The Three R’s of Baptism
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Mark 2:23-28
23 One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields, and as his disciples walked along, they began to pick some heads of grain. 24 The Pharisees said to him, “Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?”25 He answered, “Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need? 26 In the days of Abiathar the high priest, he entered the house of God and ate the consecrated bread, which is lawful only for priests to eat. And he also gave some to his companions.”
27 Then he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. 28 So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”
Introduction
If you have been Baptised, it’s something we have in common, something we have in common with Jesus. I wasn’t Baptised until I was 24, my mother was baptised when she was 84 but Christians of all ages share this common symbol. One of the Christian basics.
Strange that Mark begins with the baptism of Jesus, Matthew, Luke & John all deal in some way with the birth of Jesus, Mark starts here.
Mark begins with the Baptism and a 30 yr old Jesus. In starting this way Mark stresses Jesus’ new work/ministry which started with His Baptism.
Mark starts with the old order: John the ‘baptiser’ who bursts onto the scene in the style of the OT prophets in the tradition of the old covenant (Zech 13v4) (Looking like someone in need of a makeover!) John was calling people to prepare for the new order, the revelation of new person. In contrast to John in his camel skin and wild looks (style of the OT prophets) Mark introduces a 30 yr old Jesus from Nazareth. Jesus is bringing in the new, baptising with the Holy Spirit. ‘I will B with water, he will B with Holy Spirit..’
This is a picture of a new Day, a new covenant between God and people, the New Testament.
But it is not a sweeping away of what has gone before. Baptism reminds us of 3 basics of our faith 3 x R's: Repentance, Righteousness, and Revelation. The need for Repentance from sin, a life of righteousness (following Jesus), the revelation God has revealed himself in Christ.
This is 3 xR's:
1. R is Repentance
2. R is Righteousness
3. R is Revelation
[1] R is Repentance
Perhaps in my lifetime the most public statement of repentance was that of Jonathan Aitken Tory MP He committed perjury and was jailed for 18 months , later divorced and became bankrupt (following the trial). He went on a Prison Alpha course, Repented and became Christian. His book - Book Pride & Perjury was a best seller.
He became president CSW, a chaplain and much more. John Baptist proclaimed Baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sin. v4 Old Order OT sin was ‘covered’ by blood of lamb etc… Now taken away by Repentance (confessing sin) (v5) (identifying the sin and wanting to be rid of it)…. receiving the promise of forgiveness that God offers (v4). This is the lamb (of God) who ‘takes away’ the sin. So, from confessing comes forgiveness, from forgiveness comes cleansing (bap in Jordan v5)
[2] R is Righteousness
Coming out of the water as a transformed person – Righteous (made right with God) New beginning [This is a make over (refer to Mark & Trinny & Suzanne)]. When John B urged them to be baptised he actually took them down one river bank and crossed over to the other side after baptising them. John wasn’t just offering forgiveness, John’s baptism also offered a new identity, they crossed over Jordan and became a new people Holy Nation, a Righteous people – Jesus people – Christians made right with God.
[3] R is Revelation
Crossing the Jordan for the Jews was not the end of the story, it was the beginning of the promised land. Notice here we find John B predicting (v7) that the new Joshua was here, (Joshua a Hebrew name and the Greek equivalent of Joshua is Jesus). When Jesus went into the River with John and was baptised and crossed over the other side, it wasn’t (for HIM) about Repentance it wasn’t for Jesus about Righteousness (he was the sinless one). It was about the 3rd R... Revelation ‘My son (Jesus) in whom I am pleased.’ V11 This was about Revelation of who Jesus was and is.
Also it’s a Revelation that a relationship with God is freely available to every human being. As God gives new life and new understanding to us, that will have an effect on our families, our church, our hospitals
Thro reciting the LP the Lord Jesus revealed to John Newton who he really was. The former slave trader, Newton Repented of his past he began a personal relationship with Jesus. He was baptised and that began his ministry of healing and grace which continues through his hymns.
I Bind this day to me forever by the power of faith, Christ's incarnation,
His baptism in Jordan River his death on the cross for my salvation . . . .
I bind myself to the flashing of the lightning free,
The whirling wind's tempestuous shocks,
The stable earth, the deep salt sea, around the old eternal rocks.
St. Patrick, patron saint of Ireland
