6th January, 2008 : John 1:29-34¡¡ [ The Meaning of Being Baptized]

1. The Baptism of Jesus

Today, the first worship of the new year, we start reading the Gospel according to John. Last week we learned that the word was with God, and the word became flesh and lived among us. The story of Jesus is the story of the word becoming flesh. He was in the world but the world did not receive Him as the Messiah. Nevertheless some believed in Him and they were made God’s children. We learned also from Romans chapter 8 that to be be God’s children is to be free from a slavish life, expressing joy in preparation to receive the baptism. Now let’s contemplate further the profound meaning of baptism by reading the second part of chapter 1 of the Gospel according to John.

The new testament includes 4 Gospels, all of which tell us almost nothing about Jesus’ young life, from his birth until the age of 30. Luke merely mentions that Jesus resided in Galilee, his native home.

During that period in Judea, John the Baptist commenced preaching and exhorting the Jewish people to repent because of his belief they were living in the last days, and a time of judgement was approaching. He baptized his believers as they offered their repentence. Jesus, in Galilee, having heard about John the Baptist, came to Judea. He may have sympathized with John’s movement, thinking also that the time for restoration of the world was close.

When Jesus started His ministry Judea was under foreign Roman rule, and the Jewish people in many regions, attempted repeatedly to revolt by proclaiming their independence. Because, for the people chosen by God, it was an unacceptable humiliation to be dominated by a foreign power. Meanwhile, the Israelites aspired to the thought of a coming savior, sent by God, whom they thought would liberate them. Therefore, many people warmed to John’s appeal and were baptized by him with the hope of realizing their freedom. Mark tells us: “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” (Mark 1:5).

John appealed to the Jewish people for their acceptance of baptism, an act which was intolerable to the Jewish leaders. Since they considered all Jews to be God’s people by birth. They believed that baptism was only for gentiles who become believers in Judaism. But John condemned severely that attitude: “And do not think you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham” (Matthew 3:9).

However, John the Baptist gave his testimony to those who sought answers and queried his ministry: “Now this was John’s testimony when the Jews of Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to ask him who he was” (John 1:19). John answered to them in this way: “John replied in the words of Isaiah the prophet, “I am the voice of one calling in the desert, ‘make straight the way for the Lord ‘” (John 1:23).
He said he was a messenger who brings good news of the Savior’s coming. And he continues: “I baptize with water,” John replied, “but among you stands one you do not know. He is the one who comes after me, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie” (John 1:26-27).

John believed that Jesus was the very Messiah sent by God and testified to that belief by baptizing Jesus. “The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! (John 1:29). John said, “I myself did not know him, but the reason I came baptizing with water was that he might be revealed to Israel.” And John testified, “I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him” (John 1:31-32).

Mark describes the scene of the baptism of Jesus, beside the river Jordan: “At that time Jesus came from nazareth in galilee and was Baptised bu John in the Jordan. 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 a voice same from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased” (Mark 1:9-11).

2. The Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world

“The Lamb who takes away the sin” represents a lamb which would be sacrificed to atone for human sin. At the Jewish Passover festival for the commemoration of God’s saving act recorded in the book of Exodus, lambs were offered in the temple of Jerusalem. When the ancient Israelites were preparing to depart from Egypt, God ordered that all the first born babies of the Egyptians would be killed, in order to help the Jewish people escape. At that time, in order to distinguish the Jewish babies from Egyptians, God ordered that the blood of a sacrificial lamb be placed on the entrance doors. From that event the Jewish people still celebrate the passover, (God passing over the houses of the Israelites which had the blood of the lamb on the doors) by the offering of lambs in the temple, believing the sacrificed lambs bear the sin of humans.

The Bible teaches us that the condition of the Jewish people under the harsh Egyptian rule is, in a sense similar to ours, captured in a prison of our sin and incapable of escaping by ourselves. Our sins are constituted with egocentric love, behaving always in order to be recompensed and judging others according our perceived measures. As long as we live in that prison, the world remains dark. But, Jesus came to free us from that darkness by taking away our sins. John testified to that fact in the above verses.

Peter also gives witness: “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed” (1 Peter 2:24). The act of baptism is to confess that the weight of our sin has been lifted and neutralized. Nevertheless, baptism is not the only and final accomplishment. As John said, baptism with water is for those who repent, which is only the beginning of our way to salvation, since the act of being baptized can’t make us totally immaculate, and free from sin.

3. Not for our success but for God’s Glory

Today’s invocation verses are from John, 3:29-30. This passage shows the beginning of the ministry of Jesus after being baptized by John, which gave him the conviction of being the Son of God. Then the followers of Jesus became more numerous than those of John, which generated some jealousy among John’s disciples. The scripture describes their reaction: “An argument developed between some of John’s disciples and a certain Jew over the matter of ceremonial washing” (John 3:25).

So, the disciples of John said to their master: “Rabbi, that man who was with you on the other side of the Jordan—the one you testified about—well, he is baptizing, and everyone is going to him” (John 3:26). John’s response to that complaint is this, from today’s invocation verses: “The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete” (John 3:29).

The bride represents Jesus and John considers himself to be the bridegroom. So they must be happy and agree to focus on Jesus, God’s Son. John teaches his followers to seek God’s glory, not their own success in this way: “He must become greater; I must become less” (John 3:30).

A very significant saying. Even inside the Church there are envious or competitive feelings between believers. Some uphold the importance of priests, and churches with a large number of members, others focus only on the value of donations and the tithes given, which we cannot help but notice is becoming a universal tendency. We humans, often make judgement on things we can see, in other words we weigh even spiritual values with earthly measures. But John tells us that this is not what the Bible teaches.

Once, I too envied the big influential churches, and I wished at times to grow the Shinozaki church like that. However, recently I began to have a different point of view. There should be specific goals to achieve, those accorded and blessed by God, and not those which essentially mean bigger, better, and more influential. Moreover regarding the role of a Pastor, I should not try to become a powerful leader, but to seek sincerely the insight of God’s words, to strain and to comprehend the message, and to spread to others what I grasp, by preaching and organizing prayer meetings.

So, the way to God will open-up for everybody to live as God’s children, by being baptized with God’s Holy Spirit. In that way we can follow in the footsteps of John, which Peter also exhorts us to do: “Be holy, because I am holy” (1 Peter 1:16).

—–