Reflection for the Baptism of Christ
Between 2000 and 2012 I worked as a very low-grade civil servant at the Foreign Office in London. It was an interesting period in diplomatic history, with regime change being much spoken of in the media with regards to Iraq, and the overthrow of the Taliban in Afghanistan. Mark’s Gospel is also about regime change, in this instance the entering into human history of the Kingdom of God, and the overthrow of human empires, including that of Rome. (Something that Mary sings about in her Magnificat.) Indeed, Mark’s Gospel begins with the words Evangelion (Good news), but this kind of good news is not the kind we think of in our everyday lives, the word Evangelion refers to good news that shapes and changes the world. It would be used to announce the accession of a new emperor in Rome. (And Mark is a writing in Rome, sitting at the feet of St Peter the city’s first Bishop, and the first Pope.) The Baptism of Christ continues this theme of regime change. In our own age we see