Mark - The Flutter

From Mark - The Flutter

   
  Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John

     in the Jordan. As Jesus was coming up out of the water, he

     saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him

     like a dove. And a voice came from heaven "You are my Son,

     whom I love; with you I am well pleased."

                                     -- Mark 1:9-11

Here the Spirit of God is pictured as a dove. It is not unusual for us to imagine Him this way.

But in Mark's time, it was very rare.

From Timothy Keller's book, King's  Cross:

     In the sacred writings of Judaism there is only
     one place where the Spirit of God is likened to a
     dove, and that is in the Targums, the Aramaic
     translation of the Scriptures that the Jews of
     Mark's time read.

     In the Creation account, the book of Genesis 1:2
     says that the Spirit hovered over the face of the
     waters.

     The Hebrew verb here means "flutter": the Spirit
     of God fluttered over the face of the waters.

     To capture this vivid image, the rabbis translated
     the passage for the Targums like this: "And the
     earth was without form and empty, and darkness
     was on the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God
     fluttered above the face of the waters like a
     dove, and God spoke, 'Let there be light.'"
                    -- From Chapter 1


So three parties were active in the Creation pictured for us in Genesis 1: God, God's Spirit, and God's Word, through whom He creates.

We know from other Scriptures that Jesus Himself is the Word:

     In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God
       and the Word was God. He was with God from the beginning.
       Through Him all things were made; without Him nothing was
       made that has been made. (John 1:1-3)


And in Revelation we see Jesus, the Rider on the White Horse who is

       called Faithful and True... With justice He judges and
       makes war. His eyes are like blazing fire, and on His head are
       many crowns...He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and
       His name is the Word of God (Revelation 19:11-13). 


Now here at Jesus's baptism the same three parties
are active: The Father, who is the voice; the Son who is the Word; and the Spirit, fluttering like a dove.


Mark is intentionally pointing us back to the Creation. To the very beginning of history.

Mark is using this short account of Jesus being baptized to link the act of Creation with the act of Redemption.

Just as the original creation of the universe was a project of the Triune God, so the redemption of that universe, the rescue and renewal of all things that is now beginning with God's intervention into human history as He arrives as King, is also action of the Triune God.