Sermon for the Feast of the Baptism of Our Lord - Mt 3:13-17

 

Baptism of Our Lord

                                                                                      Mt 3:13-17

                                                                                      1/7/24

 

 

          “In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.’”  That’s how Matthew introduces John the Baptist.  John announced that the reign of God was about to arrive.  In preparation for this, there was one thing to do: repent.

          John called people to repentance, and he gave them a way to demonstrate this fact.  He administered a baptism.  People received his baptism and this action showed that they repented of their sins.  It indicated that they were prepared for God’s reign. 

          John’s ministry evoked a great reaction.  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.”  Notice how he describes this.  They received John’s baptism confessing their sins.  This was a baptism of repentance.  It was a baptism for sinners.  It was baptism for people who confessed their sin as they sought forgiveness.

          Our text begins by telling us: “Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him.”  This was very intentional act by Jesus.  It required him to make a trip of some sixty miles – a trip that would have taken several days.  Jesus made the journey with a purpose.

          As a reader of the Gospel this trip and its purpose seems very puzzling.  Joseph had thought that Mary’s child had been conceived in sin.  However, the angel had told him in a dream, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.

She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”  Joseph learned that Jesus had been conceived by the work of the Holy Spirit.  He was not sinful.  Instead, his purpose was to save others from their sins.

          John the Baptist perceived that something was not right.  He would have prevented Jesus, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?”  What was Jesus doing at a baptism for sinners?  But our Lord replied, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.”

          In the Old Testament the word “righteousness” is used to describe God’s saving action.  Jesus was telling John that this baptism was necessary in God’s action to save.  They each had a role to play.  John was there to baptize.  Jesus was the there to be baptized.

          John consented and baptized Jesus.  When Jesus had been baptized he went up from the water. The heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him. And then a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”

          The events of Jesus’ baptism fulfilled what God had revealed in Isaiah chapter 42.  There the prophet had written, “Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my Spirit upon him.”  The Spirit descended upon Jesus and God the Father declared that he was well pleased with him.

          Jesus’ baptism was the beginning of his ministry.  It was the moment when he took on the role that would accomplish God’s saving action. He was identified as the Servant of the Lord.  Yet this happened as he received a baptism for sinners.

          A baptism for sinners was the means by which Jesus was identified as the Servant because his role as the Servant was to be the bearer of sin.  Jesus entered the water of baptism in order to take on your sin.  He entered the water because you speak angry words with your family and friends.  He did so because you covet the wealth and success of others.  Jesus entered the water because you are sinners in thought, word, and deed.

          Jesus had no sin of his own.  He submitted to a baptism for sinners because in that baptism he took all of our sins upon himself.  He was identified as the Servant of the Lord.  And the Servant of the Lord in Isaiah is also the suffering Servant of chapter 53.  There Isaiah said, “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned--every one--to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.”

          Jesus entered the water of his baptism to take on our sins.  His baptism was the beginning of his ministry. From that moment Christ’s mission and purpose was directed towards the cross. Our Lord declared this to his disciples.  After Peter had confessed that Jesus is the Christ, Matthew tells us, “From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.”  On several different occasions, Jesus told them that this would happen.

          Jesus reached the goal of his baptism on Good Friday.  He had come to save his people from their sins.  He had come to save us from our sins.  Jesus was the Servant of the Lord upon whom God had laid the iniquity of us all.  Isaiah said about the Servant: “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 suffered and died for our sins.  Christ said, “the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”  By his sacrifice he has won forgiveness for us.  He has freed us from sin.

          Jesus took on our sins in his baptism in order to die.  Death is the result of sin and the judgment for it.  But there would be no victory and no hope if Jesus had remained dead.  Our Lord had come to win forgiveness. He had also come to defeat death itself. 

          On Easter, God raised Jesus from the dead.   The angel announced to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he has risen, as he said.”  Then later the risen Lord met the women and said “Greetings” as they came up and took hold of his feet and worshiped him.

          In Matthew’s Gospel we learn that the risen Lord met the eleven disciples on mountain in Galilee.  He said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.”

          The risen Lord gave the gift of Holy Baptism.  This is not the baptism of John.  Instead, our Lord has taken water baptism and transformed it as his own.  It is the means by which the Lord applies to us the forgiveness that he won on the cross.

          Jesus entered the water of baptism in order to take upon himself our sins. He became the sin bearer as the suffering Servant who went to the cross.  Now he calls believers to receive baptism because it is the means by which he washes away sins.  It is the means by which he applies his cross to us.

You know that you are forgiven because you have been baptized.  Your baptism was a one time event.  It is the defining event of your life. There God attached his word and promise to water.  He cleansed you by the washing of water with the word.  This forgiveness is always ready to be grasped in faith.  Through faith and trust in what God did in baptism, you have forgiveness of all your sins.

God has given you forgiveness in baptism.  But that is not all.  Through baptism you have received rebirth by the work of the Spirit.  St Paul tells us “he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit.”  Your baptism is the continuing source of the Spirit’s work in your life.

You are a new creation in Christ through baptism.  And now the Spirit leads you to live in ways that share what Christ has done for you. You have received forgiveness before God. So share this forgiveness with others.  Paul told the Ephesians, “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.”  The forgiveness we have received in Christ is the same forgiveness we speak to others.

In the world people look out for themselves.  But this is not so with us who have received the Spirit’s work in baptism.  Now we seek to serve and help others because of Jesus. When Jesus talked about his saving work for us he said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

We hear this morning how Jesus the sinless One came to receive a baptism for sinners.  He received John’s baptism because it was the means by which he took our sins upon himself.  The Spirit descended on Jesus and God the Father said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” God identified Jesus as the Servant of the Lord who would suffer and die to win forgiveness for us.

Risen from the dead, Christ has now given us Holy Baptism.  Through this sacrament he has washed away our sins.  He calls us to return to our baptism in faith for there we have the assurance that we are God’s forgiven children.  Reborn by the Spirit’s work in baptism, Christ leads us to share his forgiveness with others and to serve those around us.