1-10-21 Grace-Tucson Sermon

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Mark 1:4-11 Pastor Nathan P. Kassulke

First Sunday After the Epiphany: The Baptism of Our Lord Sunday, January 10, 2021 “The Son of God Is Baptized for You”

If you want to get to know Jesus, and that is a very good think to want to do, you will want to spend time in the Bible. And while every part of the Bible is about Jesus, certain places make that quite obvious and apparent. The Gospels, for example: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. The men by these names were all men whom God used and inspired to write accounts of the life and work of Jesus. We know these men as evangelists, and the books that God had them write are the four Gospels. We often refer to the books using just the name of that earthly writer. God used each of these writers and their unique styles and personalities, as well as their regard for their intended audiences, to give us a broad view of Jesus. Some events are reported on in slightly different ways in the various Gospels, and each account gives us a little more information about what went on and about why it was important. We can see some of these unique aspects of the Gospels by considering the lessons that have been in front of us over the past few weeks. Luke, for example, begins his account with all sorts of events and announcements that led up to the birth of Jesus. It’s not until Luke 2 where we hear about the birth, the decree that Mary and Joseph needed to get to Bethlehem, and the stable where he was born and the manger into which he was placed. We also hear about the angels and the shepherds. This Christmas story was shared in our Christmas Eve worship services a little over two weeks ago. John’s Gospel doesn’t record those Christmas events, but he describes what took place invisibly, that God from eternity, the Word, became flesh and dwelled with us. His account of the incarnation – that God took on human flesh and blood – was a lesson for our Christmas Day worship services. Matthew in his Gospel describes the birth of Jesus more from Joseph’s perspective. He tells us about the angel that reassured Joseph and, like Luke did, stresses the virgin birth of Jesus. It’s Matthew that records the visit of the Wise Men to see the child Jesus in Bethlehem, the lesson from our services last week as we celebrated Epiphany. And then there is the Gospel of Mark. Those other Gospels don’t say a lot about the life of Jesus between his birth and the events of his infancy until he was an adult around 30 years old. Mark doesn’t say anything about the early life of Jesus. He just jumps right in and shows us a 30-year-old Jesus and the start of his ministry. That’s how the Gospel of Mark goes. The personality that God used for writing that Gospel focuses on action. It takes away a lot of the extra information and gets right down to the heart of the matter. And so by the fourth verse of the Gospel of Mark, we’re hearing about the baptism of Jesus as part of the work of John the Baptist. And this is an important event. It is so important that it is one of a select few events that can be found in all four of the Gospel accounts. John doesn’t tell the story, he simply references what happened, but all four evangelists make a point of mentioning the baptism of Jesus. Why? Because we get to know Jesus in his baptism. We get to know who he is and why he is so important to us. We get to know him in his baptism and ours. And as we examine what took place, we see that the Son of God was baptized for you, for us. Mark takes us out to the wilderness where John the Baptist preached. He preached a baptism of repentance. He called on people to confess their sins. He had large crowds who all heard that same message that they were sinners who needed forgiveness. And many came in repentance and were baptized by John. John also preached about someone else. Someone was coming who outshone John. John said he wasn’t even worthy to untie the shoes of the one who was coming. This one was more powerful. He would baptize with the Holy Spirit.


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