Baptism of our Lord – January 12th,
2013 – Matthew 3:13-17
In the Name of Christ Jesus, the Light of the World +
There in the river Jordan stands
John the Baptist, a preacher of repentance, a preacher who is bold and brash,
and let’s face it, if we heard him preach, even we would be taken aback by the
bluntness of his preaching. “You brood of vipers,” he
preaches just a few verses before our text, “Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come.” These
are his words to the self-righteous, holier-than-thou folks of his day – one
can only wonder how he would preach stern law to us today. But this is what you see, John in the water,
preaching to the people on the banks, with all his force and vigor. Then – Jesus
came from Galilee to the Jordan
to John, to be baptized by him. John
would have prevented Him, saying, “I need to be baptized by You, and do you
come to me?” John, the bold preacher, is taken aback, you can almost
hear him stammering these words in wonder and confusion. I need to be baptized by You, and yet here
you are coming to me?
John’s confusion can mirror our
own. Why would Jesus need to be
Baptized? We can understand our need to
be Baptized, our need to have our sin washed away – but Jesus has no sin. But if you wish to understand the Baptism of
Jesus, you need only listen to what our Lord says. But
Jesus answered him, “Let us do so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill
all righteousness.” This is
about righteousness. You and I, we have
no righteousness. There is not one of us
who is righteous, no, not one. Since the
fall of Adam all of his descendents have been tainted and bound and wrapped up
in sin – sinful the lot of us. We are
all in need of forgiveness, of the purging of our sin. And then to the Jordan
river walks Christ Jesus our Lord.
He is no mere schlub off the street, but He is True God and True
Man. He did not get Adam’s heritage of
sin, for He was conceived of the Holy Ghost.
He is righteous, He is Holy, He is perfect. And yet, what does He do? He strides down to that water in which
sinners were washed, and He says, “I will take my place here.” Do you see, do you understand what Christ is
doing when He goes to be Baptized? He
takes up your struggle. He takes up your
sin. Whereas you are not righteous – God
takes on Human Flesh and says, “I will be righteous for you.” Jesus seeks to be righteous – He steps into
harm’s way as it were, so that He can be your savior from sin. Luther, in his baptismal prayer says that
“Through the Baptism in the Jordan
of Your beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, You [that is, God] sanctified and
instituted all waters to be a blessed flood and a lavish washing away of
sin.” That is what Jesus is doing. I want my people to be righteous and holy –
so I will be among them, I will take up their sin and give them instead my
righteousness. And He is baptized by
John.
And we know what happens next. The Holy Spirit in form of a dove descends,
the voice from heaven says, “This is
My beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” This morning, for a few minutes now, let
us ponder these words of God from heaven.
It is quite rare where God speaks forth from heaven, where the skies
echo with the sound of His voice, so we ought to take note of it. First, hear what He says – This is My beloved Son. The reason we celebrate the Baptism of our
Lord in the Epiphany season is that Epiphany is the season where we look at the
ways in which Christ reveals that He is true God. It doesn’t quite get more blunt than this,
now does it? When God speaks and says,
“Look, this is My Son” – that’s a pretty sure and solid revelation. And note when God does say this. He doesn’t boom forth like a proud papa the
day of Christ’s birth – He lets the angels sing that one, He lets the star
point out that one. When Jesus as a
Child confounds the scholars in the temple, God doesn’t let forth from heaven a
thunderous “Attaboy, Son.” No – it is
when Christ steps into the Waters of the Jordan, when Jesus begins His
public Ministry, when He starts His work of redemption in earnest, that is when
the Father says, behold My Son. We know
who Jesus is by what He does. If you
want to see and understand God – you look to Christ. Jesus is the revelation of God – when Jesus
comes and preaches and heals, we can understand God and His love for us by
looking at Jesus. Indeed, that is part
of the reason why we hear the Gospels, why we have sermons, so we can
understand God’s love for us through what Christ does. God spells that out for us here.
There is a second part to what the
Father says here – with Whom I am
well pleased. Jesus does what is
right. It had been a while since God had
been well pleased when He saw things on the earth. During creation – He looked and it was good. Fantastic.
Then, the fall – then Adam, what in the world are you doing? And after that, all throughout the Old
Testament – He sees even the heroes of the faith doing the stupid and sinful, sees
boneheaded folly. Everyone sins. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David, the prophets,
they all drop the ball. And then comes
Christ Jesus – with Him the Father is well pleased. Christ is perfect – He is the perfect Lamb of
God without spot or blemish – and suddenly, Man, the Man Jesus, does all that
God desires. There is a perfect Man, a
Man who is righteous – and God is pleased with Man again. God says, “It is good”; God says, “Well
Done.”
Now dear friends – let us ponder how
this applies to you, how this event ties into your life – for this is not just
some dull story of ages past, but what Christ did in the Jordan impacts your
life and describes who you are right now.
Consider your own Baptism for a moment.
Water and God’s Word applied to you – washed in the Name of the Triune
God – Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
That’s your identity. That’s how
you approach God – not just as some person, but as one who is Baptized. How do we start our service – In the Name of
the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit +. We approach God here in His house as the
Baptized. That’s why the hymnal has that
little red cross there – go ahead and make the sign of the cross if you wish –
for it was the sign given to you at your Baptism and is nothing to be ashamed
of – receive the sign of the holy cross upon your forehead and upon your heart
to mark you as one redeemed by Christ the crucified. This is how we approach God or rather are
brought to God, are called by Him to His House– not just as the sinners we are
by nature – but as those Redeemed by Him, bearing His Name.
In fact, dear friends, ponder
this. Do you wish to know the effect of
your Baptism? What it gives to you? When Christ is Baptized – the Father says This is My beloved Son, with whom I am
well pleased. This applies to
you. This is my beloved Son – hear Paul
from Galatians – For in Christ you
are all sons of God, through faith. For
as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. You are now a child of God. Whereas in the garden Adam and Eve ran away
from God – said, “We’d rather be part of Satan’s family” – in Baptism you were
restored to God. You are right to call
God your Father for He has adopted you in the waters of Baptism, you are His
child now. That is the effect of your
Baptism. When the Father looks at you –
He now says, “I am well pleased”
– on the last day He shall say unto you, “Well done, good and faithful servant” – not because
you are perfect now – you know better than that, you don’t have to think hard
to find places where you have sinned recently – but because in Baptism you are
united to Christ – you have put on Christ.
When God looks at you – He no longer sees your sin, He sees Christ Jesus
and His righteousness, for you were are baptized, you have put on Christ in
Baptism.
Think of it this way. I do not have a washboard stomach. Rather flabby, in fact. Not the ideal or
perfect stomach. Yet when you look at
me, you aren’t seeing my gut – for I am wearing clothing. In fact, we can even say to each other – “You
look nice today”. What are we referring
to – often our clothing. We are covered,
our imperfections hidden, and we look nice.
The worst body in the world can look nice when properly attired. The worst sinner in the World is holy and
righteous in God’s sight, is pleasing in God’s sight, when he is clothed with
Christ’s righteousness, when he wears the robes of salvation that have been
washed in the blood of the Lamb. This is
why Paul once again in today’s Epistle lesson reiterates Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord. Your salvation, not about what you do. Eternal life, not about all the good that
you’ve done –cause you can’t earn it. Consider your calling, brothers: not
many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful,
not many were of noble birth.
And yet, what does God give to you in your Baptism, where He indeed
called you by the Gospel? You may not
have been wise, but now you are washed in the Wisdom of God and know Him. You may not have been powerful, indeed, you
may be quite frail, but now you have the Power of God dwelling within you. You may not have belonged to any noble human
family – but now you are a child of God – and there is nothing more noble than
that.
This is the gift of your baptism –
this is what you receive from it – this is who you are. And when we behold Christ Jesus step into the
waters of the river Jordan,
when we see Him enter those waters to fulfill all righteousness – know dear
friends that it is for you that He does this.
You see and understand that Jesus is indeed True God, because you see
Him working for you and for your benefit – you see Him doing what is needed to
win you forgiveness and give you His righteousness – to see that you are made
His brother, His fellow heir of all that is God’s. Christ steps into the waters of Baptism to
take His place at your side, so that He may take you with Him through the days
of your life and on into eternity, having life in His Name – the very Name He
gives you as your own in Baptism. In the
Name of Christ Jesus, the Light of the World + Amen.
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