by Pastor Dan Baumgartner

Marks. If you are a Harry Potter fan, you’ll remember that evil Lord Voldemort’s band of “Deatheaters” were permanently marked on their forearms with a special sign. It clearly revealed to anyone that the bearer of the mark belonged to Voldemort.

During World War II, as the Nazis arrested Jews for delivery to concentration camps, they removed all visible reminders of identity from the prisoners. Besides separating married couples and families, besides confiscating pictures and identification cards and passports, they also permanently marked each prisoner with a number. The number became their identity. These were no longer unique people made in God’s image and possessing names and histories and stories. They were now simply numbered property, inventory. The tattooed number marked them as belonging to the Nazis.

The book of Revelation contains a number of references to “the beast,” a being utterly opposed to God. The people who chose to worship this beast received a special mark. It showed which people belonged to the beast.

Marks are for identification. But not all marks are for such evil purposes.

“Remember that you are dust, and to dust you will return.” If you were at Bethany for the evening worship service on Ash Wednesday, you received these words as your forehead was marked with stark black ash in the shape of a cross.

The words come from the book of Genesis, part of the curse of the fall of Adam and Eve. They serve as a sobering reminder for all of us of our mortality. We will die. Every one of us. The somber beauty of candles, music and scripture doesn’t change that. Even the fact that we live on this side of Jesus’ resurrection and can joyfully hope for our own doesn’t change the measured approach of death- only whether we need fear it or not.

I am always moved by our Ash Wednesday worship time. But I’m even more struck by what happens after the service. Several hundred of us quietly and reflectively head off into the evening with black crosses emblazoned on our foreheads. Many go home, but others stop to get gas or run into the grocery store to pick up a few things.

The crosses speak loudly. They invite questions, or stares, or awkward “you have some dirt on your forehead” comments. People in our culture are mostly unfamiliar with this ancient practice of the church, and don’t recognize its profound meaning: as humans we are marked for death (the ashes), but as Christians we are marked for life with Christ (the cross).

“We belong to Christ.” You have no doubt heard these words in Bethany’s sanctuary as we gather around a child or an adult for baptism:

“In baptism, we are marked for what God has called us to be, a people who belong to Him…Emmy Jo, you are a child of the covenant and have been marked as one of Christ’s own forever.”

In the Old Testament , infant males in Israel were circumcised. This meant, among other things, that they received a physical mark signifying their inclusion among God’s special people. In the New Testament, we don’t read much about circumcision. What we do read a lot of is the practice of baptism. Baptism meant, among other things, that the person was now “marked.” Not with a physical mark, like circumcision, but with a “spiritual mark” represented by water and signifying that they belonged to Christ.

We have far less weighty ways of showing we belong to God than the sacrament of baptism. We wear crosses around our necks. A number of my friends have permanent tattoos on their bodies with scripture or Christian symbols. Sometimes practices like these help remind the individual of their own commitment to Christ. Sometimes they are adopted in order to make a statement to other people that the bearer belongs to Jesus.

What would Jesus say is “the mark of a Christian?” In John 13 Jesus was addressing only his closest followers. “A new commandment I give you,” he says. Surely they all leaned forward, eager to hear what this revelation would be. “Love one another.” What?! This was nothing new at all, any child could have come up with it. But Jesus continues, “Love one another…as I have loved you.” Well, that does change things, doesn’t it?

Jesus loved remarkably- with depth, unconditionally yet with tough love, unselfishly, sacrificially to the point of absorbing betrayal and evil for the sake of people who rejected him. Still, Jesus did not stop there. “By this all people will know you are my disciples,” again no doubt causing his followers to lean forward. Here it comes, the “mark”- “…if you love one another.”

How can you tell who belongs to Jesus? Ashes, baptism, crosses, tattoos, all may have their place- but if we listen to Jesus, the most visible mark is the love they extend to brothers and sisters for all the world to see.