Therefore Water

Therefore you will joyously draw water
From the springs of salvation.

Baptism into Christ Jesus completely and forever changes your state of being in the presence of God. Where once you were an enemy, you are now His child. When once you were unclean, you are now cleansed. Where once there was only sin, now there is forgiveness of sin. Where once there was only death, now there is eternal life.

How is this so? Because there is salvation in these waters. There is salvation in these waters because Christ Jesus is bound to them not only through His own baptism in the Jordan, at which time the heavens were opened, but also through His baptism in becoming sin. He Who knew no sin became sin. Your Father in heaven saw to it that the springs of salvation would be joyously drawn and poured over you.

Yes. From the time those waters of salvation were drawn and poured over your whole person, body, soul, and spirit, your state of being has been that of a child of God. That is why, as you traverse your days in this condition, matters of sin and death are of grave concern to you; that as you walk through the valley of the shadow of death you are comforted; that the still waters drawn from the spring of Salvation bring joy in the face of adversity; comfort in times of trouble.

Baptism cannot be reversed, but it can be forgotten. And yet, here you are in the presence of God’s Word, whereby He brings these things to your remembrance, for it is important that this gift of being joined to Christ Jesus in His death and resurrection, of being covered in His perfect righteousness, be an ever present source of joy and strength, an unchanging and unchangeable state of being because God is gracious toward you, not wanting you to perish but to have everlasting life.

Whenever a baptism into Christ Jesus takes place there is joy both in heaven and on earth, for it is by this means that God the Father snatches poor sinners out of the jaws of death, placing them into Jesus who has already died your death and now lives and rules to all eternity for you. The water is drawn joyously. It is poured over you abundantly, and it is declared to you simply, elegantly, and in all truth. You name is now God's name. Your life is now hidden in Christ Jesus.

No, there may not be a lot of amazing feelings, or even a lots of amazing tricks, tips, feats, and outward wonders, but where the waters of Holy Baptism are drawn and applied, the full gifts of all that belong to Christ and His church are freely given without prior expectations on your part, for no dead person ever brought himself to life. It is the work of God, since He has raised Christ Jesus from the dead, also to bring you who were dead to life.

Without question you have a battle on your hands on this account, but it is not yours to fight by your own reason or strength. Rather, Christ is at work in you to will and to do His good pleasure, tenderly drawing you forward in love, able to sympathize with your weakness, for He has born them in His own body unto death. Yet He lives. In you.

Not all the water in the world - of which there is great abundance and which is a gracious provision for bodily needs and beauty - but the water drawn from the springs of salvation. The water comprehended in and connected with the Word and promises of God, Who does not lie but is faithful. That is the water joyously drawn from the springs of salvation with which you are baptized.

(The Fourth Sunday in Lent; Ruth Eleanor Osbun) + + +

Flesh and Blood Still Matter

Both Adam and Christ are real flesh and blood. God deals with you bodily and there will be a resurrection of the body. The Holy Spirit, together with the Father and Christ Jesus (for they are One), sanctifies body and soul, visible and invisible.

There is no need to create some kind of dichotomy between the two (or three as some would state it, body, soul, and spirit). God is, and deals with, all of it out of love because He is and always will be love. Sacrificial love. Love with true and real flesh and blood.

If the flesh were inherently bad, then why was it created in the first place, and why did Christ Himself take it upon Himself to suffer and die in the flesh for our sins? How is the forgiveness of sin and righteousness of Christ going to be delivered into our bodies without bodily hearing, washing, and yes, eating?

The lives we are given to live in Christ are lived with our bodies as well, for they are now given to love and serve our neighbor, not merely with spiritual thoughts, but in deeds done with our bodies of flesh and blood.

No, it is not the act of eating the body of Christ that makes us righteous. His life and body have been given up for us, raised up for us, and are now delivered to us both by hearing, by washing of baptism, and by supper, each of which have been specifically established to strengthen and encourage you who walk in the valley of the shadow of death. His disciples are not only cordially invited, but urged to receive these gifts.

God does not deal with us in flim-flam, think-it-up, self-help ways. Never has. Never will. He deals with us by making known His mercies from of old and delivering them wholly and completely into our entire being.

The Kingdom of heaven is often described as a feast. But you, like the disciples take offense at what Christ says of Himself, His flesh, His body.

“See My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself; touch Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.”

“Jesus said to them, ‘Come and have breakfast.’ None of the disciples ventured to question Him, ‘Who are You?’ knowing that it was the Lord. Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and the fish likewise. This is now the third time that Jesus was manifested to the disciples, after He was raised from the dead.”

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Flesh and Bood Matter

The Holy Spirit Who dwells in us testifies to us that, in His body of flesh and blood, Christ Jesus laid down His life and took it up again, not for His own sake, but for ours, who through fear of death have been subject to slavery all our lives. He has not divested Himself of flesh and blood, but retains it, for when the first Adam was made in the image of God, he was made of true flesh and blood, and given the Spirit of God as well. It is a "package deal," as it were, and encompasses all of creation. God loves and blesses it all.

"Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives. For assuredly He does not give help to angels, but He gives help to the descendant of Abraham." (Hebrews 2:14-15, NASB)

Christ Jesus is the True Manna from heaven, whose body is given into death and raised up, but not before He, as God incarnate, institutes a way whereby we may eat and drink of this salvation, for He desires to impart His life into our bodies and souls unto life everlasting. Many take offense at this, but it stands nevertheless.

It is the true body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ under the bread and wine, instituted by Christ Himself for us Christians to eat and to drink.

O LORD Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, who for our sakes was crucified for our sins and raised up for our justification, grant Your Holy Spirit to your Church and Her pastors in order that, as we contemplate Your Passion, we may receive the benefits obtained through Your innocent sufferings and death and resurrection from the dead, for You live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, now and forever. Amen.
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