COME AND JOIN THE DANCE
I don’t dance, at least not publicly. My neighbors might catch a glimpse of dance-like movements through the living room window – but it’s not for their eyes. If you know me, you know my mantra: It’s not that Mennonites shouldn’t dance; it’s that they can’t dance.
You can understand then my issue with the popular song “I can only imagine.” The singer of this song looks forward to being in heaven with Jesus and wondering what that would be like. That’s fine, but then there’s the line, “will I dance for you Jesus or in awe of you be still.” My response is, Jesus has seen me dance and he would say, “It’s okay Darryl, let’s spare the angels.”
Studying Mark through the eyes of Timothy Keller has cured this cynicism about dancing somewhat. I now see that Jesus does not want me to dance for him but with him. Life with Jesus does not permit us to be wall-flowers in the cosmic dance.
C. S. Lewis explained it this way: “In Christianity, God is not a static thing…but a dynamic, pulsating activity, a life, almost a kind of drama. Almost, if you will not think me irreverent, a kind of dance.”[i]
As we begin to study the Gospel of Mark, we will find that there is relatively little of Jesus’ teaching – what we will see is not Jesus teaching so much as doing. Therefore we can’t sit back as we come to know Jesus, we need to respond actively. You cannot watch the dance; you have to dance.
But why should this Gospel of Mark cause us to dance? Because Jesus is shown to be the Son of God. And the first question we face in the first chapter of Mark is a response to this declaration: How can I know Jesus is the Son of God? Mark implies that we can know Jesus is the Son of God because of the testimony of the witnesses.
And this testimony should make you dance for joy.
1. The Dance Continues
You will note that “the dance continues” not “begins.” The first verse may have been the original title of the Gospel: “The beginning of the gospel about Jesus Christ, the Son of God,” (1:1). This title suggests that something new is being introduced, but the next verse takes us back to Isaiah, hundreds of years prior to this gospel. So Mark did not understand the Gospel as something new at all but a continuation of something God had been doing for a long time.
The title is startling and daring. Jesus could be the Messiah, the Christ, but to add “the Son of God” was to state something no Jew or Gentile could fathom or accept. Even Jesus prefers to call himself “the Son of Man” in this gospel. Mark really begins with a bang then, a shocker, to announce this story is about God’s Son.
Regardless of the bluntness of this statement, Mark moves right to prophecy to back up his claim. He points to something both Malachi and Isaiah foretold: a messenger would come before the Messiah to get things ready for his appearance.
Twice it is said that a messenger would prepare the way for the One who was to come. In ancient times it was usual for a forerunner to go ahead of a king and make sure there was a passable road, that obstacles were removed and that people were ready to receive the king. In short, this messenger was to prepare a highway for the king.
Every Jew who looked forward to the redemption of Israel would be keeping an eye out for the forerunner. When he appeared it meant the King was not far behind and salvation would finally be realized.
Fulfilled prophecy validates any claim. Jesus is the King Israel and the world was waiting for. It is said that if anyone had fulfilled even eight prophecies of the OT regarding the Messiah, the chances of that happening were one in ten trillion. Jesus fulfilled 60 prophecies concerning this Special One of God promised centuries before his incarnation. Fulfilled prophecy testifies that Jesus is the Son of God. Mark refers to Isaiah again and again directly and indirectly showing Jesus to be that One.
The Dance continues. Begun long before the creation of the world – the Dance continues.
2. The Dance Caller
At a dance there is a dance caller. You might have a DJ or someone who directs the type of dance by the music they choose, or at a hoe-down you have someone who calls the dance.
Mark introduces the dance caller abruptly as John. “And so John came, baptizing in the desert region and preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins,” (1:4).
Mark does not directly say that John is the messenger or forerunner – he implies it by following the prophecy with the introduction. So how do we know that John is that person?
There are three clues that point to John’s role. The first clue is that John came preaching in the wilderness. Isaiah 40:3, which Mark quoted, reads: “A voice of one calling: ‘In the desert prepare the way for the LORD; make straight in the wilderness a highway for our God.” The wilderness was the venue for the forerunner’s ministry.
The second clue was that John was a Messenger. He announced something astounding, something that no human being had ever done before – someone was coming to baptize them with the Holy Spirit.
The third clue is found in John’s get-up. He wore clothing made of camel hair with a leather belt around his waist and he ate locusts and wild honey. He looked like Elijah, a man of the wilderness.
As a dance caller of God, John came to change the dance. Everyone was dancing for themselves. It looks pretty odd and chaotic when everyone is dancing their own dance. One couple is slow-waltzing while others are break-dancing – it doesn’t seem like people are on the right page.
John’s message was simple: Turn. He called the people to repent. This was not a private matter; it was a public matter expressed in baptism. Turn from your sins, he preached.
Now John was not a priest; he did not oversee nor did he require sacrifices or offerings. He was not related to the temple at all. This is interesting because for centuries the Jews had looked to the Temple, sacrifices and the Law of Moses for avenues of forgiveness. It was what they were used to. But here, John turns his back on the temple institution and called people to the wilderness to be baptized for the forgiveness of sins.
John spoke to a universal need, one that touches us today as well – the forgiveness of sins. And people left the city in droves to hear him. Everyone suffers from the same syndrome of sin, guilt and fear. How do we define sin? Sin is basically self-centeredness. That’s it. We commit sins because we are thinking of ourselves, loving ourselves, indulging ourselves, looking out for ourselves, taking care that no one get ahead of us. That is the essence of sin -- self-centeredness. We are all victims of it. And we feel guilty when we realize how self-centered we are and how it hurts others. Guilt makes us hate ourselves. Then we feel afraid; afraid that we have lost control and we can’t trust ourselves to act correctly.
People are dancing the wrong dance. Most people are dancing for themselves. John called people to turn from that dance and get ready to see a new/old dance, the dance of God. John’s call to repent was a call to turn around and look for God in the desert. It meant to turn away from a fixation on temporary solutions, from empty philosophies and gimmicks and causes. It meant to turn in eager expectancy toward the baptism of the Holy Spirit which the coming One would bring.
3. The Dance Explained
No greater testimony concerning Jesus as the Son of God could be had than the testimony of God himself.
Jesus comes down from Galilee to where John is baptizing “sinners” in the Jordan and is baptized with them. As Jesus emerges from the water he sees heaven torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove.
Two images need addressing in this event. That heaven is “torn open” recalls an expression found in only one other place in the Bible: It comes from Isaiah 64:1 where the prophet calls on God to rend the heavens and come down and rebuild the desolated kingdom of Israel. That chapter is an anguished plea for God to forgive the sins of Israel and restore them to prosperity and peace. Mark deliberately applies this to the baptism of Jesus.
Secondly, the dove descends or “flutters” over Jesus. As the readers of this Gospel we are supposed to make the connection between the Spirit hovering or “fluttering” over Jesus and Genesis 1:2 where before Creation the Spirit hovers over the waters. Here he is hovering over the water again telling us that like Creation, a new Creation is being inaugurated.
At Creation the Trinity was involved in creating. God spoke – the Word created – and the Spirit hovered. Now the three persons of the Trinity are present again. The Son is baptized while the Spirit hovers and the Father speaks.
What the Father says affirms who Jesus has been from before Creation. He says, “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased” (1:11). This is a combination of three verses from the OT.
“You are my Son,” comes from Psalm 2:7, a coronation hymn sung when a king was crowned. So these words now point to Jesus as the One through whom God’s reign would be established. Jesus is the King.
“Whom I love,” comes from Genesis 22:2. This is a reference to when Abraham took Isaac as a sacrifice to God. God said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love…” Isaac was the son through whom God’s promises would be fulfilled for Abraham. Jesus is the fulfillment of all of God’s promises and evokes the image of God sacrificing his own Son for us, the Son “whom he loves.”
“With you I am well pleased,” comes from Isaiah 42:1 where the Servant of the Lord is described. This is an intentional application to Jesus as the true Servant of the Lord.
God identifies his Son, affirms his love for him, and confirms his mission as the Messiah in this one statement.
I have just shown you the dance. Let me explain. The Father, the Son and the Spirit are three persons but one God. Not three Gods who work in harmony; nor is it that God takes on one form or another for different purposes. The Trinity is one God in three persons who know and love one another. When Jesus comes out of the water, the Father envelops him and covers him with love while the Spirit covers him with power. This is a small glimpse of the heart of the universe: Father, Son and Spirit glorifying one another.
If in a dance we were all self-centered and wanted everyone to orbit around us we would have chaos. A hundred people standing around waiting to be the center of the performance would lack coordination. Everyone is listening to different music and dancing their own dance.
The Trinity is other’s centered. What marks the Father, Son and Spirit is their mutually self-giving love. No person of the Trinity insists that the others revolve around him; rather each of them voluntarily circles and orbits around the others.[ii] If this is the God who created the universe then at the heart of the universe – what life is all about – is the love relationship as seen in the Trinity.
Why would a Triune God create a world? Some mistakenly believe that God created us so that someone would love him. But we have just seen that God already had that love within the Trinity (Father loving Son, etc), and in a far more powerful way than humans could ever give. So what are we here for? He must have created us for the sole purpose of giving us this joy. To invite us into the dance. To say: If you glorify me, if you center your life on me, if you find me beautiful for who I am in myself, then you will step into the dance, which is what you were made for.[iii]
4. The Dance Battle
One further testimony concerning Jesus as the Son of God is what happened after his baptism.
“At once (immediately) the Spirit sent him out into the desert, and he was in the desert forty days, being tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals, and angels attended him” (1:12-13).
Mark is the most economical writer of the four gospel writers: he doesn’t waste words. But he says a lot. Mark doesn’t tell us how Jesus was tempted, only that following his baptism he is faced with spiritual opposition. This is the fourth witness: Satan opposes Jesus because he is the Son of God.
If Mark doesn’t tell us what the temptation was, Matthew does. If we summarize Matthew 4:1-11 we could say this: Satan tempts Jesus to step out of orbit around the Father and the Spirit and to dance Satan’s jig. Satan wants Jesus to take the self-centered route of life and avoid the suffering and the cross. But Jesus stays in orbit and keeps time with the Father and the Spirit.
The most important connection we can make between Jesus’ baptism and the temptation in the wilderness is that the baptism of the Holy Spirit leads to a confrontation with evil forces. When you choose to make the Triune God the center of your life you can expect spiritual opposition. Another way of looking at this opposition is to say that it confirms your choice. If you are living a God-centered life you will face opposition from Satan. That must mean you are dancing with the Star and not Dirty Dancing.
Conclusion
C. S. Lewis asks, “What does it all matter? It matters more than anything else in all the world. The whole dance, or drama, or pattern of this three-Personal life is to be played out in each one of us…[Joy, peace, power, eternal life] are a great fountain of energy and beauty spurting up at the very center of reality.”[iv]
Jesus is the Son of God. Prophecy is fulfilled in him; the forerunner signaled his arrival; God himself affirmed him; and Satan’s opposition revealed he was a threat to the forces of darkness.
So Jesus is the Son of God. So what?
Well if God is your insurance for a bad day, someone to pray to when everything breaks loose, then you may be a wall-flower watching the dance but not really dancing. If we want everyone else to do the dancing then we are not God-centered but self-centered.
If life is a divine dance, then you need more than anything else to be in it. You were made specifically to enter into a divine dance with the Trinity, to enter into a mutual self-giving love relationship with God and others.
One of the unique things about Mark’s account is that Mark suggests who Jesus and John are but does not tell us directly. And even when God affirms Jesus as his Son, only Jesus hears the voice. Mark shows that he is convinced that God speaks and acts in history. But he expects his audience to decide what to do with what they see and hear in this gospel. He shows us the evidence of Jesus and invited us to decide for ourselves what to do with this Jesus.
Will you have this dance with Jesus?
Jesus is the Lord of the Dance.
AMEN
Sydney Carter
Lord Of The Dance lyrics
I danced in the morning when the world was begun
I danced in the Moon & the Stars & the Sun
I came down from Heaven & I danced on Earth
At Bethlehem I had my birth:
I danced for the scribe & the pharisee
But they would not dance & they wouldn't follow me
I danced for fishermen, for James & John
They came with me & the Dance went on:
I danced on the Sabbath & I cured the lame
The holy people said it was a shame!
They whipped & they stripped & they hung me high
And they left me there on a cross to die!
I danced on a Friday when the sky turned black
It's hard to dance with the devil on your back
They buried my body & they thought I'd gone
But I am the Dance & I still go on!
They cut me down and I leapt up high
I am the Life that'll never, never die!
I'll live in you if you'll live in Me -
I am the Lord of the Dance, said He!
Dance then, wherever you may be
I am the Lord of the Dance, said He!
And I'll lead you all, wherever you may be
And I'll lead you all in the Dance, said He!
I danced in the Moon & the Stars & the Sun
I came down from Heaven & I danced on Earth
At Bethlehem I had my birth:
I danced for the scribe & the pharisee
But they would not dance & they wouldn't follow me
I danced for fishermen, for James & John
They came with me & the Dance went on:
I danced on the Sabbath & I cured the lame
The holy people said it was a shame!
They whipped & they stripped & they hung me high
And they left me there on a cross to die!
I danced on a Friday when the sky turned black
It's hard to dance with the devil on your back
They buried my body & they thought I'd gone
But I am the Dance & I still go on!
They cut me down and I leapt up high
I am the Life that'll never, never die!
I'll live in you if you'll live in Me -
I am the Lord of the Dance, said He!
Dance then, wherever you may be
I am the Lord of the Dance, said He!
And I'll lead you all, wherever you may be
And I'll lead you all in the Dance, said He!
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