"The Baptism Jesus Offered" Meditation Delivered By Reverend Richard E. Stetler – January 8, 2012 Centenary United Psalm 29;
Mark 1:4-11 This morning we will be discussing the earliest remembrance of
Jesus’ baptism from the first Gospel that was written.
The Book of Mark was written in 65 AD, shortly after Peter’s
death. This was only 32
years after Jesus’ crucifixion.
Mark’s Gospel is a record of Peter’s messages about Jesus. His
Gospel was used by the writers of Matthew and Luke as their basic
outline when they composed their manuscripts.
What we will focus
on today is the difference between John’s baptism and the
baptism that Jesus offered.
John declared to his listeners, “I baptize you with water, but
the one coming after me will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”
Why did John understand the
baptism of the Holy Spirit as being different from his, particularly
when the four Gospels make no mention of Jesus ever baptizing anyone? John the Baptist’s
message was straight forward, “Turn away from your sins, be baptized and
God will forgive your sins.”
Other Gospel writers expanded on what John preached, but their words are
not among Mark’s remembrances.
Whatever John was preaching along the banks of the On Wednesday morning when I took my morning walk to Belvin’s
Variety Store to buy the Gazette,
the young man behind the counter told me about the armed robbery of the
gas station attendant in Flatts.
We had a discussion about the increased brazenness of people to
engage in such crimes. He
said, “No matter where they go or what they do with the money, they will
always know that they got it by terrorizing people while they were
stealing it.” There are times when
we believe that some people have no conscience.
They go through life taking what they want as though they are
immune to feeling any sense of guilt. However,
the autobiographical movie we
create within us stores every moment of our lives until we die.
Sometime later in life, an
incident will occur that triggers these memories making them keenly
aware of how often they missed the mark with their life-decisions.
John the Baptist had this effect on people. A couple of years
ago, I received a telephone call from a woman living in Once the appointment
was made, her husband flew from I asked him one
question, “Tell me about your decision to be baptized?”
He began confessing his shortcomings, many of which I’m sure his
son had never heard. Sensing
that his father needed to be alone with me, the son withdrew and sat on
the first pew some distance away. At the end of his confession he said,
“I am so afraid. I have been
a disappointment to God.” I put both of my
hands on his shoulders, looked into his eyes and spoke to him about
God’s love. I read the
parable of the Prodigal Son and the passage from Romans which concludes
with, “For I am certain that nothing can ever separate us from God’s
love.” (Romans 8:38) He knelt and I
baptized him. As I was
concluding with prayer, I placed my hands on his head.
He began to shake and finally he was sobbing uncontrollably. When
I was finished, he stood up and took hold of me in a bear hug and just
let loose emotionally.
The experience was like hundreds
of painful memories had suddenly released his spirit and left his body.
After expressing their gratitude for my time with them, the two
men left the church. About six weeks
later, the woman called from Her husband had
brought his father to This is the kind of
baptism that John the Baptist administered.
John said, “Turn away from your sins and be baptized.
You will experience God’s forgiveness.”
Experiencing God’s love
for the first time can be extremely overwhelming for many people. After listening to
such a dramatic baptismal experience, what are we to think about John
the Baptist’s words, “The one who is coming after me will baptize with
the Holy Spirit”? We
have to remember that this is not a reference to the Pentecostal
experience. What Jesus
brought was something more powerful than a group of people speaking in
strange languages. During our Tuesday
morning Bible Study, we are studying John’s first letter.
John perfectly described the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
He wrote, “No one has ever seen God, but if we love one another,
God lives in union with us.
God’s love is made perfect in us.
We are sure that we live in union with God and that God lives in
us because God has given us his spirit.” (I John 4:13)
This orientation toward life was a new teaching, never before uttered or written before Jesus’ ministry. It was this knowledge that God dwells within us that Jesus gave to his followers. In his book
entitled, Mistreated, Ron Lee
Dunn wrote an interesting story about two altar boys.
One was born in 1892 in Eastern Europe and the other was born
three years later in a small rural town in The priest in The priest in These two young boys
evolved in quite different directions.
The altar boy in Eastern Europe grew up and became When we choose to
remain a light in darkness, we
know that being in darkness is
not a pleasant experience.
However, if God is ever going to bring
light into the
dark places of life, it is we who have to take it there, just as
Jesus did. Jesus did not
flinch in the face of personal betrayal by one of his chosen disciples,
or in the face of injustice, or in the face of lies, or in the face of
political manipulation or in the face of dying on a cross for a capital
crime he did not commit.
Clearly his light was taken into a very
dark place. Do some of us believe that we are deeply so rooted in the sense of God’s presence within us that we can stay planted when challenges come?” If the truth were known, it does not take very much to uproot us when aspects of our material world encroach into our personal space. Often such an intrusion evokes strong emotional responses. Several years ago, I
received a cell phone call from friend of mine who was driving while icy
rain and intermittent sleet were falling on the roads.
This is what Kevin said:
Dick, I have my
family with me and I am calling to see if you can answer a theological
question. We have been in
creeping traffic for two hours
and we have only gotten to the other side of the
I am currently
driving in the slow lane because my exit is one mile away. However,
there are other drivers that are going to take the same exit and they
are driving in the faster lanes with the intent of breaking in line just
before the exit by using the magic
of their turning signal. As
a result, my lane has stopped moving.
Do you get the picture?
Right now, I am
looking at a driver who has his turning signal on. He wants me to let
him come in front of me.
Here is my question, what would Jesus do in this situation?
Right now, I feel like turning my wheels toward this guy’s car
and mashing on my accelerator! I am so ticked off at these guys.
However, my daughters and wife are waiting to see what I will do. I heard considerable laughter in their car.
With a smile on my face, I simply asked him, “What does being
a light in darkness feel and look like to you?
Have elements in the external world started
scoring on your emotions at
will?” There was more laughter. Of course, this
conversation was all in fun, but this episode illustrates the kinds of
frustration we face with every day temptations to shroud God’s presence
within us. We do not want traffic
bullies to continue their behavior.
Gratifying our need for justice, however, can become an
emotional recipe for road
rage. The baptism of the Holy Spirit teaches us
that love accepts people just as they are.
This has always been God’s
response toward all humankind. There is no need for the behavior and
attitudes of others to pull us into
their web
of competition lest we become
like them.
How can we ever teach others to follow Jesus if the lessons he taught do
not appear to be working in our lives? We
must content ourselves by being the vehicle of God’s spirit.
Our role is to guide others to a better place, not judge them.
Once the word spread
over the air-waves that another large herd of whales was charging the
shoreline -- hundreds of volunteers mobilized to render assistance.
When whales began beaching themselves, there were countless
touching scenes as people began dealing with these large sea mammals.
They were petting them, pouring water over them and asking them to use
their energy to assist in getting them back into the water before the
tide retreated. One camera crew
approached a woman sitting by a whale that was near death. They captured a very
fragile moment between this
woman and the whale. She was
choking back tears as she asked, “Why do you do this to yourselves?
You are such beautiful and noble creatures. I want you to know
that I love you. How I wish I could become one of you so I could
understand and assist in leading you back into the ocean where you
belong.” With God’s spirit
within us, we can become such guides for others whom we find
beached on the sands of
anger, desperation, despondency and hopelessness.
We have the power to heal the world just by showing up and
allowing love’s presence to reveal itself. God always handles the
details that we are unable to see or understand.
Go into the world and be such a guide. |