Having overworked John 1 in recent weeks we revert to the account in Mark 1 for the baptism of Jesus. Chronologically we have jumped 30 years in the life of Christ. Mark supplies no birth narrative but begins his Gospel, for so he terms it, with John the Baptizer to whom comes Jesus to be baptized. In his version the temptation in the wilderness comes after the baptism. The salient point would seem to be:
Mar 1:10 And immediately coming up out of the water, He saw the heavens opened, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon Him.
Mar 1:11 And there came a voice from Heaven, saying, You are My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
And the Spirit of the Lord came upon him and drove him into the wilderness. The point has been made that this time the voice from Heaven was heard by Jesus alone.
John preached a message of repentence and forgiveness symbolized by baptism by immersion drowning the old sinful self and rising to new life freed of sin by forgiveness. The contrast is made that Jesus brought the indwelling of the Holy Spirit symbolized by a descending dove.
Today we indeed return to the creation story in Genesis where God's Spirit moved across the void and God's Word created the world.
Psalm 29 extolls the power and majesty of God.
Psa 29:11 The LORD gives strength to his people and blesses them with peace.
In the Epistle once more it is re-enforced that John gave a baptism with water, Jesus with the Holy Spirit.
At Jesus' Baptism John may have officiated, but it is God who imbued the Holy Spirit. And so it is when we are baptized.
So we can credit John and Jesus with the Christian Rite of Baptism which in the Lutheran Tradition is tantamount to a naming ceremony performed over infants presenting them to the congregation of believers. Two weeks ago Jesus parents fulfilled their Jewish Obligations of circumcision and presenting their first-born son at the Temple in Jerusalem.
It strikes me that as the Spiritual home of all Jews visits to the Temple constituted a major economic base for the city of Jerusalem. The system of Temple Taxes, sin offerings, celebratory offerings laid out in the Torah were a major source of income for the Levites who served the Temple. Therefore Jesus’ Gospel of Freedom from the law and the guilt of sin constituted a direct attack on that base.
The Sanhedrin may have coached their attack on Jesus in terms of law and order and good governance plus failure to adhere to Jewish Dogma but in plain terms his message attacked their income freeing the people from the burden it imposed.
Mar 1:10 And immediately coming up out of the water, He saw the heavens opened, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon Him.
Mar 1:11 And there came a voice from Heaven, saying, You are My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
And the Spirit of the Lord came upon him and drove him into the wilderness. The point has been made that this time the voice from Heaven was heard by Jesus alone.
John preached a message of repentence and forgiveness symbolized by baptism by immersion drowning the old sinful self and rising to new life freed of sin by forgiveness. The contrast is made that Jesus brought the indwelling of the Holy Spirit symbolized by a descending dove.
Today we indeed return to the creation story in Genesis where God's Spirit moved across the void and God's Word created the world.
Psalm 29 extolls the power and majesty of God.
Psa 29:11 The LORD gives strength to his people and blesses them with peace.
In the Epistle once more it is re-enforced that John gave a baptism with water, Jesus with the Holy Spirit.
At Jesus' Baptism John may have officiated, but it is God who imbued the Holy Spirit. And so it is when we are baptized.
So we can credit John and Jesus with the Christian Rite of Baptism which in the Lutheran Tradition is tantamount to a naming ceremony performed over infants presenting them to the congregation of believers. Two weeks ago Jesus parents fulfilled their Jewish Obligations of circumcision and presenting their first-born son at the Temple in Jerusalem.
It strikes me that as the Spiritual home of all Jews visits to the Temple constituted a major economic base for the city of Jerusalem. The system of Temple Taxes, sin offerings, celebratory offerings laid out in the Torah were a major source of income for the Levites who served the Temple. Therefore Jesus’ Gospel of Freedom from the law and the guilt of sin constituted a direct attack on that base.
The Sanhedrin may have coached their attack on Jesus in terms of law and order and good governance plus failure to adhere to Jewish Dogma but in plain terms his message attacked their income freeing the people from the burden it imposed.
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