BRIEF EASTER BONUS DEVOTION

 BONUS: EASTER SUNDAY -  Apr 9, 2023; Mar 31, 2024; Apr 20, 2025

Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ -1 Peter 3:21

Christ is risen (Alleluia). And you with him (Alleluia). All debts are forgiven, nailed to the cross. Alleluia! Victory is ours. 

This was the first word we read this Lenten season. Let it be the first word for you this Easter one too. It proclaims (as we have noted) that baptism ties us to the saving power of this day.

Don't believe it, then read this: Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. -Romans 6:3-4

That was the last word we read this Lenten season. It not only proclaims the power of the cross, but the journey baptism brings us on to this Resurrection day.

Not good enough? There were 8 other words we cycled through these last 40 days (plus the words we read for each Sunday). Go back, reread them, hear the gospel in their words. Resurrection is at the gospel's core. It was in fact the beginning of its sharing as when Mary proclaimed "I have seen the Lord!" (John 20:18).

This is the day the Lord has made, I will rejoice and be glad in it. For you, dear Jesus, won the victory. You have made it my own. I know this because you baptized me, and I believe it, Lord. Amen, I believe it. And so I rejoice this day and raise to you my alleluias. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now and will be forever. Amen.

(Thank you, dear readers, for following along this Lenten season)

This post is a part of my daily Lenten devotional on Baptism. You can read more about it here. 

LENT DAY 40: In the tomb with Jesus

 Day 40 (Holy Saturday) - Apr 8, 2023; Mar 30, 2024; Apr 19, 2025

Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. -Romans 6:3-4

Great debate rages over the best way to translate the Latin phrase “ad infernos” in the Apostles Creed. For a long time the version our church used translated it “hell”. Jesus “descended into hell”, this was later translated “descended to the dead” to much controversy. We need not get into here which is a better translation (of the two, I would argue “dead”, but for this devotion will say no more on the matter). One of the struggles is that scripture is very vague about what happened after Jesus died before he rose from the dead on Easter morning.

But what Scripture is clear about is that baptism takes you to that tomb. That’s good news because that tomb ends up being empty. Baptism buries you with Jesus. And while debate still rages over whatever happened to Jesus after his burial, what is clear is what happens to you: your sins are left there. When you come out of the tomb (also through baptism) you are truly a new person. It’s not just like when we are taking on a new lifestyle and feel “like new”, we are new (even if we don’t feel very new). We too will get to walk in newness of life free from our sin. 

In the end it is less about where Jesus went when he died and more that we got to go with him, because what we do know is what we are when we go in and what we are when we come out are not the same. They couldn’t be more different. And Paul tells us that we can make that journey today on account of our baptism. 

Take me with you, Jesus, through death to life. Take me and me only, not my sin. Raise me, and me only, not my old Adam that lives in me. Instead, let your cross be the end for them. Show me that they really died with you. Give me new life today by your mercy, that I may know how much I needed the day we celebrate tomorrow. Amen.

This post is a part of my daily Lenten devotional on Baptism. You can read more about it here. 

LENT DAY 39: Crucified for you.

 Day 39 (Good Friday) - Apr 7, 2023; Mar 29, 2024; Apr 18, 2025

Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? -1 Corinthians 1:13

Was Paul crucified for you? The answer very clearly is no. Thus you were not baptized into Paul’s name; or mine; or your parents; or some other saint. You were baptized into Jesus who died for you. Paul’s questions here remind us that baptism’s name proclaims baptism’s message. And that message is the Son of God was sent by his Father and with the Spirit’s leading journeyed from the River Jordan (where his ministry began with a baptism) to the cross on Calvary.

Today is Good Friday. Today the church observes the occasion of Christ’s death by crucifixion. It was not a pleasant death, one so grueling certain people in society were excluded from it. But not Jesus. He didn’t come among the privileged. He came among the lowly, and he died as a lowly criminal. It would have been traumatic to witness, but it is something that we adore because we know it was done for us.

That’s baptism’s message: it says "for you"! You were baptized because Jesus died for you! That sacrament is all you’ll ever need to observe this day with the most reverent faith. The only reason many baptized people don’t is - like the church in Corinth whom Paul was writing these words to - they do not use baptism rightly. Or worse yet they don’t use it all. This devotional has aimed to help you find ways to use it rightly: in prayer, in repentance, in applying to ourselves today God’s grace, to strengthen faith, unite under the gospel, see a dignity bestowed to us by God through Christ, to lead us into the wider world of faith like church, communion, and the Word. 

Was Jesus crucified for you? Yes. That’s why you received his baptism and everything it bestows. We’ve talked about how Jesus is the source of grace while baptism is the means. Today we as a church remember what Jesus as the source of baptism’s grace endured for us. What is yours freely, was to God very costly. As a means of grace, baptism then reminds us that there is a source of grace. But it also means that the grace is going somewhere for a purpose. You are the somewhere and your salvation is the purpose. Baptism then bears witness to the “good” of Good Friday, so that the horrors of this day would not be for nothin’...

Instead...they’d be for you.

It was for a reason I was baptized in your name, O Lord. May I never forget that you were crucified for me. I want my baptism to mean something; let its meaning be from you. I want your cross to matter for my life; let baptism assure me it does. And when I forget all that you have done for me, misuse or neglect my baptismal grace, and when my heart is cold to the message of the cross; thank you for not taking it away but by my baptism leaving it right there always to be used again. 

We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you, for by your holy cross you have redeemed the world. Amen.

This post is a part of my daily Lenten devotional on Baptism. You can read more about it here. 

LENT DAY 38: Life by Sacraments

 Day 38 (Maundy Thursday) - Apr 6, 2023; Mar 28, 2024; Apr 17, 2025

Truly, truly, I say to you, unless  one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ -John 3:5-7

Today is Maundy Thursday, the day we recall that on the night of his betrayal, Jesus gave us another Sacrament: Holy Communion. It would be fitting therefore to think of how these two sacraments relate.

We cannot possibly go into all the ways Baptism and Communion go hand-in-hand, but we can say a few things: first, Communion is the celebration of the fellowship of the baptized. It belongs to disciples of Jesus, and as we have seen, we become disciples in part through baptism, just as Jesus says in the Great Commission. Second, baptism teaches us about the once-for-allness of Christ’s death. Just as Jesus’ death on the cross is sufficient for our salvation, so also we confess that there is “one baptism for the remission of sins”. In this way we see how sufficient God’s grace in Jesus is. Communion, meanwhile, works the opposite: we partake of it regularly. The more we do, the more it conveys the unending nature of God’s grace. We are never told “you’ve communed too much” or “you are reaching your grace limit”. The righteousness that God credits to us in Jesus has no limit. “For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.” (1 Corinthians 11:26). The more you receive it, the more you find grace shared with you.

Both of these things: communion celebrating our baptismal fellowship, baptism being a once-for-all grace while communion is an as-often grace, these things also point to how Jesus understood the sacraments themselves. In John 3, Jesus speaks of being “born” of water and Spirit. Baptism is where we are born again. Meanwhile, in chapter six, he speaks of eating his flesh and drinking his blood. He says, “my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink.” (John 6:55). Communion is our spiritual food. Just as we are born once, an act that we can't repeat, so we are baptized once and that is all that is needed. Yet as we must now eat to nurture and nourish ourselves once we are born, so also we nurture and nourish our faith in the sacrament of communion. And that is most nurturing when we don’t starve ourselves of that sacrament but have it often. 

Because these two sacraments work together in their message, it is important that every baptized Christian be a communing Christian (and vice versa). And when you are, then you know God is doing much for your faith.

Lord Jesus, as you have provided for my new birth in baptism, so also you have provided nourishment for this new life through communion. I thank you that both these Sacraments draw me closer to you and your death, that both of them might bring me to the heart of my faith. Help me to treasure and use the sacraments as you always intended. Amen.

This post is a part of my daily Lenten devotional on Baptism. You can read more about it here. 

LENT DAY 37: One of my favorites

 Day 37 Wednesday - Apr 5, 2023; Mar 27, 2024; Apr 16, 2025

Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself. -Acts 2:38-39

We are allowed to have favorite Bible passages, right? I mean, it’s not to spit on the rest, but some are just more important to us for whatever reason: some of my favorite passages are because of great ways former pastors read them or preached on them; my confirmation verse is another; the one my mom’s pastor spoke to me as my mom was dying always stands out when I hear it; some songs etch a verse into our hearts. I’m sure you’ve got a few that mean a lot to you too.

Well this is one of mine, and in this case it is because the more I read it the more I realized that so much of what I believe about baptism resides in these verses: baptism is tied to repentance, what matters is the sharing of God’s name and Jesus’ saving work for our forgiveness, we receive the promise of the Holy Spirit, and this promise is “for you” and “for your children”, it is the way “the Lord our God calls” people to him still. As we’ve walked through so many passages this Lent you might ask yourself what baptismal text is most important to you? Is it one of the ones we read together? Is it a different one? Along with asking yourself that question ask yourself the why: why does this passage on baptism mean so much to me? 

Part of the principle of this devotional is we don’t always need to be learning 40 new Bible verses, but sometimes it is better to sit with a few. That way we get to know them a bit better, and the more we know them the better chance they have of standing out for us in the future. So even if walking through this devotional has not gotten you to pick one of these passages among your favorites, I pray it still writes them a little deeper in your memory that they might be a treasure in your faith bank, like a Sunday School song that still teaches us certain passages.

Help me to remember and treasure all you have said about baptism, Lord. Write these verses deeper into my being that they might not be idle words on a page, but a gift from your very lips to strengthen my faith. When I need them, bring them back into my mind that I might recall your good promises for me. 

This post is a part of my daily Lenten devotional on Baptism. You can read more about it here. 

LENT DAY 36: To call on God

 Day 36 Tuesday - Apr 4, 2023; Mar 26, 2024; Apr 15, 2025

And now why do you wait? Rise and be baptized and wash away your sins, calling on his name. -Acts 22:16

Many of us were not baptized as adults, and so unlike Paul who is here recounting his encounter with Annanias, we may not remember the words spoken to us when we were called into faith. We may not recall the promises the pastor declared. We may not remember if the water was hot or cold. A lot of details from the day may elude us. When you are so far removed from your baptism, how shall you find significance from it today?

Begin by listening to what Paul was called to do: call on his name. When you live out your faith, you live out your baptism. When you use the name that was spoken over you, then you are speaking from your baptism. 

My old mentor, Walter Wangerin Jr, wrote a letter to his daughter for her confirmation that he later published in one of his books. In the letter he talks about how from the moment of adoption when she was a baby, she was his child. But he was not her father. That took time, and effort, and the language of his love breaking through. But eventually it did, and she would speak to him as her daddy. I often read that story to our young people about to be confirmed, because it is a parable for baptism and confirmation. From baptism onward, you are God’s child. He calls you as his. But the journey towards confirmation is about the language of God’s love breaking through enough for you to learn to call on God’s name in faith. That’s ultimately what confirmation is doing: it is affirming our baptismal faith to the One who so long ago said “you are mine” by now saying back “I am yours.”

Learning to call on God in faith is learning what God has done long ago. And just as importantly, it is learning that what God has done still holds true enough today to keep on calling.

Father, I call on you who called me “child” in my baptism. Son, I call on the name of Jesus for my forgiveness which you have shared to me in baptism. Holy Spirit, I call on you to raise me up in this most holy faith that I was baptized into. Let your name be on my lips, in my heart, and written deep in my faith with an ink that will not fade. Help me to call on your name always. Amen.

This post is a part of my daily Lenten devotional on Baptism. You can read more about it here. 

LENT DAY 35: It's enough to believe

 Day 35 Monday - Apr 3, 2023; Mar 25, 2024; Apr 14, 2025 

For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. -Galatians 3:27

To know the power of this message, you gotta understand a little bit about what was happening in the Galatian church. Paul had learned that after he had left Galatia, some other Christians came in and began offering a different sort of gospel. They would come to be known in history as the Judaisers, because they insisted that to truly be Christian one had to be a Jew. We can just about hear their message: “Oh it’s great that you guys believe in Jesus and have been baptized. Now if you intend to follow him and worship his God it’s time to be circumcised. Jesus, after all, is Israel’s Messiah. And he fulfills our scriptures. And his church began in Jerusalem. You guys have only just begun becoming Christians. Now is the time to become God’s people through the covenant of circumcision and start obeying the law.”

When you realize that the Galatians were being told that faith in Jesus was not enough to be God’s people, and that Jesus’ gospel only matters if they follow the law, then Paul’s words become a radical promise: faith is enough. Didn’t God share the Spirit through hearing and believing the gospel (Galatians 3:2)? So he says “in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith” (Galatians 3:27). In Jesus you are God’s people. “If you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to the promise.” (Galatians 3:29). And what does he pack right between those two assertions? “For as many of you are were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek…” The power of baptism’s promise is how much it tells a person they belong to God and God’s people through Jesus. That’s all God sees. You’re clothed in him!

Today, we don’t necessarily have people insisting on being circumcised, but we still have a lot of voices in the church that find some way of saying “If you really want to be God’s people you gotta…” But baptism is the voice that says you are God’s people through one thing and one thing only: faith in Jesus Christ. And baptism says he is yours. For everything that we are to do as Christians, baptism reminds us of what we are to believe first, foremost, and always: that you belong to Christ, and therefore you are God’s people according to promise. 

There is much still to learn of this Christian life, Lord. Your law is very important. Teach me your ways. But let me never forget what makes me a Christian. Let me never forget what makes me your child. Let me never forget what my Lord Jesus has done for me. Therefore, let my baptism return me to the gospel message. Let me see that in it you have given me Jesus, and there made me your child. Amen.

This post is a part of my daily Lenten devotional on Baptism. You can read more about it here. 

PALM SUNDAY: The other Baptism of Jesus

 Palm/Passion Sunday - Apr 2, 2023; Mar24, 2024; Apr 13, 2025 

I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how great is my distress until it is accomplished! -Luke 12:50

Each Sunday we’ve been looking at the baptism of Jesus. But up to this point we have looked at his baptism in the Jordan river by John. But already in that Jesus was marching towards another baptism: death. When its asked of Jesus if James and John could be on his left and right when he is in his glory, Jesus asks, “Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?” (Mark 10:38). That story came right on the heels of Jesus’ third passion prediction in Mark. Jesus knows what awaits him: death.

Today is Palm Sunday, and a common tradition is to read the entire Passion story on this day. I always think of this scene in the musical Jesus Christ Superstar! where Jesus enters Jerusalem on Palm Sunday and as the people are singing “Hosanna hey sanna sanna sanna ho sanna hey sanna Hosanna” with all these people singing in jubilation at his arrival all of the sudden the crowd start to sing “Hey JC, JC, won’t ya die for me?” before returning to singing those hosannas. While the people are just singing with joy Jesus is being invited to die.

And therefore the first death of baptism is Christ’s. Baptism seems quite painless, but only because he bore all its pain. And yet, today, we hear that on the way to Jerusalem Jesus was in distress until he accomplished it. In the middle of his sermon Jesus gives us a hint of his own heart in regards to his death. This baptism would keep him in distress (lit. afflicted) until it is finished. 

And then, of course, from the cross just before bowing his head and giving up his spirit Jesus cried out, “It is finished.” And it was. After he rose from the dead he went to the disciples and gave them the Great Commission. His baptism was complete. Now our baptism could begin. 

My baptism would mean nothing, Lord, had you not undergone the baptism of death. But once you cried “It is finished!” then all the work of salvation was done, and now my baptism lets me die with you, rise with you, live with you. Now I am forgiven, saved, and remade. Turn my whole faith towards the work you did for me this very week all those years ago. Baptize me in this story. Amen.

This post is a part of my daily Lenten devotional on Baptism. You can read more about it here. 

LENT DAY 34: What ever happened to verse 37?

 Day 34 Saturday - Apr 1, 2023; Mar 23, 2024; Apr 12, 2025

See, here is water! What prevents me from being baptized? -Acts 8:36

There is a major variant among the different ancient copies of Acts that we possess. Some of them include a verse after the eunuch asks this question that reads: And Philip said, “If you believe with all your heart, you may.” And he replied, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.” (Acts 8:37). If you have a King James Bible, for example, it will include that verse. But most translations (including the one we’ve used for this devotional and the one we use on Sunday mornings in the congregations I serve) will relegate verse 37 to a footnote that mentions how some manuscripts include it. A lot of times these little variations in the copies of the text are rather unnoticeable. But this one changes the story a bit. Either Philip’s response to him asking what prevents him from being baptized is that Philip stops the chariot and baptizes him or Philip responds by adding a confession of faith. Which is it?

If you bank everything about baptism on this one verse, you’re going to have to hope you get the answer right. So when we realize that a text has a possibility in a major variation from the way we have it, we should at least acknowledge the possibility of that other variation may be the correct one. If our faith truly is built up in the Word of God and not our opinions of the Word, we need to be humble enough to acknowledge we don’t always grasp its truth rightly. 

This is why in the church it is important to not take passages only in isolation, or build up too much of an interpretation on only one verse. Scripture interprets Scripture. Let the Bible guide you in the way to understand a passage. It is the wider biblical view of baptism that causes me to read this one Sacramentally. While I can see how with verse 37 someone could make a case for Believers Baptism, it is these other verses on baptism that we look at in this devotion that say baptism is ultimately not about our confession of faith but about God’s gracious sharing. 

That doesn’t mean confessions of faith don’t matter. We confess our baptismal creed week, in week out. We ask parents to teach it to their children who are baptized. We have seen that even if faith is not necessary to be baptized, baptism makes it necessary. How else will we believe anything about baptism’s power?

So while this devotional has assumed with our modern critical manuscripts that verse 37 is a later addition to the text and should not be used to change the meaning of the story absent it, it's worth taking one devotion to consider the opposite, and let it remind us that even we who do not promote believers baptism still know how important a thing faith is for baptism.

Lord, I don’t always have the answers as I come to your Word. But I come anyways. I come that you may speak to me through the sacred scriptures. Use your whole Word to help me understand the parts that are more difficult. When it comes to my baptism, use each promise I read about it to give me faith for the next one. Amen.

This post is a part of my daily Lenten devotional on Baptism. You can read more about it here. 

LENT DAY 33: Cosmic Christ

 Day 33 Friday - Mar 31, 2023; Mar 22, 2024; Apr 11, 2025 

Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. -Mark 16:16

This passage comes from what is widely considered an added ending to Mark. For a variety of reasons we need not get into here, it is believed that Mark originally ended his gospel at verse 8 of chapter 16. That doesn’t mean we should not take this as God’s Word, but merely that the author of the rest of the gospel of Mark may not have been the vessel by which God brought us this Word. What remains in verses 9-20 of Mark 16 is an Epitome of sorts towards the entire collection of resurrection appearances in the other Gospels. We get in very short strokes Mary Magdalene as the first witness to the resurrection, the disciples’ unbelief, the appearance on the road to Emmaus, and a version of the Great Commission. It is to this last story that verse 16 belongs.

In this account of the Great Commission, Jesus goes even further than saying make disciples of all nations, he says to “proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.” (v15). All creation? To the rocks, trees, and hills? To my little dogs and that cat which keeps wandering around town? 

Along with reinforcing for us how much the Great Commission to all nations means “all people”, this reminds us that there is a cosmic significance to the story of Jesus. “For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God…For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.” (Romans 8:19, 22-23). What has happened to humanity has not only impacted humanity but all of this world. What God has done for us in Jesus is not only then for us. “And he who was seated on the throne said, ‘Behold, I am making all things new.’” (Revelation 21:5).

And just as the Great Commission in Mark’s addendum tells us that the gospel impacts all creation, so it tells us that baptism will then mark God’s salvation for all creation. Paul says in Romans 8 that we have the “firstfruits of the Spirit”, we’re the first to be touched with the salvation that will touch all creation. And just as much as we eagerly await its fulfillment in us, so does the rest of the cosmos. And your baptism proclaims the wait will not be long, for salvation’s touch has already been felt in this world. You've felt it's touch in those waters. Are you excited? The rocks, trees, and hills are; the little dogs and stray cats will be delighted over what God has done to you.

To think, dear Lord, that what you did with me in something that seemed so simple as a baptism could have significance for the whole world around me. Let me not miss then its significance for me, or take for granted your salvation. The whole world is longing for it, and you have shared it with me. Your steadfast love endures forever! Amen.

This post is a part of my daily Lenten devotional on Baptism. You can read more about it here.