirit is descending and anointing.
It is quite a contrast, the sky being ripped apart, and then the gentle sound and sight of the Spirit entering the world, descending like a dove, brooding over the waters of creation, carrying the olive branch of the world starting over.
Like a dove the Holy Spirit anoints Jesus as the Messiah, the beloved Son, the delight of God.
This is about who Jesus is.
This is about what the Spirit is.
This is about how the angry world changes for real and true.
The beloved, the delight.
Jesus baptizes us in that love and delight, sharing the pleasure of God who is three yet one.
The revolution of the Holy Spirit claiming the world again. Storming our hearts.
Today we celebrate the Baptism of our Lord.
And today we remember our own baptism, and the Holy Spirit that dwells in us, changing our hearts.
Crazy times. Remember your baptism.