Baptism of Our Lord
Mt
3:13-17
1/10/16
Americans shower or bathe, on
average just about once a day. It wasn’t always this way. In fact it is only in the mid-twentieth
century that frequent showering and bathing became common. In part the change was linked to the
widespread arrival of indoor plumbing and the general movement from farm to
city life.
But it appears that the increase in
frequency was also driven by the efforts of soap manufacturers. Until the mid nineteenth century the word
“soap” meant laundry soap, a caustic substance used for scrubbing dirty linens
and clothes. A milder form was invented
for use in cleaning the body and in order to distinguish this kind, it was
called “toilet soap.” The use of this
product in cleaning the body has since become so common that today we just call
it “soap.”
Soap manufacturers sought to promote
the use of their product. The
Association of American Soap and Glycerine Producers established the
Cleanliness Institute in 1927. The
institute sought to promote the idea of keeping clean … and hence the
consumption of soap. The Cleanliness
Institute targeted school children. As
Vincent Vinikas has written, “No approach could better meet the industry’s ends
than inculcating every youth in American to a tale of soap-and-water. Once habituated to regular and frequent
consumption, the children could guarantee a market for years to come.”
Now perhaps I don’t really need to
shower every day, as I do in my morning routine. On most occasions I am not actually
dirty. But even apart from warm weather
during the spring and summer, I do find that there are enough occasions when I
perspire that I wouldn’t want to go around too long without showering. I don’t think it would take very many days
before I would start to smell quite ripe.
I take a shower to wash off all that sweat and everything that goes with
it.
We go into water in order to remove
dirt and sweat. We do it to get rid all
that is unpleasant about it. But today,
the Feast of the Baptism of Our Lord, we see that Jesus went into the water of
the Jordan in order to take on something. He went into the water to take on our sin and
all of the terrible consequences that go with it. And because he did this, now he has given us
a washing that removes sin and gives us life.
Our Gospel lesson today narrates the
baptism of Jesus. It begins with the
word “then,” and this of course signals to us that Jesus’ baptism has a
relation to what has just been happening in the Gospel.
Matthew began this chapter by
talking about the ministry of John the Baptist.
He tells us, “In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the
wilderness of Judea, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” As we heard during Advent, John the Baptist
was the one whom several prophets in the Old Testament had foretold. He was sent by God to prepare the way for the
Christ.
His ministry was a call to
repentance. He told people to confess
their sin because God’s end time judgment was about to arrive. The distinctive feature of his ministry was
that John administered a baptism that he described as being “for repentance.”
The act of being baptized by John demonstrated that a person repented of their
sin and was looking for God’s end time salvation that was coming for his
faithful people. 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.”
This is what was happening when
Jesus showed up at the Jordan River.
Matthew says in our text, “Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to
John, to be baptized by him.” Now keep
in mind, Jesus was from Galilee which was in the northern part of Israel. He had to make a journey to the southern part
of Israel in order to arrive at the location where John was baptizing. This was
a very purposeful and intentional action.
Jesus went to John in order to be
baptized by him.
In the Gospel John had just spoken
about the Christ. 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 he was nothing
compared to the One coming after him.
John baptized with water. But this coming One would baptize with the
Holy Spirit and fire. In his end time
action, this One would pour out the Spirit on those who repented, and he would
pour out the fire of judgment on those who did not.
John sets up this expectation about
the coming One … and then Jesus shows up and asks to receive John’s baptism. He asks to receive
John’s baptism for repentance – the one that people are receiving as they confess their sins. None of this made sense to John and so in
fact he tried to prevent Jesus from being baptized. After all, as he said, “I need to be baptized
by you, and do you come to me?” But Jesus answered him and said, “Let it be so
now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” John relented. Jesus went down into the water and was
baptized by John.
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.’”
When Jesus had been baptized the Spirit
of God descended upon him like a dove and the voice of God the Father said,
“This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” The words of the Father
and giving of the Spirit are the fulfillment of what Isaiah wrote at the
beginning of chapter 42: “Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom
my soul delights; I have put my Spirit upon him.” The Father identified Jesus as his Son – the
One who is the Servant of the Lord in Isaiah’s prophecy. He designated him and endowed him for his work
by sending the Holy Spirit upon him.
Jesus is the Servant of the
Lord. And this means he is the suffering
Servant. Matthew makes this explicit by
saying in chapter 8 that Jesus fulfilled the words of Isaiah chapter 53. Jesus is the One of whom Isaiah wrote: “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 into the water to receive
baptism – a baptism for repentance. He
goes into the water in order to take on the roll of the suffering Servant. He goes into the water in order to take on
your sins – in order to take your place.
The water of Jesus’ baptism was filled with your sins. It was like the water in New Orleans after
Hurricane Katrina – black and filled with fuel, garbage and debris. It was filled with all of the ways that you hurt
your family members by what you say and do.
It was filled with all of the lust in your heart that drives what you
look at and do. It was filled with all
of the coveting and jealousy that resides in you.
Jesus went into the water of his
baptism in order take this all on himself – in order to take your place as the
suffering Servant. He did this because
he had come to bring you forgiveness and salvation. When John the Baptist tried to prevent Jesus
from being baptized, Jesus responded: “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting
for us to fulfill all righteousness.”
Jesus said that John’s role was to baptize. Jesus’ role was to be baptized. And both of
these actions served to fulfill all righteousness.
In the Old Testament, God’s
righteousness is his saving action that puts things right. Psalm 98 says, “The LORD has made known his
salvation; he has revealed his righteousness in the sight of the nations.” Jesus receives baptism and takes on the role
of the suffering Servant in order to carry out God’s work of salvation. It is the first step as he makes his way to
the cross to give his life as a ransom for many – as a ransom for you. On Good
Friday he cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” as he received
God’s judgment against your sin.
But God’s righteousness – his saving
action - could not end in death. And so
on the third day God raised Jesus from the dead. He began the new life of the resurrection. And then, as the crucified and risen Lord,
Jesus instituted the baptism that he
gives. In the last chapter of this
Gospel we find that Jesus says, “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.”
Jesus instituted Holy Baptism. The water that Jesus went into was filled
with your sin. The water that Jesus now
gives in Baptism through his Word is filled with forgiveness. It is a water that washes away your sins. It is
a water that gives you the righteousness of God – that gives you his
salvation.
That’s what happened when you were
baptized. God washed away your sin
because of Jesus. Your baptism happened
once in the past. But the power of baptism is not trapped in the past. That’s
what the medieval Church at the time of the Reformation thought – it’s what the
Roman Catholic church still thinks today.
This is the belief that baptism only forgives original sin and sins
committed up to the time of baptism, and that it can’t help with any sins
committed after that time.
But baptism is not limited in this
way, because it connects you with the saving death of Jesus. The apostle 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.” You
have been joined to the saving death of Jesus.
His sacrifice has become yours. And it is still yours because of baptism.
That forgiveness and salvation is always there, ready to be grasped by
faith.
Your baptism is an objective fact
that never changes. It never goes
away. The forgiveness and salvation won
by Jesus on the cross has been given to you through water and the Word. That blessing is always there, ready to be
received by faith because you have been baptized.
In the Gospel lesson we see Jesus go
into the water as he receives John’s baptism for repentance. He enters into the water in order take on the
role of the suffering Servant. He enters
into the water to take your place. He
takes up your sin so that he can fulfill all righteousness – so that he can
bring God’s salvation by dying as the sacrifice for you. Now, in your baptism, he has washed your every
sin away.
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