Baptism and the Holy Spirit

Baptism and the Holy Spirit

January 11, 2009, The Baptism of our Lord
Gen. 1:1-5, Rom.6:1-11, Mark 1:9-11

Gen. 1:1-5 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. ²Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

^{3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. ⁴God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. ⁵God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning?the first day.}

Rom.6:1-11 What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? ²By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? ³Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? ⁴We 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.

^{5 If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. ⁶For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin? ⁷because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.
^{8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. ⁹For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. ¹⁰The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. ¹¹In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.}}

Mark 1:9-11 ⁹At that time Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. ¹⁰As Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. ¹¹And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”

When Jesus was baptized in the Jordan River, the Holy Spirit descended upon him like a dove. In the first chapter of Genesis, the Holy Spirit is also like a bird, hovering over the unformed waters of the earth. The earth was formless and empty. The Holy Spirit was hovering over the dark water, as if studying it and laying plans for the creation of the world. Like an artist who examines the clay or piece of wood before starting to form a new work of art, so God was making plans for this world. This is what the Book of Genesis tells so very clearly. God had a plan for this world; the world and the universe are not just chance and accident. The plan was to make a world where love and freedom could thrive. Love without freedom is not perfect love. Freedom without love cannot enjoy the freedom. In a way, love and freedom are opposites, because love binds us to the one we love, and yet, love sets us free and opens new doors to express that love.

We do not want to say that it was the plan of God that humans fall into sin. God is not happy about that. But if Adam and Eve, and all of us modern day Adams and Eves, had been created without the possibility of sinning, then we would all have been like robots. And that would be no love, no freedom, and no joy in the heart of God.

God does not like sin. But the Bible tells us that even before the creation of the world, God knew that mankind would fall into sin. And so as God planned the world, he also planned for a Savior of the world. The plan for Jesus Christ to die on the cross was already there when God said “Let there be light.”

Jesus said that he was the Light of the World. In Christ there is a new creation. In Christ's death and resurrection God works in a new way with his creation. The new way is forgiveness. Sinful man and woman had stopped loving God. And when they stopped loving God they lost their freedom and became slaves to sin and to the devil and to death. That is how we too are without Christ. Without the love of Christ we are not really free. And if we are not really free, then we do not have real love, either. In Christ we have forgiveness. Forgiveness is love. Forgiveness is love because it gives freedom. There is freedom from sin and therefore freedom from punishment and the fear of punishment. Then there is love. Or as 1 John 4:18 says, “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. We love because God first loved us.”

When Jesus, the Light of the World, began his public ministry, the first thing he did was to be baptized. Baptism is for the forgiveness of sin, so you might think that Jesus did not need to be baptized since he was without sin, the only human ever to be sinless, since he was both God and man. But the baptism of Jesus was like a prophecy, because Jesus would take upon himself the sin of the world. In that way, Jesus became the worse sinner in the world. But for Jesus to forgive the sin of the world he needed more than baptism, he had to die on the cross. Then sin was forgiven. Then our sin too was forgiven.

The Holy Spirit descended on the world at the creation. The Holy Spirit descended upon Jesus at his baptism when he started his public ministry. The Holy Spirit descended upon the Disciples at Pentecost when they started their public ministry. And the Holy Spirit descends upon you and me so that we can start our ministry for Jesus. That happens at Baptism. Or it happens in the coming-to-faith-baptism process when we hear the Word of God and believe in Christ as our Savior. For us, the coming of the Holy Spirit is not just a onetime event, but a continual showering of the blessings of God. It is like God saying “Let there be light,” and our hearts are filled with light and grace and freedom and love.

Today we remember our own baptisms. We remember that we are a new creation in Christ. We thank God for giving us forgiveness, in other words, for giving us freedom and love.

Amen.

Michael Nearhood, Pastor
Okinawa Lutheran Church

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