As we recover from Hurricane Sandy, it was good to return to a more normal routine including Book of Faith. Everyone in the group has their power restored and we resumed our exploration of Luke. Jesus has entered Jerusalem for the final week leading to the cross. In the text, we found him clearing the temple of the sellers, which is a well known story. The group found that Luke's account was so different than their memory of the events. Luke is much shorter than Mark and not as detailed as John. In John, we have an angry Jesus who makes a whip of cords and overturns the tables of the money changers. John also has the cleansing of the temple at the beginning of Jesus' public ministry rather that at the end. In Luke and Mark, the cleansing of the temple sets in motion the reaction from the Sanhedrin. They have to deal with Jesus. In John, the raising of Lazarus has the same affect. In both cases, the Sanhedrin has to make a decision about Jesus. He forces their hand. They cannot sit safely on the fence. This becomes apparent in opening of chapter 20 in Luke. They want to give Jesus enough rope to hang himself. They ask by what authority is he acting. Jesus turns the question around and asks them by what authority did John baptize. He knows the chief priests and elders are caught. If they say John received his authority from God, the question is why didn't they follow him. If they say John received his authority from men, then the people would rise against them. The chief priests and elders play it safe and do not answer and so Jesus will not answer their question. Again, Jesus is pushing them to make a choice. He is forcing their hand to take action. Jesus knows the game he is playing will lead to his death. He knows they will choose against him in the end. Jesus is a victim, but he is not innocent as though he did not see the rejection of the authorities coming. Jesus was setting their rejection in motion beginning with his cleansing of the temple.
The rest of the time was spent in a conversation about baptism. The group was surprised that baptism was a part of Judaism. People outside the Jewish faith are baptized into the community. John the Baptist would change the understanding of baptism by insisting that his own people be baptized, not just for ritual cleaning, but for the forgiveness of sins. John also recognized that a different kind of baptism was coming. Jesus becomes the occasion for this new baptism, but Jesus did not baptize anyone though he instructs his disciples to go out and make disciples of all people baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The question is the group was whether these were Jesus' words or were they the words of the early church placed on the lips of Jesus? It was also noted that Paul rarely baptized people and says that he did not come to baptize but to proclaim the Gospel. This raised some interesting questions about baptism. What is the history of baptism? When did baptism become a central act in the life of the church? When did infant baptism begin? Is the requirement of baptism counter to the gift of grace as declared by Paul? Is baptism needed for salvation? We will be exploring these question at our next class. Please join us on Wednesday at noon to be part of the conversation or continue to follow this blog. Your feedback is always welcome.
Peace,
Pastor Summer
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