This week's gospel reading presents the story of Jesus' own baptism at the hands of John the Baptist. The stage is carefully set for this dramatic scene. But here in Mark's gospel, at least, the drama that finally occurs is a one-man show.

Like the other gospels, Mark begins by introducing John the Baptist. Already foreshadowing John's mission in the Old Testament Scriptures Mark combines in verses 2-3, the gospel writer now proceeds to describe precisely what John offers people in that "wilderness" setting: "a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins" (v.4). The interrelationship among these three actions repentance, baptism and forgiveness is firmly in divine hands. This theological construction, however, has few supporters. The more delicate relationship among these three activ…