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Why Did Jesus Need to Be Baptized?
Why Was Jesus Baptized?
Mark 1:4-11, Romans 6:1-11
May the blessing of Christ’s baptism and yours, continue to astound you, as you realize the love of God which bound you to Him, as the water and word made you and God inseparable!
I want you to picture yourself in John the Baptist’s sandals this morning.
You are well aware of the Spirit’s work in your life, you see people coming to repentance in a way not seen in centuries. You know the prophecies, you’ve had to explain them to so many…
“No, I am not the Messiah”
“Yes, he is coming”,
“what will He be like? I cannot even begin to think of it, but His ministry to mankind will be more than you can explain. I can explain this – but the ministry of the Messiah, the Christ? It will be so amazing that I can’t even compare it to a king and his lowest servant….”
You look up from those you are teaching, and He is there. Your soul leaps, as it did the day when your mothers met, and both of you were still in the womb. You know, He knows you do.
Jesus, your cousin, your Lord, your God is here. Asking to get baptized, by you…
As the other gospels describe this, you would tell him, “No, this doesn’t make sense, I should be the one baptized…”
Jesus response, “no this is right. I will be baptized by you.”
John obeys, as I hope each of us would…
But the question remains… why does Jesus need to be baptized?
Why is it… right?
Baptism into Death
You into His
He into ours
When you study baptism throughout the scriptures, it is always connected to death,
We see this clearly in Romans 6 – where Paul tells us that we’ve died with Christ. That in our baptism, we are joined to death on the cross, to his burial. The scriptures that talk of being born again, that talk of those who trust in God are a new creation.
It all happens in this sacrament.
We need to join into His death… if we are to have the hope of being cleansed of sin of being granted repentance, of being able to live this new life. That is what the glorious power of God does to us, as God claims us as His children.
This even is true in the Old Testament, where one separated from God and His people because of sin, was sent out of the camp. They were separated for a time, and prior to rejoining the people of God – had to ceremoniously wash. It was part of their psyche, their community, that the washing was a sign of repentance. Not only washing the person, but also various things that have come into contact with sin… or with blood.
Sin has to be washed away… it has to be dealt with, and in our baptism, it was… once and for all. 12 For when you were baptized, you were buried with Christ, and in baptism you were also raised with Christ through your faith in the active power of God, who raised him from death. 13 You were at one time spiritually dead because of your sins and because you were Gentiles without the Law. But God has now brought you to life with Christ. God forgave us all our sins; Colossians 2:12-13 (TEV)
I will say we need to be reminded of it often…we need to know the promises of baptism…
the removal of sin
the blessing of repentance
the promise of eternal life,
the promise of the Holy Spirit, entering into an intimate fellowship with God
So we get back to the original question… why did Jesus have to be baptized?
If baptism is the joining in the death of someone, then perhaps we find the answer there. In His baptism, Jesus must be baptized into our death, to take on those sins, He must die for us, and His baptism is a picture of His death, his willingness to take our death, so that we can rise.
In his baptism – it is right and necessary, that He join us in our death, so that He can defeat it.
He joins us to bear our death…. We join Him, to be rid of the death, and rise again. He is baptized to take our sin, we are baptized so He could as well.
But there is one thing point in which we share in baptism with Jesus….
With you I am well pleased…. Sound familiar?
As Jesus was baptized, as He joined himself to us, the heavens opened wide, they split open as we heard Isaiah pray for just a few weeks ago….
What happens next to Him, happens to us…
The Spirit descends on Him, Just as the sins are taken/removed – so to the picture of the Spirit’s descent is true. We don’t talk about it much, but in each of you, the Holy Spirit dwells.
The Holy Spirit, who sanctifies us, who keeps us in the presence of God, who testifies to us of God’s love, yes, through word and sacrament, through our being reminded of the promises of baptism, in the feast of the Lord’s Supper, who testifies to us in words of absolution, and in times of prayer, and in those times we serve each other….
God is here…
He calls us His sons, His daughters, His children.
And He says to all those, united to His Son in baptism, you are my beloved child, and you bring me great joy…
AMEN.
The Source of Hope…
Devotional-Discussion thought of the evening….
There are days where it seems that what we do makes little difference, the flood caused by sin’s damage is too great, to overwhelming. No matter where you look in this world, we see the damage caused by sin, the brokenness, the wounded, even those we think are the perpetrators – yet are victims of sin’s bondage as well.
The tendency to drop into despair, to get depressed, to want to give in, give up is there. I’ve known those kinds of days
But surrendering to hopelessness is only one of the choices to make… there is another way to surrender ….
Seek union with God and buoy yourself up with hope—that sure virtue!—because Jesus will illuminate the way for you with the light of his mercy, even in the darkest night. (1)
You see, there is a blessing in the darkness – for in the darkness we find our exactly how much we need His light. We realize our helplessness, we realize we cannot make it, and we remember….. His Body, His Blood, broken and shed for us, the promise that we aren’t in the darkness, not meant to be there, but we belong in His glory, brought there in His mercy, because of His love.
We have to remember that, when the darkness seems to overwhelming, when the cares of the world cause anxiety, when we for the moment… forget His love…
Lord – Have mercy upon us, may we ever dwell in Your glory… and may we be confident, that we are never left by You, in the dark. AMEN!
(1)Escriva, Josemaria (2011-01-31). The Forge (Kindle Locations 1192-1194). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
The Forging of Holiness, and thinking through what we read…
Discussion/Devotional point of the day…
“Certainly our goal is both lofty and difficult to attain. But please do not forget that people are not born holy. Holiness is forged through a constant interplay of God’s grace and the correspondence of man. As one of the early Christian writers says, referring to union with God, “Everything that grows begins small. It is by constant and progressive feeding that it gradually grows big.”12 So I say to you, if you want to become a thorough-going Christian—and I know you are willing, even though you often find it difficult to conquer yourself or to keep climbing upward with this poor body of ours—then you will have to be very attentive to the minutest of details, for the holiness that our Lord demands of you is to be achieved by carrying out with love of God your work and your daily duties, and these will almost always consist of small realities.” Escriva, Josemaria
There is a reaction in us, at times -to immediately react to what we read. So it was this morning, as I read this quote – I love the beginning – and the idea that holiness is forged in us, as Escriva uses something in his life, the forge, to replace the illustration of the potter’s wheel.
The I have to start and think – for surely the forge includes the interplay of God’s grace in our lives – it is that grace that constantly hammers away our impurity, but what about this correspondence of man? How much do we have to do with becoming holy, becoming the tools of God – set apart for His usage. Surely it will happen in communion, in unity with God, yet, do we have a role?
The apostle Paul talks of a race – of striving to grasp that which took hold of him. The author of Hebrews talks of laying aside every burden, and every sin which would hold us, even as Christ starts and completes the race in us.
But what is this correspondence of grace? Perhaps it is found in not in our maturity leading to independence, that somehow our maturity results in our needing God less, but precisely the opposite, by becoming more dependent, to desire His presence, to yearn for the times we spend with Him. That communion with God, confidence of His make us His craftsmanship – leads us to be that new creation, to be the ones who do walk in the works (vocation) that God has prepared for us to walk in… to walk in that love…even as we exult in His presence, as we remember what He accomplished in our baptism, as we rejoice in the Feast that He invites and welcomes us to, to feast upon His Body and Blood and know we have life. To rejoice as we hear – “your sins – your sins – they are forgiven. To be so filled with joy as we read of His incredible love and mercy, the gifts of peace and comfort that are ours and are found in scripture, to rejoice at the times of fellowship we have in prayer…
These may seem little to us, the details… and perhaps we see them now as only duties..but continue in them – they will soon be revealed to be something more, the very charisma of God…as they bring us more and more aware of His presence in our lives… of the peace in which we truly dwell, that results in a manner of Holiness which is somewhat foreign to us at first – and truly foreign and needed in this world…
Lord, Have mercy… my friends, know He has!
