The Baptism of Jesus audio
We return today to Luke’s account of the beginning of Jesus’ ministry on earth. Howard brought the first part of this chapter to us a month ago and Gordon followed up with John the Baptist beginning his task of preparing for the coming of the Messiah. So let’s think back to what we heard then.
First, this account is set in a historical context. Luke dates it for us. Dates are important aren’t they? Personally and nationally. It’s my grandson’s birthday next Saturday so for us and him it’s a significant date. In two weeks’ time we’ll remember a significant date in our national history, some with celebration, others with discomfort. My sister has her birthday is on another significant national day, April 25th. I wonder if you remember what you were doing on Sept 11th, 2001? That’s a date that’s etched into every American’s brain and probably most of the free world’s as well. And here Luke gives us three historical markers to show us that the events that he records here are significant historically.
The significance of these events for the Jewish people of the time is made clear by the way John’s appearing is described and by the way the people respond. It was hundreds of years since a prophet had spoken, and John was obviously such a man. Mark tells us that his clothing was like that of Elijah. His message was clearly that of a prophet, and perhaps what he said rang true to what they knew in their hearts: "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8Bear fruits worthy of repentance. Do not begin to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our ancestor'; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. 9Even now the axe is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”
What do you think people thought of that? Would they have been offended? Or would it have rung true? Would it have reminded them of the prophecies of Isaiah and Jeremiah, of Joel and Micah, warning the people of God’s anger at their behaviour. Or would it have raised their hopes that the promised Messiah was here at last.
That's certainly Luke’s take on it. He says: “As it is written in the book of the words of the prophet Isaiah, "The voice of one crying out in the wilderness: 'Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. 5Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways made smooth; 6and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.”
Well, we don’t know exactly what they were thinking but it’s clear that they genuinely took him to be a prophet. They cry out "What then should we do?" The image of God taking an axe to the tree would have stopped them in their tracks. Isaiah 5 tells a tale of a vineyard that bears only wild grapes, bitter grapes, that the owner will destroy, leaving the vineyard a waste. The vineyard is a metaphor for the nation of Israel. Every one of his listeners would have thought back to the exile when the whole population was taken away to Babylon. So John’s warning not to take being a child of Abraham for granted must have struck home. So they ask John what should they do about it. His response is twofold.
First bear fruits worthy of repentance. Gordon covered this before Christmas. Change your behaviour to make it fit with the character of the God you claim to serve. Show compassion to those in need; behave with justice if you’re in a position of power; act honestly if you’re a merchant or someone who deals with money.
Notice that the sort of bad behaviour he highlights was almost a given, and expected response to holding power and authority.To behave the way John suggests would have raised eyebrows. People would have thought they were nuts for not taking advantage. But John is talking to people who are part of God’s people. He isn’t asking them to be something different. Rather he’s telling them they need to be the people that God expects them to be if they bear his name.
I’m sure you’ve seen many cases of people who get caught doing the wrong thing: footballers caught using drugs; people causing serious accidents through speed or drunkenness or lack of attention; people getting caught having an affair; the list goes on. And how often do you hear them say how sorry they are? And how often do you think to yourself: “Yes, you’re just sorry you got caught!”
So here. the fear of the coming wrath of God may have stopped them in their tracks but they needed to do something about it. They needed to change the way they lived, the way they thought, the way they handled the various relationships they had with others in their community.
The other thing they needed to do was to be baptised. That was possibly the more confronting demand of John. Baptism was used by the Jews as an initiation rite for Gentiles who wanted to become Jews. It was the way you gained entry to the Jewish people if you weren’t born a Jew. So to call on Jews to be baptised would have seemed all wrong to many. So why was he out there calling people to be baptised in the first place? I think the answer is in what Luke reports next.
No doubt John has been asked the same question I just asked. Why baptism? His answer is both simple and profound” "I baptize you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 17His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire." John’s baptism is a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins in preparation for the coming of the Messiah who will baptise with the Holy Spirit and fire. If you’re worried about a prophet who’s clothed with camel's hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and who eats locusts and wild honey, then you’d better be extra careful about the one who’s coming after him. When the Messiah comes, it won’t be to save them from the Romans as they thought. It’ll be to bring judgement. The salvation that Jesus brings is life to those who respond to him, but death to those who reject him. If they thought that John’s words were harsh, if they thought his words were hard to take, the coming of Jesus would be even harder to take. Their response to Jesus would carry its own judgement within itself.
Luke records Herod’s response to John’s warnings – He shuts him up in prison, then he returns to the account of the appearance of Jesus at the Jordan river. It’s a slightly more abbreviated account to that given by Matthew and Mark but the important parts are there. Jesus comes to be baptised by John, to identify himself with fallen people everywhere, to be numbered with the transgressors, as Isaiah puts it. But as he’s praying, after the baptism, the Holy Spirit descends on him in the form of a dove and God speaks and says “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”
You see, Jesus comes to identify himself with fallen people, and then a voice comes from heaven, identifying him as God’s own son, the one on whom his favour rests. The Spirit descends on him in bodily form, again identifying him as one who has the Spirit of God. Now this is straight out of Is 42: “Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations.” Jesus is the promised servant of the Lord who comes to bring justice to the nations. That is, who comes to rid the world of all kinds of evil, but more importantly, who comes to declare us just before God. Who brings justice, because he grants righteousness to all who call on his name.
This brings us back to John’s statement about not relying on Abraham as your father. Jesus comes to bring us to a place where we can call God our Father, because God has adopted us as his sons and daughters. But first we do have to take John’s advice seriously and repent of our rebellion before God. We have to call on God for forgiveness. We need to do that daily probably. We need to turn to Jesus Christ in faith that his death on our behalf will cleanse us from our sin. Hopefully everyone here today has done that at some stage in the past. I trust you continue to do it day by day. If you haven’t ever done it, then do it now. Tell God you’re sorry for ignoring his rule over your life and ask him to forgive you. Ask him to make you one of his children right now.
But it doesn’t stop there. The other half of what John said also applies. Ask yourself whether the fruit of your life is fruit that’s in keeping with repentance. Is it fruit that goes with your status as one of God’s sons and daughters?
Last week Howard talked about not making New Year’s resolutions. A New Year’s resolution is a bit of a joke isn’t it? It normally lasts until your next meal or your next encounter with that person you resolved to be nice to. But what we do need to do is to ask God to change us on the inside, to make us better this year than we were last year.
What better way to respond to what we read here than to ask God to change you on the inside. To change the sort of tree you are so that your life produces fruit in keeping with repentance. Jesus came to bring a baptism of the Holy Spirt and fire. That is, God has given us his Spirit to live within us, to purify us and to change us on the inside. This isn’t a resolution, it’s a prayer. It’s a prayer that God would do within us what we need for us to be the sort of person he wants us to be.
Are you a child of God? Then ask God to help you bear fruit that goes with that position in God’s family. Ask him how you can best show his nature to the world around you.
