The Tree

9 Now after He had risen early on the first day of the week, He first appeared to Mary Magdalene, from whom He had cast out seven demons. 10 She went and reported to those who had been with Him, while they were mourning and weeping. 11 When they heard that He was alive and had been seen by her, they refused to believe it. 12 After that, He appeared in a different form to two of them while they were walking along on their way to the country. 13 They went away and reported it to the others, but they did not believe them either. 14 Afterward He appeared to the eleven themselves as they were reclining at the table; and He reproached them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they had not believed those who had seen Him after He had risen. 15 And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to all creation. 16 “He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned. 17 “These signs will accompany those who have believed: in My name they will cast out demons, they will speak with new tongues; 18 they will pick up serpents, and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.” 19 So then, when the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, He was received up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God. 20 And they went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them, and confirmed the word by the signs that followed.

What is the message of this final narrative in Mark’s Gospel? It offers a view of what baptism in Jesus’s name is all about. Today the church says that when a person is baptized, they die with Jesus and rise with Jesus into a new life. That fits with the original meaning. The baptism ritual uses flowery language to express the understanding that a person baptized in the name of Jesus wants to live their life in a way that would please Jesus. How do you do that? The answer is found by reading the Gospels and acting following how Jesus lived. It sounds simple but is a difficult road.

I feared talking about my conversion and acceptance of Christ when Jesus first called me. Today that fear is gone. If I talk to someone about Christ and they get belligerent, I simply wipe the dust off my shoes and leave.

Today’s baptism rituals are very nice and complete. However, the explanation of it is not. I was told that I died with Christ to my old self and was raised like Him to a new life. That’s 100% true, but what does it mean? The original meaning of baptism explains it well. Only true believers are to be baptized. In ancient times a person had to demonstrate that they believed in loving kindness, meekness, peacemaking, compassion, and belief in the Kingdom of Heaven. I see baptism as my commitment to attempt to be as Christ-like as possible. Yes, all of us who call ourselves Christians mess up. When we mess up, we need to clean up the mess quickly. Now let’s look at that aspect a little deeper because it is a problem in the church today.

Why are there so many people in the church who claim to be followers of Jesus but do not act like Him? Just sit in on a church leadership team meeting if you do not believe me. A different opinion is a great thing to have. It hopefully opens up ones thinking and expands ideas. Many times it causes arguments and pain. Why are there so many Christian denominations? Because people cannot learn to work with others through their differences of opinion. The “peace churches” have many denominations because when a disagreement occurs, they split the church. If the church intends to survive into the future, the membership needs to learn to work together.

Let me give you a real example. A church that I served years ago had splintered in the mid-1940s. I was there from 2001 to 2006. People told me about the split and were always worried that it could happen again. So, what was the problem? The church had a baseball field across the street from the church building. Several members would have a picnic lunch on warm days and then played a little baseball on Sunday. There was a large tree in centerfield that did cause problems. So, the baseball-playing families wanted the tree removed. It was brought to a church leadership meeting. That is when the split started. One side said that playing baseball on the Lord’s day was heresy and of course the other side said it did not. When the vote occurred for the tree’s removal; the motion failed by 1 vote.