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In his book entitled simply Prayers, Michel Quoist pens these words: “Lord, I would like to rise very high above my city, above my place, above my time.
Lord, I would like to borrow your eyes.”
There is a profound difference between the way things are seen through sinful eyes and the eyes of faith, or through the eyes of Jesus.
People tend to look at outward appearances as they form their opinions and values.
Generally, we are impressed by people who occupy positions of prestige and power.
Pomp and ceremony, wealth and possession also catch our eye.
Generally, we are impressed by people who occupy positions of prestige and power.
Pomp and ceremony, wealth and possession also catch our eye.
How different things and people look when we see them through heavenly eyes, from the high vantage point of God.
God seeks out the simple, the humble—things and people—to accomplish his purpose.
That was set before our eyes again this past Christmas season.
The way of the world is to celebrate in a noisy, glitzy, and glamorous fashion.
God’s way is so different!
A hymn says it well:
How different things and people look when we see them through heavenly eyes, from the high vantage point of God.
God seeks out the simple, the humble—things and people—to accomplish his purpose.
That was set before our eyes again this past Christmas season.
The way of the world is to celebrate in a noisy, glitzy, and glamorous fashion.
God’s way is so different!
A hymn says it well:
How silently, how silently the wondrous gift is given
But God imparts to human hearts the blessings of his heaven.
(LW 59, 60, stanza 3)
We are in the year 2020, a brand new year on the calendar.
And with the turning of the page on the calendar this New Year should remind us of the necessity of 2020 Vision.
You see, God is looking for a special kind of people that will make a difference for good in this world.
Where does he look?
Among the movers and shakers of the world?
The haughty, the high, and the mighty?
No. God has 2020 Vision Himself and He says, “But on this one will I look: On him who is poor and of a contrite spirit, and who trembles at My Word: ().
On this day, the Baptism of our Lord, It is my prayer that God will move through his Word today to give us 2020 Vision, Eyes to See from Heaven’s Perspective.
Jesus’ Journeys to the Jordan
Setting the scene: The area is not much to look at.
It is not impressive to human eyes.
It’s desert—bare and foreboding.
B. Naaman the leper’s response when told to go bathe seven times in the Jordan () illustrates human contempt for the muddy river.
Yet Jesus went out to be baptized in the Jordan.
To human eyes, Jesus didn’t look very impressive either.
Isaiah the prophet had said it: “He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him” (53:2).
His place of birth, Bethlehem, was unimpressive.
His home town was a humble place; could any good thing come out of Nazareth?
He came from a humble family; is not this the son of Joseph the carpenter?
Seen with human eyes, at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry there was nothing in him to impress people.
Naaman the leper’s response when told to go bathe seven times in the Jordan () illustrates human contempt for the muddy river.
Yet Jesus went out to be baptized in the Jordan.
To human eyes, Jesus didn’t look very impressive either.
Isaiah the prophet had said it: “He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him” (53:2).
His place of birth, Bethlehem, was unimpressive.
His home town was a humble place; could any good thing come out of Nazareth?
He came from a humble family; is not this the son of Joseph the carpenter?
Seen with human eyes, at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry there was nothing in him to impress people.
C. But John saw him with different eyes.
When Jesus requested Baptism, John tried to deter him.
Why? John was looking, first of all, at himself with a humble heart.
He said, “I am the one who needs to be baptized by you.”
John saw more than met the eye; he saw the Lamb of God who had come to take away the sin of the world ().
He saw the One for whom he had come to prepare the way.
He knew the One standing before him, asking to be baptized, was the One to come after him—the One who surpassed him ().
But John saw him with different eyes.
When Jesus requested Baptism, John tried to deter him.
Why? John was looking, first of all, at himself with a humble heart.
He said, “I am the one who needs to be baptized by you.”
John saw more than met the eye; he saw the Lamb of God who had come to take away the sin of the world ().
He saw the One for whom he had come to prepare the way.
He knew the One standing before him, asking to be baptized, was the One to come after him—the One who surpassed him ().
D. John did what Jesus requested.
One question looms large here.
Why did Jesus come to be baptized?
Why did the sinless One want to take part in a baptism for repentance and forgiveness of sins?
Jesus gives the answer: “It is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness” (v 15).
This also was part of God’s plan.
John saw it and did not argue with it.
He did what Jesus asked; he obeyed.
He used his hands to help God fulfill the plan.
What magnificent results were realized!
Heaven opened!
God gave John and Jesus eyes to see things that eyes do not usually see, and ears to hear things that ears do not usually hear.
“This is My beloved Son!” From that humble beginning, Jesus went to the task of his ministry: seeking and saving the lost.
John did what Jesus requested.
One question looms large here.
Why did Jesus come to be baptized?
Why did the sinless One want to take part in a baptism for repentance and forgiveness of sins?
Jesus gives the answer: “It is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness” (v 15).
This also was part of God’s plan.
John saw it and did not argue with it.
He did what Jesus asked; he obeyed.
He used his hands to help God fulfill the plan.
What magnificent results were realized!
Heaven opened!
God gave John and Jesus eyes to see things that eyes do not usually see, and ears to hear things that ears do not usually hear.
“This is My beloved Son!” From that humble beginning, Jesus went to the task of his ministry: seeking and saving the lost.
A Journey to Our Own Jordan
Our trip to the baptismal font.
Picture it: parents and sponsors standing there, and the pastor reading from The Occasional Service Book.
To human eyes this is such a simple, unimpressive thing.
From a human perspective we can understand the response of Naaman when he was told to bathe in the Jordan.
He was extremely angry.
He commented that there were better rivers in Syria ().
People wrestle with the meaning and purpose of baptism.
What good can be accomplished by such a simple act?
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