Luke 3:15-22 (NIV) 15 The people were waiting expectantly and were all wondering in their hearts if John might possibly be the Messiah. 16 John answered them all, “I baptize you with water. But one who is more powerful than I will come, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 17 His winnowing fork is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” 18 And with many other words John exhorted the people and proclaimed the good news to them. 19 But when John rebuked Herod the tetrarch because of his marriage to Herodias, his brother’s wife, and all the other evil things he had done, 20 Herod added this to them all: He locked John up in prison. 21 When all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too. And as he was praying, heaven was opened 22
and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”
I am not sure we all need to hear John preach before we hear Jesus, but I am sure that when we have heard John preach we are ready to hear Jesus. God’s judgment is not a judgment of misfortune. God’s judgment is acceptance of the fact that Jesus died for us. And, in accepting that fact, it is as if God reaches down through the stuff of our life and pulls us up into the light of God’s love.
When we are beaten down by the circumstances of life, when people around us misunderstand us, when we are not cared for by the people we care for the most, when we are disappointed or have failed, does God seem to be indifferent? Sometimes God has to penetrate the appearance of things to bring His message of love to our soul. Either way, God is seeking us out to give us proof positive that He is real.
How many of us want clarity of conviction that gives peace of heart and a steady pace to our life? Baptism is the claim of God’s call upon our life. We cannot force this clarity of conviction from God, but Luke implies that prayer has something to do with it. Prayer seems to be the way we prepare ourselves to hear that voice. It is the way we cultivate our conscious to recognize God’s claim and to act upon it.
As Luke unfolds the life of Jesus, Jesus is constantly prepared by prayer. Jesus begins His work not simply because He is supposed to but because He is moved to by conviction within. Baptism is a visible way that God declares our belongingness to Him. It is a confirmation of His commitment to us, and that He has a plan and a purpose for our life.
From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope January 7, 2001
© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell
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