Baptism of Our Lord A

Todd Cook

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The Baptism of Our Lord, Year A

In the name of the Father, and of the +Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

To all of you who are loved by God and called to be saints: grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

If you count 12 days from December 25, the 12th Day is…January 5. So the Feast of Epiphany (which always falls on January 6) is officially the end of the Christmas season and the beginning of a new season: the Season of Epiphany. The theme for this season is the revealing of the Messiah to the world. This is what “epiphany” means: revelation. The season begins with the “wise men” (a.k.a. Magi) visiting the Christ child - the Messiah revealed to people from other nations (“Gentiles”). The rest of this season - from Jan 5 to Ash Wednesday - we will hear about how Jesus is revealed to his disciples and to the world.

And today we celebrate the revelation of Jesus as the Son of God in his Baptism. Specifically, our Gospel lesson reminds us of how Matthew recounts this event. In this short passage, there are 3 speakers: John, Jesus, and the Heavenly Father. John had been practicing baptism for quite a while. He was preaching a baptism of repentance…a washing of sins. Jesus arrives, seeking to have John baptize him. John, of course, is resistant: “you should be baptizing me!” But Jesus instructs him: “Allow it at this time; for in this way it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” (NASB) So, John obeyed the Messiah. And when the baptism was done, the heavens opened, Spirit descended like a dove and came to rest on him, and the Father’s voice spoke: “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” This is the first place we see the Holy Trinity all in the same scene.

So, if John’s baptism is a baptism of repentance, why is Jesus doing it? Certainly he doesn’t have anything to repent of, right? He is, after all, “he who knew no sin”. He’s not there to repent or to wash away any sin of his own. So what’s going on?

I love the way this scholar explains it: “I consider this incident Jesus’ first miracle: the miracle of his humility. The first thing Jesus does for the human race is go down with it into the deep waters of repentance and baptism. Jesus’ whole life will be like this. It is well known that Jesus ends his ministry on a cross between thieves; it deserves to be as well known that he begins his ministry in a river among sinners. From his baptism to his execution Jesus stays low, at our level, identifying with us at every point, becoming as completely one with us in our humanity as, in the church’s teaching, he is believed to be completely one with God in eternity.” [Frederick Dale Bruner, Matthew: A Commentary: The Christbook, Matthew 1–12, Revised and Expanded Edition., vol. 1 (Grand Rapids, MI; Cambridge, U.K.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2007), 101.]

Jesus didn’t get baptized for his own benefit. This was something he did for us - all of us. This is the beginning of Jesus’ model for ministry: go down and be with those who need to be saved. Identify with sinners… be among them. He did this to begin his ministry - to identify with us, to liken himself to us, to unite himself to us.

Dr. Lenski also points out that Jesus did this in obedience to the Heavenly Father who sent him. Jesus was sent “...to assume the great office and work of saving [all of humanity].” [R. C. H. Lenski, The Interpretation of St. Matthew’s Gospel (Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg Publishing House, 1961), 125.] But it’s much more than just an act of obedience, which would make this an act of God’s Law, and nothing but a formality. This was “not law but gospel, not a demand to obey but a gift of grace to be received and accepted as such.” [Lenski, 126] While Jesus did not need John’s baptism of repentance for himself, he did honor John’s baptism, but so that he could use it for a higher purpose. What purpose? Lenski thinks that “Jesus intended to sanctify the water of this sacrament which he himself would afterward send out to all the world.” [Lenski, 128.] Jesus forever changed the sacrament of baptism into something much more than merely an act of repentance. It can still serve that purpose, too. But now, it has a much greater purpose.

Look again at the Romans reading for today: “3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 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. 5 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.” [Romans 6:3–5.]

THAT, brothers and sisters, is why Jesus got baptized.

Now please turn with me in your LBW to page 121. Follow along as I read that first paragraph:

… As we live with him and with his people, we grow in faith, love, and obedience to the will of God.” That’s what happens to us after we are baptized…

Most of us in here were baptized as babies… or very young. And most of us in here have brought our children to *be* baptized. Look at the bottom of the page. Notice the responsibilities we adults have for those we bring to be baptized? Turn to page 122 please.

That long section on the bottom is a very concise version of God’s action among his people, and how He has used water throughout that story, saving his people from their slavery in Egypt and delivering them to freedom, and eventually using it to save us all from slavery to sin and death and delivering us to freedom in his Son.

Look what happens next: the person being baptized (or their sponsor) is asked to make a statement of faith. Do you believe this? Yes? Ok, let’s do it! Turn the page. See the red #13? “The minister lays both hands on the head of each of the baptized and prays for the Holy Spirit.” The laying on of hands goes all the way back to the 12 Apostles. After this is the anointing with oil, and the presentation of the baptismal candle, and a prayer for the parents. And then all of us welcome the newly baptized into the family.

Baptism is how Jesus’ own ministry begins, and it marks the beginning of the faith journey of every new Christian. Baptism is what unites us to Christ. Baptism is where we are privileged to say “I am a child of God now” and come to the table of His Holy Supper with confidence, knowing that Christ’s sacrifice was “for me”.

Luther had this to say about the scene of Jesus’ baptism: “Heaven opens itself, which hitherto was closed, and now becomes at Christ’s baptism a door and a window, so that one can see into it; and henceforth there is no difference any more between God and us; for God the Father himself is present and says, This is my beloved Son.” [Lenski, 130.]

Baptism is God’s saving action. Baptism is how God claims us. Baptism is how God revealed His Son to those who would become the first of his followers. Baptism is how we are all united with Christ. It is a gift. So what are we to do with this gift? “As we live with him and with his people, we grow in faith, love, and obedience to the will of God.” So first and foremost, we have to live with him and with is people - we have to be in community together. That means you gotta be here on Sundays. If you’re baptized, you’re meant to be in God’s house on His day.

If you’re not doing that first part, the second part will never come. How can you grow if you’re not here? Plants do not grow without exposure to sunlight. Christians cannot grow if they’re not exposed to the Son’s light.

Turn to the back of your bulletin please. Vision Point #1 - Be a Great Commission Church. That’s also Matthew’s Gospel, chapter 28, starting at verse 18: “18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 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, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” [Mt 28:18–20.]

If we’re going to live up to this very first thing that we chose for ourselves, we have some baptizing to do. But there’s a couple of verbs before that: “Go” comes first. That implies “out there”. We have to get outside this building. Next verb is “make”, as in “make disciples”. I think this is where our work starts. We’re going to start by making ourselves better disciples, so that we have more to offer those who want to be a part of the Body of Christ, who want to enjoy the gifts that baptism offers, and who want to know that Jesus *is* with us always, to the end of the age.

Brothers and sisters, baptism is the beginning. It is powerful, and it is precious. Let’s all remember what it offers for us, and never take it for granted. And let us all listen for how God is calling us to live out our baptism as we venture out into the world.