What Prejudice Do You Have About The Holy Spirit at Jesus’ Baptism?
Good Morning Friends,
We are never alone. We always have our thoughts and prejudices and sometimes they comfort us and sometimes convict us. Words rarely do justice to the topic of the Holy Spirit in this regard and like a spider in an isolated part of the attic our thoughts become problems that tempt us to avoid the truth if we decide before being informed. That is why describing our relationship with God the Father, the Body of the church, Jesus and the Spirit that binds us together is difficult at best. For the frozen chosen I think the common experience of the Holy Spirit is of the spirit of grace conceived at our baptism and birthed as our fruits mature and we witness to our faith. But our faith is not always expressed in a positive way of thinking. Sometimes our discrimination takes a negative stance and that is not good. But people experience the Holy Spirit in a variety of ways along this spectrum but thankfully mostly in the positive. Because God meets us where we are, how we experience the Spirit might be and should be in some ways different than how I do. The hope is that however we experience this love, the person of the Holy Spirit, that this gift, this miracle might produce in us something that builds up others as well. It is though grace not judgment, transformation not information, joy not fears, through inclusion not isolation that we experience the best of this universal love. Therefore, today’s devotional is a joyful testimony to and celebration of the reality of The Holy Spirit at Jesus’ Baptism but also a witness to the importance of the Holy Spirit in helping us to address our bias. And so we ask: What Prejudice Do You Have About The Holy Spirit at Jesus’ Baptism?
Scripture: See, I am sending my messenger to prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple. The messenger of the covenant in whom you delight—indeed, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts.
Malachi 3:1 (NRSV)
A voice cries out: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
Isaiah 40:3 (NRSV)
and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.
Romans 5:5 (NRSV)
Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.”
John 1:46 (NRSV)
John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. Now John was clothed with camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. He proclaimed, “The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”
Mark 1: 4-8 (NRSV)
By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things.
Galatians. 5:22–23 (NRSV)
Peter said to them, “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Acts 2:38 (NRSV)
Message: Today there is not much controversy about it, but in the early church there was some debate about why Jesus was baptized. He after all did not need if for the repentance of sins. Some say it was to fulfill the prophecy and that probably is the best answer. But an equally good answer I think is that the person of the Holy Spirit sets the stage for the anointing and identifying of the Messiah, the beloved Jesus, in the act of baptism. Isaiah and Malachi
promise something very special and new in the life of Jesus that is unlike any other who has come before. The Magi who came from the East and gave gifts to the Christ child knew it, the religious leaders and political figures knew it. After 400 years of prophetic silence there is growing anticipation in the land among the people that the Messiah is coming. The stage is set for the appearance of the Messiah and people are coming to be purified in the ritual of baptism as they await the Messiah and the Jewish leaders feel the energy among the people. And the leaders of the day know the scriptures and know what John baptizing people means. God is preparing the hearts of His people to receive the Messiah and that moment of unveiling is at hand. All the righteousness that is of the law and the prophets is to be fulfilled in Christ. All the covenants are to be fulfilled. And Jesus’ baptism is part of that fulfillment for the gift of the Holy Spirit that conceived Jesus is the same gift of the Holy Spirit that descended on Jesus at His baptism and is woven together at the Transfiguration. And friends, this is the same Holy Spirit that was shared at Pentecost and is experienced by believers today when the Spirit’s purpose is served in acts of faith and hope and love and unity. Friends, we should give more thought to baptism of Jesus but even more to our own baptism by Jesus. Remember that Jesus baptizes too but not with water but with the Holy Spirit and with fire. So let us end today’s devotional with a little truth telling. First, we are all prejudiced and even about God. Second history tells us that our Christian faith is not as influential as it should be simply because we do not follow Jesus and his teachings to not prejudge and yet we do. Third and this is perhaps the most important insight, prejudice is a sin because it is essentially being negative about what we do not understand. Nathanael exhibited his prejudice against Jesus and all those from Nazareth. We need to confess our problem for the sake of civilization for at one point in our history we could avoid those with whom we had differences but today the world is smaller than ever and really, we can no longer avoid people by living in our own world. Friends, we are living in one world and we had better hang together for if not we will hang separately. And this is especially true for those privileged who once in a smaller sense were a majority but now live in a world in which they are more and more a minority. Maybe we are predisposed to a certain prejudice because of the experiences we have had. But we are not to generalize. If we are to exact a cure for prejudice we need to ascertain the facts and accentuate the positive. Friends we are sinners but also potential saints. We are all children of God.
Pray we seek to fulfill a righteous relationship with God as did Jesus at his baptism. Pray we identify with the Messiah. Pray we are baptized by him with the Holy Spirit. Pray we are thankful the Jesus has become one with us, so that in him through the gift of the Holy Spirit we might become one with God. Pray the Holy Spirit descend on us like a dove into our hardships and pain and give us peace. Pray we not be so isolated in our thoughts and behaviors that we forget to extend the love and light of Christ. Pray we realize that the only cure for prejudice is love. Pray we realize that the future of our faith hinges on this very Holy Spirit gift that spills over into the lives of others so that we might be in unity.
Blessings,
Daily Devotionals 