Mid-Week Lenten Vespers, 2019
Pastor Gregory L. Jackson
Bethany Lutheran Worship, 7 PM Central Daylight Savings Time
The Hymn #523 Why Should Cross and Trial Grieve Me
The Order of Vespers p. 41
The Psalmody Psalm 24 p. 128
The Lections The Passion History
The Lections The Passion History
The Sermon – I Baptize with Water, But...
The Prayers
The Lord’s Prayer
The Collect for Grace p. 45
The Hymn #554 Now Rest Beneath Night's Shadows
The Hymn #554 Now Rest Beneath Night's Shadows
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| Norma A. Boeckler |
The Sermon – I Baptize with Water, But...
Mark 1
1 The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God;
2 As it is written in the prophets, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee.
3 The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.
4 John did baptize in the wilderness, and preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins.
5 And there went out unto him all the land of Judaea, and they of Jerusalem, and were all baptized of him in the river of Jordan, confessing their sins.
6 And John was clothed with camel's hair, and with a girdle of a skin about his loins; and he did eat locusts and wild honey;
7 And preached, saying, There cometh one mightier than I after me, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to stoop down and unloose.
8 I indeed have baptized you with water: but he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost.
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| Norma A. Boeckler |
Beginning of the Gospel
Mark's Gospel is not given as much attention because so much of it is found in Matthew and Luke. To quote Lenski on the general subject, There are many ingenious explanations but none are convincing.
This is deliberately a summary and doubtless useful, because the four Gospels are based on apostolic preaching. The eyewitnesses gave us the Gospels, and Mark is associated with Peter.
This Gospel starts with Jesus as the Christ and the Son of God. The beginning of Jesus' ministry is John the Baptist. When predictions are made and they begin to come true, that alerts an entire country, an entire region. People longed for the Savior promised in the Old Testament. Doubtless this was also a desire of many religions because their own pagan ideas were sterile and hopeless.
We know people gravitated toward Judaism because they could read the Old Testament in the universal language of the era (thank you, Alexander the Great). Imagine the Old Testament only in Hebrew and the New Testament only in Greek. How many would read both testaments today, with all our technology? Very few.
Therefore, those who read the prophesies of Isaiah knew the forerunner was coming to announce the Messiah. When this happened with John the Baptist, everyone was alerted and filled with hope. But the rulers were alarmed.
The importance of John can be seen in that he was put in prison and executed. Nothing proves the truth of God more than martyrdom. And this unleashed hope in the true Messiah, Jesus.
John's promise is very significant to remember. "I am baptizing you with water, but One is coming Who will baptize you with the Holy Spirit."
This signifies the preaching of God's Word by God's own Son. His teaching would be confirmed by its power, which people could feel, and also by the miracles He performed.
What do opponents say who want to reduce Jesus to an ordinary teacher? They claim His teaching is like any other rabbi, and they say His miracles were performed by other rabbis. They must mean the other rabbis did a little of that, but they are not known for turning water into wine, walking on water, feeding the multitudes, and raising the dead.
Since Jesus' teaching rested on faith in Him, His teaching was also far above what anyone else taught at the time.
This should always alert us, when people make comparisons that leave out major facts. Or they cite scholars against the Bible. Of course, every item in the Bible has been debated and criticized, so "scholars are divided" is perfectly true, though meaningless.
Jesus baptized with the Holy Spirit through the Word - truly the Word of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Its power on people's souls confirmed this, and the miracles seconded that confirmation.
This is the major difference with Jesus. He is not one more teacher of religion but the source of spiritual wisdom, forgiveness, and eternal life.
That means, no matter what we have experienced in life, or heard from various authorities, we have the freedom to hear from Jesus Himself and His apostles about the Truth. All we need is a good translation of the Bible and some reliable, faithful books.
I chuckled as I read Lenski's introductory material about the Gospel of Mark, because so many blabbermouths have written books since then, all full of fancy statements but little or no faith. Mark is not a museum object, but a priceless witness to the world.
If I want to show people the most important basics of Christianity, I give them John's Gospel. If I want to give them a summary of the four Gospels, I can give them Mark. (We will do a commentary later, God willing.)
What do people need to know? We need constant refreshment about Jesus as our Savior, the things He did, the grace He gives us through the Gospel.
There is no reason to despair, because all sins are forgiven through faith in Christ. We can picture how people flocked to Him. They were nobodies, poor, lame, sick, dying, often shunned. They were "open sinners," in other words - so obvious that there was no dispute. They were not like those who could hide their sins, the damaging sins of the heart - greed, coveting, pride, and hatred. So the secret sinners were outraged that Jesus welcomed the open sinners and ate with them. That was really the last straw.
But Jesus knew the hardened hearts of the secret sinners and condemned them.
It is always good to know that Jesus condemned lack of faith, and freely offered grace to those who repented and believed.
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| Norma A. Boeckler |
