Magyar Egyház, 2010 (89. évfolyam, 1-4. szám)
2010-07-01 / 3. szám
4. oldal MAGYAR EGYHÁZ Water, Blood, and Spirit testifying to death and resurrection At Christ’s baptism in the Jordan, the Father’s voice declared Jesus to be his beloved Son, and the Spirit testified to his messianic identity, evén as Jesus got in the water with sinners and set out on his saving mission. The Baptizer who pointed to Jesus declared; “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” “This is He who came by water and blood-Jesus Christ; not by the water only but by the water and the blood.” (1 John 5:1-8) Here we find “The Spirit and the Water and the Blood” also testifying to Christ. Our text may seem a little puzzling, but when we take a closer look at it, we'll see how it really makes sense, and indeed makes absolutely clear the beating heart of our faith and salvation. The passage is 1 John 5:6-8, as follows: “This is he who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ; not by the water only but by the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the one who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. For there are three that testify: the Spirit and the water and the blood; and these three agree.” “The Spirit and the Water and the Blood”: Now what in the world is John talking about here? And what does it have to do with us? Well, it has everything to do with us, because it is all about Jesus. And without Jesus-without the right Jesus, that is--' we have no faith or salvation or life to speak of. This passage has everything to do with who Jesus really is, contrary to any errors that were circulating back then or errors that are circulating in our day. This passage has to do with who Jesus is for us. If you don’t got this Jesus, you don’t got anthing! The Spirit, the water, and the blood—these three testify to who Jesus really is. In verse 1, John writes: “Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been bom of God.” “That Jesus is the Chrisf’-file that away. And then in verse 5: “Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” “That Jesus is the Son of God.” So John here is saying that the true child of God, who overcomes the world, is the person who believes these two things about Jesus: a) that Jesus is the Christ, and b) that Jesus is the Son of God. This fits very well with what John wrote at the end of his gospel, doesn’t it? “These are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, änd that by believing you may have life in his name.” You see, this is no arcane esoterica, this is no trivial unimportant matter, what you believe about Jesus. By no means. Who Jesus is, the person of Christ, is a matter of life or death for you-etemal life or death. And it’s not just what you believe “about” Jesus, in some detached impersonal way. It’s that you believe “in” Jesus, that you trust in him, and precisely as he really is, that is, that Jesus is the Christ and that he is the Son of God. That’s the only Jesus who can save you. What John writes in our text about the Spirit and the water and the blood would especially go against the heresies, the false teachings, at the time of the early church. One of the heretics, Cerinthus represented Jesus as "having not been bom of a virgin, but as being the son of Joseph and Mary according to the ordinary course of human generation, while he nevertheless was more righteous, prudent, and wise than other men. Moreover, after his baptism, Christ descended upon him in the form of a dove from the Supreme Ruler, and that then he proclaimed the unknown Father, and performed miracles. But at last Christ departed from Jesus, and that then Jesus suffered and rose again, while Christ remained impassible [e.i, incapable of suffering], inasmuch as he was a spiritual being." Such false teachings have been beguiling many people since then. People who do not believe that Jesus is the Christ in his person, who do not believe that Jesus is the eternal Son of God come from heaven, come in the flesh-those are contradicted: the Spirit and the water and the blood all testify against them. What John is saying when he writes: “This is he who came by water and blood-Jesus Christ; not by the water only but by the water and the blood.” “This is he,” namely, Jesus, the Christ, the Son of God, whom John has just been talking about. John testifies that Jesus is the Christ; he is the divine Messiah come from heaven. It wasn’t just that at his baptism the Christ came upon him for a while and then left. To be sure, at his baptism Jesus was publicly attested as the Messiah, and the Spirit did come upon him in the form of a dove. But the man Jesus and Christ the Lord is the same. Whether we like or not, it took the death of God’s only Son to pay the price for our sins and to rescue us from God’s judgment. We have to accept that this Jesus is, in fact, the very Son of God come in the flesh to be our Savior, and that it took his blood, shed on the cross, to take away our sin and win our salvation. Our big problem is sin, our own sin, which we cannot atone for or dig our way out of or rise above. Therefore the only remedy is the one that God provides for us in the person of his Son, Jesus Christ. And the Spirit, the water, and the blood all attest to this one great truth. And the Spirit—the Holy Spirit is testifying to this Jesus, the real Jesus, through the Epistle that John has written for us and through the preaching of that good news here and today. The Spirit is calling you today to trust in Jesus Christ, and in nothing else. The-water-and-the-blood Jesus, the one who went from his baptism in the Jordan to his death on the cross for sinners like you and me-that Jesus, and no one else, not some other Jesus who is just a good teacher or a moral example or a life coach. The-water-and-the-blood Jesus is the real Jesus, the only one who will save you. Trust in him; he is your Savior. Outside of him, apart from faith in him, there is no salvation. But in him, through faith in him, you are saved. “Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been bom of God.” You are God’s dearly loved child-taken as God’s own, washed clean in Christ, gifted with the Spirit, in the water of your baptism. You who believe in Jesus, the Son of God—you are the one who overcomes the world, with all its false teachings that would pull you apart from your Savior. You overcome by the blood of the Lamb, the same blood you receive here in the Sacrament for the forgiveness of sins. Because of the-water-and-the-blood Jesus, you have life now, and you have it forever. For this same Jesus Christ rose from the dead, in victory over sin and death, and now he shares his resurrection life with all those who trust in him. “For there are three that testify: the Spirit and the water and the blood; and these three agree.” Let our heart agree to this as well. Amen. Rev. Dr. Eva Lukacsi, Miami, FL
