I remember the day of my baptism as if it were yesterday. It was the summer of 1974. I was eight-years-old and just finished third grade at Bells Ferry Elementary School in Marietta, Georgia. Earlier that spring, as my father was putting me to bed, I prayed to Jesus, thanking Him for forgiving all of my sins and asking Him to save me. It was a response to what the Holy Spirit had been doing in my young developing mind and heart. The next Sunday, I walked down the aisle of Roswell Street Baptist Church with my parents, and through tears, told Reverend Nelson Price my good news. All that was left to do was to be baptized.
My paternal grandfather, Horace Brewer, decided to be baptized with me that warm summer June day. We met with the pastor and the other adults and children who were being baptized in a conference room and sat down at the large, long table to get instructions for what we should expect. I remember the white dress I wore, with the red and blue Holly Hobbie appliqué along the right side. I remember my mom had styled my hair and pulled half of it up, tying it with a red ribbon, even though it would all be ruined once I got wet. Because I was wearing a dress, the assistant lady helped me clip little metal weights along the bottom hem, to keep my dress from floating up as I walked into the baptistry. I remember walking up the women’s stairs, standing at the landing to wait my turn and seeing Daddy B. across the baptistry, on the men’s side, smiling at me. While nervous that I would possibly fall while stepping into the pool, I took Reverend Price’s long, slim-fingered hand and entered the waters. He often scared me as a child, tall and lanky, walking back and forth across the platform preaching God’s holy words with fervor and intensity, but today, in his dark green waiters and billowy white robe, he looked safe and inviting. He said that it was his honor to baptize me and called me his sister.
When I came up out of the waters, glad that I was able to hold my breath that long without panicking, the heavens didn’t part and no birds flew down and landed on me, as they do in today’s reading, and yet, everything had changed!
Read Luke 3:1-20
God’s word came to John, son of Zechariah, in the wilderness. It was time, after a long season of isolation and preparation, for 30ish-year-old John to be called on stage to open for the Messiah. This is what he was born for and now the time has come! John went into the Jordan River area and began proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. Luke actually quotes from Isaiah 40, of this voice crying out in the wilderness, “Prepare the way for the Lord; make his paths straight! Every valley will be filled and every mountain hill will be made low; the crooked will become straight, the rough ways smooth, and everyone will see the salvation of God.” (vv 4-6) In Michael Wilcock’s commentary, The Message of Luke, he notes:
“For baptism was the rite by which Gentiles would become ‘Jews;’
those who were already within the Israelite family did not need it.
By preaching to the latter, John places Jews in the category of Gentiles.
Physical relation to Abraham was of no avail.” (p 39)
God’s chosen people, the Israelites, could no longer look to their family heritage to save them. They must see and acknowledge their desperate need for salvation, and not salvation from Roman oppression or disease or suffering, but from their own sinfulness. John taught that every tree not producing good fruit, regardless of its name or variety, will be cut down and thrown into the fire; therefore, they must produce fruit consistent with repentance. What in the world is “fruit consistent with repentance?” (v 8) Repentance is more than simply confessing that you messed up, were impatient or rude, or lost your temper with your children. Repentance requires a turning of one’s attention and going in a different direction - towards God and His ways, demonstrating trust in Him for the faith and courage to live differently.
Make It Practical!
John’s listeners hung on John’s every word, but when he started talking about repentance and producing good fruit, they needed him to break it down for them and explain how they could apply his teaching to their own lives. John did just that, providing three takeaway points:
Share what you have with others, especially with those in need. All of us can do that, but that means we must trust God to provide everything we need for life and not be tempted to hoard our food and possessions for ourselves.
Tax collectors, don’t collect more taxes than you are authorized. No more embezzling!
Soldiers, do your job honestly and fairly. You are to protect, not exploit!
As the crowd listened, some began to wonder if John could be the promised Messiah. John answered them all, “I baptize you with water, but one who is more powerful than I am is coming. I am not worthy to untie the straps of his sandals.” (v 16) Why was John so confident that he wasn’t even worthy to untie the Messiah’s sandals? Because the Messiah would baptize them with the Holy Spirit and fire! Only Yahweh can send Holy Spirit power to people. What could it mean to be baptized with the Spirit? John said that Messiah’s baptism of fire would work to expose the motivations of the people’s hearts, bringing to the surface what is impure so that it can be removed. Many were encouraged and hopeful by John’s teaching; others were threatened by his message, like Herod, who had taken his brother, Philip’s wife, Herodias for his own. When John challenged Herod and rebuked for his sin of adultery, even more egregious as the King of Israel, Herod had John thrown in prison. John showed people how to receive Jesus as the ultimate King, greater than Caesar Augustus, greater than Herod, and he paid a significant price for speaking unpopular truth.
Big Picture Questions for Today:
What about Jesus’ baptism story intrigues or encourages you most?
John taught those coming to be baptized in the Jordan River how they might practically demonstrate their readiness for the Messiah in their everyday lives. How does your life bear fruit in keeping with repentance?
Pray and thank God for this beautiful peek into a most intimate encounter between Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
