Jesus Is Baptized

Mark 1:4-11

We recently witnessed the ordination of our new elders and the installation of elected elders into their position of service for Christ. Ordination is for those men and women who have never been an elder in a Presbyterian church. In this ordination ceremony, the church sets apart with prayer and laying on of hands those individuals in our congregation who have been called by election to serve as ruling elders. The new elders will submit to a set of ordination questions. The very first question is: Do you trust in Jesus Christ your Savior, acknowledge him as Lord of all and Head of the church, and through him believe in one God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit?

In this statement is a clear affirmation of the Trinity – “one God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit?” However, one of the most confusing doctrines of our faith is the doctrine of the Trinity, the idea that God comes to us in three persons God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. To some, even within the church, it sounds ridiculous that God exists as three persons but is one being.

And yet I propose we have this very doctrine on display in a beautiful way at the very beginning of Jesus’ ministry on the day that he was baptized by John in the river Jordan.

John the Baptist, the son of Zechariah and Elizabeth, was Jesus’ cousin. John was in the wilderness preaching about the coming Messiah. He was a celebrity, a fabulously popular preacher, seemingly popular with everybody except King Herod, who eventually put him to death. But that’s a story for another day. John never went into the cities, the highways, and byways; he stayed near the Jordan because his main purpose was to baptize persons who were repentant. In fact, that is exactly what he is doing as we open today’s lesson: he was baptizing people in the river Jordan.

John’s ministry and purpose, as we noted in previous sermons during Advent, was to prepare the way for the Messiah. John’s message was “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near!” Matthew 3:2 (NRSV)  

The Jewish people were looking for a messiah, a military leader, a deliverer to make things right. They longed for freedom from the oppressive hand of Rome. Some of them thought that perhaps John was the person, the Messiah, God had sent to lead them to freedom.

John made it clear that he was not the Messiah. Mark 1:7–8 (NRSV): 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.”

During one of his routine days when he was baptizing people, John’s cousin Jesus of Nazareth turned up to be baptized.  This is the only time Mark mentions that John and Jesus met as adults. The Apostle John records a time when they met as adults in John 1:35–38: “The next day John again was standing with two of his disciples, and as he watched Jesus walk by, he exclaimed, “Look, here is the Lamb of God!” The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. We can assume that since their mothers, Mary, and Elizabeth, were close we can imagine that as cousins they saw each other quite often as they were growing up. Can you imagine what it was like to grow up with a perfect and sinless cousin who as a 12-year-old was found discussing scripture in the Temple with the teachers of the law?

For whatever reason John was surprised to see his cousin among those coming to be baptized. John knew there was something special about Jesus. He admitted as much in Matthew’s telling of the story. Matthew tells us in Matthew 3:4, that John tried to deter Jesus from undergoing this sacred rite, saying in effect, “I need to be baptized by you. What are you doing coming to me?” Of course, theologians have wrestled for centuries with the same question. Why is it that the one we know as the blameless and spotless Lamb of God needed to be baptized? He didn’t, of course. He was without sin. But we need to be baptized. He was setting an example for us. He also identified himself with the kingdom that John was announcing. 

Notice how beautifully the doctrine of the Trinity is portrayed in these few words in Mark’s Gospel: “Mark 1:9–11 (NRSV): “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.”

Let’s consider for a few moments how God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are portrayed in this simple story. Let’s begin with God the Father. “A voice came from heaven: ‘You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.’”

We see, first of all, the Father’s love. God sounds like a proud Papa, doesn’t he? “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”

If I were to ask you to list the characteristics of God, you would probably give me some fifty-cent words like transcendent, omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent. Yes, God exists beyond this world, and yes God is all-powerful, God is all-knowing, and yes God is present everywhere. And, of course, you would be right. But in Jesus’ mind, all of these are dwarfed by the truth that God is love.

“You are my Son, whom I love; with you, I am well pleased.”

I wish every child on earth could hear clearly from his or her parents: “You are my son, you are my daughter, whom I love; with you, I am well pleased.” What a difference it would make in the world if every parent would affirm his or her child like that. I suspect we would see crime drop, delinquency drop, and even terrorism disappear.

Can you imagine a world in which every child knew for certain that he or she was loved? Can you imagine a world where no young person felt the need to act in destructive ways to gain parental attention or approval? At heart this is the solution to the world’s deepest and most tragic problem, the emptiness and loneliness that drives people to despair: “You are my son, you are my daughter, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”

God’s love is a love that never ends. There is nothing God will not risk doing to win back His fallen children. He chose us before He laid the foundations of the world. We are the objects of His love. In this story of Jesus’ baptism, we see the love of God the Father.

We also see the humility of God the Son. This is a recurring theme throughout the New Testament. Christ humbled himself on our behalf.

Paul says it so beautifully in Philippians 2: “Philippians 2:8 (NRSV): he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death— even death on a cross.”

John wondered why Jesus came to him for baptism; theologians wondered why he was baptized at all. You can see that this was the pattern of his life. He humbled himself to be baptized by his cousin just as later he would humble himself to go to a cross, the very emblem of suffering and shame. He went to the cross for us all.

Humility is a misunderstood quality. Some people we characterize as humble simply because they don’t think very much of themselves. They minimize everything they do to groom favor with others. And we like such people. They make us feel superior. But we do not respect them. Only strong people can truly be humble.

I like something that Norman Vincent Peale once said, “Humble people don’t think less of themselves . . .  they just think about themselves less.” Did you catch that? “Humble people don’t think less of themselves . . .  they just think about themselves less.”[2]

Certainly, that was true of Jesus. He knew who he was, but he did not let that get in the way of his service to the least and the lowest. He was the humblest man who ever lived only because he was the mightiest man who ever lived.

That’s humility, the kind of humility that ought to characterize every follower of Christ. It’s not that we see ourselves as a doormat for everyone to walk on. We know who we are. But we humble ourselves in service to others. In this story, we see the Father’s love and the Son’s humility.

Finally, we see the coming of the Holy Spirit. We read, “Just as Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove . . .” Mark 1:10

The Holy Spirit is the presence of God in our lives, a presence that empowers and instructs and comforts and corrects. Like baptism, Christ did not need for the Holy Spirit to come upon him. He was always filled with the Spirit. But we need the Holy Spirit. It is that Spirit that helps us be what God wants us to be. When humankind was expelled from the Garden of Eden they were cut off from the Tree of Life and the Holy Spirit. They became spiritually dead. Through the ages of time since then God would put His Spirit on selected individuals for His purposes.

In Luke 1 we learn about the conception and birth of John. Scripture says this about him in Luke 1:13-15: “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will name him John. You will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He must never drink wine or strong drink; even before his birth he will be filled with the Holy Spirit.” John was chosen, predestined, to be the prophet preparing the way for the arrival of the Messiah. He was also created with the spirit of God active and very much alive in him even in the womb. So active that when Mary came to visit her cousin Elizabeth “When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you (Mary) among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. Luke 1:41–42 (NRSV)

Earlier in Mark 1:7–8 John says prior to Jesus’ baptism “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.”

This is to say, quite obviously, that we need to be baptized by water, but we also need to be baptized by the Holy Spirit.

The psalmist wrote, “Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me” (51:11). That is a profound prayer. At some time in our lives, we need to pray, “Come into my life, Lord Jesus,” knowing that this is the same thing as praying that God’s Holy Spirit will come upon us. The Holy Spirit is the giver of life. The Holy Spirit is the breath of God within our lives. All of this we see played out in the story of Jesus’ baptism the love of the Father, the humility of the Son, and the coming of the Holy Spirit.

“Just as Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: ‘You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.’” Mark 1:10-11

Amen