Acts 10:34-38 Pastor Nathan P. Kassulke
First Sunday after Epiphany—Baptism of Our Lord Sunday, January 15, 2023 “The Anointed One Brings Peace”
“…and give you peace.” If you have been here many times, you have almost undoubtedly heard those words many times. They are the last words that I or one of your other pastors speaks in the Liturgy, the order of Divine Service. Your worship folder notes that those words have been spoken over God’s people in worship for centuries, going back even before the Church of God knew the name of Jesus Christ. And peace really is an amazing word on which to end our spoken Liturgy because that single word perhaps more than any other grasps what is so amazing about the message that runs through that entire service. And that word, peace, is likewise appropriate for today because it so neatly summarizes the message of this particular Sunday of the Church Year. There are many interesting and amazing things for us to consider as we recall how Jesus went to the Jordan River and how he was baptized by the man who baptized so many that he has the title the Baptist, but nothing is more interesting or more amazing than this message: The Anointed One Brings Peace. The words of our text are words spoken by Peter as recorded in Acts chapter 10. We have in front of us just verses 34-38, but we’ll hear much more about the context of these words as we consider them. Peter says more than just these words on this particular occasion, but when he starts explaining to people the things that God wants them to know, Peter begins not only talking about Jesus but specifically talking about his baptism. Peter talks about the baptism that John preached. He describes Jesus’ baptism this way: God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. Prophets, priests, and kings were all anointed in the Old Testament. They had oil poured over their heads indicating that they had been selected for a particular role. When Jesus was baptized, that was an anointing. Jesus was about to begin his public ministry. He was done with the quiet life that came before that the Bible tells us so precious little about. He was indeed appearing as the theme of our worship series suggests. He was putting himself out in front for teaching and instructing and performing miracles and so much more. And it all began with his baptism by John’s hand. Jesus was not anointed with oil. He was baptized with water. He was anointed with the Holy Spirit. Matthew’s Gospel described for us the Holy Spirit descending like a dove. And Jesus was anointed with the Holy Spirit’s power. That may sound surprising. That may sound a little strange. After all, Jesus is God. We just spoke weeks ago about how even as a tiny infant in Bethlehem Jesus was also the true, eternal, and all-powerful God. That remains true, but in the God-man Jesus Christ in his earthly ministry, God had humbled himself. He was living as a human being. He was under the law and under restrictions and confined in ways that had never been intended for God. He was not making the use of or putting on display the power and the glory that was his as God. Instead, in our place, he was relying on the power of the Holy Spirit and in that power, he was built up for the work that he was doing. And how succinctly that work is summed up here: He went around doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the Devil, because God was with him. We are going to continue to hear more about Jesus and his ministry throughout our Church Year. We are going to focus on accounts of him healing and doing other miracles and calling disciples and teaching the people. Come back week after week and hear some of these amazing events. And yes, some of what Jesus did was to cast out demons who were possessing people and keeping them under their demonic control. Jesus helped them by releasing them from this possession, but his work means more than just that. Jesus helped out all who were oppressed by the devil. And that includes us. Oppressed by the devil is an accurate description of where we have been, and unfortunately where we too often are. We are born in sin, not on God’s team, but as his enemies. And even now, you know what it looks like to be oppressed by the devil. It means that his crafty temptations keep worming their ways into our ears and into our hearts and convincing us to do what no child of God ought to do. And the devil keeps whispering to us the lie that if there is anything to do or to be done about our situation, we need to do it ourselves. If there is anything to be fixed about our lives, it is up to us to fix it. But where is peace in that? Where is peace in continually striving to do enough or be enough? Where is the peace in knowing what I have done wrong in the past and hoping and wondering whether I have possibly done enough to make up for it? That is no peace at all.