These verses, like last week’s, are difficult to understand. But when we dig into the context, the meaning becomes more clear. The context is suffering and that it is not the end of the story. Life is. Specifically, Jesus resurrected life which has flowed into His ascension power over all. So, how does baptism relate to this? In our baptism, we pledged to follow Christ, with God’s help, to the end, come what may. What will come our way, is suffering for Jesus. It is then when we are tempted to turn back, that our baptism calls us back to keep on keeping on in the footsteps of Jesus. The end of His story, is ours too. God will deliver us through suffering, even the suffering of physical death.