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.
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