The Indianapolis times., 1934-01-13
Sunday Sermon
IN
LIFE OF CHRIST
TEACH LESSON
Great Moral Inspiration Is
Contained in Story,
Pastor Says.
Text: Matt. 3:13-4; IL.
BY w. E. GILROY, d. D.,
Editor of the COngregatioualist


The baptism of Jesus marked the
beginning of his distinctive minis
try. This was the significance OF
baptism. 1t was sort of an initiatory
rite
John the Baptist had such a con-
sciousness of the greatness Of the
Messiah, whose forerunner he was,
that he drew back from the honor
Of baptizing Jesus.
1t seemed to him uniting that
one conscious of his weakness and
inferority should be the instrument
of expressing the divine blessing
and approval upon one so much
greater than himself.
To Jesus, however, the rite had a
significance independent of the man
who performed it. 1t was a fulfill
ment of all righteousness. 1t was
a part of that human process by
which the divine mission of Jesus
was to be realized.
RdlQ f1IS uCSI 1E1DuCc
Yet Jesus well may have rejoiced
in his baptism at the hands of
John. for he paid to John the high
est tribute that could be paid to
mortal man, when he said that
among those born of women there
had not arisen a greater than John
the Baptist.
How essentially the baptism of
Jesus was part of the human
ritual-a fulfillment of all right
eousness in human terms and de-
mands-was manifested very quick
ly in the experiences of the temp
tation.
The baptism did not set Jesus
aside as apart from human life. 1t
did not surround him with protec-
tive influences that were not
vouchSafed to other men.
Faced Temptations
It emphasized only the divine
career that he was to live in human
surroundings and even in the midst
VI CCA4AROdCAOA4O.
Here, again, was the fulfllment of
all righteousness in the triumph of
right over the promptingS of evil
and over the temptations of a lesser
good. The temptations that as
sailed Jesus were no less real be-
cause they were not gross tenpta-
tions of the flesh.
The temptation to command that
stones should be, made bread might
be interpreted in terms of mate
rlalism and grossneSS, but it was
more temptation to use wonder
working power for insufficient or
trivial ends than the temptation to
trail the divine life in the mire of
gross and material sins.
The temptations that assailed
Jesus were the temptations that
more likely were to assail a man
called to a high commission. Prob
ably the keeneSt temptations that
man has to combat are those that
meet him on the plane of his noblest
aspirations and his greatest abilities.
Had Deep Significance
The temptation to the artist is to
use his gift for something less than
beauty and glory Of his art, to pros
titute it to baser ends. The tempta-
tion of the poet is to be content
with something less than the high
est beauty of form and expression
and the nearest approach to perfec-
tion that he can achieve.
The temptation of the man of
organizing genius, or of statesman
like ability, is to use his organizing
power, or his skill in the mastery
and leadership of men, for worldly
ambition or for his own aggrandize-
ment.
1t was the temptation of this sort
that Jesus rejected. In fact, the real
force of the temptation that as
sailed him may have had a deeper
1t may have been the temptation
to work for a material and imme-
diate triumph of his kingdom rather
than to choose the path that led to