Mark 16:15-20
[Jesus] said to them, "Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up serpents with their hands; and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover." So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God. And they went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by accompanying signs.(ESV)
Limp Serpent
St. Barnabas, Apostle
11 June 2010
The Easter triumph includes the defeat of the enemy, Satan. Christ by his death destroyed him who holds the power of death--that is, the devil. We become participants in that Easter joy through the sacrament of baptism. Christ Himself underwent baptism, not for His own sake, but for ours. In our baptism we share in the victory which He won.
Baptism is now understood as a water in which the serpent has been drowned, leaving him limp and impotent. So much so that we may tread upon serpents and scorpions, that is, the devil and his minions. Christ, the Life, has defeated death and him who holds the power of death. We ourselves have all this through our baptism. It is our victory in Christ. It is our Easter joy in the baptismal flood.
Cyril of Jerusalem
"Jesus sanctified baptism by being Himself baptized. If the Son of God was baptized, what godly man would despise baptism? But Jesus was baptized not that He might receive remission of sins, for He was sinless; but being sinless, He was baptized, that He might give to them that are baptized a divine and excellent grace. For 'since the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise partook of the same' (Heb 2:14), that having been made partakers of His presence in the flesh we might be made partakers also of His divine grace.
"Thus Jesus was baptized, that thereby we again by our participation might receive both salvation and honor. According to Job, there was in the waters the dragon that 'draws the Jordan into his mouth' (Job 40:23). Since, therefore, it was necessary to break the heads of the dragon in pieces' (Ps 74:14), Jesus went down and bound the strong one in the waters, that we might receive power to 'tread upon serpents and scorpions' (Lk 10:19). The beast was great and terrible. 'No fishing-vessel was able to carry one scale of his tail' (Job 41:7 LXX). Destruction ran before him (Job 41:22), ravaging all that met him. The Life encountered him, that the mouth of death might henceforth be stopped, and all we that are saved might say, 'O death, where is your sting? O death, where is your victory' (1 Cor 15:55)? The sting of death is drawn by baptism."
Prayer
Christ, the Life of all the living, let me live in the power of Your indestructible life. Amen.
For all those who are suffering from doubt of God's gracious goodness, that Christ the Good Shepherd would lift them up
For the President and Congress of the United States, that they may be upheld in every good work, and that we may live in peace and quietness
For all those who will receive Christ's body and blood in holy Eucharist Sunday, that they might receive in true faith for the forgiveness of sins
Art: MICHELANGELO, Buonarroti The Fall and Expulsion from Garden of Eden 1509-1510