Mark 1:4-11; Romans 6:1-11

January 10, 2021

Gospel                                                                               Mark 1:4-11

⁴ And so John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. ⁵ The whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem went out to him. Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River. ⁶ John wore clothing made of camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. ⁷ And this was his message: “After me comes the one more powerful than I, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. ⁸ I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” ⁹ At that time Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. ¹⁰ 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. ¹¹ And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”

Title: The Glory of Jesus Unites Us

This week marks the first Sunday in the season of Epiphany which celebrates the ways in which Jesus was revealed as the Son of God. Epiphany celebrates Jesus’ glory being revealed to us. The season of Epiphany goes hand-in-hand with the celebration of Christmas. In fact, at one point in history, Christmas was simply part of Epiphany. We see this connection beautifully in John 1:14, “¹⁴ The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” Christmas is the celebration of the Word made flesh, and Epiphany is the celebration that through Jesus we have been shown the glory of God.

The verse we will be using as our call to worship verse, Hebrews 1:3, also sums up what the season of Epiphany is about, saying, “³ The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.”

What do we think of when we think of The Glory of Jesus – how did Jesus reveal His glory? When we really think about it, Jesus almost always revealed His glory in the midst of suffering. This isn’t normally how we would think of someone being glorified. When we think of the glory of people, we think of how they are honored, spoken well of, and celebrated by a cheering crowd. But how was Jesus glorified?

Jesus often revealed His glory by healing the sick, cleansing the lepers, and giving sight to the blind. He performed these miracles not in the courts of kings, but in the streets among the despised. Jesus revealed His glory most directly to those who were suffering. And He did it almost exclusively in the company of those whose testimony the powerful people would despise and ignore. Jesus did not reveal His glory to the conceited, but to the humble.

And of course, Jesus would also reveal His glory through His own suffering and death as well. Even as He was mistreated and wrongly executed, the glory of God was seen by those around Him. So much so, that even as He died, one of the centurions present, was compelled to confess, “Surely, this man was the Son of God.” And one of the rebels that was crucified alongside Him, also came to believe in Him.

Today, too, Jesus often reveals His glory most to those who are suffering. For often it is in the midst of suffering that we see His work most clearly. But that doesn’t mean that in this life there is no advantage to following Christ, by no means! Having the presence of Christ in your life might not make your circumstances easier, but it will make it easier to endure the troubles we face. Because only Christ can ensure that we will never have to face trouble alone.

And that is why it is fitting at the start of Epiphany to focus on the baptism of Jesus. For that is the great gift of baptism. For when we are baptized it isn’t a promise that our troubles are over, but it is a promise that Jesus has promised to share our troubles. In baptism, Jesus doesn’t just automatically take us into His glory, but He brings His glory into our troubles. That’s what Jesus did. He brought the glory of God to earth – right into our mess. Many were hoping the Messiah would come to clean up the mess – they expected Jesus to fix their situation politically, economically, physically, morally, but that wasn’t God’s plan, and it still isn’t God’s plan – yet. Jesus didn’t come to fix this world, but to lead us safely through it. That part – the fixing – will come when He returns.

1. United through Baptism of the Holy Spirit

Even in the testimony of John, we see the power of baptism. For John says that the baptism of the One coming after him is much more powerful, for the Messiah would bring not just a baptism of repentance and water, but in Luke 3:16, John says, “He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.”  We see the presence of the Holy Spirit at the baptism of Jesus, in Mark 1:10, “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 the fire is the purifying fire of the Holy Spirit. It speaks of a faith refined and strengthened by the fire of trials. Going through times of trouble and suffering is not always pleasant, but it does follow the footsteps of Jesus. In Hebrews 5:8, “Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered.” Not that Jesus wasn’t always perfectly obedient, but it was through suffering that His obedience was perfectly demonstrated.

For it has always been the Fire of the Holy Spirit that has led God’s people. For even when Israel was delivered out of Egypt, God led them by the pillar of cloud by day and fire by night.

1. United by Baptism into Christ’s Death

No the Spirit does not always led us immediately to comfortable situations. For when God led the people of Israel out of Egypt, the first place they went was to the edge of the Red Sea with the armies of pharaoh bearing down on them. In a sense, they had to trust God even in the face of inevitable death. They had to die to any hope they had in their own wisdom and strength – for there was no human way out. And despite their doubts and despair, God delivered them in a miraculous way. This deliverance, the crossing through the waters of the Red Sea, was one of many pictures of baptism in their journey. For the Israelites, those waters were salvation; for the Egyptians, judgment. We, too, in order to know the power of God’s salvation, need to trust Him by coming to the end of ourselves. We also need to realize that our salvation is beyond our power and wisdom. In ourselves, we are doomed.

That is what Paul speaks of in Romans 6:3-4, when he says, “Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.”

If we want to be raised like Christ, if we want to be glorified like Christ, we also need to die like Christ. Not really a great recruiting slogan, but it is the truth. And Paul also says it this way in Galatians 2:20, “ I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

Now often, we as Christians, it is often easy to be tempted to think that Jesus went through all that in order to make it possible for us to avoid any suffering in our own lives. It is easy to begin to believe that Jesus endured hardship so that we might live an easy life. But that is not the case. Jesus never promises that if you follow Him your life will be easier. The people of Israel weren’t automatically transported to the promised land, no, they spent over 40 years in the wilderness.

Notice, Jesus doesn’t promise to make your life easier, but what He does promise is that He will make your life, and whatever suffering you may have to endure, worth it. Everyone in this life experiences some level of suffering; it is unavoidable. The only question is will your suffering have value? And the truth is, only Jesus can redeem suffering. Only Jesus can make it worth something. When Jesus returns in glory, then we will receive the promised reward, but in this life, often it is through suffering that God will reveal His glory to us and through us.

III. United by Baptism into New Life

And, yet, despite the ongoing presence of suffering in this world, we are also given the promise in Romans 6:5, “For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his.” And this promise continues in Romans 8:17-18, “Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory. I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.”

And the final picture of baptism, the crossing of the Jordan into the promised land. And when God finally led the Israelites into the land, He did so during flood stage. So again, even the triumphal picture of baptism was given in impossible circumstances. For such a large group would never be able to safely and quickly cross over, but, again, God intervened. And this was why John would later baptize in this same general location, the Jordan River. It was a symbol that in Christ, God is delivering us to the Promised Land. It is a promise that God has revealed His glory to us in Jesus, and will continue to reveal Himself to us in our life – in good times, but especially in the bad times. It is the promise confirmed by the testimony of the Father Himself in our Gospel lesson from Mark 1:11,  “And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”

And it is through baptism, by being joined to Christ, that those words are applied to us as well. For in Christ, God is pleased with us, for He is pleased with all who put their trust in Christ. And God will prove Himself faithful in all circumstances, but we need to be willing to die to ourselves that we might live for Him. Amen.