Baptism of Christ and what next!
Luke 3 15-22
What a baptism! What an extraordinary event! I actually prefer Matthew 3:16-17
16 As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of
the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God
descending like a dove and alighting on him. 17 And a voice from heaven said,
“This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”
The key question is how could the vast majority of Jews never picked up Our Lord's message – their upgrade! 80% of Jews are not Christian today. They are still waiting for the Messiah
1.
There were dozens perhaps
hundreds of prophesies both describing and announcing the Messiah - culminating
in Isaiah 43:1-7
2.
He was announced like no other prophet John the
Baptist was a major prophet
3.
There were dozens, perhaps hundreds of signs or
miracles. John’s Gospel, originally called the Book of Signs documents 10 great
signs
4.
He prophesied of his own death and resurrection
although incredible were true
Looking back, we know that Herod Antipas felt threatened by a royal birth. When the high-status men from the East arrived looking for a long-expected king he panicked. He was king of the Jews. He ordered the massacre of all baby boys under 2 years in Bethlehem - interestingly in Bethlehem not Nazareth! (Matthew 2:16) The Holy Family had already left.
He probably need not have worried. Our Lord announced to Pilot on the day of his execution ‘his kingdom was not of this world’. (John 18:36)
The Jewish people were expecting a new leader like Moses - who freed them of physical enslavement in Egypt – Our Lord of course came to free them (and us) from spiritual enslavement to ritualistic religion and importantly blindness to the light of God
Our Lord's Kingdom was not of this earth. He was no threat to Herod, no threat to the Jews or Romans. His life and world changing teaching was a purely spiritual one and was, and always will be, unaffected by political leaders Herod. Priests were the only ones affected.
As we know Jews already had a moral code in the Ten Commandments and a world beating new Temple. The Jews just wanted freedom from Romans. They wanted another king, David. The Messiah eventually proved a disappointment.
Perhaps unknowingly we are also waiting for the monumental impact of an incarnation proved by the miraculous events or signs that we saw in Our Lord’s life and ministry. We are also addicted to materialism, existing rites and existing theology. Worse still materialism seems to deliver a measure of contentment. (Reasonable level of good health, comfort and well-being)
Our Lord prophesied the second coming John 14:1-3. But what would need updating?
A lot of things have happened in 2000 years. Gospels were delivered to middle eastern and western populations. What about the people of the East and Far East? They had highly developed systems of religious thought which might now need to be linked the Christianity
The Hindus celebrate Christmas – as Hindus. Their theology addresses many of Christian theology’s fundamental problems. These might perhaps address the apparently agonising injustices of birth, circumstance and physical opportunity. Ask a Christian to justify starving children, agonising disease, crippling poverty and they will struggle. This is a belief block.
Surely we need a globalised theology – just as we have globalised science. Belief in physical rebirth and the law of cause and effect would solve the issues. Our Lord said ‘He who lives by the sword will die by the sword.’ (Matthew 26:52) In the East consequences of sin carry forward. Interestingly the Pharisees believed in physical rebirth (John 9:2). Potentially belief in this system could remove this belief block.
Equally a globalised theology would give us scientific verification of world views physically linking religious and scientific thought. For instance, the Hindu Upanishadic view of the physical world is illusory, a chimera, a construct created by our brains. Contemporary scientific knowledge has also established that we live in a formless, colourless, field of energy which our minds recreate into the world we live in - but not the world beyond it. We need a globalised theology to bring us comfort and crucially that religious perspective which makes sense of our life and death in this world. Perhaps we need a new Methodology of religion – religious literacy. A new Messiah could break this belief block as well.
Simplest we to God is an all-consuming love created by deep faith. Many of us need a rational basis to our faith to reach that bottom rung on the ladder of faith leading up to heaven. An incarnation could provide this.
Our Lord said that he would
come again but we don’t know when. We can predict that their impact will be
even more momentous than the last one even though there may be no kings!
But then would we listen to them? Would we just carry on doing what we have always done? The Jews still do what they always did. Only time will tell! We surely have to be alert and watchful as were the five wise welcoming maidens in Matthew 25
Luke 3 15-22
15 The people were waiting expectantly and were all wondering in their hearts if John might possibly be the Messiah. 16 John answered them all, “I baptize you with[b] water. But one who is more powerful than I will come, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with[c] the Holy Spirit and fire. 17 His winnowing fork is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”
21 When all
the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too. And as he was praying,
heaven was opened 22 and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a
dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am
well pleased.”
Isaiah
43:1-7 New International Version
Israel’s
Only Savior
43 But now,
this is what the Lord says—
he who created you, Jacob,
he who formed you, Israel:
“Do not
fear, for I have redeemed you;
I have summoned you by name; you are mine.
2 When you
pass through the waters,
I will be with you;
and when you
pass through the rivers,
they will not sweep over you.
When you
walk through the fire,
you will not be burned;
the flames will not set you ablaze.
3 For I am
the Lord your God,
the Holy One of Israel, your Savior;
I give Egypt
for your ransom,
Cush[a] and Seba in your stead.
4 Since you
are precious and honored in my sight,
and because I love you,
I will give
people in exchange for you,
nations in exchange for your life.
5 Do not be
afraid, for I am with you;
I will bring your children from the east
and gather you from the west.
6 I will say
to the north, ‘Give them up!’
and to the south, ‘Do not hold them back.’
Bring my
sons from afar
and my daughters from the ends of the
earth—
7 everyone
who is called by my name,
whom I created for my glory,
whom I formed and made.”
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