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Mark 1:4-11 - Lectionary for Baptism of Our Lord, Series B

1/5/2018

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1/5/18
Many churches throughout the world use a Bible reading schedule called a "lectionary." It's just a fancy word meaning "selected readings." Posts like this reflect on the readings for an upcoming Sunday or other Church holiday, as found in the three-year lectionary.

Our Gospel passage for this week is from Mark 1:4-11. Here we are introduced to both John the Baptist and to Jesus. The central activity is baptism. John is gathering disciples who repent at his preaching and receive the washing of baptism, a testimony of a clear conscience before God.

John’s confession, though, is that Jesus baptizes people with the Holy Spirit. This is a different type of baptism than that of John. The people can repent at John’s preaching. But when Jesus is revealed to them, the true and living Word of God, the people receive repentance. They Holy Spirit is cleansing them, using both God’s Word and the water which is applied to them. This is a different type of cleansing.

As Jesus receives baptism from John, he is testifying to his humanity. He is confessing that the preached Word of God is effective. And Jesus’ confession here is accompanied by a visible sign of the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove. It is also accompanied by the voice of God stating his pleasure in the Son. We see, then, that not only is Jesus a human like we are, but that he is also one of the members of the Trinity. Together, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit work to rescue you and me from sin. This is done through Jesus, the living Word, and the means he has appointed.

Do we trust, then, that we have enough faith to be saved? Not at all. We know that we don’t. But we trust that Jesus, the Savior of the Word, is the one in whom we have received baptism. We have the Holy Spirit. God lives in us. There is no room for doubt.

If this brief meditation was helpful to you, I hope you will check out the other materials on our website at www.WittenbergCoMo.com and consider supporting us.

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Romans 6:1-11 - Lectionary for Baptism of Our Lord, Series B

1/4/2018

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1/4/18
Many churches throughout the world use a Bible reading schedule called a "lectionary." It's just a fancy word meaning "selected readings." Posts like this reflect on the readings for an upcoming Sunday or other Church holiday, as found in the three-year lectionary.

The Christian confesses that his life of sin is buried and dead. It’s in that order, too. While we generally think that you die first, then you are buried, in baptism, according to Romans chapter six, we die when we are buried in baptism. We live again afterward. It is a strong picture of Christ’s death and resurrection.

The life we live as Christians, then, as baptized people, is a life governed by Jesus’ resurrection. It’s a life of immortality, here and now. While this doesn’t mean that we will not become old, sick, injured, or otherwise brought to death, we receive the promise that in Christ we will live on. The slavery to sin and death has ben broken.

Why does the apostle remind us of this? It only takes a little thought to make sense of that. It’s because we are so very good at forgetting our identity. We may be dead to sin, but our sinful “old man” seems to have trouble getting the message. Martin Luther famously taught that we remember our baptism every day because, even though the our sinful nature has been drowned in the water of baptism, it still seems able to swim.

Eventually, as we look to Christ’s resurrection, we do start to find our identity. And it is a glorious identity. It’s the identity of Jesus, the Second Adam, the one without sin, the one who will live forever in glory. May the Lord continue making this plain in us.

If this brief meditation was helpful to you, I hope you will check out the other materials on our website at www.WittenbergCoMo.com and consider supporting us.

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Genesis 1:1-5 - Lectionary for Baptism of Our Lord, Series B

1/3/2018

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1/3/18
Many churches throughout the world use a Bible reading schedule called a "lectionary." It's just a fancy word meaning "selected readings." Posts like this reflect on the readings for an upcoming Sunday or other Church holiday, as found in the three-year lectionary.

Our Old Testament reading for this week is from Genesis 1:1-5. In this opening passage of the Bible, we find that God is the eternal creator. He was present for the beginning. Before him, there was nothing. We also find that God was able to make things quite easily. There’s no mention of labor, no effort, no material needed to create the heavens and the earth. In verse 3 we see that God is able to create by his command. What God says actually happens. We also find that God is the God of order, not of chaos. While in nature, things tend to devolve, breaking down rather than assembling in an orderly manner, God takes something which is formless. He then organizes it, dividing light and darkness. He defines the idea of a day and the clock begins counting at that time.

When we compare this passage with our reading from Psalm 29 we realize that the Lord who is able to call all things into being by his powerful word is also able to use his creative power for the good of his people. What he has decreed is going to be good.

The commands of God are all valuable. They all make sense. Every last one of them has something to do with God accomplishing his purpose in this world.

Our culture typically considers “light” and “day” as positive things, while we consider “dark” and “night” generally negatively. It isn’t hard to picture people sneaking about under cover of darkness to do bad things. While the dark time, night, is also a time of rest, refreshment, growth, and recovery, we can easily categorize different activities by their time of day.

The Bible normally pictures day as a time of blessing and action, but night as a time of rest or the time when evil happens. May we have grace to be people of the day, living in the light of God.

If this brief meditation was helpful to you, I hope you will check out the other materials on our website at www.WittenbergCoMo.com and consider supporting us.

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Psalm 29 - Lectionary for Baptism of Our Lord, Series B

1/2/2018

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1/2/18
Many churches throughout the world use a Bible reading schedule called a "lectionary." It's just a fancy word meaning "selected readings." Posts like this reflect on the readings for an upcoming Sunday or other Church holiday, as found in the three-year lectionary.

Just a note for those who are counting - the three year lectionary changes the Gospel reading for the Baptism of the Lord from year to year. It is a cyclical reading but not very much so.

Our Psalm for this week is Psalm 29. Here God is the one whose voice is like thunder. He is the one who is glorious and powerful. He speaks and all sorts of things happen.

We may well ask whether we feel entirely safe around such a Lord. Many times people are at least a little bit afraid of thunder. What about one who can drown out the sound of water, whose voice braks trees and who moves entire nations. His voice makes fire, causes animals to give birth, and can deforest an area. This does not sound like the kind of person I’d want to talk with.

What’s the good news in this Psalm? It is that God is for his people. He is the gracious and merciful Lord who gives his strength to his people. In verse 11 God is the God who blesses his people.

For this reason, we turn the Psalm around and ask who would feel unsafe around such a God? The unsafe one is God’s enemy. Those who would assault God’s people, those who would disrespect the true God, they are in danger from God’s wrath. But his people are given strength and peace.

Those who trust in the Lord are perfectly safe in God’s hand. He is able to keep those who belong to him. Thanks be to God.

If this brief meditation was helpful to you, I hope you will check out the other materials on our website at www.WittenbergCoMo.com and consider supporting us.

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    About Throwing Inkwells

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