Jesus' Baptism Into Death

In Luke 12:50, some time after Jesus' baptism with water, he says, "I have a baptism to undergo, and how distressed I am until it is completed." The Concordia Self-Study Bible points to Mark 10:38 where baptism is parallel to the imagery of "the cup," a metaphor for God's wrath against human sin. Therefore, in this case, Jesus by "baptism" is referring to his suffering and death.

What's interesting to me is, in my mind, "baptism" means the sacrament of water and the Word. Jesus is going even deeper with the term. The Concordia Bible also points to Romans 6:3-4: "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 live a new life."

The Concordia Bible commentary to this verse helps me to begin to grasp (although it's deep and I'm not sure I'm all the way there yet) just how amazing the idea of baptism really is: "Baptism is a means by which we enter into a vital faith relationship with Jesus Christ. It is a means of receiving God's grace, and it depicts graphically what happens as a result of the Christian's union with Christ. Through faith we are united with Christ, just as through our natural birth we are united with Adam. As we fell into sin and became subject to death in father Adam, so we now have died and been raised again with Christ--which baptism effects."