Scripture reading: Genesis 1:1-5.
Sermon text: Mark 1:1-11.
“How do I know when God is working in my life?” I think most of us ask that question at some point in life, sometimes more than often. We want to know that we’re in God’s will; we want to know that He cares for us, and that He will guide us in the decisions and actions of our lives.
Today is the first Sunday of the season known as Epiphany. This season celebrates the presentation of Jesus as God’s Son: In the visit and worship of the wise men, His dedication at the Temple, and, today, at His baptism. Today’s passages tell us something about how we can know that God is working in us. When we look in the Scriptures, we see that God began working through the Holy Spirit from the beginning of the world. The presence of the Holy Spirit gives us firm confirmation that God is working in us and using us to accomplish His will in our lives.
Sermon
When we look at St. Mark’s record of Jesus’ baptism, it helps to remember that the events in the New Testament Gospels occurred in an Old Testament society. The language had changed from Hebrew to Aramaic and Greek and the rulers had changed from Jews to Romans, but the Jewish society of Jesus’ time closely resembled the society in the time of the post-Exilic prophets.
One thing that remained the same was the eagerness of the people for prophets. The last prophet that spoke with God’s mark had spoken 450 years earlier. Once Malachi ended his book, the prophetic voice went silent. When John appeared in the wilderness calling for repentance, the people willingly went to hear him. Many of those who went accepted his baptism.
Baptism’s origins are lost in history. Most major religions have some sort of ritual involving the cleansing of a convert. Zoroastrianism had practiced baptism for at least 600 years before Jesus’ birth. In Jesus’ day, most of the mystery cults of the Roman Empire also practiced baptism. Baptism also had a long history in Judaism. The Mosaic Law had dictated ritual washings for centuries. At some point in the Intertestamental period, Judaism had also adopted the custom of baptizing converts to the religion. Everyone in first-century Judea knew that baptism signified the beginning of a new life, a commitment that changed a person’s life.
John began baptizing those who came as a sign that they had repented of their sins and begun seeking the “kingdom of God.” Again, the theme of a “kingdom of God” — a time of universal peace, where all people would accept God’s sovereignty and live in harmony with Him and with one another — constantly weaves in and out of the Old Testament. Isaiah had prophesied of this kingdom, as had Daniel, Ezekiel, and other prophets. The people expected God to fulfill His promises for this kingdom, but most of them wondered when God would fulfill them. God had worked in so many ways in the history of His people; would He ever bring His kingdom to pass?
It helps to understand the promise of the “kingdom of God” to understand this story. The Jews wanted to see this kingdom because only the coming of this kingdom would signal God’s final forgiveness of their sins. The people had never forgotten that the Exile occurred because they broke the covenant between themselves and God, the covenant ratified at Mt. Sinai. While they had returned from captivity in 539 B.C., the presence of Gentile occupiers constantly reminded the people that the promises of the kingdom remain unfulfilled. Only the coming of the kingdom would comfort the people that God would give them the new covenant promised through the prophet Jeremiah.
John’s appearing in the wilderness of the Jordan River seemed a clear indication that God had visited His people again. In the Old Testament, God’s “visits” never meant only a social call. God’s visitations to His people always changed the lives of those He visited.
Many people who went to John though he might have been the Messiah, the promised one who would bring the kingdom of God. To their chagrin, John denied it (John 1), claiming instead that “After me comes he who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”
John’s mention of the Holy Spirit also reminded people of God’s work in their history. In the passage from Genesis today, we see that the Holy Spirit began working in the world at the Creation: “The Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.” The Holy Spirit’s presence at the Creation tells us that God had blessed all He had made.
This is a good time to remind you of an important fact. The Holy Spirit is not an emotion; He is God. As God, the Holy Spirit always chooses where He will work and who He will choose, in perfect unity with the desire of God the Father and God the Son.
In the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit rarely descended on more than one person at a time The Holy Spirit’s presence in the Old Testament always signified that God had chosen a person for a great purpose. An examination of the Old Testament shows that Joseph is the first person mentioned as having the “Spirit of God” (Genesis 41:38). Ironically, it is the pagan Pharaoh of Egypt who recognized the necessity of seeking someone with the Spirit. The presence of the Holy Spirit empowered the chosen person to speak with authority as God’s chosen spokesman and, occasionally, to prove his authority with miracles (cf. Elijah and Elisha, 1 Kings 17-2 Kings 13).
John’s pronouncement that his Successor would baptize the people with the Holy Spirit assured the people that God would begin working again among His people. Who would He choose? Who would He send to restore the nation and evict the Gentiles?
None of the Jews expected God Himself, the Son of God, to appear in fulfillment of His prophecies.
Jesus came to John at the Jordan River for baptism. The other Gospels give us more details about the event. John recognized Jesus immediately as the “Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). When Jesus asked John to baptize Him, John initially refused, insisting, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” (Matthew 3:14). Jesus instead insisted that John baptize Him: “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness” (Matthew 3:15).
When we think about this, most of us would agree with John. Why would Jesus need baptism for repentance for forgiveness of sin? Why would the sinless Son of God believe He needed baptism?
Remember that baptism signified a new beginning of a person’s life. Jesus had spent 30 years among the people of Nazareth, most likely as a builder like His earthly father Joseph. Now, Jesus prepared to assume the role He came to fulfill: That of the Son of God, Immanuel: “God with us.” Jesus’ baptism would demonstrate a change in His life.
Each Gospel may add different details to the record of Jesus’ baptism, but they all contain an important fact: The Spirit descended on Jesus “like a dove.” The Synoptic Gospels also record that those present heard a voice from heaven say, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”
When the Holy Spirit descended on Jesus, He knew His earthly ministry had begun. As with others in the Old Testament who had experienced the descent of the Holy Spirit, Jesus understood that He bore the responsibility for declaring the kingdom of God to all who would listen. “Epiphany” took on an entirely new meaning. The wise men had recognized the Infant as God and given Him the worship due Him. Now, the Son of God would prepare those who followed Him and believed in Him for a special role after His death, burial, resurrection, and ascension into heaven.
At this point, we need to remember the changes in God’s work since Jesus’ ascension. Once Jesus returned to heaven to serve as our Advocate and Intercessor, the Holy Spirit left the earth and His followers. However, once the Holy Spirit returned on the day of Pentecost, He has remained with the Church ever since. The Holy Spirit has never again left God’s people. Jesus had promised a “Comforter” to remain with us; the Holy Spirit began filling that role at Pentecost and has done so ever since.
Another change occurred at Pentecost. For the first time, all of God’s people received the Holy Spirit. The 120 in the upper room in Jerusalem experienced the Holy Spirit’s arrival and empowerment in a totally new way from the Old Testament believers, as have all believers since. When we are born again through our confession of Jesus as Lord and our belief in His resurrection, the Holy Spirit comes to live in our hearts, comforting, guiding, and directing us for the rest of our lives.
The Holy Spirit empowered the first Christians to preach in different languages on that Pentecost day in A.D. 33. As you go through the rest of the book of Acts, you find that the Holy Spirit also descended on new believers every time a new group came into the Church: The Gentiles at Cornelius’ home, the Samaritans who believed Philip’s preaching, those in Ephesus who had believed in John’s baptism.
Today, many people believe that the Holy Spirit will always appear as an emotional experience in their lives. People wait anxiously for the “Spirit” to come upon them and empower them to do great and mighty things for God, only to realize at some point that the emotion doesn’t quite live up to their expectations.
How, then, do we know we are empowered by the Spirit? And what does Jesus’ baptism have to do with our lives as believers today?
First, we know that we receive the Spirit at our spiritual birth. St. Paul wrote to the Corinthians that we are the Spirit “dwells” in us (1 Corinthians 3:16). The Holy Spirit “seals” us in our salvation until the time we enter our eternal rest (Ephesians 1:13).
We also know that believers must follow Jesus’ example of baptism as a sign to the world of our commitment to Him as Lord of our lives. Baptism serves as the initiation of a new believer into the life of the Church. When we are baptized, we tell the world that God has called us to a special calling and that we will accept that responsibility. This includes living according to God’s standard rather than the world’s. Living by God’s standard — what the Scriptures call “righteousness” — will prove impossible without the empowerment of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit gives us the strength to overcome the temptations of the world when we call on God for help.
Does the Holy Spirit still call us to greater things than our salvation? Of course He does. The Holy Spirit gifts believers for the benefit of the congregation and the Church (1 Corinthians 12); He also calls some believers to serve the Church as ministers, teachers, evangelists, and in other capacities (Ephesians 4). No one can fulfill these callings without the empowerment of the Spirit.
Unfortunately, some people tend to believe that becoming a Christian will wipe away the problems of their lives. Others believe that a calling to serve the Church will exempt them from the struggles that often accompany life in our society. I would remind you that after the Spirit descended on Jesus at His baptism, He immediately sent Jesus into the wilderness for a 40-day period of testing and temptation. Even Jesus experienced the struggles of following the Spirit, but “without sin” (Hebrews 4:15).
Are we empowered by the Spirit today? Yes, we are. We continue to see evidence that God is calling this church to demonstrate His calling on our lives. We continue to see that God works in our weaknesses to accomplish great things. We continue to proclaim that, in a real sense, the kingdom of God came with Jesus’ resurrection and the Holy Spirit’s descent into the world. The world may claim another as lord, but we confidently proclaim that only Jesus is Lord of all Creation. Jesus won the war on Calvary and in His return from the tomb; the sin we see about us is only the last vestiges of the opposition.
I believe we need to recommit ourselves to accepting the responsibility that God has called us to bear. We need to renew our witness to the world through the empowerment of the Holy Spirit. God has called us to believe, to repent, and to present His Son as the answer to those who seek forgiveness from sin. Live confidently in the world, knowing you are empowered by the Holy Spirit to proclaim the risen Jesus and the kingdom that will one day come in its full reality.