Mark 1(3): 1:9-13 Jesus’ Baptism and Temptation

Jesus appears among the crowd at the river and undergoes his baptism (v.9). By this he signifies his solidarity with his people and participation in God’s New Exodus. Unlike all others baptized by John, Jesus has a visionary experience as he rises out of the water in both sight and sound.

He sees heaven “torn apart.” The prophet Isaiah had cried out to God,

“O that you would tear open the heavens and come down,
    so that the mountains would quake at your presence—
    as when fire kindles brushwood
    and the fire causes water to boil—
to make your name known to your adversaries,
    so that the nations might tremble at your presence!”    (64:1-2)

Mark surely has this text in mind as he narrates Jesus’ experience. He fulfils this prophetic hope and signals the onset of the New Exodus by using this language for Jesus’ baptism.

Jesus’ also sees the Spirit descending on him. John has just declared that the one who is coming after him will baptize the people with the Spirit. Here that coming one himself receives the Spirit that he will later dispense to others. Isaiah 11:2 lies in the background here. There a messianic figure will have “the Spirit of the Lord . . . rest upon him” and equip him for his labor. The meaning of the “dove” figure is obscure. It may be an allusion to the Spirit in Gen.1:2 “hovering” over the waters of creation superintending the birth of creation. The dove was a common bird and was the image most readily at hand for Mark.

But Jesus hears a voice as well. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.” God here verbally marks Jesus out as:

-Son (Ps.2:7):  a royal ruler

-Sacrifice (Gen22:2): like Isaac the beloved son of Abraham

-Servant (Is.42:1): the suffering servant

A king, a sacrifice, and a servant all rolled into one. That’s the mystery of Jesus. A mystery that can only be described, not explained. We must somehow hold all three of these aspects together to get as full as possible sense of who he is and what he does. God’s own witness here at Jesus’ baptism makes this mandatory. Out of his solidarity with Israel and desire to be a part of God’s New Exodus, God marks him out as the one.

It would be hard to overestimate the significance of this event for Jesus. Thirty years growing up, immersed in his family’s Jewish faith and lore, learning a trade and working with Joseph as a carpenter. Always zealous for God a a good Jew he hears tell of strange doings in the desert around a prophet. Jesus goes out to hear John. Doubtless his Elijah-like bearing and garb piqued his interest. John’s message touched him. He goes to him in the river. Down into the water (a symbolic death as Paul will later note in Rom.6:1-4), up again into a whole new world, with sights and sounds no human ever heard before. A voice tells him who he is, that he has special vocation and a special relationship to God, his Father. Once this moment passed its reality remained with him through his days guiding and directing him to faithfully carry out his mission.

Frodo the Ring-Bearer in Tolkien’s tale has a similar experience with the mysterious Lady Galadriel, one of the powers of Middle-Earth. He is on his way to Mordor to fulfill his mission and that Lady ha a gift for him:

“And you, Ring-bearer,’ she said, turning to Frodo. ‘I come to you last who are not last in my thoughts. For you I have prepared this.’ She held up a small crystal phial: it glittered as she moved it, and rays of white light sprang from her hand. ‘In this phial,’ she said, ‘is caught the light of Eärendil’s star, set amid the waters of my fountain. It will shine still brighter when night is about you. May it be a light to you in dark places, when all other lights go out. Remember Galadriel and her Mirror!’”

And in Shelob’s lair, under mortal threat, Frodo does remember the phial of Galadriel, which he had forgotten, just in the nick of time.

Jesus’ Temptation

² And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. ¹³ He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him.

At Weathertop, under the terrifying presence and power of the Ringwraiths, Sauron’s chief lieutenants, the Black Riders, Frodo is tempted to put on the Ring he bears to find some comfort though he knew not what. Tolkien writes,

"But his terror was swallowed up in a sudden temptation to put on the Ring. The desire to do this laid hold of him, and he could think of nothing else. He did not forget the Barrow, nor the message of Gandalf; but something seemed to be compelling him to disregard all warnings, and he longed to yield. Not with the hope of escape, or of doing anything, either good or bad: he simply felt that he must take the Ring and put it on his finger......(h)e shut his eyes and struggled for a while; but resistance became unbearable, and at last he slowly drew out the chain, and slipped the Ring on the forefinger of his left hand." [121]

Once rescued, Frodo “(B)itterly regretted his foolishness, and reproached himself for weakness of will; for he now perceived that in putting on the Ring he obeyed not his own desire but the commanding wish of his enemies." [122]

Mark’s account of Jesus’ temptation is terse and shows no interest in the content of his temptation as do Matthew and Luke. Mark was written earlier than them and they have filled out his brief account what interested them.

Mark is interested in the fact of the temptation rather than its content. The details carry the meaning: the wilderness, the forty days, Satan, wild beasts, angels. The stark juxtaposition with Jesus’ visionary experience of God turned “immediately” (one of Mark’s favorite words capturing the dynamic quality of his story) into Satan’s world (as it were), the forlorn, threatening, demon-haunted wilderness, face-to-face with the Dark Lord himself.

We call such events “apocalyptic.” That means the veil hiding the cosmic heavenly meaning and reality of events is pulled back and we can glimpse what’s really happening with clarity and insight. And we can see how this heavenly reality impinges on human reality. The fate of humanity and history is at stake here. And the issue is whose will Jesus’ follows under satanic duress.

It’s important to note that this whole affair is orchestrated by the Spirit Jesus has just received in baptism. Literally, the Greek says the Spirit “cast out” Jesus into the wilderness. It’s a rough and harsh word almost implying resistance on Jesus’ part. France suggests it points to the seriousness of the situation and wisely titles the section: “The Context of Jesus Mission” rather than the temptation of Jesus (France, The Gospel of Mark, 85). For Mark, the temptation is secondary to this face-to-face struggle of divine and demonic power For Jesus’ loyalty.

Unlike Frodo, Jesus stands firm resisting satanic lures the intensity of which we can never imagine. Mark signals his victory with the wild beasts and angels. Richard Bauckham calls Jesus’ ordeal “the temptation to make something of his life that was not the vocation to which God was calling him” (Bauckham, “Jesus in the Wilderness according to Mark,” http://richardbauckham.co.uk/uploads/Sermons/Mk1.12-15.pdf). Successfully rebuffing the devil, Jesus found himself peacefully surrounded by wild beasts suggesting a victory that portends the undoing of the enmity between humanity and beasts due to the fall. The angelic presence suggests God’s approval of and care for his “beloved son” who has faithfully undergone this attack on his vocation.

This powerful duo of brief but pregnant stories reveal most of what we need to know about Jesus. But his story is far from over. The equipped, tested, and triumphant Jesus goes forth now into the world pursuing the mission his Father has given him.