Mark 1:9-11 - Homiletics

The baptism of Christ.

As this evangelist commences his treatise with what he terms "the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ," it is natural that our Lord should first be introduced by him as devoted to his ministry of benevolence in the rite of baptism; for this incident in our Saviour's life is justly held to have inaugurated his public work. What a hold the event has taken upon the Christian mind may be seen from the vast number of pictures in which the religious artists of all Christian countries have depicted the baptism. A striking scene for a painter, and a delightful theme for the preacher!

I. The baptism of our Saviour exhibits HIS RELATION TO THE FORERUNNER . The ministry of the herald preceded that of the King. Jesus was yet in the seclusion of Nazareth when John was attracting multitudes of all classes, and from all parts of the land, to his teaching and baptism in the Jordan valley. When Jesus came to John it seemed, to ordinary judgments, that the less came to the greater, the obscure to the famous. But it was not so. To all around the relation between the two was unknown. Nevertheless, to the two it was clear enough. The forerunner knew that his mission was temporary and introductory, and that "the coming One" should eclipse his light as the sun extinguishes the bright morning star. Hence the reluctance of the Baptist to do anything which might seem to militate against the just dimity of the Being in whom he recognized the Messiah. "I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me?" This was the Person whose shoe's latchet he had declared himself unworthy to unloose. A slave would untie the thong of his master's sandals and bear them in his hand; John deemed even such an office too honorable for himself to discharge for the anointed King of mankind. It was not only in the presence of Jesus that John felt thus; the constant conviction of his mind was this, "I must decrease, but he must increase." But the witness was not all on one side. Jesus also bore testimony to John. In the very act of submitting to the baptism of the prophet, he acknowledged that prophet's greatness and ratified his claims. And he, in express words, testified to John's unique position, as predicted by the ancient prophets, and of the man himself and his character and work declared, "Of men born of women there hath not arisen a greater than John the Baptist."

II. The baptism of our Saviour exhibits his relation to the human race. There seems to be no way of explaining and justifying this historical fact except by admitting that Jesus was specially the representative man. In endeavoring to explain, to account for, the baptism of our Divine Saviour, we are met with a serious difficulty. The baptism of John was unto repentance and with a view to the remission of sins. Men came, and were invited to come, to receive the symbol of a cleansing which, being spiritual, could only be wrought by a spiritual process. The publicans, harlots, and soldiers, whose conscience accused them of sin, in coming to John's baptism, confessed their wrong doing and ill desert, and professed their desire, by repentance and reformation, to escape from the trammels of evil and to live a holier life. They were warned that mere feeling, mere conformity, mere profession, mere water baptism, were all insufficient, and, if alone, worthless; and they were directed to bring forth fruit meet for repentance. Now, in the case of such persons, and, we may add, in the case of all the members of a sinful, guilty, race, a moral purification was and is indispensably necessary. But what reason, what appropriateness, what meaning, could there be in the reception of a baptism such as this by the sinless Saviour of the world, the holy and faultless and beloved Son of God? What need had he to confess and to ask pardon for sin? He had no sin to confess, no repentance to work out. If he required no spiritual purifying, to what purpose should he undergo the rite of lustration? The only answer seems to be that Jesus did this, not as a personal, but as an official and representative act. The circumstances of Christ's life and death are not to be understood unless we bear in mind that he acted and suffered as the second Adam, as the federal head and representative of humanity, as the Son of man. So regarded, we can to some extent understand the answer of our Lord to the remonstrance of the baptizer. It became him, as our Mediator, "to fulfill all righteousness." He had mixed with the sinful population; he was to live among and to minister unto the victims of sin; he was to be betrayed into the hand of sinners; he was to be numbered, in his death, with the transgressors; he was, in a word, made sin for us, though he knew no sin. As, then, he had in infancy been circumcised , though there was no sinful nature to be put away; as he was to be put to death as a malefactor, though no fault was found in him; so he was baptized, though he had personally no need of purification, no sins to wash away. He was our Representative in his birth and ministry, in his death and burial, and, none the less, in his baptism by John in Jordan.

III. The baptism of our Saviour exhibits HIS RELATION TO THE DIVINE FATHER . At the commencement of the ministry of Jesus it was appropriate that an attestation of his mission should be given from above—not only for his own sake, but rather for the sake, first of John, and then of those to whom in consequence John should bear witness. Thus the forerunner was able to declare, "I have seen, and have borne witness that this is the Son of God." There were probably no spectators of our Lord's baptism, and we are indebted to John himself for the record of what happened and of what became the accepted tradition among the early Christians.

1 . Observe what was seen. It was as Jesus went up out of the river, and whilst he was praying, that the marvellous sign was given. The heavens were rent asunder and opened, indicating the interest taken in the Redeemer's career by the great God of heaven himself, and the Spirit, in the form and with the swift, gentle, hovering movement of a dove, descendes upon Jesus. How beautiful an emblem of the Divine power of the ministry which was thus inaugurated, and solemnly, sacredly blessed from above! Surely it is significant that Christ should be represented as the Lamb of God, and the Holy Spirit as the Dove from heaven. A lesson as to the gentleness and grace characteristic of Christ's gospel.

2 . Observe, further, what was heard. Language proceeded from the opened heavens, indicative of the Divine approval and complacency. Notice

APPLICATION.

1 . Learn hence the Divine dignity of Emmanuel.

2 . And, at the same time, his humility and condescension.

3 . Let this marvellous combination of all mediatorial qualifications in the person of Christ encourage your faith in him and your devotion to his cause.