Home » Bible Tuesday for the Baptism of Our Lord, 2018

Bible Tuesday for the Baptism of Our Lord, 2018

Bible Tuesday for the Baptism of Our Lord, 2018

Genesis 1:1-5

In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters.

Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.

It is fitting that the first texts for this new year are the very first words of the Bible, itself. I do not think that is what the Lectionary formers were thinking, though, when they chose this text for today. Rather, this Sunday is the feast day of Jesus’ baptism and the focus is the Holy Spirit, for the Holy Spirit is always the focus of baptism.

In these first words of the story of God and creation, God is, to quote my sister-in-law, “Fixin’ to get ready” to launch all that is. The “wind from God”, aka the ruach in Hebrew and pneuma in Greek, is right there brooding over the primordial chaos (a fine translation of “formless void”), ready to speak order into being. What is the first thing that God creates? LIGHT! Chaos and darkness always move hand in hand but God is a God of order which begins in the form of light.

Psalm 29

Ascribe to the Lord, O heavenly beings, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.

Ascribe to the Lord the glory of his name; worship the Lord in holy splendor.

The voice of the Lord is over the waters; the God of glory thunders, the Lord, over mighty waters.

The voice of the Lord is powerful; the voice of the Lord is full of majesty.

The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars; the Lord breaks the cedars of Lebanon.

He makes Lebanon skip like a calf, and Sirion like a young wild ox.

The voice of the Lord flashes forth flames of fire.

The voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness; the Lord shakes the wilderness of Kadesh.

The voice of the Lord causes the oaks to whirl, and strips the forest bare; and in his temple all say, “Glory!”

The Lord sits enthroned over the flood; the Lord sits enthroned as king forever.

May the Lord give strength to his people! May the Lord bless his people with peace!

This psalm celebrates God’s power in, through, and over creation. Note that the psalmist is admonishing all heavenly beings (aka: deities or gods) to recognize the LORD as the supreme heavenly being because of the LORD’s strength and power over thunder, water, earthquakes, and wind. These elements were worshipped as deities by the pagans around Israel, but here they are portrayed as merely the media through which God may be seen.

Acts 19:1-7

While Apollos was in Corinth, Paul passed through the interior regions and came to Ephesus, where he found some disciples. He said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you became believers?” They replied, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” Then he said, “Into what then were you baptized?” They answered, “Into John’s baptism.” Paul said, “John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, in Jesus.” On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. When Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied— altogether there were about twelve of them.

Here the gospel writer, Luke, describes the difference between John the Baptist’s baptism and baptism into Jesus. John the Baptist was very well known by the Jews of that day, much more well known than Jesus. All four gospel writers make a point of John the Baptist deferring to Jesus, with the gospel of John even saying, “He must increase while I must decrease.”

So what is the difference between John’s baptism and Jesus’ baptism? John’s baptism was one of repentance and preparation for meeting the Messiah. (See below.) While Jesus’s disciples (and one gospel may say Jesus baptized also) baptize people into Jesus so that they drown to sin and are raised in Jesus’ resurrection to new life now and eternally.

Mark 1:4-11

John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. Now John was clothed with camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. He proclaimed, “The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”

Mark states that John the “baptizer” baptized repentance for the forgiveness of sins. The point is made clear in this gospel that John the Baptist dresses just like the prophet, Elijah. Why is that an important detail for Mark’s readers/hearers? Because Jewish tradition has long stated that Elijah will return from heaven just before the Messiah comes to give everyone a heads-up. Therefore, Mark makes it very clear that John is “Elijah”. But, Elijah is merely the harbinger, not the main attraction, which Mark makes clear in his description of John’s ministry. “I just baptize you all with water, but the Messiah will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” HUGE!!!!! Remember a couple weeks back in Advent I explained that in the Hebrew Scriptures, the Holy Spirit was only sent to a few people and even then, the visit was temporary? Here we are told that Jesus will use the Holy Spirit like water, to cleanse and change.

So why does Jesus get baptized?! He doesn’t sin so he doesn’t need to be baptized in repentance! When a rabbi ends his training and begins ministry, he commemorates this transition into public life by bathing a ritual bath in flowing water, which the Jewish tradition from which baptism flows. Jesus comes to the Jordan River to be baptized for public ministry.

The gospel of Mark tells no stories of Gabriel’s annunciations to Zechariah and Mary, nor angels announcing to shepherds, nor a star announcing to magi. Mark does not speak of any immaculate conception, lowly birth, or age twelve trip to Jerusalem. No, Mark’s gospel begins with Isaiah’s prophecy of “the voice of one crying in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord!’ and then out comes John the Baptist. Without any of those miraculous, dream filled birth stories, how do we know ‘e’s a king? The heavens are ripped apart and the Ruach, dressed like a dove, comes down and tells us, and Jesus, so.

For the gospel writer. Mark, Jesus was the average faithful Jew until God made him Messiah/Christ/Son of God/Son of Man. The gospels of Matthew and Luke tell us that Jesus was God as soon as he was conceived because he was conceived by the Holy Spirit. The gospel of John tells us that Jesus was always God: “In the beginning was the LOGOS and the LOGOS was with God and the LOGOS was God.” (“Logos” is the Greek word for “will, intent, idea, word/promise, and a whole host of other things.) It is not that these gospels disagree with each other, but rather represent how human thought about who Jesus is and what he did/does developed from the first generation of believes (gospel of Mark and the letters of Paul were written in the early 60’s AD, during the lifetime of the first disciples and Apostles), through the second generation of believers (Matthew and Luke were written likely in the 70’s AD as the second generation of Christians was taking over from the first, most of whom were already dead), and into the third and more generations of believers (John was likely written in the early 90’s AD when the third generation was coming on line). That first generation of believers didn’t focus on Jesus’ life before they met him since they were so blown away by the experience that they were having with Jesus right then and there. They second generation started gathering the testimony about Jesus’ birth from Mary, Jesus’ siblings, and eye witnesses of Simeon and Hannah, and all the others. It is the gospel writer John who puts all of this into cosmic perspective, using the same words and style as Genesis 1:1 to begin his own gospel: “In the beginning…”

But, back to Mark. In Mark’s gospel, it is God who proclaims privately to Jesus, and through the gospel writer to us, that Jesus is “My beloved Son with whom I am well pleased.” Yes, Jesus was just “good”, Jesus is “very good”, the bes