Sunday, January 08, 2006

Observing Ordinances

Sunday, January 8th, 2006
Baptism of Christ B
Jerusalem Baptist Church, Emmerton VA
Mark 1:4-11

4 John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 5 And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. 6 Now John was clothed with camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. 7 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. 8 I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” 9 In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 10 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. 11 And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”

Welcome to the New Year.

It’s been a … difficult time for us, hasn’t it?

We are now two fewer than we were two weeks ago.

Though it had been a while since either Annie or Hazel were able to be actively involved with us on a regular basis that did not make them any less a part of the family.

And in their passing, we find ourselves grieving not only THEIR absence, but the absence of those who have gone before them, Berry and Ray, Fox and Charlotte, Mary Jane and Irene and Chunk and George, Edna, Margaret, Bill and William, Pearl and John -- because on some level that’s what we do when we come to a place that marks an event – marks the passing of time – whether it is another funeral or whether it is the ending of one year and the beginning of another. Whether it is a cultural practice or something we are hardwired to do, it is in the turning of the year that we look back on what has been and for better or worse look forward to what’s ahead. I don’t mean that in a negative sense, I mean it simply as an observation, that in looking ahead, some look toward the future with glee, others with hope, others with apprehension, and still others with despair.

Some look toward the future with a combination of all those emotions. Some will even experience the full range of those emotions … the families of the 12 miners in Sago, West Virginia lived through an utterly devastating 3 hour ride from one end of that spectrum to the other just this past Wednesday.

So it is with some of that same mixture of emotions that we turn to the text this morning. And find in it an equal blend. A passage that, in its familiar phrases, has rays of hope, and promise, and joy, but mixed in with those we find foreboding – shadows of what is to come.

We are, after all, coming at scripture from this side of the resurrection. We can never forget that. If we are to be true to our faith, we cannot separate scripture from the fact of the resurrection – and the ultimate hope and joy that we find promised to us in that.

So we come into the Gospel – the story of Jesus “According to Mark” – KATA MARKON that is how the earliest manuscripts are entitled – not ‘The Gospel of Jesus Christ, according to Mark’, but just ‘according to mark’ – it almost sounds like someone’s shorthand notes – telegraphed for the reader to understand at a glance whose version of the story he or she is reading.

We’ve just come through Advent, reading in Matthew and Luke the beautiful story of the birth of the Christ Child. Those wonderful passages where the Angel visits Mary and then Joseph, then the shepherds in the fields, and the wise men coming from the east … the narrative is as important a part of the stories of our faith as any. But Mark has no time for any of that.

Mark jumps into the story with Jesus as a full-grown adult – at the beginning of his ministry, marked, as we know, by his baptism by John in the river Jordan.

And as we read of Jesus being baptized, we read about his coming up out of the water … which presupposes that he had to go DOWN in the water beforehand.

Two weeks ago yesterday, on Christmas Eve, the ordinance of baptism was observed in this sanctuary – in this baptistry right behind me. A family from our community had asked to be baptized, and we were glad to provide the place for them to do that together. It was a short, sweet ceremony, with a total of seven people in attendance, counting the three who were baptized. It was a first for me in at least three ways – a first baptism indoors, besides my own, a first where a whole family was baptized, and a first with so few people in attendance. It made the event feel very intimate – very relaxed, and deeply meaningful.

As Baptists, what do we believe about the act of baptism? What does it symbolize? In going beneath the waters of baptism, and coming up, we signify – we note – we affirm – that we have repented from our sins – from our old way of life, and rise in the newness of life that Christ offers by forgiving us those sins – baptism itself carries no special power – it is a purely symbolic act – but it is powerfully so.

When we look at Jesus’ baptism, the perpetual question to be asked is ‘why did he do it?’ He was the one person in the world who DIDN’T need baptism for the forgiveness of sins, and yet he submitted to it. Why?

One answer is because he wanted to identify with the people he was preparing to minister to. Jesus’ baptism was another aspect of Emmanuel – God becoming flesh and dwelling among us. He became like us so that, ultimately, we could be like him.

The other answer is one that we see from here – from this side of Easter. Jesus’ baptism was a foreshadowing of his own death, burial and resurrection.


So even from the very beginning of his ministry, Jesus was proclaiming the heart of the Gospel – the cross – his OWN sacrifice – but not only his death, but also his resurrection.

And it is in the observation of the ordinance of the Lord’s Supper, that we also signify, affirm, and proclaim – that same Gospel message. That Christ gave himself TO us through his teaching and FOR us through his sacrifice.

Just as the services we held here last Sunday afternoon and this past Tuesday were solemnly joyous, so it is any time we gather to celebrate a baptism or share communion together – the occasion to remember the Lord’s death and burial is solemn, but it doesn’t stop there – it is joyous because through both we also complete the story – the joyous resurrection that broke the hold of death on our lives.

(communion)

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