Tag: god the father

Remember Your Baptism (Matthew 3:13-17)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year ALeave a comment

Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan, to be baptized by him. John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, for it is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he consented. And when Jesus had been baptized, just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens were opened to him and he saw God’s Spirit descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from the heavens said, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.” (New Revised Standard Version)

Today is the Sunday on the Christian Calendar in which the baptism of Jesus is annually remembered. It also marks the first Sunday of the season of Epiphany – a celebration of God’s salvation being extended not only to Jews, but also to Gentiles. In other words, everyone on planet earth is within the scope of Christ’s work of deliverance.

Baptism is important. Remembering is important. Put together, remembering our baptism is highly important. Here’s why….

Baptism is important to Jesus

Baptism is the distinguishing mark or symbol of being a Christian. 

The New Testament knows nothing of an unbaptized Christian – it’s biblically oxymoronic. That’s because baptism is tied to our identity as believers. Each individual baptism is based in the baptism of the Lord who, in his Great Commission, told us to baptize in the name of the Father, Son, and Spirit. 

The absence of baptism is like a bride without a wedding ring; or a football player not wearing a uniform; or a motorcycle gang without tattoos; or like an Iowa farmer without a Pioneer seed corn hat!

Baptism is the outward sign that we belong to God. It is the distinguishing symbol that we have been adopted by God and will receive all the promises of salvation in Christ.

Christ’s baptism fulfilled all righteousness through identification with repentant people

John the Baptist was understandably hesitant to baptize Jesus; he knew Jesus had no need of repentance. Although Jesus had no sin to confess, his baptism is a powerful symbol of his humility. It anticipates his ministry to people who recognize their need for God. 

It was necessary for Jesus to be baptized in order to communicate solidarity with people who are coming to God. “Righteousness” means having a right relationship with both God and other people. By being baptized, Jesus is proclaiming that a renewed and right relationship with God will become a reality through himself.

Baptism is the sign that we belong to God and that our righteousness is tied to our union with Jesus.

It was important for Jesus to identify with sinners; and so, it is important for us, as well. We remember our baptism – that we belong to God – by identifying with “sinners.” We do this by:

  1. Practicing hospitality (love of strangers)
  2. Using our spiritual gifts of speaking and serving on their behalf
  3. Getting to know people very different from ourselves
  4. Meeting people on their turf (not just ours)
  5. Showing respect and upholding dignity
  6. Asking thoughtful and caring questions
  7. Listening with focused attention

It isn’t what we “do” for people that’s as important as affirming our shared humanity with them. We thus lead folks to the ultimate person who can address the needs of their heart: Jesus.

Christ’s baptism fulfilled all righteousness through the affirmation of witnesses

Before Jesus began his ministry, it was necessary to receive validation of what he was about to teach and do. In ancient Judaism, one of the protections guaranteeing that Scripture would be taught according to the way of God, was through an ordination, of sorts. In order for a new rabbi to become a new rabbi, he needed the laying on of hands from two other rabbis who had authority to do so. 

That’s why Christ’s baptism is important. John the Baptist was a powerful teacher and prophet who was recognized by the people as such. John publicly said he wasn’t worthy to carry Jesus’s sandals, that Jesus is the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. So, a baptism by John validated Jesus and inaugurated his ministry. 

And a second voice – another witness from heaven – affirmed Jesus: “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.” Then, the Holy Spirit, in the form of a dove, came upon Jesus. This further affirmed that Jesus would save people, not through arm-twisting and great shows of power, but through humility and gentleness.

Baptism was Christ’s first recorded act as an adult. In some ways, it was his first miracle – the miracle of humility in identifying with sinners.

Remember your baptism

“Baptism” by American artist Ivey Hayes (1948-2012)

Baptism is a sign and a seal of God’s grace. Just as Christ’s baptism focused all the promises of God in salvation as being fulfilled in one person, so in our baptism we claim all the promises of God as found in Jesus. Water symbolizes new life, God identifying with us – Immanuel, God with us.

In baptism, God promises and seals to us our union with Jesus so that identity is not found in my past and my profession of faith, but in Christ’s past of bringing redemption to us. Baptism does not so much express faith as call one to a life of faith and sets us apart as belonging to God.

Baptism is a visible declaration of an invisible reality: union with Christ. Just as circumcision was the outward visible sign of the old covenant, so baptism is the sign of the new covenant in Christ – available to both male and female – thus opening the way for women to participate fully in the ministry of the gospel.

In particular, infant baptism confirms that salvation is not initiated by us, but by God. It affirms that one is betrothed to God. As a child, then an adult, grows into the faith, it is our task to remember our baptism, to be reminded that God’s mark is upon us, that we belong to the Lord. 

God has set us apart to be a holy people, given to Jesus to live as he did. We must never forget that baptism is God’s identifying mark upon us; that our union and solidarity with Jesus is affirmed through this practice.

We are not solitary Christians; we belong to Christ and to one another. Baptism is the initiation rite that takes a lifetime to complete. Therefore, we must struggle together in working out our salvation.

Because of our union with Jesus Christ, we must remember:

  • I do not belong to the world. So, I will not live selfishly, only seeking my own comfort agenda. Instead, I will give and serve others from a pure and humble heart.
  • I do not belong to sin. So, I will not give myself over to shameful words or actions, to bullying or manipulating people, to throwing fits and pity parties to get my way, nor using my tongue to speak gossip, slander, or suck-up to others. Instead, I will use my speech wisely, building up others through thoughtful and heartfelt encouragement.
  • I do not belong to the devil. So, I will not seek his agenda of lying, cheating, stealing, and being bitter. 

I belong to Jesus, so therefore:

  • I will uphold biblical justice by championing the cause of the fatherless and the widow, the poor and the needy, the least and the lost among us.
  • I will love others with all the grace God gives me.
  • I will forgive others because Christ has forgiven me.
  • I will consider others better than myself by embracing the humility of Christ.
  • I will hunger and thirst for righteousness by seeking and maintaining right relations with others.
  • I will seek peace and pursue it.
  • I will, give myself to my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ my Savior and Lord – completely and thoroughly, unabashedly and unreservedly.
  • I will live into my baptism and remember it always, because I belong to Jesus!

Creator God, our soul’s delight, your voice thunders over the waters, liberating the future from the past. In the Spirit’s power and the waters of rebirth, Jesus was declared your blessed and beloved Son; may we recall our baptism, and be disciples of the Anointed One. Amen.

Trinity Sunday (John 16:12-15)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year CLeave a comment
Holy Trinity, by Andrei Rubley

“I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me because he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine. For this reason I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.” (New Revised Standard Version)

Trinity Sunday is an annual celebration on the Christian Calendar which focuses intentionally on the mystery, power, and beauty of the triune God – Father, Son, and Spirit. All three persons of the Holy Trinity exist together in eternal love, harmony, and unity with each other as one God.

This day is much more than a doctrinal and theological affirmation. It is a reminder that our theological impulses are to have movement toward union with this triune God, to participate in the Divine dance of the Trinity.

The Christian life is oriented toward the Trinity. Christianity is a path, a road, a journey with God. It is a pilgrimage of the soul that demands our time, effort, and courage.

In other words, we are meant to experience God as Father, Son, and Spirit, rather than merely acknowledging the Trinity. Not only are we to know God; we are designed to feel at the core of our being the existential presence of God. What’s more, the Holy Trinity participates within the Godhead to help make that happen within us.

The Trinity we see in the Gospel of John is a presentation of God’s love for us. A gracious window is opened to the mystery of the one God in three persons. This allows us to see and feel that this trinitarian love holds us in a Divine embrace.

In Christ’s Farewell Discourse (John chapters 13-17) love is the dominant theme. Love is what Jesus wanted to leave with his disciples, and to remind them that all things are to be said and done with love. Christ promised the giving of the Spirit as a gift of love, so that we will learn to love ourselves and others.

There is eternal love, unity, and harmony continually flowing from the Father who sent the Son for us and for our deliverance, and from the Spirit who dwells with us in an abiding presence of love. Together the Father, Son, and Spirit develops us as lovers, loving the world just as God does.

The heavenly Father holds us in love so that we will hold the world in love.

Jesus the Son comes among us and reassures us of Divine love so that we will bring love to the world.

The Spirit guides us into the truth of love so that we will display love for one another in front of the world.

As Christians bravely, patiently, and calmly walk the road of the Christian life, they grow more and more in love with God, and therefore, more in love with the world that God loves so much.

There is an interaction between the Father and the Son marked by truth and love. Jesus graciously invites the believer into this conversation. In addition, the Spirit instructs us so that our speech and behavior will emulate the love which always takes place within the Trinity.

The reality of the Holy Trinity helps us experience and feel that God is for us; God is with us; and God is in us.

Sometimes we get hung up on the timing of things. We want what we want now. We don’t understand why God isn’t coming to our rescue. We wonder if God is even around because of this crud-encrusted planet we live on with all of its natural disasters and human destruction.

Yet, let’s keep in mind that the triune God has forever existed. God is constant. Father, Son, and Spirit are continually working in the immediacy of the now. We have been offered Living Water, but the water pouring forth now is not the same as what came before and what is to come – just as the water in a river flows by us, having come from somewhere downstream, and going somewhere else.

Time is irrelevant. All we have is the now. When we hold on to the past and/or have anxiety about the future, we are failing to live in the present. And in this very moment, the triune God is present with you, is in you, and is for you. Live in the now, and not so much in the has been and the not yet.

God only becomes real to us when I am. Then, the great “I AM” is able to dwell with the little “I am” of me in the present tense of now.

Because God is God, there will always be a mystery, because trying to understand the Holy Trinity – the great Three in One – shall forever elude us. We have not been called to understand God; we are called right now to submit to the unfolding of what God wants to reveal to us.

The triune God has shown us that within the Trinity there exists perfect love, harmonious unity, infinite beauty, and great goodness. As people created in the image of this God, we have the capacity to pursue these very same qualities. With God’s enablement, we can be a source of light and hope to a world which needs an experience of Divine love and truth.

God of heaven and earth, before the foundation of the universe and the beginning of time you are the triune God: the Author of creation; the eternal Word of salvation; and the life-giving Spirit of wisdom.

Guide us, O God, to all truth by your Spirit, so that we may proclaim all that Christ revealed and rejoice in the glory he shared with us. Glory and praise to you – Father, Son, and Spirit – now and forever. Amen.

What Will You Do with Jesus? (John 5:1-18)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
Healing the Paralytic, by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, 1670

Sometime later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals. Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?”

“Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.”

Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.

The day on which this took place was a Sabbath, and so the Jewish leaders said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat.”

But he replied, “The man who made me well said to me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’ ”

So they asked him, “Who is this fellow who told you to pick it up and walk?”

The man who was healed had no idea who it was, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there.

Later Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, “See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.” The man went away and told the Jewish leaders that it was Jesus who had made him well.

So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jewish leaders began to persecute him. In his defense Jesus said to them, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working.” For this reason they tried all the more to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God. (New International Version)

Christ at the Pool of Bethesda, by Artus Wolffort, c. 1625

During one of the yearly Jewish festivals, on a Sabbath day, a miracle happened. Miracles of healing are typically accompanied by celebration and joy. But not so much with this one.

It’s one of those things about living in a messed up world of broken systems, that an invalid can start walking and there are people who have frowns and furrowed brows about it.

Granted, the man who was healed by Jesus may seem a bit hard to like in some ways. We don’t really know what he was into, but when Christ bestows healing on you, then says to stop sinning, it’s probably a significant sin to warrant the Lord’s exhortation.

Regardless of any sort of sin, the man appears to be paraplegic. Especially in the ancient world, this meant all sorts of problems had to be navigated – such as needing others to literally carry you around (no wheelchair or handicapped accessible anything), long periods of social isolation, lack of bodily control over your bowels and bladder, and the continual needs for cleanliness.

This made the man hard to like by many people just because he likely had strong body odors and had to crawl to get around if no one would help. He would not have been pleasant to look at. But he would have to make sure you did because, in the absence of any charity, the guy’s only option was to beg.

I’m glad there are greater forces in the world than indifference and dislike. There is grace – which is an act of bestowing honor and/or forgiveness to another person. It is not dependent upon whether one deserves it. Grace chooses not to hold something over or against another. It is a deep concern for others that comes from within and not from without.

“I do not understand at all the mystery of grace – only that it meets us where we are but does not leave us where it found us.”

Anne Lamott

Another gracious act that Jesus did was to honor the man’s dignity by respecting him with a question. By asking a question, we don’t assume we know what’s best for another. Sincere questions acknowledge another’s basic humanity. “Do you want to get well?” Jesus asked.

In the life of being an invalid and having little control over much of anything, including one’s own body, being asked a question is to receive the gift of autonomy.

There are many times in my work as a hospital chaplain that I speak with patients who don’t have a lot of control in their lives. I go out of my way to ask questions such as, “May I come in?” “Is it alright with you if I pull up a chair and sit down?” “Would you be okay telling me about what is going on?” “May I pray with you?”

This is important, because there are too many other people in this world who would just barge into a room, act like they own the place, and talk at them, and not with them – hence reinforcing to the person that they’re nothing compared to others, that they don’t have any real say.

The man’s response to Jesus was to essentially say that he is alone. He has no one to help him. Even though the man is in a city, surrounded by hundreds and thousands of others, he is lonely.

Not anymore. Jesus saw him, even inquired about him and learned about the man. Jesus Christ, the Lord of all, cared about a non-descript invalid and was sincerely curious about him. In a world of everyone for himself, Jesus championed the lonely and the lost.

A simple command to obey was all. Christ told the man to pick up his mat and walk. That’s it. Just as words created the world, so a few words created a whole new life for the man. So, he got up, and he walked.

It’s interesting that the religious leaders never seemed to notice the man when he was lame, but now that he’s up and walking around, they pay attention to his apparent work on a Sabbath.

The invalid was validated by Jesus, but Jesus, the one validated by the Father, was invalidated by the religious leaders, who are the spiritual invalids.

It was against the (their) rules to carry something around. Apparently, it was okay for people to be lonely, not contribute to society in meaningful and dignifying ways, and to suffer; but it’s not okay to walk and carry a mat.

Even worse, is anyone who would heal on the Sabbath and tell the healed person to walk and carry a mat. It was so bad, apparently, that it warranted persecuting such a person. But that’s what happens when people are forced to serve rules, instead of the rules serving people.

On top of it all, Jesus was working; and he justified it by stating that his Father keeps working. This was dangerously close to blasphemy by likening himself to God. For the religious leaders, not only was Jesus unethical in breaking the law, but he was also theologically immoral; he claimed a special relation with God.

The more that laypeople get to know Jesus, the more compelling he becomes; they want to follow him. But the more that clergy discover Jesus, the more angry they become and want to do away with him.

Ultimately, it is Jesus we must contend with, and not the law and our interpretations of scripture. We need to decide what we are going to do with Jesus… what will you do?…

Spiritual Blessings (Ephesians 1:7-14)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
The Trinity, by Ukrainian artist Feodosiy Humeniuk, 1981 

In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our offenses, according to the riches of his grace that he lavished on us in all wisdom and insight.He did this when he revealed to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he set forth in Christ, toward the administration of the fullness of the times, to head up all things in Christ—the things in heaven and the things on earth.

In Christ we too have been claimed as God’s own possession, since we were predestined according to the purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to the counsel of his will so that we, who were the first to set our hope on Christ, would be to the praise of his glory. And when you heard the word of truth (the gospel of your salvation)—when you believed in Christ—you were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit, who is the down payment of our inheritance, until the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of his glory. (New English Translation)

The Apostle Paul wrote this letter to the Church at Ephesus. Believe it or not, the first chapter of Ephesians  comprises only two sentences in the Greek language for which he originally wrote. Ephesians 1:3-14 are one sentence, and Ephesians 1:15-23 is the other sentence. Thankfully, understandably, and mercifully, English translators have created multiple sentences for us so that we can better make sense of the text. 

It’s almost as if Paul was so excited to talk with the Ephesian believers about who they are in Jesus Christ and what they possess in him that he blurted out in writing with a flurry of enthusiasm and excited fervor without stopping to take a breath or a break.

Paul stacked word after significant word, on top of each other, in order to communicate the spiritual blessings that believers in Christ enjoy. Redemption, forgiveness, grace, wisdom, insight, predestination, faith, inheritance, and salvation are just some of the blessings given to those in union with Jesus Christ.

And, if that wasn’t enough, God has also graciously given us the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete, the one who comes alongside and helps us to live into the blessings we possess. Because God the Father predestined and elected us, God the Son redeemed us, and God the Spirit took possession of us, we are delivered from sin, death, and hell.

It’s as if we came to Christmas day expecting a package of underwear, and found instead a bunch of big boxes with some of the most lavish and expensive gifts we’ve ever seen!  This says much more about the giver than it says about us.

It was according to God’s good pleasure in Christ through the Spirit that believers in Jesus have such privileges.  Like the parent who sits back and watches the unpackaging of presents happen with great joy, so God delights and is pleased with the gifts given to us. The Lord absolutely delights in watching us unpack them and use them in this life.

These gifts, these blessings, are all lavishly provided because they are extensions of God, as if the Lord meticulously handmade each present with us in mind.

Throughout the entirety of Holy Scripture, all the stories and narratives, teachings and writings, are about God. The Lord of all creation is both the subject and object of each book of the Bible. Every good thing we have in this life is because of God’s gracious presence and power in this world.

Each positive experience we have is a direct result of God’s steadfast love toward people. All good gifts come from a good God who is delighted and pleased to give them.

Not a one of us purchased our own gifts and stuck them under the tree. God bought them all with the precious blood of Jesus and sent the Spirit to deliver them to us. 

Consider setting aside time today or tomorrow in a quiet place, and reflect on just one of the words in today’s New Testament lesson. Think about redemption or forgiveness, salvation, or grace, or any of the words which grab you.

Say the word repeatedly and meditatively, quietly and loudly, thoughtfully and with flavor. Consider what God did to bring you that gift. Contemplate the way(s) in which you have received the gift. 

Plan one way in which you might share your gift with another person. And make sure to give glory and praise to God for the grace lavishly given to you.

May your meditation lead to a deeper appreciation of what God has done for you; and may that revelation result in praise, honor, and glory to the One who accomplished so much on our behalf.

Gracious God, you have revealed and made known the way of deliverance from the power of darkness and brought me into your marvelous light. Help me to better understand all the ways you have acted on my behalf so that my life might reflect your grace and steadfast love to the world, through Jesus Christ, my Savior, in the enablement of the Holy Spirit. Amen.