Baptism of Our Lord
Mt
3:13-17
1/12/14
It’s safe to say that last Sunday
didn’t exactly go as I expected. As I
talked with various church leaders about the weather forecast and how we should
handle services, it was very hard to know what to do. The weather forecast that the city of Marion
was receiving from the Emergency Management Agency via the National Weather
Service indicated that when the 7:45 a.m. service began there would be some
mixture of rain or ice followed by one to three inches of snow on the
ground. Then during the time of the
Sunday school, Bible class and the 10:15 a.m. service the worst of the storm
was supposed to arrive. All told they
were predicting five to ten inches of snow with high winds creating drifts.
It was very difficult to know what
to do. The timing of the storm meant
that there was no way to know what was actually happening until it was already
time for the first service. The timing
also meant that we wouldn’t be able to have the parking lot cleared. We knew that most people would not try to
come to church if the weather looked bad.
But if we were having services, there would be some people who would
still come, and the last thing I wanted to see was a member get into an
accident or fall here at church. And so we made the decision to cancel
services. But let the record show that Frank Glaub was the one church leader I
talked to who said we should just go ahead with services no matter what
happened.
Needless to say, I was not happy
about cancelling services. I sent out
emails and posted it on Facebook. I was concerned that not everyone would learn
about the cancellation, but figured that with a 100% chance of heavy snow it
wouldn’t really matter. And so I found
myself in a situation I’ve never experienced before. I went to bed in Marion on a Saturday night
knowing that I could sleep in on Sunday morning.
I was in fact asleep on Sunday
morning when Matthew came rushing into our room and exclaimed: “Mom and dad,
there’s no snow!” And at that moment, I
wished that the bed would just swallow me up.
When Sunday morning arrived, it did not turn out to be anything like I
expected it to be.
This morning we are celebrating the
Feast of the Baptism of Our Lord. We
hear about what happened when Jesus came to John the Baptist at the Jordan
River, and we learn that it too did not turn out to be anything like John
expected.
John the Baptist showed up in the
wilderness along the Jordan River and caused quite a stir. He dressed in ways that recalled the prophet
Elijah as he wore a garment of camel's hair and a leather belt around his
waist. Like a number of the Old
Testament prophets, he seemed a little odd as his food was locusts and wild
honey.
However, John had a powerful
message. He proclaimed, “Repent, for the
kingdom of God stands near!” John
announced that God’s end-time reign was imminent. He told of a powerful figure who was
coming. This one was going to bring
God’s end-time judgment. John said, “I
baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is
mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you
with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will
clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he
will burn with unquenchable fire.”
John’s message was powerful. And the
people responded. Matthew tells us, “Then
Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan were going out to
him, and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.” John called the people to repentance. He called them to confess their sins in
preparation for the arrival of the judgment.
He administered a baptism in the Jordan by which people demonstrated
that they were repentant and that they were looking for the arrival of God’s
reign that John was proclaiming.
This is the setting in which our
text takes place. We hear: “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?’
But Jesus answered him, ‘Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to
fulfill all righteousness.’ Then he consented.”
The coming one – the instrument of God’s judgment proclaimed by John - showed
up. And what did he do? He asked to be baptized
by John. He asked to receive what
John described as a baptism for repentance.
This was not what John
expected about the arrival of the coming one. Fire and judgment on God’s
enemies and sinners? Yes. Being baptized
like a sinner? Definitely no. And
so at first John tried to prevent it from happening. However Jesus said, “Let it be so now, for
thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Now as I have described in this month’s news
letter, from Isaiah and the Psalms we learn that God’s righteousness means not
just the status before God from living rightly – a status that God gives to us
on account of Christ. Instead, in an
even broader sense it describes God’s end-time saving action. Jesus was saying that his baptism by John was
necessary for the accomplishment of this salvation.
John baptized Jesus in the
Jordan. Then we are told: “And when
Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the
heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove
and coming to rest on him; and behold, a voice from heaven said, ‘This is my
beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.’”
Three remarkable things happened: the heavens were opened; Jesus saw the
Spirit descend upon himself like a dove; and God the Father’s voice was heard
calling Jesus his Son in whom he was well pleased.
These last two tell us exactly what
was happening. At the beginning of
Isaiah chapter 42 God had said: “Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen,
in whom my soul delights; I have put my Spirit upon him; he will bring forth
justice to the nations.”
At Jesus’ baptism the
descent of the Spirit and the voice of the Father identified Jesus as the
Servant who is the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecies. This is something that Matthew makes
extremely clear by twice quoting Isaiah’ servant prophecies and saying that
they were fulfilled in Jesus.
Jesus enters the water of the Jordan
to be identified as the Servant of the Lord. He goes there to be designated as
the One who will be the suffering Servant.
He goes there so that he can be the fulfillment of the words: “But he
was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him
was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.”
Jesus goes to his baptism in order
to take your place. That is what is happening in our text this
morning. Our Lord goes in into the water
in order to take your place; in order to take on your sins. And when he emerges
from the water his ministry is directed towards one goal. It is directed
towards the cross, for there by his death he will win forgiveness for all of your
sins.
Jesus goes into the water because
you have anger and hate towards other people.
He goes into the water because you put yourself first – before God, and
before your spouse and children. He goes
into the water because you don’t trust God to care for you, and because you
complain that the ways which he provides aren’t good enough.
Jesus steps into your place and
takes these and every other way you sin against the holy God upon himself. And then on the cross he received God’s
judgment against your sin. He was pierced for your transgression. He was crushed for your iniquities. By his bloody
wounds and death you receive the healing of forgiveness. He did this.
And then on the third day he rose from the dead. He defeated the final wages of sin – death.
Like Jesus, you have been baptized
too. Yet your baptism did something very
different. Through your baptism, you
came to share in this saving death of Jesus Christ. His suffering and death for your sins became
yours. Paul told the Romans, “Do you not
know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into
his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order
that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we
too might walk in newness of life. For
if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be
united with him in a resurrection like his.”
Through water and the Word, the
baptismal font was a tomb. You were buried with Christ, sharing in his saving
death. But at the same time, the
baptismal fount was a womb. There you
received spiritual rebirth. There you were linked to the new life of the resurrection
through the work of Christ’s Spirit.
Paul says that this means two things
for you. First, the life giving Spirit
of Christ enables you to walk in newness of life. The Spirit is the resurrection life of Christ
already at work in you. The Spirit’s work grounded in baptism is the reason
that, in spite of the old man that is still present too, you can begin to show
forgiveness and love towards those who wrong you. Through the work of the Holy Spirit, your
baptism is the reason that you can begin to put your spouse and children first
– just as Jesus Christ put you first.
This is the reason that you can begin to trust God more and more in the
midst of life’s uncertainties, even as you recognize and give thanks for the
many blessings he provides.
And second, your baptism is the
guarantee that you will share in Christ’s resurrection on the Last Day. You have already died. You died with Christ in your baptism and you
were buried with him. The good news of
the Gospel is that Jesus Christ did not stay dead. Instead, on Easter he rose from the dead with
a transformed body that can never die again. And because in baptism you have
shared in Jesus death, you know that you will share in the resurrection of the risen
One when he returns in glory on the Last Day.
Your baptism will reach its ultimate conclusion on that day when Christ
raises you up to live in the new creation.
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