Baptism - Welcome to God's Family (Mark 1:4-11)
Rev. John Westfall
01/07/24
Grace, peace, and mercy to you today from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Well, today it seems we are into sermon reruns as we again hear about John the Baptist in today’s gospel lesson from Mark 1. So, let’s use John’s message that came to us in Advent as a review. We are reminded in Mark 1:4 that John is in the wilderness preaching and “proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.” And, of course, man is in the “wilderness of life” and is in need of repentance and forgiveness.
John tells of the coming of Jesus in verse 7, “one who is more powerful than I.” We heard this back in Advent, right? Also, “I baptize with water, but He will baptize with the Holy Spirit.” Finally, we hear in verse 11, “You are my beloved Son, with you I am well pleased.” So, we have the repentance and forgiveness aspect, the specific baptism reference, and the association with family. Jesus’ baptism in the River Jordan by John sends us a very clear message of our own need for baptism and our need to repent and be forgiven of our sins.
We have been taught, if we remember what we learned from Luther’s Small Catechism, baptism is an extremely important part of our Christian faith, an important part of our Christian walk, and our Lutheran heritage. The day of our baptism should hold a special place in our hearts, whether it occurred as an infant, as a youth, or as an adult.
But wait … not so fast. We know that baptism alone does not give us a free pass to heaven. If so, our evangelism program might consist of chasing people down, baptizing them, and therefore saving them. I am being facetious, of course, because baptism represents the work that Christ has done on our behalf. That work is received through our faith in Him. Mark tells us in 16:16, “He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.”
So, we look further into baptism … the sacrament of Holy Baptism. We have two sacraments in the Lutheran faith – Holy Baptism and Holy Communion. Now, we are baptized through water with the power of God’s baptism. Water is the physical element, while God’s Word is present in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. It washes away the guilt of our sins. It bestows God’s grace upon us. It delivers us from the power of death and promises us eternal life as a believer in Jesus as our Savior. It brings us into membership of God’s kingdom … God’s family.
Furthermore, baptism is a sign and a deed. A sign of God’s love and will that we be reborn in Christ’s image. A deed by God that enables us to live according to the guidance and sanctification of the Holy Spirit. Baptism opens the door to new life in Jesus Christ. It brings us closer to God and closer to others in God’s family. At baptism we may say, “... welcome to God’s family.”
Family – we can remember our life’s journey with our parents, our grandparents. For most of us, our heritage means a great deal to us. For many of us our Christian, Lutheran heritage means a lot to us. Whatever happened to us in our youth molded us in some way. It was probably molded by our parents and other adults around us and hopefully was molded in a spiritual way. I have many good memories of my family heritage which was centered around the church and our faith. We also have the same good memories being a part of God’s family … our Christian heritage … our church heritage … and our Lutheran heritage.
What should our journey in God’s family be like? What should it mean to us? On our journey our Triune God walks with us, forgives us, and sends us the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Baptism allows us to share in the life of Jesus our Savior, who died on the cross to save us from our sins so we may have “new life” in Him. We are born into an earthly family, but through baptism we become children in God’s family. We become brothers and sisters in a new family that includes Christians all over the world. We are not alone, and that is comforting to know.
We cannot forget that the grace we receive at our baptism helps us throughout our lives to form relationships with others based on love, mutual respect, and forgiveness. So, today and always, we celebrate our newness of life as a baptized member of God’s family. We share our love, our joy, and our hope as we care for and reach out to other members of God’s family and in remembering to share our faith and minister to those who are not yet in the fold … who don’t know the Gospel message.
So, together today, as we remember the Baptism of Jesus, we rejoice in the love He has for us and in knowing we are forgiven and are alive in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, as we look forward to eternal life with Him someday. In the meantime, let’s always remember our baptism as I say, “Welcome to God’s family.”
In Jesus’ name, Amen.