The Bible Recap - Day 277 (Matthew 3, Mark 1, Luke 3) - Year 6

Starting point is 00:00:00 Hey Bible readers, I'm Tara Lee Cobble and I'm your host for the Bible Recap. Today we covered three accounts of the baptism of Jesus. Anytime we cover different gospel accounts of the same event, there's a good chance I'll merge all the details into just one collective recap, especially if it's on the same day. So that also means that if we read something and I don't address it in that day's recap, hang in there because it's probably coming soon. Today, we also read the Gospel of Mark for the first time.

Starting point is 00:00:34 As we've discussed, each of the four Gospels has a unique lens on who Jesus is. Mark's lens is Jesus as servant. So the four lenses are Matthew, Jesus as king, Mark, Jesus as servant, Luke, Jesus as man, and John, Jesus as God. You can see how they present ideas that seem juxtaposed, king and servant, man and God, but that work together to help us learn how to connect the different aspects of who Jesus is. We open in the desert with JTB, where he lives on locusts and honey. Gross, right?

Starting point is 00:01:06 But the good news is, this maybe wasn't referring to bugs. It's possibly referring to the fruit of the carob tree that grows in the wilderness. It's a fruit in a bean pod that people call locusts, and it tastes like cacao. It's kind of chocolatey. So JTB was maybe eating dessert,

Starting point is 00:01:21 and I thought I couldn't love him more. His message to the people starts with a call to repent. To repent means to turn and go the other direction, to do a 180. But it's not so much a physical act as an inward turning, and it implies a level of remorse. JTB commands people to repent and be baptized. But then he rebukes some people for coming to be baptized. So what's going on? Do you want people to be baptized or not?

Starting point is 00:01:47 Here's the thing. The people he rebukes, the Pharisees and Sadducees, they're part of the ruling class of the Jews in that day. They are very religious. They are serious about trying to keep all the rules. But also, they're greedy and dishonest and cruel to the poor. This is the same problem we've been dealing with for the past several hundred years with the corrupt leaders of Israel.

Starting point is 00:02:07 Just like the prophets before them, both JTB and Jesus save some of their harshest words for the wicked leaders. JTB even calls them a snake pit today, to their faces. Yikes. He also says that just because they're Jews by birth, they're not necessarily true Israelites, true children of Abraham. Lineage does not equal heritage, and JTB makes this distinction

Starting point is 00:02:29 clear. He doesn't want them to be baptized because they haven't repented. He says if they'd repented, it would be evident in their lives, in their fruit. Bear fruit in keeping with repentance, he says. And until they do, he doesn't want them to set foot in the river for baptism because it will be a meaningless act. Two especially interesting things happen as JTB is baptizing people. First, Jesus shows up and asks John to baptize him. If this is about the forgiveness of sins, then why is Jesus doing it? He doesn't have any sins. He's the one who does the saving from the sins.

Starting point is 00:03:02 JTB knows Jesus doesn't need to repent, and it even seems like he wants to refuse to baptize him, just like he did with the Pharisees. So this is puzzling. We'll dig in more on this in a minute. The second interesting thing is that in this moment, we see all three persons of the Trinity show up in one place, just like at creation.

Starting point is 00:03:18 God the Son is in the water, God the Spirit descends on him like a dove, and God the Father's voice booms through the atmosphere, saying, This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased. The Father marks the Son's identity specifically to JTB. Apparently, Jesus and JTB are the only ones present who see and hear what happens in the spiritual realm. We'll talk more about this low-key revelation and why it's important in the days ahead. Now, let's zoom in on baptism in general and Jesus' baptism specifically.

Starting point is 00:03:48 There are lots of different viewpoints on baptism. Immersion or sprinkling, babies or believers. We don't have time to dig into every angle here, especially because this doctrine is more nuanced than most things we've covered this year. There are dozens of ways different denominations articulate what baptism is and how and when and why and where and for whom it should be done. But I'm going to make my best attempt at addressing the two primary perspectives within Orthodox Christianity. Bear with me, I've worked really hard to use inclusive language as much as possible without getting too technical. View number one says baptism is an act of God in absolving your sins.

Starting point is 00:04:23 It's God working through the water like he does through other tangible means like reading the Word which comes to us on paper. This view generally says that the reason Jesus is baptized is to make the water perfect for us, to purify it for our baptism. This view typically corresponds to baby baptism, also known as pedobaptism, and is usually done via sprinkling. View number two says baptism is a symbolic act where we demonstrate what God has already done for us.

Starting point is 00:04:52 It's an outward sign of an inward reality, kind of like the New Testament version of circumcision. This view tends to believe there's a two-fold purpose in the baptism of Jesus. A, it's a means of proving that baptism is symbolic, not salvific, because like we said, Jesus doesn't need to be saved. And B, his baptism was, like ours, a means of publicly identifying himself

Starting point is 00:05:14 as one submitted to the kingdom of God. This view corresponds to Belieber's baptism, also known as Credo-baptism, and is typically done via immersion. Those two views may sound worlds apart, but here's the one major and vital thing they have in common. Neither viewpoint believes baptism is something man does

Starting point is 00:05:32 as a means of achieving salvation or righteousness by his own works. View number one believes it's an act of God demonstrated through natural means, and view number two believes it's an act of man symbolizing the saving work God has already done. Either way, God does the doing. The reason that's so important is because Scripture repeatedly says we're saved by

Starting point is 00:05:50 grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, not by our works. We are saved entirely and eternally by His works, not our own. I aim to be objective and open-handed with things as much as possible because, as we say around here, don't scream where Scripture whispers, and don't whisper where Scripture screams. But salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, and Christ alone, is one of the places where Scripture screams.

Starting point is 00:06:14 If you want a greater understanding of these positions on baptism, or if you have a position and just want to challenge yourself by reading some persuasive arguments from the other vantage point, check out the five articles, yes, five, linked in today's show notes. By no means do they cover everything, but it's a start.

Starting point is 00:06:30 After Jesus is baptized, God the Spirit leads him into the wilderness. He's there for 40 days fasting and being tempted by Satan. We'll dig into that more tomorrow. After roughly six weeks in the desert, Jesus comes back to start his ministry. He's around 30 years old when this happens. Just as things are kicking off, JTB is arrested because he rebukes the new king for having an affair with his sister-in-law. By the way, the new king is Herod Antipas, one of the surviving sons of the fearful Herod

Starting point is 00:06:59 the Great. When Jesus begins preaching, his message mirrors JTB's. His first command is, "'Repent and believe the good news.'" His ministry is centered around a little freshwater lake called the Sea of Galilee, surrounded by mountains. It's about 13 miles long and eight miles wide. You can hold all of it in your field of vision at once.

Starting point is 00:07:19 Jesus runs into Simon Peter and Andrew again, the guys He met earlier with JTB. Now that JTB's in prison, they go back to working in their dad's fishing business. So Jesus invites them to follow him instead. Immediately they do, and they pick up two other fishermen while they're at it, James and John.

Starting point is 00:07:35 These guys have no idea what they're in for. Within a few days, they see Jesus preach the best sermon they've ever heard, be recognized by a demon, silence the demon, heal the man with the demon, and even heal Peter's mother-in-law who was just regular sick, not demon sick. He has an obvious, unique power that they've never seen before. He preaches with more authority than the Torah scholars.

Starting point is 00:07:58 Demons recognize him and are afraid of him and obey him without him so much as breaking a sweat. Bodies do what he commands them to do. These guys must be awestruck. And they're probably also really grateful that he chose them to follow him. He handpicked them. Today, my god shot was in Luke's genealogy of all places.

Starting point is 00:08:17 You may have noticed that it's a little broader than Matthew's and it goes further back. There are lots of theories on why these two genealogies vary, but one theory that lots of commentators share has to do with the lineage of the authors. Matthew was a Jew, and his lineage traces the Jewish line back to Abraham, naturally. Abraham was the beginning of the people of Israel, so that's a logical place for him

Starting point is 00:08:37 to stop. Luke, on the other hand, was probably a Gentile, and he took the extra time to trace the line of Jesus all the way back to the beginning to show that Jesus has a connection throughout history, even pre-Abraham, before God invented the Israelites. Just like Matthew and Luke, we bring our own unique lens to the table here. We each have blind spots, and that's why we need each other, which shows me how very generous God is in giving us each other to help us see what our blind spots might be. In His great generosity, God has adopted kids into His family who have different histories,

Starting point is 00:09:10 different experiences, different races and languages and giftings and weaknesses, and even different ways of practicing baptism like we talked about today. And in each of us with His Spirit, He continues to open our eyes to who He is, to correct us and broaden our understanding so that we can know Him better and see more clearly that He's where the joy is. Hey Bible readers! If you're looking for a seamless way to stay connected to Scripture even when life is hectic, check out the Dwell Bible app. I'm constantly on the move, and with the Dwell Bible app,

Starting point is 00:09:47 I can listen to the Bible in a way that's easy and engaging. That's why we partnered with Dwell to bring you our New Testament plan on their app, so you can dwell in God's Word, even when you don't have time to sit down and read. I highly recommend this for anyone who is looking for a way to deepen their Bible engagement, especially on the go. To get started now, go to dwellbible.com forward slash new or click the link in the show notes.

Starting point is 00:10:16 If you journal and write letters and keep a paper calendar, you are probably the type of person who would love our principal reading plan. That's right, down with technology! Just kidding, Siri, we love technology. In fact, lots of you use our plan on the Bible app, which is technology, and a few of you use our daily posts on Instagram stories, also technology, to keep up. But if you want to try to unplug a little more, you can have your very own printout to color code and mark off all your completed days of TBR. You can find it at TheBibleRecap.com forward slash start or click

Starting point is 00:10:50 the link in the show notes.

The Bible Recap - Day 277 (Matthew 3, Mark 1, Luke 3) - Year 6

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