Study Questions

Luke 3:15-22

Happy Epiphany! Did you know that Epiphany used to be a bigger Christian holiday than Christmas? It’s true! The early church was less interested in the birth of Jesus than in the sudden realization that Jesus is the Son of God. That’s why this season’s preaching series is called “Illuminate.” We are focusing on the stories that help us catch the miraculous realization that Jesus Christ is God’s Son.

The two most famous Epiphany stories are the wise men visiting the Christ child and the baptism of Jesus. I love preaching on the wise men, but this year we are focusing on Jesus’ baptism. Please turn to the Gospel of Luke for his version of the story.

Luke 3:15-22

The people were waiting expectantly and were all wondering in their hearts if John might possibly be the Messiah. John answered them all, “I baptize you with water. But one who is more powerful than I will come, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. 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 barn, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” And with many other words John exhorted the people and proclaimed the good news to them. But when John rebuked Herod the tetrarch because of his marriage to Herodias, his brother’s wife, and all the other evil things he had done, Herod added this to them all: He locked John up in prison. 

When all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too. And as he was praying, heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”

The people were hoping that John the Baptist might be the Messiah. Messiah is a Hebrew word that means, “Anointed one.” The word “Messiah” suggests inheriting the royal throne of David. People expected the Messiah to be a conquering general with an intimate relationship with God.

John the Baptist was nothing like the conventional expectations for the Messiah (of course, neither was Jesus). John lived in the wilderness, he ate bugs and honey, and he dressed in the camel hair clothes of a prophet. Jesus says, “I tell you, among those born of women there is no one greater than John” (Luke 7:28).

John lends his authority to Jesus’ claim to be the true Messiah. John tells us that while he baptizes with water, the coming Savior will baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire.

1. What do you think John meant when he said that Jesus would baptize with Holy Spirit and fire?

Some say that John was prophesying about the miracle of Pentecost. Remember how the Holy Spirit came to Jerusalem? “They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.” (Acts 2:3)

That’s certainly a good scriptural connection, but most scholars believe that John is speaking about the refiner’s fire that purifies silver and gold from dross. I’m inclined to agree. John is likely saying that he cleans with water, but the coming Messiah will clean with fire.

I’ve done a lot of cleaning with water. Babies need baths. Clothes need soaking. Dishes need rinsing. Floors need scrubbing. Water cleans well enough, but eventually babies, clothes, dishes, and floors all need to be washed again.

I’ve only done a little cleaning with fire. I did some welding in high school. I’ve done some minor plumbing repairs with a propane torch. Playing with fire scares me. Fire is permanent and dangerous. I once had a neighbor who burned the brush on her property every year. It was certainly effective, but her next-door neighbors begged and pleaded for her to knock it off because she kept risking their homes.

Both water and fire separate. The Jordan River is 156 miles long. Just for perspective, the Skagit River is almost exactly the same length (approximately 150 miles). These days, the Jordan River is a natural boundary line between Israel and the Kingdom of Jordan. John the Baptist led the people of Israel back to the Jordan River to symbolically re-enter the land. John was offering God’s people a mulligan, a do-over so they could get it right this time.

Ask a firefighter if flames separate. House fires separate families. Forest fires cut off entire communities. Both water and fire separate people. John is saying that the Gospel message brings forgiveness, but it also separates. John wants people to make a decision to follow the coming Messiah.

1. How have you seen the Gospel separate families?
2. How should the church simultaneously welcome sinners, strangers, and outsiders while acknowledging that not everybody will choose to be on our side of the divide?
3. Take a moment to pray for people in your life who need God’s grace and truth.

John says that he’s not worthy to untie the sandal straps of the coming Messiah. In that world, slaves were responsible for removing sandals and washing feet. It was such a humble task, that Hebrew slaves were exempt from the menial job. John is saying that he is as lowly as foreign slave compared to Jesus.

1. Why do you think that Jesus the Messiah submitted to baptism from lowly John?
2. John’s baptism was for the repentance of sin. Jesus was without sin. By his own admission, John the Baptist was unworthy of anointing his cousin Jesus. What is going on here?

The first Christians affirmed that Jesus was sinless while emphasizing the importance of Christ’s baptism. Ignatius (35-108) was a disciple of the Apostle John and consecrated by the Apostle Peter as Bishop of Antioch. He was a great leader in the second generation of the Christian church. Ignatius said, “The reason why [Jesus] was born and baptized, was that he would purify the water by means of his passion.”

Maximus of Turin (380-423?) was a great preacher in the early church. He asked, “What sort of baptism is this, when the one who is dipped is purer than the font, and where the water that soaks the one whom it has received is not dirtied but honored with blessings?” Answering his own question, Maximus preached, “Since the Savior plunged into the waters, he sanctified the outpouring of every flood and the course of every stream by the mystery of his baptism.”

What we can learn from the early church is that Christ has sanctified the baptismal font for all believers. It’s not just the Jordan River that was made clean. All waters have been purified by the sacrifice of Jesus. We come forward to the baptismal font with sincere repentance, but it is the work of the Holy Spirit and Christ’s “fire” that sanctifies our lives.

1. How has God changed you throughout your life?
2. How is God still changing you to better resemble Christ the Lord?

The Holy Spirit came on Jesus like a dove. No one knows exactly what this means. Some people look back to the Spirit moving above the waters of creation and the dove in the story of Noah. That’s fine and good, but there really is no parallel description of the Holy Spirit manifesting himself as a dove. Like the description of “tongues of fire” in Acts 2, the Bible sometimes uses poetic language to describe mysteries to wonderful to express in simple prose. The dove has become a symbol of the Holy Spirit and peace because of Jesus’ baptism.

God declares to Jesus, “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.” As if the Christmas story left us any doubt, God speaks from heaven to endorse Jesus as the Son of God. This is not the adoption of a morally pure person. This is the coronation of Jesus the Messiah, fully God and fully human. Let those who are paying attention get the profound epiphany: Jesus is the divine and human Savior of the world.

1. What epiphanies are stirring in you right now?
2. Pray that God will open your hearts and minds for his illuminating Spirit this Epiphany season.