The Voice

As the people were filled with expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah, John answered all of them by saying, “I baptize you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.” So, with many other exhortations, he proclaimed the good news to the people. But Herod the ruler, who had been rebuked by him because of Herodias, his brother’s wife, and because of all the evil things that Herod had done, added to them all by shutting up John in prison. Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”

Introduction

Our second Sunday of Times of the Signs, our series on miracles. Today we have what is known as a theophany. This is appropriate for the season of Epiphany as well because a theophany is a manifestation of God. Since God is totally other humans are incapable of grasping God’s greatness and majesty. The only way we can know anything at all of God is if God reveals God’s self. A theophany then is a manifestation of God so that we can know God and God’s will better. The voice and the dove are theophanies, they are miracles. Others would be the transfiguration when the cloud overshadows Jesus on the mount. Others from the Old Testament would be the burning bush or the appearances of supernatural beings called “the Angel of the Lord.

The story of the baptism of Jesus is told in all 4 gospels each a little differently.However, this indicates that this event was very important to each of the communities to which the authors of the gospels were writing.

Also, it seems obvious that there was some question is John the Baptist was the messiah. As you can see here, John had to put that question to rest. We are not going to spend much time on this part of the scripture. Suffice it to say that John did put to rest any conjecture that he was the messiah. He tells the crowds that one is coming that he is not worthy to polish his shoes, so to speak!

In fact when Luke writes:

Luke 3:19–20 NRSV

But Herod the ruler, who had been rebuked by him because of Herodias, his brother’s wife, and because of all the evil things that Herod had done, added to them all by shutting up John in prison.

Luke 33:19-20

John the Baptist Ministry ends and Jesus’ ministry begins

Luke

Knead The Text

We are going to look closely at the events surrounding the baptism of Jesus. Notice that Luke does not describe the actual baptism. He describes the events after the Baptism. This is one of the big differences in Luke from the way Mark and Matthew tell the story.

Luke says

Luke

Luke 3:21 NRSV

Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened,

The church Fathers were somewhat uncertain about Jesus baptism. Why they asked, If John’s Baptism was one of repentance, did Jesus get baptized. If Jesus was without sin, what did he need to repent of? Luke answers this question somewhat by making the point that Jesus was baptized with all the people. This the sins of the people are vicariously associated with Jesus. he is literally with all the people in his baptism just as he died for all the people in his death. This also demonstrates that baptism is a communal event of God’s, not a solo show.

Luke makes a point that after the baptism Jesus was praying and heaven opened. This is different from Matthew and Mark in that the heaven opening the dove and the voice took place while he was still in the water and everyone witnessed it. However, Luke seems to say that the heaven opening, the dove descending, and God speaking were witnessed only by Jesus. And this occured only after Jesus had prayed.

Once again our question here is NOT who’s version is historically accurate. The question is why did Luke or Mark or Matthew or John tell it they way they did. In fact the baptism is not in John at all. In John John the Baptist talks about how he witnessed the heavens opening and the spirit descending on him like a dove well after the fact.

Luke does several things here:

He shows Jesus solidarity with the people as the reason for the baptism, not repentence

Throughout Luke Jesus is shown as a person of prayer and it starts here with his baptism. God is manifested to Jesus through prayer. This makes the point of how importnat prayer is in the life of a believer. In Acts Luke will make the point of how important prayer is in the life of the community. (We will be emphasizing prayer starting in lent and through the rest of 2019. it will be an area of emphasis for us. In fact we have a team of people praying about pur praying!

As one commentator writes this was Jesus commissioning by God for his ministry. This is not Jesus suddenly realizing he was the Son of God, or God sending his divinity down upon Jesus. No from conception Jesus is God incarnate. :

35 The angel said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God

4 . Jesus accepts his messianic commission at his baptism

5. The heaven opening, the dove descending, The voice proclaiming, all demonstrate that heaven has come to earth in Jesus. it is a sign that God’s rule on earth has begun, the Kingdom has come. All the things Gabriel told Mary in Chapter One have come true!

Heed The text

Now, what does this mean for us? There is a lot here. We could talk about baptisms which is probably happening in most pulpits today. There will be a lot of churches remebering baptisms today, but we did that late last year. Our emphasis over the next several weeks are miracles. Today we have 3. heaven opening, dove descending, God speaking. Frankly, God speaking is heaven opening and dove descending. We have a picture of the trinity here: Jesus , the Spirit, and God the Father.

Have you ever heard God’s voice? I always think about this . . .

Video

Moses says God revealed his will to his mind. Now I am not saying that God cannot speak audibly. I know people that have heard God speak this way, they heard him. But more often than not he speaks to us indirectly. he can speak through his word, which is where I hear him most often. He can speak through others. He can speak through art, drama, or music. He can speak through nature. All of this is miraculous, all of this heaven opening, all of this is bought to us buy the Holy Spirit.

Problem is we don’t listen! We spend way too much time talking. We have a manifestation of God available to us if we will but listen. I try to listen every day, but every Thursday my prayer time is not talking but listening.

You know what the sincerest form of flattery is? Listening! All of us have trouble with it. We are preoccupied with our thoughts, or when in conversation we are thinking about what we are goin to say next, or we assume what someone is trying to communicate instead of asking appropriate questions. This means that it is appropriate to ask God questions. You want always get an answer and sometimes you might have wished you hadn’t asked.

Maybe you can see now why prayer is linked to God’s voice. Can you imagine what our marriages would be like if we never engaged our spouse in conversation, that is all our conversations were one way with you doing all the talking. That is a marriage or relationship headed for trouble. The majority of time when I am asked to counsel with a couple the trouble is resulting from one of the other partners not validating the others needs and emotions. How can you validate someone’s needs are emotions when you do not listen? You can’t.

God will speak to you. Remember Elijah

1 Kings 19:11–13 NRSV

He said, “Go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.” Now there was a great wind, so strong that it was splitting mountains and breaking rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of sheer silence. When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. Then there came a voice to him that said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

1 Kings 19:11-

God’s voice came out of the sound of sheer silence, I guess when we think we here nothing in silence we are actually hearing silence.

I have a pastor friend, a second career pastor like me. He was an Atlanta cop and detective for over 30 years. When he was in his late twenties, the father of two small children he moonlighted as a bank guard in the evenings. One evening that bank was robbed. The robbers were walking inside the bank making sure no one was armed. When they came to him, he began to pray that if he was to die that God would take care of his wife and children. He was not a believer, he did not attend church, but all he knew to do was pray. About that time one of the robbers stuck a shotgun to his head and said "Hey, I gotta Cop over here what do we do." "Kill him the other said." At that time, my friend heard an audible voice say, “if you ask me I'll save you too.” He begin to pray for his life. As he prayed he suddenly realized the robbers were gone. Both of them. They left without the money they had come to steal. No one knows what caused them to leave.