Baptism of Our Lord
Mt 3:13-17
1/8/17
When I talk with the
young people of our congregation who are in high school, I often ask them what
they are thinking about doing after high school. Frequently their assumption is that they will
be going to college. And then I ask, “So do you have an idea of what you want
to study – what you think you may want to do after college?”
It’s a reasonable question. It’s also one that really does interest
me. It’s fascinating to hear what different
young individuals are thinking about doing.
Sometimes, however, it feels like it was the wrong question to ask. Because sometimes the answer is that the
youth really doesn’t know right now.
Now there’s nothing wrong with not
knowing. As adults we recognize that not
everyone finds their passion and interest right out of the gate. Sometimes
maturity and life experiences are necessary to help reveal this.
But part of me always feels a little
regret that my well intentioned question has accidently prompted the youth to
state that they don’t know what they want to do. I know that this uncertainty
is a source of stress – stress that becomes more intense as they approach high
school graduation.
It’s hard when you don’t know what
you want to do; what you want to study.
High school graduation approaches with unrelenting certainty. And of course, the same thing also happens in
college. It approaches with changes that
cannot be avoided. It can be scary if
you don’t know what you are going to do.
Life is easier when we have a sense
of purpose – when we have a goal that we are working towards. In high school, I knew exactly what I was
going to do. It was the same thing I had
wanted to do since first grade – I was going to be a pastor. People around me knew this. The only hiccup was when the school paper ran
an article about the valedictorians and salutatorians (a B+ in typing for this
guy) and said that I would be attending Concordia College in a “priest
seminary” program instead of a “pre-seminary” one. The last thing I wanted was
for every girl in high school to think that my goal was permanent celibacy!
John the Baptist did not have any
uncertainty about what he was supposed to do with his life. As we know from Luke’s Gospel, already in the
womb the Holy Spirit was using him to point to God’s Christ. His father Zechariah had been moved by the
Holy Spirit to prophesy about what John would do.
Matthew begins telling us about John
by saying, “In those days John the Baptist came
preaching in the wilderness of Judea, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at
hand.’” The words “in those days” resonate with the end time language of the
Old Testament prophets. John arrived on
the scene as part of God’s end time action.
John had no
doubt about who he was and what he had come to do. He was God’s prophet declaring God’s Word to
his people. John dressed and lived the
part. He looked like Elijah as he wore a
leather belt and camel’s hair. He lived
in the wilderness and ate locusts and wild honey. And he proclaimed a direct and clear message:
“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
John declared
that God’s end time reign was imminent.
In preparation people needed to repent. They needed to confess their sin
and turn away from it. He administered a
baptism and by submitting to this baptism people demonstrated that they were
indeed repentant and were looking for God to act.
John knew
that he had one purpose. He was
preparing the way for the coming One – the One who was greater than John. He 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
declared that all needed to repent because this coming One was going to be the
instrument of God’s end time judgment. He was going to destroy all who opposed
God, and he was going to provide rescue to God’s faithful people. He was going
to bring God’s kingdom – his reign – as he destroyed all evil and put all
things right.
With laser
like focus John the Baptist knew his mission.
But next we hear in the Gospel lesson for the Baptism of Our Lord: “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.’”
Jesus the
coming One showed up. But instead of unloading the fire of God’s judgment upon
unrepentant sinners, he came to John and asked
to receive John’s baptism. Jesus
sought to receive the baptism that was for
repentance. He came to receive the
baptism that everyone else was receiving as they confessed their sins.
This did
not fit with John’s purpose. It didn’t
fit his mission. This was not how things
were supposed to work. In fact John tried
to prevent it from happening. He said to Jesus, “I need to be baptized by you,
and do you come to me?”
Jesus
answer was to say, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill
all righteousness.” He told John that
they both had a role to play in the way that God was putting all things
right. John’s role was to baptize. Jesus’ role was to be baptized – to receive a
baptism of repentance.
No doubt
baffled and confused, John consented. He
baptized Jesus. We learn in our text: “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.’”
Jesus’ baptism prompted a revelation by God. The heavens were opened and the Spirit
descended upon Jesus. And God the Father
spoke words that were drawn from Isaiah chapter 42 as he declared Jesus to be
his Son with whom he was well pleased.
The problem
with God is that he just won’t behave.
We know what he should be doing.
He should be making my life good.
He should be making me happy. He
should be giving me success. After all
he is all powerful – he can do whatever he wants!
And yet
instead he allows hardships and difficulties into life. A family member or friend is diagnosed with
cancer, or their marriage disintegrates, or they lose their job. Chronic health problems wear on us as they
drag on day after day. Jobs become just
work and yet retirement is still so far off.
Our
reaction to these kinds of things is quite predictable. We doubt God.
We grumble against God. We get
angry with God.
But God is
God, and he is not playing by our rules.
He does things in ways that we don’t expect – ways that we would never
imagine. His loving concern for us and
our welfare rises above the myopic and self-centered way that we usually look
at things.
And if you
want proof of this fact; if you want assurance that God still cares and is in
charge, even though things in your life right now make no sense to you – then
look at who is in the water. Jesus
receives a baptism for those who need to repent, even though he has done
nothing wrong. He is baptized and the
Father speaks words that describe the Servant in Isaiah chapter 42. He identifies Jesus who is the Christ as the One who is also
the Servant – the Servant of the Lord who suffers in our place. He is the One of whom the prophet wrote, “Surely
he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken,
smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions; he
was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us
peace, and with his stripes we are healed.”
Jesus goes
into the water of his baptism and it is his entrance into a way that leads
directly to the cross. He is baptized
because as Jesus said, “the Son of Man came
not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” This is not
something that John the Baptist expects. This is not how John the Baptist believes things are going
to work. Frankly, the way of suffering, service and death is not how we would
do things. But God does it this way in
order to forgive you for all of the times you doubt, ignore or get angry at
him.
Jesus’
baptism leads to death and the tomb. But
it also leads out of the tomb on the third day.
By his death and resurrection Jesus has defeated both sin and death. In his resurrection he has provided a living hope
that sustains us in faith as we encounter all of the things in life that we
don’t understand.
Jesus’
baptism led to his resurrection, and from there it has led to your baptism. Jesus entered into the
water in order to die for you. And in
the water of your baptism, you have shared in Jesus’ saving death. 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.” And because Jesus rose from his death, your
baptism provides the guarantee that you will too. As Paul went on to say about baptism, “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.”
In the face of all of the questions
and disappointments and hardships your baptism provides a fixed point of
assurance about God and you. It is your
connection with the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ – that event in
which it looked like God was nowhere to be found and yet it showed itself to be
the mighty and saving action of God for you.
Your baptism is always there, always affirming that yes, God does love
you. Yes, God does care for you. Yes, Gods knows what he is doing even thought
it makes no sense to you right now.
God has not promised that we are
going to understand what he is doing. In
fact, quite the opposite, he has told us flat out that his ways are not our
ways and his thoughts are not our thoughts. But in the death and resurrection
of Jesus Christ he has done the one big thing that seemed to make no sense. And
then in the resurrection God has explained to us what he was doing. By this action he has given us forgiveness
and made us his people – his saints. And because he has done this we can trust
and believe in him no matter what happens.
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