Lent 1 3/5/06 Text: Mark 1:9-15 Title: Life After Baptism
Lent 1
3/5/2006
Text: Mark 1:9-15
Title: Life After Baptism
Let us Pray, Lord God, Creator and Maker of us all, speak in the calming of our minds and in the longings of our hearts, by the words of my lips and in the thoughts that we form. Speak, O Lord, for your servants listen. Amen.
The Gospel reading that I read just a few minutes ago takes place right after a special event in Jesus Life. It is sometimes referred to as the start of his ministry. John had just baptized Jesus in the Jordan River. The Holy Spirit had come on him, and God the Father had announced that Jesus was the son with whom he was well pleased.
In those few verses Saint Mark, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit has given us, with rather breathtaking brevity, a reenactment of God’s people as it is fulfilled in Jesus. Let me give you a few examples to show you what I mean.
Israel was saved from the slavery of the Egyptians as they went between the waters of the Red Sea. Jesus is baptized in the Jordan River, as part of his saving us from slavery to sin.
Israel spent 40 years in the desert, among the tribes that were hostile to them, sinning time and time again as they failed to withstand the temptations of those they came into contact with. Jesus spent 40 days in the desert among the wild animals and temptations of Satan and never once fell into sin.
God told Israel to cross over the Jordon and conquer the Promised Land. Jesus near the Jordon announces that God’s kingdom is near at hand, and invites his listeners to enter the Promised Land, not through warfare, but through repentance and faith.
Those few examples do more than show us the foreshadowing of Jesus’ ministry. They also cause us to remember stories in God’s Holy Bible that are even older than the Exodus stories I just spoke about.
When Jesus was baptized and the voice from heaven declares him as “My Son, whom I love” it was not just a statement of fact by God. It connected Jesus with other dearly loved sons in Genesis, who were also a foreshadowing of him and his ministry.
Let’s look at a few. There is Isaac, the dearly loved son of Sarah and Abraham. God tells his father to take him on a journey to a mountaintop where he is to be offered as a sacrifice. Abraham faithfully obeys. I can’t even imagine the grief he must have felt, the questions that must have been running through his mind. I am sure he must have been praying to God for help, for deliverance. God did help by sending a ram as Isaac’s substitute and he is redeemed.
Then there is Jacob, the dearly loved son of Rebecca. Remember what happened to him? He cheats his brother out of his blessing. His life is then in danger so he seeks safety in exile. He then later returns to make peace with his estranged brother and becomes the father of a great nation. He wrestles with God’s angel, and receives a new name, Israel, the father of many.
Finally, there is Joseph, the beloved son of Rachel. He is his father’s favorite. He is thrown into a pit by his brothers, sold into slavery, falsely accused, consigned to a dungeon, and believed by his family to be dead. Yet he rises up to be the second in command of Egypt where he becomes the savior of his family.
What I have shared with you this morning is not just some trivia. It shows that Jesus is the fulfillment of those events and people. Jesus is the new Isaac. For in his appointment with the cross on Golgotha he did more than look death in the face. He died, so that we can live.
Jesus is the new Jacob. In the Garden of Gethsemane, he too wrestles with God. He willingly accepts his fate so that he can reach out to those who are estranged, and restores their relationship with God. From Jesus comes Christianity, a great nation that no one can count.
Jesus is the new Joseph. He is rejected and mistreated by his own people. He is put into a grave, thought to be gotten rid of by his enemies, yet rose in victory to become the Savior of all who put their trust in him.
Jesus is the fulfillment of those stories. He brings us hope, restores our broken relationships, and counts us among his followers. All because he willingly faced death on our behalf, thus giving us eternal life.
All of those dearly loved sons found fulfillment in Jesus. Now we could stop right here, but to do so would not be right, for all that would do is give you something more to believe in and not deepen your faith.
Those that attended the Ash Wednesday service might remember that I spoke of the difference between belief and faith. Belief only knows what God might do. Faith on the other hand trusts in God to do what he has promised. Belief in Jesus then does not save you, for it is only faith in what he has done that saves you.
Our journey on this earth is also foreshadowed in the ancient journey of Israel. They came out of slavery in Egypt. Then they spent their lives traveling in the wilderness with all of its temptations.
For a nation that was God’s chosen people their behavior was decidedly mixed. God cared for them and they rebelled. He forgave them and they rebelled. Out of the entire generation that left Egypt only two, Joshua and Caleb, survive to enter the Promised Land. Everyone else died.
They failed miserably, just as we do, but Jesus in his baptism, in his time in the wilderness, in his being tempted, in his life, death, and resurrection keeps on proclaiming the Promised Land to all who will listen to him.
There is hope for all of us, for just like Israel, we too have been saved though the power of God’s Word and water. And just like the redeemed people of Israel entered the Promised Land by crossing the River Jordon we will at some time or other in our wilderness journey leave our sinful, disobedient, prideful bodies in the desert and cross over into the Promised Land, the land of milk and honey, that is heaven. The difference between us and the Israelites is that we will not have to fight to possess the Promised Land, for Jesus has already overcome our enemy Satan. That just simply means that you are not a slave to your sinful desires.
Every Sunday here at Saint John we have a foretaste of the Promised Land when we partake of Jesus’ body and blood in his Supper. What a wonderful gift God has given us, so that we might be strengthened in our journey in the wilderness. What a wonderful gift to us when we realize that we don’t have to keep God’s commands which can’t save us anyway. What a gift.
Jacob, Isaac, and Joseph each have a story to tell. Their lives were full of intrigue, good times and bad times. They sinned and paid the price. Their lives were often down in the valleys, but there were also those times on the mountain tops, and because of that we have a tendency to think of ourselves as being rather insignificant with no story to tell.
I would disagree, for we too know what it is like to suffer. We have probably all come close to death at some time or other. We all have experienced at some time or other alienation and exile. We too have found ourselves cast down. We too seem to find ourselves spending more time in the valleys than on the mountain tops of life.
We forget that we are a part of the Body of Christ, that our stories are not insignificant, but worthy of honor, for the Old Testament, the New Testament, the Christian community, the sacraments, the church year, the history of the church in the lives of our fellow saints, all find significance within the story of God and his saving grace, the grace that shows up in the person of Jesus Christ.
So life after Baptism is simply this: God leading us through the wilderness to the Promised Land just as he has promised to do.
So through the wilderness we go, singing songs of repentance and triumph, in company with all those who have gone before us, for we like them are following Jesus on his journey to the cross at Golgotha. We are on the way to the Promised Land, that place where milk and honey flow, the kingdom of God, which by the grace of God is already ours. Amen
3/5/2006
Text: Mark 1:9-15
Title: Life After Baptism
Let us Pray, Lord God, Creator and Maker of us all, speak in the calming of our minds and in the longings of our hearts, by the words of my lips and in the thoughts that we form. Speak, O Lord, for your servants listen. Amen.
The Gospel reading that I read just a few minutes ago takes place right after a special event in Jesus Life. It is sometimes referred to as the start of his ministry. John had just baptized Jesus in the Jordan River. The Holy Spirit had come on him, and God the Father had announced that Jesus was the son with whom he was well pleased.
In those few verses Saint Mark, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit has given us, with rather breathtaking brevity, a reenactment of God’s people as it is fulfilled in Jesus. Let me give you a few examples to show you what I mean.
Israel was saved from the slavery of the Egyptians as they went between the waters of the Red Sea. Jesus is baptized in the Jordan River, as part of his saving us from slavery to sin.
Israel spent 40 years in the desert, among the tribes that were hostile to them, sinning time and time again as they failed to withstand the temptations of those they came into contact with. Jesus spent 40 days in the desert among the wild animals and temptations of Satan and never once fell into sin.
God told Israel to cross over the Jordon and conquer the Promised Land. Jesus near the Jordon announces that God’s kingdom is near at hand, and invites his listeners to enter the Promised Land, not through warfare, but through repentance and faith.
Those few examples do more than show us the foreshadowing of Jesus’ ministry. They also cause us to remember stories in God’s Holy Bible that are even older than the Exodus stories I just spoke about.
When Jesus was baptized and the voice from heaven declares him as “My Son, whom I love” it was not just a statement of fact by God. It connected Jesus with other dearly loved sons in Genesis, who were also a foreshadowing of him and his ministry.
Let’s look at a few. There is Isaac, the dearly loved son of Sarah and Abraham. God tells his father to take him on a journey to a mountaintop where he is to be offered as a sacrifice. Abraham faithfully obeys. I can’t even imagine the grief he must have felt, the questions that must have been running through his mind. I am sure he must have been praying to God for help, for deliverance. God did help by sending a ram as Isaac’s substitute and he is redeemed.
Then there is Jacob, the dearly loved son of Rebecca. Remember what happened to him? He cheats his brother out of his blessing. His life is then in danger so he seeks safety in exile. He then later returns to make peace with his estranged brother and becomes the father of a great nation. He wrestles with God’s angel, and receives a new name, Israel, the father of many.
Finally, there is Joseph, the beloved son of Rachel. He is his father’s favorite. He is thrown into a pit by his brothers, sold into slavery, falsely accused, consigned to a dungeon, and believed by his family to be dead. Yet he rises up to be the second in command of Egypt where he becomes the savior of his family.
What I have shared with you this morning is not just some trivia. It shows that Jesus is the fulfillment of those events and people. Jesus is the new Isaac. For in his appointment with the cross on Golgotha he did more than look death in the face. He died, so that we can live.
Jesus is the new Jacob. In the Garden of Gethsemane, he too wrestles with God. He willingly accepts his fate so that he can reach out to those who are estranged, and restores their relationship with God. From Jesus comes Christianity, a great nation that no one can count.
Jesus is the new Joseph. He is rejected and mistreated by his own people. He is put into a grave, thought to be gotten rid of by his enemies, yet rose in victory to become the Savior of all who put their trust in him.
Jesus is the fulfillment of those stories. He brings us hope, restores our broken relationships, and counts us among his followers. All because he willingly faced death on our behalf, thus giving us eternal life.
All of those dearly loved sons found fulfillment in Jesus. Now we could stop right here, but to do so would not be right, for all that would do is give you something more to believe in and not deepen your faith.
Those that attended the Ash Wednesday service might remember that I spoke of the difference between belief and faith. Belief only knows what God might do. Faith on the other hand trusts in God to do what he has promised. Belief in Jesus then does not save you, for it is only faith in what he has done that saves you.
Our journey on this earth is also foreshadowed in the ancient journey of Israel. They came out of slavery in Egypt. Then they spent their lives traveling in the wilderness with all of its temptations.
For a nation that was God’s chosen people their behavior was decidedly mixed. God cared for them and they rebelled. He forgave them and they rebelled. Out of the entire generation that left Egypt only two, Joshua and Caleb, survive to enter the Promised Land. Everyone else died.
They failed miserably, just as we do, but Jesus in his baptism, in his time in the wilderness, in his being tempted, in his life, death, and resurrection keeps on proclaiming the Promised Land to all who will listen to him.
There is hope for all of us, for just like Israel, we too have been saved though the power of God’s Word and water. And just like the redeemed people of Israel entered the Promised Land by crossing the River Jordon we will at some time or other in our wilderness journey leave our sinful, disobedient, prideful bodies in the desert and cross over into the Promised Land, the land of milk and honey, that is heaven. The difference between us and the Israelites is that we will not have to fight to possess the Promised Land, for Jesus has already overcome our enemy Satan. That just simply means that you are not a slave to your sinful desires.
Every Sunday here at Saint John we have a foretaste of the Promised Land when we partake of Jesus’ body and blood in his Supper. What a wonderful gift God has given us, so that we might be strengthened in our journey in the wilderness. What a wonderful gift to us when we realize that we don’t have to keep God’s commands which can’t save us anyway. What a gift.
Jacob, Isaac, and Joseph each have a story to tell. Their lives were full of intrigue, good times and bad times. They sinned and paid the price. Their lives were often down in the valleys, but there were also those times on the mountain tops, and because of that we have a tendency to think of ourselves as being rather insignificant with no story to tell.
I would disagree, for we too know what it is like to suffer. We have probably all come close to death at some time or other. We all have experienced at some time or other alienation and exile. We too have found ourselves cast down. We too seem to find ourselves spending more time in the valleys than on the mountain tops of life.
We forget that we are a part of the Body of Christ, that our stories are not insignificant, but worthy of honor, for the Old Testament, the New Testament, the Christian community, the sacraments, the church year, the history of the church in the lives of our fellow saints, all find significance within the story of God and his saving grace, the grace that shows up in the person of Jesus Christ.
So life after Baptism is simply this: God leading us through the wilderness to the Promised Land just as he has promised to do.
So through the wilderness we go, singing songs of repentance and triumph, in company with all those who have gone before us, for we like them are following Jesus on his journey to the cross at Golgotha. We are on the way to the Promised Land, that place where milk and honey flow, the kingdom of God, which by the grace of God is already ours. Amen
posted by Pastor Rhoads | 3:51 PM
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