Fifth Sunday in Lent March 16-17, 2024
“Fully Immersed” Mark 10:32-45
Rev. John R. Larson Ascension Lutheran Church Littleton, Colorado
Years ago a fellow Pastor spoke to me about a baptism that he had performed on an adult. They had taken instruction in the teachings of the Christian church, and the Lutheran religion, and they were ready to be baptized.
But that new believer did not want to be baptized at his church. They insisted the baptism to be held at the local swimming pool. They knew the manner of baptism, whether sprinkling, splashing, dunking or immersing wasn’t specified in the Bible, but they wanted to be fully immersed. The picture of what they were leaving behind and what they were now entering was radical. They insisted on full immersion that day. Their family and friends and folks from the church got to watch this new believer, a Lutheran, receive baptism by full immersion.
Did you know that we are fully immersed in Jesus? Did you know that we are fully connected to Jesus? In our complete confidence in the work of Jesus for our salvation and in our daily life following Him we are fully immersed in Him. You can’t be a part-time Christian. Jesus said, “If any man would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it.” (Matthew 16:24-25) Likewise Jesus says, “Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.” (Matthew 10:37)
In our reading from Mark 10 Jesus had something to tell James and John. We read, “Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to him. ‘Teacher,’ they said, ‘we want you to do for us whatever we ask.’ ‘What do you want me to do for you?’ he asked. They replied, ‘Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory.’ ‘You don’t know what you are asking,’ Jesus said. ‘Can you drink the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?’ ‘We can,’ they answered. Jesus said, ‘You will the drink the cup I drink and be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with.’” (Verses 35-39)
To drink the cup that Jesus drank was to drink a cup of suffering and rejection and sorrow. Do you remember Jesus’ words in the Garden of Gethsemane? “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.” (Matthew 26:39) What is this baptism He would be baptized with? He was to be immersed with the sins of the world. John the Baptist would say of Jesus, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” (John 1:29) Paul would say, “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us.” (II Corinthians 5:21)
They, along with the other apostle’s were a long way from being able to drink that cup, or to be so fully immersed in God’s ways. James and John wanted to sit on his right and his left. Their pompous request, “We want you to do for us whatever we ask”, was a bit much for the other 10. When the 10 heard what was asked they were angered at James and John. There was always this fighting among the 12. On three different occasions the question was brought up, “Who is the greatest among us?” “Whose is loved the most?” “Who is most important?” Even on Holy Thursday, Maundy Thursday the day of the Passover, the night of the Lord’s Supper, when Jesus showed His humility by washing His disciple’s feet, they had the same argument.
They were fully immersed, no doubt about it. They were immersed in themselves.
What a contrast is made between where Jesus wanted His followers to be, the heart that He wanted them to have, who they were; and who He was. Jesus knew His purpose. He knew what He was about. Luke 9:51, a key verse in Luke’s biography of the life of Jesus says, “He set his face toward Jerusalem.” Our reading in Mark 12 says, “They were on their way to Jerusalem with Jesus leading the way, and the disciples were astonished, while those who followed were afraid.” (Note: They must have known Jerusalem was not a place friendly to Jesus.) “Again he took the Twelve aside and told them what was going to happen to him, ‘We are going to Jerusalem and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and hand him over to the Gentiles, who will mock him and spit on him, flog him and kill him. Three days later he will rise.’” (Mark 10:32-34)
When he asked James and John, “Can you drink the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?”, he was talking about that. He would be fully immersed for that purpose of paying the debt of all sin. He would say of His work, “The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Mark 10:45) Jesus doesn’t stick His toe in the water, no, He is all in. For us. For me. For you.
I believe He speaks about the kingdom where He is going to rule in glory as being the kingdom of His crucifixion. James and John say to Jesus, “Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory.” Jesus responds, “To sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared.” (Mark 10:40)
I’ve often thought the right and left in His glory must be in heaven. But now I’ve changed my thoughts. The whole context of His words is about suffering, death, crucifixion, drinking the cup of damnation. On the right? On the left? Who was on His right and left? The two thieves. Tradition says the names of those two guys are Dismas and Gestas. Jesus is all in. He is totally immersed. For you and me He has a purpose – to give us the fullness of life. He ruled in glory on that cross.
We must be fully immersed in God’s will for us. God’s will is that we would repent of sin. God’s will is that we would turn from those things that injure us and injure God’s rule in our lives. God’s will is that we would love our God more than anything else in this world. We are to be totally immersed in desiring that His will would be done in us every day. We are immersed in asking that God again would change us to treasure our Savior Jesus and to love those who God places in our life. Jesus told His followers in our verses, “Whoever wants to be great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all.” (Mark 10:43-44)
Isn’t it something that Jesus alludes to the gifts of Baptism and Holy Communion when He is speaking to James and John? How do we get totally immersed in God’s gifts to us? How about in receiving God’s bounty in the flood of your Baptism and receiving God’s feast in the meal of Christ’s body and blood? Scripture, ever true, says, “Don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may have a new life.” (Romans 6:3-4) It is just like Paul would say in Corinthians, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation, the old has gone, the new has come!” (II Corinthians 5:17)
We are immersed into the death of Jesus and brought to the fullness of life in the resurrection of Jesus in our Baptism. And then we come to the feast of our Lord in this meal. The body of Christ. The blood of Christ. For forgiveness. For strength. “Can you drink the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?” And looking for God’s answer given in Jesus we say, “We Must!!”
These days are the best days for a believer in Jesus. These are the days to be fully immersed in His grace and power. These are the days to be fully immersed in loving Him and following Him. Amen!!
