Message

Luke 3:16-22 (The Message)

But John intervened: "I'm baptizing you here in the river. The main character in this drama, to whom I'm a mere stagehand, will ignite the kingdom life, a fire, the Holy Spirit within you, changing you from the inside out. He's going to clean house—make a clean sweep of your lives. He'll place everything true in its proper place before God; everything false he'll put out with the trash to be burned."

There was a lot more of this—words that gave strength to the people, words that put heart in them. The Message! But Herod, the ruler, stung by John's rebuke in the matter of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife, capped his long string of evil deeds with this outrage: He put John in jail.

After all the people were baptized, Jesus was baptized. As he was praying, the sky opened up and the Holy Spirit, like a dove descending, came down on him. And along with the Spirit, a voice: "You are my Son, chosen and marked by my love, pride of my life."

"The Message," puts "heart" in people.

What a great thing that is to hear.

When John preached at the river, there were two great propositions at work:

1 - Your life is not yet what it could be.

2 - Hope and help is on its way.

Those two pieces of "the message" have to go hand in hand.

Our world today is full of loud voices that scream out about the problems. Much rarer are those voices that also offer answers, hopeful ways forward.

John's message was pointed, powerful and challenging to those in power and vested in maintaining the status quo.

He was arrested for speaking out and calling for change. But the change could not be stopped. The groundswell of belief and hope that his preaching began was encapsulated in an ultimate baptism.

As Jesus was baptized, and prayed in the Jordan, the dove flew down upon him...and the proclamation resounded: "You are my son..."

Challenge, plus hope. Consciousness, plus movement.

This is the picture of salvation and sanctification that is the path for every Jesus-follower...being made right, then being made holy.

It is "the message," that "puts heart in people." May we bear that message forward in every way today.

Prayer: We pray for challenge, and hope. Make us aware of our need for repentance and redemption, and lead us by your Spirit into sanctification...holiness of heart and life.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be. World without end. Amen.

Tomorrow's Scripture: Luke 4:1-13