Baptism and The Flair God Has for the Dramatic
Luke
3:15-17, 21-22
As the
people were filled with expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts
concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah, John answered all of them by
saying, "I baptize you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is
coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals. He will baptize you
with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his
threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his granary; but the chaff he will
burn with unquenchable fire."
Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, "You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased."
Acts
8:14-17
Now when
the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they
sent Peter and John to them. he two went down and prayed for them that they
might receive the Holy Spirit (for as yet the Spirit had not come upon any of
them; they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus). Then Peter
and John laid their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.
Flair for
the Dramatic
Our God has
more than just a flair for the dramatic. He uses drama at every turn to
communicate the mysteries of His truth. Two great dramas are interwoven into
the history of Christianity and give us insight into God’s ways with humankind:
baptism and Lord’s supper. Both of these present the story of redemption with
such vivid poignancy that men and women through history have been drawn to
their compelling message But that is not the whole of it. Everything God does
evokes worship.
God stepped out on stage
And every member
of the orchestra
knew it was He.
He took the baton in hand
And breathed forth
UPBEAT.
Down came the baton
DOWNBEAT.
And the pattern was given
With every eye upon Him.
The strings
The horns
The percussionists
The LIGHTS
Yes, the lights!
The dancers,
The actors,
The Children,
The artists !
Suddenly, the stage was filled
With performers.
And He conducted them.
And every art
And every part
Conformed to the rhythm of His Baton.
And someone in the audience remarked,
“He certainly has a flair for the dramatic.”
And all creation applauded.
Psalm
22:10 - From birth I was cast upon you; from my mother's womb you have been my
God.
This is the
psalm of the cross, which our Master chose to identify with us as He bore our
sins. There were three great acts of emptying in His earthly life. The first
was His birth. He divested Himself of all His self-sufficiency as God and
became dependent upon God –even in Mary’s womb. The second was His
baptism-temptation where He conspicuously stood in the place of sinners to face
every life temptation and overcome only by the power of the Spirit and the
Word. Finally, the cross – and there, He remembered who He was and who He
trusted. We must trust God also.
A family of
doves built a nest in a flower basket on our patio. I have mentioned this in
several contexts and they taught me many lessons. With great interest, we
watched as that family, and later, others, came and nested there, hatched their
young, and sent them on their way. The site of doves descending is a wonder of
nature. The vision of the Spirit descending is a wonder of super nature.
There was
little reason for Jesus to be baptized except to fulfill all righteousness and
to identify with sinful humanity in preparation for His sacrificial death on
the cross. However, as He stepped into the nest of human experience and began
to bear the burden of our frail weakness and disobedience, He was affirmed by
the Father and knew the pleasure of His purposes.
As little
birds stumble out of the nest and first began to fly, Jesus was led by the
Spirit into the wilderness to face temptation as we face it. He committed in
His baptism to be as vulnerable as those He came to save. By the power of the
same Spirit and Word available to us, He stood in the face of Satan’s lures.
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