Saturday, January 10, 2015

"Baptized with the Spirit" - January 11, 2015

Mark 1:4-11


            The ritual of baptism was around before Jesus, and scholars have tried to pin down what exactly folks like John the Baptist thought they were doing.  There are two streams of thought (pardon the pun) on this. 

One points to the various rituals of cleaning that are detailed in the Old Testament.  Various forms of washing are prescribed for people who have been sick or touched a corpse or given birth or been involved with a number of other activities before they are allowed to rejoin the community at worship.  In Jesus’ day there were semi-monastic groups who lived in the wilderness because they considered the worship in Jerusalem to have become corrupt and who practiced these kinds of washings regularly.  Some people think that John the Baptist had been part of one of these groups, or at least was influenced by their thought.

Another guess about what he was trying to do looks at the fact that he gathered his people and preached and immersed people specifically in the Jordan River.  Just like we think of the specific historical reference to Washington crossing the Delaware, the people of that time and place would have remembered that when the people of Israel entered the Promised Land, they did so by crossing the Jordan.  Maybe what John was saying was that God was renewing Israel and creating a new people, so if you are ready to be part of this coming kingdom then you need to cross through the river and start living right.

At this point, nobody’s ever going to be able to say exactly what statement John or anyone he baptized was making, but it probably had elements of both.  Both have certainly carried over into Christianity’s understanding of baptism.  On the one hand, we think of it as a sign and promise of God’s forgiveness of our deepest sin.  By that we don’t mean just the things that we do.  No little baby is rightfully called a sinner.  But every human being has an inborn limitation and an inescapable self-centeredness that we need to be forgiven before we can set about the hard work of living as the good, beloved people that God made us to be.  That’s where the aspect of becoming a part of a community of faith comes in.  We need one another’s help to grow into our best selves, and not just as children but all throughout our lives.  Baptism brings us into alignment with God and with others.

There is one key element in that, though.  The outer activity does not matter at all without the inner activity of God within our souls, which is what Jesus’ presence (then and now) added to the earlier practices.  John could lead people through the motions, but he pointed them to the coming of Jesus, of whom he said,

“‘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.’” [Mark 1:7-8]
If you forget that the Holy Spirit is involved, you miss out on the most vital part, which is the gifts that God puts into his people so that they can be part of the kingdom not just in some distant future but here and now.

            There’s an incident that is recorded in the book of Acts:

“While Apollos was in Corinth, Paul passed through the inland 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.” [Acts 19:1-7]
That’s the sort of thing that can happen when the Holy Spirit that Jesus breathes into his people goes to work.  For some people, like these, it is something dramatic.  For others it shows itself in personal character, as the Bible teaches that

“The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” [Galatians 5:22-23]
Either way, the Holy Spirit shared with us at baptism is at work both through and within God’s people.

            The gift of the Holy Spirit is the gift of Jesus’ own, lasting presence with his people, and along with that comes the grace to be ready for whatever comes along.  Think of it like a Christmas gift or a birthday present.  There’s the whole fun of looking at the package and unwrapping it, and then maybe it’s something really showy and spectacular like a ukulele that you immediately start strumming or possibly a box of cookies that you open right away and pass around.  On the other hand, it might be something like this: a quilted windshield scraper.  Not much to look at, is it?  Let me tell you, though, that at 5:30 in the morning, when the temperature is eighteen degrees and the wind is blowing at twenty miles per hour, this is better than forty ukuleles. 

            None of us ever really knows ahead of time what situations or challenges we may face.  When I meet with a couple preparing for marriage, we look at the wedding vows closely.  They promise to marry “for better or for worse”.  What does that mean?  It’s totally and intentionally vague.  The promise, however, is to ride things out together without reference to how it’s going at any particular moment.  As human beings, though, there are times when it’s clear that after working long and hard at that, even with the best intentions, it isn’t always going to work out.  We accept that, with sadness but with practicality. 

            The promise of God is even greater than the promise that a couple makes, because it relies on God and not on us.  Whatever comes our way in life, for better or worse, with God’s presence in our lives, with the Holy Spirit in our hearts, we find strength and help to ride out anything difficult, and we find the joy of meeting the challenges to serve others that are put in front of us when things are going well.  Maybe a marriage is falling apart, but the Holy Spirit is there to help the partners pull themselves together again and, in time, to move on.  Maybe a student has discovered a new interest and the Holy Spirit is there to ask the question, “Well, what are you going to do with this knowledge?”  Maybe someone’s life has gone totally off the track.  The Spirit is there to speak to the conscience, saying both, “This has got to stop right now,” and, “There is forgiveness for the past.”  Maybe somebody is holding a sleeping child, and the Spirit is saying, “You have so very much love to give.  Here is someone to receive it.”

            You never know what the Holy Spirit is going to do.  In the Greek that the New Testament was written, the word for “spirit” and “breath” and “wind” is the same word, and in the gospel of John [3:8], Jesus says,

“The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.
It’s a little bit scary, if you think about it, but it’s also comforting, because wherever the ride takes you, you don’t travel alone.

            That is the greatest gift of the one who baptizes us, through the gift of water, with the Holy Spirit, and who sends us out with both a challenge and a promise:


“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”  [Matthew 28:19-20]

No comments:

Post a Comment