According to the revised common lectionary calendar, in 2024, God's love sets everything in motion. (Mark 1:9-11, NIV)
What an inspiration for us in these challenging times! What a boon to find that by chance, or perhaps more likely, by the Holy Spirit, the first Sunday in 2024, January 7, offers a gospel text that presents God saying to Jesus, as he comes up from his baptism by John in the Jordan River and gasps for breath under a bright blue desert sky, "I love you."
"I love you." That's what God says to Jesus as his ministry begins, which is a new beginning for God reaching out in love to everybody, and especially to the outcast and oppressed and hungry.
Mark's is the first gospel written, and it begins with God saying to Jesus, and through him, to anyone who wants to listen, "I love you."
Thank you for reading!