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. 

LENT DAY 32: Reading On...

 Day 32 Thursday - Mar 30, 2023; Mar 21, 2024; Apr 10, 2025

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age. -Matthew 28:19-20

There is a humorous reality in our world today that we regularly click “I agree” to user agreements we never read. We could be signing our firstborn child away and without hesitation we scroll past every term of condition to the bottom and thoughtlessly click “I agree”. 

Sometimes it feels like that’s how baptism goes. A lot of folks are asked to learn the scriptures, take up the faith, remain in church, etc. We lay out a bunch of promises and then ask them to click “I agree” if you want to be baptized. And then so many do little thereafter towards all those things we agreed to do for ourselves (or our children). But we should remember that Jesus when telling the Apostles to go make disciples of all nations he didn’t say to just baptize them, he added that we could be “teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.” 

Part of baptism then is being committed to learning all that Jesus said to us. And note it’s not just learning it intellectually, but “to observe” it. It isn’t about “graduating from confirmation” but about living the life God has now given you. So if you’re trying to figure out how to find meaning in your baptism, then start learning what it is to observe everything Jesus says to you. That’s the life you’ve been baptized into. That’s why we should quickly click “I agree” to baptism: so this new life God has given you may begin.

Teach me your ways, O Lord, and show me your paths. May I not only never forget my baptism in which you showered me with your grace, but may I never forget the life I was baptized to live by that grace. Give me pastors, mentors, and siblings in Christ who will teach me to observe everything you have commanded me. Amen.

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

LENT DAY 31: The Delivery Man

 Day 31 Wednesday - Mar 29, 2023; Mar 20, 2024; Apr 9, 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

We’ve danced around the interplay of thoughts in this passage, now let us look at them directly. There are three distinct elements: the power of baptism to save, the inward response of the Christian, and the source of baptism’s graces in the resurrection of Jesus.

You might think of it like ordering a pizza: the pizza is made at the restaurant, but brought to you by the delivery boy, to be enjoyed by you as you eat it. There is a source for this pizza, a means by which it gets to you, and ultimately a use on your part. 

So it is with grace: Christ is its source, baptism the means, and faith the use. Peter says it is through the resurrection of Christ (source) that baptism saves (means) when it becomes an appeal for us to have a good conscience (use). Without any of these three something fundamental is missing in our message about baptism. Sometimes we forget to make it about Christ, as if the pastor had some magic power to save you. Sometimes we empty baptism of its power, as if Christ had not put his saving grace into it. And other times still we act like all we need to do is “get it over with”, like baptism is a one and done thing apart from faith. But of course, like the rest of the ways we share the gospel, that is not the case. The gospel is of Jesus Christ’s work for you. The church exists to share it with you. And its message is only received by faith.

So now that baptism has delivered the saving goods of Jesus to you, all that’s left to do is enjoy it…

Because of your good news on Easter morning, what good news to be baptized, Jesus. Give me therefore a good conscience that would trust in your salvation and happily serve you today. Amen.

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

LENT DAY 30: No Going Back

 Day 30 Tuesday - Mar 28, 2023; Mar 19, 2024; Apr 8, 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

One of the scarier things in life is the inability to change your mind on some things. It’s part of why I’ll probably never get a tattoo. It’s too “forever”. Once the artist starts inking my skin that’s it - whether I like it or not. If I stamp myself with someone’s name or some image it is there forever. Or think of being on a plane over the ocean and you pass the “point of no return”. There isn’t fuel enough to get home, we’ll have to plough ahead no matter what. 

Baptism has the same finality to it. In Romans 5:12-21, Paul speaks of two humanities: Adam’s humanity that dies (through sin) and Christ’s humanity that is made alive (through justification). Sin reigns in death but grace rules through righteousness and eternal life through Jesus (Romans 5:21). And baptism is that journey from one humanity to the other.

But then chapter 6 comes around and immediately asks if we can just keep on sinning so grace can shine? Paul’s retorts that you must not realize what has happened: you’ve flown past the point of no return! The ink of God’s word has already been written into you through baptism. You’ve gone from death to life. There is no going back. To stop the tattoo artist now will not change what’s been done; to turn the plane around will only end in a crash. We must go the new way of Jesus Christ.

Years ago I read about an atheist convention where there was a hair-drying ceremony: a ritual act of renouncing one’s baptism. Unfortunately for their intentions at the time there is no undoing what God has done. They are baptized forever. Fortunately, then, they are baptized forever. No matter how much they want the message of Jesus erased from their life, they just can’t shake it. I imagine that ceremony exists because of that: because no matter how much they’ve renounced the faith, called it all bologna, and claimed there is nothing more out there they could not shake one thing: they are baptized.

That’s its gift. You can’t ever shake it. It happened to you. Now hear what it means: you’ve passed the point of no return. Don’t waste your time with the hairdryer, just plough ahead by faith in newness of life.

Thank you, Jesus, for not giving me the chance to walk away entirely. Thank you for taking me past the point of no return and into the world of your redemption. Give me faith now to walk in this newness, believing as I should that all sin must die with you and that you have provided me today a different way. Let me go that way today and always. Amen.

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

LENT DAY 29: Names Matter

 Day 29 Monday - Mar 27, 2023; Mar 18, 2024; Apr 7, 2025

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

I remember the first time I ever had a class with another Nile. It was really weird, because my whole life, whenever a teacher said my name that teacher meant me. Not Jimmy; not Susan; but me. You always knew when you were in trouble when mom said your first and middle name, as if to be extra clear who she was talking to. There would be no mistaking it. 

At your baptism, your name is spoken: first, middle, and last. No mistaking it. God’s speaking now to you. 

And when God speaks to you, the words spoken are now God’s name: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This way there is no mistaking who is doing the speaking.

In baptism you are claimed for God. And there is no mistaking it. “Were you baptized in the name of Paul?” No. There were to be no factions in the church. We don’t belong to any specific group: not to this person, that denomination, or my race. No other identity was to rise above this, no name to matter more than the awesome name spoken over you. There's no mistaking where our allegiance belongs. As our baptismal liturgy puts it: you belong to Christ, in whom you have been baptized. 

One of baptism’s gifts is that it names you and so there is no mistaking it: in baptism God’s a-talkin to you. And the gift of God’s name is so there is no mistaking whose intentions for baptism will matter. Hint: it’s not Paul…

Jesus, I was baptized in your name. Let me never forget that. Give me faith to believe that I belong to you - body and soul - that I would never replace you in any petty way for my own purposes. You were crucified for me that I may be your own. Write your name on my heart today. Amen.

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

FIFTH SUNDAY IN LENT: The Lamb of God

 Fifth Sunday in Lent - Mar 26, 2023;  Mar 17, 2024; Apr 6, 2025  

The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who ranks before me, because he was before me.’  I myself did not know him, but for this purpose I came baptizing with water, that he might be revealed to Israel.” -John 1:29-31

We have previously talked about the difference between the baptism of John and that of Jesus, and when we did it was noted how some folks make too much of John’s baptism as a baptism of repentance to be emulated by us. But even John himself says that his baptism of repentance was for another purpose: to reveal Jesus to Israel. The uniqueness of what happened to Jesus at his baptism allowed John to proclaim Jesus’ true identity - that he was the One of whom John had spoken.

If we want our baptism to be like John’s, let’s let it reveal Jesus to God's people. Let’s have it direct our hearts to Jesus as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. I love that we say these words as our prayer in our liturgy as we rise up to go to communion. When you come forward for communion, you approach from your baptism. From the waters that cry “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” we then take that message and approach him with those same words, 

Lamb of God, you take away the sin of the world, have mercy on us.

May baptism’s cry give you faith to make that communion prayer.

O Christ, thou Lamb of God, you take away the sin of the world. Grant me thy peace. Amen.

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

LENT DAY 28: Not By My Own Understanding

 

Day 28 Saturday - Mar 25, 2023; Mar 16, 2024; Apr  5, 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

The first time I ever read Karl Barth I thought, “this guy knows he’s the smartest man in the room.” And most of the time (if not all the time), he probably wasn’t wrong. We all know people who can dwarf everyone in the room with their intellect. You can read philosophers who make your head spin. The other day I tried to read up on a means of fixing our church’s website and as I read I felt like a fish out of water. I had NO IDEA what half the terms on the troubleshooting site meant. I was completely lost.

These words from Jesus were to Nicodemus, a Pharisee, a teacher of Israel. Everyone knew he was one of the bright ones. Yet when he came to talk to Jesus, he seemed completely out of his element. “Are you a teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things?” (John 3:10). Being wise, educated, or enlightened counts for very little in the Kingdom of God. You can have all this and be blind to its presence. In the end, the only thing that lets us see the Kingdom is to enter it by new birth. That happens, Jesus says, by water and Spirit.

And that’s good news. It’s bad news, I suppose, if you thought you’d be smart enough to figure out the truth of these things. It's bad news if you think too much of your own theological insights. But it is good news - and you know it to be - if you’ve ever felt like the not smart one in the room. You don’t need a theology degree to be saved, and even if you have one you might not be. Even a pastor must be born of the Spirit. But every person, no matter their intelligence, can be born of the Spirit. No IQ test is required. God doesn’t check your transcripts for admission. Instead, he provides for our rebirth. The good news is that God has given us gifts like baptism for precisely this reason. As Jesus says water and Spirit, he makes clear that your baptism has the power to birth you into this Kingdom.

Let me believe it, Lord, that you have granted me all I need for this saving faith. Whatever is lacking, teach me to look to you for it. And as you have born me of water and Spirit, so sustain this new life within me. For every time I realized what I did not know, or wrestled with the things I cannot understand, I thank you that they do not prevent me from coming into your Kingdom. I need only your Spirit. So come, Holy Spirit. And with your presence may Thy Kingdom come to me. Amen. 

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

LENT DAY 27: All Aboard the Baptism Coaster

 Day 27 Friday - Mar 24, 2023; Mar 15, 2024; Apr 4, 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

The first time I ever went to Six Flags amusement park I recall very clearly standing in line with my older brother and another friend of ours (who was a year older than my brother) for two hours to ride the Batman roller coaster. I remember it clearly because after two hours I came to the front and the worker took a look at me, stood me up against the post that says “you must be this tall to ride the ride” and told me - to my utter anguish - that I was about an inch too short. And soon after we found that to be true for one thing after another in the theme park. There were, for the non-kiddy rides that is, very few coasters that I could go on. It was a real disappointment.

In some corners of the church, this same message is pushed regarding baptism: you must be this tall to ride. In this case, it’s not about safety but believing one must be able to profess themselves believers in order to be baptized. But the message is no less upsetting, and in some families it is downright hostile. 

Therefore I share this passage with every family prior to a baptism. Peter is explicit: “the promise is for you and for your children…everyone whom the Lord our God calls”! That is God’s great big sign that says “No height requirement to ride this ride”. This is no less important for adults than it is our children. It not only says that our children should be baptized, it says that if we were baptized as a child that is absolutely in accord with God’s word, and most importantly that whether you are baptized as a child or adult, baptism is the sharing of a promise. “For the promise is for you and for your children…” It reminds us how much this is about forgiveness and grace; about the gift of the Holy Spirit. When it is about God’s promise and call to us, it really is about God’s choices - not ours. 

And if it wasn’t plain enough, God made his choice for you when he sent his Son for your salvation. Baptism should always proclaim that choice.

And can it be? That I should gain? I cannot fathom the power of your love Jesus. But in baptism I can receive it; as can my child; my grandchild; the little one brought to church this week who I have never met before. Praise be your name for every soul you promise forgiveness and the Spirit to in baptism. Amen.

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

LENT DAY 26: Washing Away the Doubt

 Day 26 Thursday - Mar 23, 2023; Mar 14, 2024; Apr 3, 2025

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

I hated bugs in my sandbox. We’d get these little beetles that just creeped me out and took all the fun out of sitting and playing because I was too occupied with whether one of them would come up out of the sand. So one day I came up with a solution: I flooded my sandbox. I put the hose in there and watched as the water carried all the beetles to the surface. Then they’d wash right out the side of the box.

Now you could go in there and dig up all the bugs and tell me they are gone. But I won’t lie, it sure helps to see those flood waters wash them away. The same is true of the power of baptism for our faith. I can tell you how Jesus has dug up and taken away every last sin. That is true. The hard part is sometimes believing it. That’s where baptism comes into play. “Rise and be baptized and wash away yours sins” is a message that says Jesus has taken away every sin, and you can believe that all the more because Jesus who died on the cross is now washes you in baptism. And it is this Jesus who gave you this cleansing baptism whose name you are to now call upon in faith. It makes the sin removal a little more real, a little easier to grasp, and offers us a ritual upon which we can count on his blood’s cleansing power washing over us. It confirms the gospel in our lives.

So when you look at the sandbox of your life, if you struggle to believe that now forgiveness has really taken away every sin, remember how God flooded that sandbox with his grace and confidently call upon his name again.

How marvelous, Lord, that you have washed me not just with water, but with your Word. Let me see in my baptism the cleansing power of Jesus over my sin. And let me always therefore call upon his name in a confidence that would not be the same apart from the gift of your sacrament. In Jesus’ name I sing this praise, Amen.

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

LENT DAY 25: You Belong

 Day 25 Wednesday - Mar 22, 2023; Mar 13, 2024; Apr 2, 2025

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

I remember my first day at John Muir Middle School in Milwaukee. It was my first time in an inner-city school, and the first time I was a racial minority. To be sure, part of my identity and much of my life was shaped by the color of my skin already, but I did not feel it until that day. But when your color stands out from the vast majority of the class, you all of the sudden feel the difference. To think how many of those people of color I knew prior to that, what it must have felt like for them (I wouldn't be surprised to learn it was far worse), and I never had even a clue.

In Galatians, Paul mentions how the church in Antioch had Jews and Gentiles, and when more Jews - specifically from Jerusalem - came, it became noticeable that the Gentiles were not Jews (Galatians 2:12-13). And now some Jews had come to Galatia and made it clear to the Gentiles in that church also that they were not Jews, and if they really wanted to be a part of this whole church thing, they better do something about it (like get circumcised - ouch!). So Paul, as he insists it is not through keeping the law but faith in Christ that we are a part of God’s people, shows them how God makes us one in Christ. He says, 

[I]n Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. (Galatians 3:26-28)

Our baptism declares to one another that the things that would divide us are no more. What God sees when he looks at us is Jesus. And it’s time we see the same thing too. These differences about us, we can celebrate the diversity they offer, but we will not use them to put one another down. That has been taken away by Jesus when he covered us all in baptism.

Sometimes we are the ones who feel like we don’t belong. Other times we are the ones who make others feel that way. But whether you’re a woman among men, a poor man among the rich, a black man in a white church, a young girl in and elderly church the message of baptism is the same: child of God, clothed in Christ, one of us.

Help me to believe it, Lord, when I feel so strange or inadequate. Help me to believe it, Jesus, enough to treat every baptized person as a sibling. Help us to share it, Holy Spirit, to every person you baptize: that we are one in Christ. Thanks be to God. Amen.

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

LENT DAY 24: Whatever Happened to that Eunuch?

 

Day 24 Tuesday - Mar 21, 2023; Mar 12, 2024; Apr 1, 2025

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

TV shows love to end with cliff hangers, because they know you’ll come back. They know you just have to see how things end. But when a story ends without ever tying up the loose ends, we find ourselves endlessly speculating or eternally bothered.

That is the case with the Ethiopian Eunuch who seeks baptism in this text. Philip meets him, preaches to him, baptizes him and then is shuttled away by the Spirit and all we hear is this man went on his way rejoicing (Acts 8:39). And as so often happens in the Bible, we know nothing more of this man. Tradition gives him a name (Simeon Bachos), potentially the “Simeon who was called Niger” of Acts 13:1. This Simeon was listed among the “prophets and teachers” in the church in Antioch. Whether these two are the same men, we do not know. Acts chapter 8 assigns no name to this eunuch. But we fill in the story or are left to wonder.

In this case, I prefer to wonder. Sometimes the church’s tradition seems well worth believing, but it would seem odd that Luke would write about the same man twice without using his name in both instances or giving us some indication he speaks of the same man. But more than that, I like to wonder in this story about what becomes of the eunuch after his baptism because we are often left to wonder about folks who we see get baptized but don’t see again.

It is nice and easy when we know how their story goes. It is convenient when we can see results of the baptism we did. But that simply does not always happen. Sometimes, a person never is raised in the faith, never clings to the promise, never goes any further. That’s our fear every time someone is baptized and disappears. Sometimes the seed takes long to grow, or the fruits of the baptism happen elsewhere. Sometimes faith is but the size of the mustard seed, seemingly insignificant to our eyes but by the grace of God mountain moving. 

The point is we don’t baptize in the knowledge of what becomes of the person who is baptized, rather we baptize for the opposite reason. We baptize because we don’t know how it will go for them, but we want it to go well. We baptize because we know God and how it is that he views his children. His Word has revealed his will for our baptism. That will always suffice. 

How it plays out, that we may be left wondering. Baptism lets us leave it with God.

Into your hands, O Merciful Father, we commend all for whom we pray. Every baptized child - especially those we see no more and no longer know what has become of them. We leave them in your baptismal embrace, and we ask you to continue to reach into their lives with your Holy Spirit. Let not the mystery of those who are baptized harden our hearts towards the sharing of your good gift. Rather, make us diligent in our own commitment to faith and our own part to help your church raise up the baptized to true faith in you. Amen.

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

LENT DAY 23: A Beautiful Savior

 Day 23 Monday - Mar 20, 2023; Mar 11, 2024; Mar 31, 2025

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

Sitting in my cottage, I can enjoy myself quite contentedly. I can put on movies, play games, do puzzles, and just enjoy the small, secluded space. But then something happens: I look out the window. And there, in the front yard, is a deer walking towards me. For all that I find inside, sometimes the real jewel is found by looking outside.

This is how it is with faith. Faith looks outside of itself. We can get pretty satisfied looking inside at the things we can do as people of faith, but the real jewel comes from outside of us and marches towards us in the relentless beauty of hope and salvation. That jewel is Jesus. Whatever I find inside myself that is so great, everytime I gaze out upon Jesus I see something much better. How does that hymn Beautiful Savior go? “Jesus is fairer, Jesus is purer.” 

As an external act, baptism can help get our faith looking outside of ourselves and toward Jesus. This is important when we love what we see inside. But look up and see Jesus! He comes to you with his salvation. Baptism invites you to look less at the amazing (or not-so-amazing) things within you and more at the ways in which God comes to you. And because baptism is such a firm, physical, and historical event: when you are baptized you know Jesus has crossed the front of the church and come to you. There is no mistaking it. God isn’t just in the room but passed you by. You were baptized. Words were spoken over you. You know it happened, and God has made promises about when that happens. 

Jesus says that those who believe and are baptized will be saved. And whoever is baptized has every reason to believe that they are saved, because baptism is one of those places where we can concretely look up and see Jesus.

Give me eyes to see you, Jesus, when I spend my day looking at everything else. Let me especially look up and outside of myself and my faith to see you who my entire faith is to be founded upon. I want to see you. May your Holy Spirit let it be so today. Amen.

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

FOURTH SUNDAY IN LENT: Jesus & the Holy Spirit

 Fourth Sunday in Lent - Mar 19, 2023;  Mar 10, 2024; Mar 30, 2025 

As for the word that he sent to Israel, preaching good news of peace through Jesus Christ (he is Lord of all), you yourselves know what happened throughout all Judea, beginning from Galilee after the baptism that John proclaimed: how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. -Acts 10:36-38

We’ve already spoken of how Jesus baptizes us with the Holy Spirit, now we can note the importance that he was anointed “with the Holy Spirit and power”. 

By first being anointed with the Holy Spirit, we see a unity in the work of Jesus and the work of the Holy Spirit. All that Jesus has done for us, the Spirit knows intimately. “[T]he Spirit searches for everything, even the depths of God,” Paul says (1 Corinthians 2:10). Because the Spirit is so acquainted with and connected to the work of Christ, we can trust that the Spirit reveals the truth of Jesus’ cross for us. Paul goes on to say that we received “the Spirit that is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God.” (1 Corinthians 2:12). Jesus, likewise, said the Spirit “will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you.” (John 16:14).

It is an amazing thing to think that the Spirit that led Christ leads the Church. It is comforting to know that the same Spirit that lived in Jesus is the one we ultimately say will share Jesus with us. And it is a miracle to realize that just as the Spirit anointed Jesus at his baptism by John, so is this same Spirit poured out to us in our baptism too. 

Whoever has the Spirit has the Son, and whoever has the Son has the Father. 

Holy Spirit, you are the great Helper. As you anointed my Lord Jesus with power, may you share with me the gifts that come from his faithful use of that power. Amen. 

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

LENT DAY 22: A Life In God's Name

 Day 22 Saturday - Mar 18, 2023; Mar 9, 2024; Mar 29, 2025

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age. -Matthew 28:19-20

When first we looked at this we remembered that as the foundational text for baptism, we always are to do baptisms “in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit”. In our second devotion on this text we recalled how baptism was used for making disciples. Now we will put the two together.

There is an important element to the life of faith and discipleship: it leads us back to those words Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. There are a lot of names for God in the Bible alone. But of all the ones revealed in the Word, I consider this the “fullest” as it carries the triune name. This means that whether we are experiencing God the Father, God the Son, or God the Holy Spirit, any manifestation of God’s persons is the God of our baptism. 

If all faith leads us back to the words of our baptism, then we can realize that the words of our baptism are leading us into our whole life of faith. You can spend an entire lifetime on those words spoken once over you. The name of God has been given to you in full, that you may use it to its fullest. You may pray to a heavenly Father, in the name of the Son, with the help of the Spirit. You can seek the Spirit to establish your heart in the gospel of Jesus that he would come for you and bring you to your Father in heaven (John 14:2-3). For all that a person of faith can do with the names Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, baptism has given those names to you. It has opened up the entire Bible for your faith. It has spoken the entire work of God over your life. It has given you at the start everything you need for the journey.

Glory 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 and what a gift to say it. Father, I thank you for such an intimate name to know you by. Son, I rejoice that you have made all this known in your gospel. Holy Spirit, I believe that apart from you I could not believe any of it. Thank you, O God, that the name you spoke over me I can ever call upon in prayer, praise, and all faith. I’m so glad I do not have to believe in a generic, unknown God, but one who has been made known to me, beginning with the name Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

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