Day 277 (Matthew 3, Mark 1, Luke 3) - Year 8

Tara-Leigh Cobble (0:01)

Hey, Bible readers, I'm Tara-Leigh Cobble, and I'm your host for The Bible Recap.

Today we covered three accounts of the baptism of Jesus. Anytime we cover different gospel accounts of the same event, there's a good chance I'll merge all the details into just one collective recap, especially if it's on the same day.

So that also means that if we read something and I don't address it in that day's recap, hang in there because it's probably coming soon. Today we also read the gospel of Mark for the first time. As we've discussed, each of the four gospels has a unique lens on who Jesus is. Mark's lens is Jesus as servant. So the four lenses are Matthew, Jesus as king, Mark, Jesus as servant, Luke, Jesus as man, and John, Jesus as God. You can see how they present ideas that seem juxtaposed, king and servant, man and God, but that work together to help us learn how to connect the different aspects of who Jesus is.

We open in the desert with JTB, where he lives on locusts and honey. Gross, right? But the good news is this maybe wasn't referring to bugs. It's possibly referring to the fruit of the carob tree that grows in the wilderness. It's a fruit in a bean pod that people call locusts, and it tastes like cacao. It's kind of chocolatey. So JTB was maybe eating dessert, and I thought I couldn't love him more.

His message to the people starts with a call to repent. To repent means to turn and go the other direction, to do a 180 But it's not so much a physical act as an inward turning, and it implies a level of remorse. JTB commands people to repent and be baptized. But then he rebukes some people for coming to be baptized. So what's going on? Do you want people to be baptized or not? Here's the thing. The people he rebukes, the Pharisees and Sadducees, they're part of the ruling class of the Jews in that day. They are very religious. They are serious about trying to keep all the rules. But also, they're greedy and dishonest and cruel to the poor. This is the same problem we've been dealing with for the past several hundred years with the corrupt leaders of Israel. Just like the prophets before them, both JTB and Jesus saved some of their harshest words for the wicked leaders. JTB even calls them a snake pit today, to their faces. Yikes.

He also says that just because they're Jews by birth, they're not necessarily true Israelites, true children of Abraham. Lineage does not equal heritage, and JTB makes this distinction clear.

He doesn't want them to be baptized because they haven't repented. He says if they'd repented, it would be evident in their lives, in their fruit. Bear fruit in keeping with repentance, he says. And until they do, he doesn't want them to set foot in the river for baptism because it will be a meaningless act.

Two especially interesting things happen as JTB is baptizing people. First, Jesus shows up and asks John to baptize him. If this is about the forgiveness of sins, then why is Jesus doing it? He doesn't have any sins. He's the one who does the saving from the sins. JTB knows Jesus doesn't need to repent, and it even seems like he wants to refuse to baptize him just like he did with the Pharisees. So this is puzzling. We'll dig in more on this in a minute. The second interesting thing is that in this moment, we see all three persons of the Trinity show up in one place, just like at creation. God the Son is in the water, God the Spirit descends on him like a dove, and God the Father's voice booms through the atmosphere, saying, this is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased. The Father marks the Son's identity specifically to JTB. Apparently, Jesus and JTB are the only ones present who see and hear what happens in the spiritual realm. We'll talk more about this low key revelation and why it's important in the days ahead.

Now, let's zoom in on baptism in general and Jesus' baptism specifically. There are lots of different viewpoints on baptism. Immersion or sprinkling, babies or believers. We don't have time to dig into every angle here, especially because this doctrine is more nuanced than most things we've covered this year. There are dozens of ways different denominations articulate what baptism is, and how and when and why and where and for whom it should be done. But I'm going to make my best attempt at addressing the two primary perspectives within Orthodox Christianity. Bear with me, I've worked really hard to use inclusive language as much as possible without getting too technical. View number one says baptism is an act of God in absolving your sins. It's God working through the water like he does through other tangible means, like reading the word which comes to us on paper. This view generally says that the reason Jesus is baptized is to make the water perfect for us, to purify it for our baptism. This view typically corresponds to baby baptism, also known as paedobaptism, and is usually done via sprinkling. View number two says baptism is a symbolic act where we demonstrate what God has already done for us. It's an outward sign of an inward reality, kind of like the New Testament version of circumcision. This view tends to believe there's a two-fold purpose in the baptism of Jesus. A, it's a means of proving that baptism is symbolic, not salvific, because like we said, Jesus doesn't need to be saved. And B, his baptism was, like ours, a means of publicly identifying himself as one submitted to the kingdom of God. This view corresponds to Belieber's Baptism, also known as Credo-Baptism, and is typically done via immersion. Those two views may sound worlds apart, but here's the one major and vital thing they have in common. Neither viewpoint believes baptism is something man does as a means of achieving salvation or righteousness by his own works. View number one believes it's an act of God demonstrated through natural means, and view number two believes it's an act of man symbolizing the saving work God has already done. Either way, God does the doing. The reason that's so important is because scripture repeatedly says we're saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, not by our works. We are saved entirely and eternally by his works, not our own. I aim to be objective and open-handed with things as much as possible because, as we say around here, don't scream where scripture whispers and don't whisper where scripture screams. But salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, is one of the places where scripture screams. If you want a greater understanding of these positions on baptism, or if you have a position and just want to challenge yourself by reading some persuasive arguments from the other vantage point, check out the five articles, yes, five, linked in today's show notes. By no means do they cover everything, but it's a start.