The Baptism of Jesus
Luke 3:15-22
The people had heard the apocalyptic message of John the Baptist. He had called the people to radical repentance, with baptism being a sign of that repentance. But more than an outward sign was needed. A sign is supposed to point to an inward reality. Repentance also demonstrated itself publicly in the observed change of behavior, another sign of an inward change. God wanted more than token repentance. He wanted a living repentance. When the people came to John, they left Israel, the covenantal land given to their forefathers. They had to go back to the time when the Children of Israel stood across the river in the wilderness awaiting the crossing of the Jordan. So by coming and repenting, they were admitting they were out of covenantal relationship. Even though the Israelite males had been circumcised in body, they were uncircumcised in their hearts and actions. Baptism serves as a Gilgal moment in which they renew their covenant with Yahweh.
Strangers to the covenant, such as soldiers and tax collectors also came. For them, baptism was the entering into the covenant of Yahweh. They too were called to radical repentance.
The ministry of John made people to ponder in their hearts whether John the Baptist was the promised Messiah. The Greek verb of being uses the optative text, which indicates that this was a deep longing and wish of the people. This is stronger than the English can render with “if” as though this was a mere speculation. There was the emotional aspect as well. The people were hoping that John was the Messiah, and that all the hopes the people had for him was about to be realized. This wondering was within the individual hearts and had not yet become a public dialogue.
John realized what was in their hearts. Either the Holy Spirit had revealed it to him, or he could see it on their faces. John needed to quickly correct their thinking. But he does it in a way that their hopes for the Messiah would not be dashed. He had to publicly confess that he was not the Messiah, something which is clearly stated in all four gospels. In fact, he was not worthy to be the slave who unbuckled his sandals. He was telegraphing that as great as things seems to be, and as great the ministry of John the Baptist was, there was even a greater One coming, and a day brighter than they could have imagined. John baptized in water, but the one who was coming would baptize with the Holy Spirit, and with fire. If the words of John the Baptist were severe, the words of the coming One would be even more so. He would separate the wheat and chaff. The wheat would be put into the barn, but the chaff would be burnt in unquenchable fire. The text then says that he said many other things to the people in the same train of thought.
Now there is a break in the text. Instead of going directly to the baptism of Jesus, Luke adds an editorial comment. He says that one of the other things John had done was to criticize Herod for marrying his brother’s divorced wife. It is also interesting to note that Herodias was either Herod’s half sister or his niece, but no mention of incest is mentioned. He was offended, but even worse, Herodias was even more offended, and this led to John the Baptist being imprisoned.
Now we have to deal with why the editorial comment breaks up the text. Luke is a very good writer, so it was not sloppy editing. This can only mean that it is placed there for emphasis. It is not to be put to the side like the lectionary does by cutting it out of the reading. What is in this text which illuminates this passage as a whole? We know John the Baptist was a faithful witness to Jesus. He knew his role in God’s plan and did not exceed it. The idea of witness to the person of Jesus is not only John the Baptist’s role, but ours as well. We are called to bold and truthful witness to Jesus. But witnessing truly of Jesus has its costs. The Christian is called to deny oneself and take up the cross daily. In other words, our witness might land us In jail or the executioner’s block. What happened to John has happened to many Christian martyrs over the centuries, and this may well include us as well. It is interesting that the Greek word “martyr” actually is translated “witness.” So many suffered martyrdom for their witness of Jesus that the word itself changed its meaning. The church is the Kingdom of God in suffering at the moment, but the Kingdom of God in glory is coming. What happened to Jesus will also happen to His disciples.
Now we get to the baptism of Jesus. I have included the previous material because this is being written up for Sermon Central as a lectionary reading exposition. I need to cover the whole text, but now I would like to exposit the baptism text.
Even though Luke is the longest of the gospels, it has only a short account of the baptism of Jesus. It mentions nothing about John’s protest of Jesus’ being baptized, and instead goes right to the account. He was baptizing others when Jesus came for baptism. It then says that when Jesus was being baptized, He was also praying. It then says the heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit came upon Him as a dove. Then the voice of God was heard, “This is my son the beloved in whom I have been well pleased!” The Greek is very emphatic here. Here, all of the Trinity is at the scene.
We must also realize that Luke not only wrote the gospel, but Acts as well. If we will compare here what is said to the Pentecost account, we see some very important similarities. Let us look at these.
It is just beyond the text this morning, but it says that Jesus was about thirty years of age at the time. This means that Jesus had spent his entire life to this point as a normal human being Luke says that during this time he grew in favor with God and man. In other word, god spent 30 years preparing Jesus for the ministry. At the age of 12, he was already teaching the Rabbis in the Temple. We know this because He was seated in the position of the teacher, and all the others were standing around Him.
No let us look at Acts. Jesus had spent 3 years of intense training of His disciples for their mission. But they still needed to wait just a little longer until they were baptized in the Holy Spirit. The first ministry for the disciple in not to disciple others but to learn.
The text mentions Jesus was praying at the time of Baptism. This is similar to Pentecost where they gathered together at 9AM which happened to be the time of the morning prayer.
Then the text mentions that the heavens were opened. The same happens in Acts. In both cases it is followed by the descent of the Spirit. In Luke it took the form of a dove, and in Acts in the flaming tongues of fire which was distributed on all of them. Here the sign is different, but if we remember this text, it says that Jesus would baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire.
The next thing that happens is that the voice of God is clearly heard. In the case of Jesus, it is the Father telling the world that this Jesus was His beloved Son. In the case of the disciples, every one heard the gospel in their own language. In other words, the differences in language which might obscure the meaning of the gospel was taken away. Language was no longer to be an impediment.
The last comparison to be made is that Jesus would be driven into the wilderness, and the church would be driven to the wilderness of Gentile lands. It marked the transition point between private preparation and public ministry. Jesus’ baptism in water and His baptizing of His church with the Holy Spirit makes this ministry possible. The church follows in ministry, being led by the Spirit, even as Jesus was led by the same Holy Spirit. In other words, the life of Jesus serves as an example of how we should conduct ours. Jesus could have done anything in His own authority as the Son of God, but He allowed Himself to be led by the same Holy Spirit which He has given us.
The other element which I want to bring up here is the role of prayer. Both Jesus and the disciples on Pentecost were in prayer. When the Holy Spirit late in Acts speaks to the church at Antioch and tells them to send their pastors, Barnabas and Saul, to the mission He had called to them, they fasted, prayed and laid hands on them. Then they were sent to Cyprus. Although fasting is not mentioned at Pentecost, Jesus would fast forty days and noghts following baptism. So fasting seems to be included.
How should we conduct our mission in the church today? How do we recognize the call of God in the lives of our members? Do we diligently prepare them in the word for that possibility? Are we open to the voice of the Holy Spirit? Do we fast and pray over those who feel the call? Do we lay hands on them and send them? This seems to be a well-established pattern in the Bible, and it would do us well to follow the example.
For those who are struggling with the call. If you are truly called, you will submit yourself to the yoke of learning and growing in the faith. On has to sit at the feet of Jesus before going out to make disciples of others. It is a terrible tragedy to send unprepared people into the ministry. It is a recipe for failure and disillusionment. I also suggest that out candidates be well trained before even sending them to seminary. Many seminaries are liberal and destroy rather than build the candidate’s faith. I have seen many people broken there. I also hear of those who try to get their children to witness in the public schools. This too often leads to disastrous results. I would strongly recommend Christians sending their children to good Christian schools. You are investing in your children’s eternity. Finally, we should not even sent untrained laymen to witness in the community. And what I mean is that they need to know the answers to more than the five questions and answers from the book of Romans. Christians are to be thoroughly instructed in the Scripture, even if it takes thirty years.
