Initial Questions and Thoughts

My initial questions about this text include:

• Why are verses 18-20 omitted? (So, with many other exhortations, he proclaimed the good news to the people. ¹⁹But Herod the ruler, who had been rebuked by him because of Herodias, his brother’s wife, and because of all the evil things that Herod had done, ²⁰added to them all by shutting up John in prison)
• What is the significance of being baptized with the Holy Spirit and with water?
• How would the early hearers of this message understand baptism? Was baptism practiced in their community? What did it mean? How is Jesus' baptism different? (or is it?)
• What do we do with the unquenchable fire and John's promise that Jesus will burn the chaff? What (who?) is the chaff today?
• Why are people baptized according to Luke's gospel? In other gospels, we know that it is for the forgiveness of sins, but what is its purpose for Luke?
• Why is God well-pleased with Jesus at this point? Jesus has yet to actually DO anything (we are told in the following verse, verse 23, that Jesus was 30 years old when he BEGAN his work)
• Do others hear the voice from heaven? Or only Jesus?
  

Some interesting things I've noted:

• Luke recounts that it is after Jesus is baptized, WHILE HE IS PRAYING, that the heaven is opened and the Holy Spirit descends. This suggests that the descent of the Holy Spirit wasn't so much dependent on Jesus' baptism, but on the act of praying
• Following this, "Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness"--as soon as Jesus is baptism, he is led out to the wilderness where he is tempted by the devil. After he struggles with the devil, and doesn't succumb to the devil's temptations, "Jesus, filled with the power of the Spirit"--it's almost as if Jesus received the Holy Spirit at his baptism (and subsequent time of prayer), but doesn't have the POWER of the Holy Spirit until he does battle with the devil.
  
• It is this baptismal event (together with the voice from heaven) that establishes Jesus' identity and authority on earth, and begins his ministry.
  
• Other people are baptized at the same time of Jesus, but (apparently) the voice from heaven only speaks to Jesus. This raises the question of the ways in which our own baptisms do (and do not) bring about the same promises/implications/results as Jesus' baptism.

I'd love to hear any and all of your thoughts!

The Baptism of our Lord gospel text

This coming weekend, January 9-10, I will be preaching at Abiding Presence, my home congregation, in Burke, VA. I will be preaching at the Saturday night vespers service, the Sunday morning "contemporary" service, and the Sunday morning "traditional" service. These three services provide distinctly different worship experiences, and tend to attract different crowds. The Saturday service typically only includes the Gospel reading, the contemporary service typically includes both the Gospel and the psalm, and the traditional service generally includes the Old Testament reading, the psalm, the letter, and the Gospel. I enjoy preaching on multiple (usually two) texts, and have asked on other occasions for multiple readings to be included at all the services. For a variety of reasons, I have decided to stick solely to the Gospel reading for this week's sermon (this has been a very eventful week for my church because we just voted to call a new pastor yesterday!, the interim pastor is just returning from vacation, and I am in Gettysburg for the week).

This weekend, we celebrate the baptism of our Lord. I will be preaching on Luke 3: 15-17, 22-22

¹⁵As the people were filled with expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah, ¹⁶John 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. ¹⁷His 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."
²¹Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened, ²²and 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."