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Baptism of Jesus

Acts 10
34 Then Peter began to speak: “I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism 35 but accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right. 36 You know the message God sent to the people of Israel, announcing the good news of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all. 37 You know what has happened throughout the province of Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John preached— 38 how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him.

39 “We are witnesses of everything he did in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They killed him by hanging him on a cross, 40 but God raised him from the dead on the third day and caused him to be seen. 41 He was not seen by all the people, but by witnesses whom God had already chosen—by us who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. 42 He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one whom God appointed as judge of the living and the dead. 43 All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”


In the future, perhaps sermons—like Twitter—will be limited to 140 characters. There is something to be said about the need to be concise, a discipline for those who can type quickly and tend to use 100 words when 25 will do.

And this is perhaps the real genius behind Twitter. At 140 characters (20-25 words) there is no room for the common problem of preachers who go long, those who circle the runway—as we said in preacher’s school—and refuse to land the sermon.

In fact, you could make the argument that Twitter begins in the Bible, with a set of tweets we call Proverbs. Many fall within the 140 character limit, and they express important thoughts in a concise way. They were also meant to be retweeted (by memory, of course). Here’s one:

"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.”(1.7) If you added #proverbs #wisdom @Central then we can go for coffee!

(By the way, if you are tweeting right now, add the hashtag “babyforeaster”)

One of the most famous tweets of a religious nature also found some traction in the real world, appearing on signs and t-shirts around the time of the 2012 election south of the border. The author is comedian John Fugelsang, who back in 2010 tweeted this:

“Obama is not a brown-skinned anti-war socialist who gives away free healthcare. You're thinking of Jesus.”

Part of the appeal of this tweet is the obvious cleverness, but also the extent to which it provides a neat summary of Jesus’ program, casting it in a contemporary light. It’s also the way it is framed, of course, with a nice twist at the end.

The reason I share this (aside from the cleverness) is the extent to which Peter’s sermon is reads like a series of tweets: telling a story, with a logical progression, but more like a summary than a sermon. You get the sense that he said more—likely much more on this occasion—but memory distilled it to what Joan read this morning.

The passage is a remarkable one, really a Gospel within the Book of Acts itself, telling the entire story of Jesus in 10 verses. And like any good summary, it is noteworthy for what it includes and what it omits: what gets pride-of-place and what gets a passing mention.

The first verse gives us the context: “I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right.” The point of Peter’s sermon is to present the Gospel for all nations, not just the people of Israel. So from the beginning he makes it clear that he’s speaking to all of us.

Then he begins to draw in his audience, using the common rhetorical device of reminding the what they already know, which will then lead to the point he wants to make: “You know the message God sent to the people of Israel...You know what has happened throughout the province of Judea.”

And just when all the heads are nodding in agreement or at least recognition, he gives his simple summary of the true meaning of Jesus the Christ:

“We are witnesses of everything he did in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They killed him by hanging him on a cross, 40 but God raised him from the dead on the third day and caused him to be seen. 41 He was not seen by all the people, but by witnesses whom God had already chosen—by us who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead.”

Notice, first of all, the reference to this Sunday, the start of Jesus earthy ministry, “beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John preached—how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power.” In the vast scope of four Gospels and countless stories, the baptism of Jesus is given an important place in the summary, no doubt owing to the message of forgiveness that we will look at in a moment.

Next, notice the way Peter summarizes three years of earthy ministry: “With the Holy Spirit and power...he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him.” Strip away the references to the Spirit, and you are left with this: “he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil.”

In it end, Peter’s summary is even shorter than “a brown-skinned anti-war socialist who gives away free healthcare.” And this of course, enters a debate that has raged in academic circles for 200 years: is it primarily the words and deeds that matter in the story of Jesus, or is it the cosmic meaning, the death and resurrection that should define him?

Within the mainline Protestant world, we have generally made our choice for the words and deeds, demoting or at least downplaying his death and resurrection because they are not ‘historical’ and cannot be proven. The earliest version of this may have been the Jefferson Bible, where the third president literally took an scissors and cut out everything supernatural in favour of Jesus’ ethical teaching. In recent years it was the Jesus Seminar, with debate and voting on the authentic words of Jesus, a collection of words that was surprizingly small.

And I would like to think that Peter was anticipating this very debate about the life and meaning of Jesus when he preemptively gives his version of what he would have us take away:

“He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one whom God appointed as judge of the living and the dead. All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”

Suddenly we’re transported back to the baptism of Jesus: John’s baptism—a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. Jesus is anointed with the Holy Spirit and power to do good and draw people to himself: to judge the living and the dead, which for Jesus means to be an agent of forgiveness in an often unforgiving world.

It might be time for another tweet length quote—echoing Peter—this one from theologian William Countryman: “What God says to you in Jesus is this: You are forgiven. Nothing more. Nothing less. This is the message Jesus spoke and lived.”

And here we can begin to put together everything we have heard this morning, and once again it is Peter who holds the key:

“We are witnesses of everything he did in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They killed him by hanging him on a cross, but God raised him from the dead on the third day and caused him to be seen.”

Only a forgiving God would experience betrayal and death and then return to eat and drink with his friends. Only a forgiving God would greet them on the beach and serve them a meal of grilled fish and some bread. Only a forgiving God would reassure them in the midst of their doubts and fears, and only a forgiving God would send out the very people who fled his side to share his message with the whole world.

May God bless us with this message of new life, that forgiven, we are sent forth to share the news that Jesus is Lord of all. Amen.

posted by michael jacob kooiman @ 7:04 PM