The Baptism of our Lord - 01-11-09

The Church Season of Epiphany,
The Baptism of Our Lord,
Our Savior Lutheran Church, Midland, MI (January 11, 2008)
One Year Series

“Let it be so now”

Readings:

Psalm 85
Joshua 3:1-3, 7-8, 13-17
1 Cor. 1:26-31
Mt 3:13-17

Sermon Form: Deductive

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Grace, mercy and peace be to you from the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, Amen

The text for today is as recorded in the Gospel Lesson from the 3rd chapter of St. Matthew, especially the following verses.

Matthew 3:13-17 (NIV)

13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. 14 But John tried to deter him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” 15 Jesus replied, “Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.” Then John consented. 16 As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him. 17 And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit

“To the Jordan’s river came our Lord, The Christ, whom heav’nly hosts adored, The God from God, the Light from Light, The Lord of glory, pow’r and might.”(LSB #405) Jesus Christ whom angels had adored, who had all the glory, power, and might walked down to the Jordan river to be baptized. John must have recognized his cousin, but even more than recognizing the person, John recognized that Jesus was also heaven sent. So in standing in his earthen wear, yet with heavenly recognition, John first seeks to set the record straight. In his words and actions John implied....You know Jesus, I’m preaching a baptism of repentance, and we also know that is not the kind of baptism which you need, and I know I’m out here crying in the wilderness, but you’re going to have to tell me why are you are coming to me? And Jesus’ answered,

“Let it be so now”

The time had come for Jesus to begin His earthly ministry, it was time for Him to step foot in the Jordan river. Christ did not need John’s baptism, after all He is God who does not need require the works of men, for Jesus came to do what men could not. Jesus did not need the cleansing of repentance from the river Jordan, yet when Jesus stepped into those plain waters, the water was no longer just plain water. And being baptized by John at the Jordan was not by mere chance or circumstance, years before this same river hailed the likes of Joshua as he crossed over to the promised land. Joshua’s story is a lot like Christ’s, for here at this river it was proper for Joshua to cross, to begin a new journey and to end the last stage of the wandering Israelites.

The wandering course of the Jordan runs from its crystal clear beginnings to its dark and bitter end in a helpless race to a hopeless goal. It flows, from the heights of mountains in the deepest trenches on the face of the earth, it flows to a place from which no water flows. But along this journey, miracles did occur, like the ones who came to those waters like, Joshua, Elijah, and Elisha. God let it be so for these prophets for their miracles pointed to the one who would come way beyond their now.

Through our veiled eyes we may feel that we are living a so, so life in the here and now. Our minds are tired. Our health is challenged. Our bodies weak. We all have friends or loved ones who are worn thin by all chaos of this world. We would like to think of lives being lived out just like that Jordan river, flowing from a state of innocence high on the mountains. Yet like the Jordan, we know that life’s rivers flow down hill. And we are not only carried by along by all that happens around us, we drown ourselves with our thoughts of, sickness. We willingly succumb to the currents of our own sin. And ultimately we can not swim, rather we sink in our thoughts, words, and deeds, and there is no way for us to save ourselves from drowning in the flood of our own sin.

Yet into that very flowing journey of our lives, Jesus intercedes for us. For somewhere between the mountains of our self centered hope and the unavoidable sea of our death there flows a river. Jesus, stepped into our endless river of sin and was baptized by John the Baptist. Christ did not need John, yet John knew he needed Christ. Christ prevails upon John to, “Let it be so now it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.”(v. 15) And by fufilling all righteousness Christ stepped in to free us from our lives which descend into a river of our sin, sickness, tragedy, and faithless despair. Martin Luther tells us, “There are only two abodes for sin: it either resides with you, weighting you down; or it lies on Christ, the Lamb of God. If it is loaded on your back, you are lost; but if it rests on Christ, you are free and saved.” (Luther Vol. 22:169)

In Eden, Adam and Eve once stood sinless and without knowledge of any despair. In their sin they were cast from God’s presence and they enjoined all who would be their heirs to their sin. And as they were cast from Eden God let them know that they could not return, and He told them it would be so, for now. But from the woman’s seed would come one who would fulfill all righteousness.

And as Jesus approached the Jordan, He came as the One who would fulfill all righteousness. He came to fulfill the Law, even to the point of receiving a baptism of repentance from John. But, Jesus did not need repentance. And John already knew that the Kingdom of Heaven was near for he had said so. The need for Jesus' baptism was just as incomprehensible to John as it is to us. That's why he tried to prevent Jesus. John was admitting that he is a sinner and that Jesus is sinless. But Jesus was proclaiming that this is the course that His life must run and that was enough for John. For John heard Christ’s words and he did not speak further, he consented and Jesus was given a baptism of repentance for the sins which He did not commit and He let it be so.

And as He came forth from those waters the Father spoke, and the Holy Spirit descended. In the water Christ stood with John and all sinful men. As Jesus came from the waters He stood as the Son with His Father and the Holy Spirit.

John consented to baptizing the One who did not need baptizing. And Christ in His journey from heaven to earth was prepared to do all things to fulfill righteousness, and to let that be so it now included being baptized by John. And Jesus did not stop His journey there, for He rose up out of the Jordan and continued to go up to Jerusalem, to hang on a cross. And went to that cross to fulfill our righteousness. In our baptism, all the rivers of this life’s worries which have piled up on us in a heap, are washed away. We are prepared for that promised miracle which flows from the depths of this earth to the heights of heaven. We are prepared for heaven each time we partake of the Lord’s Supper when eat the true body and drink the true blood of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God. Even when our thoughts, our lives, and our daily actions focus on the agony of now, Jesus has fulfilled our righteousness for beyond the here and now.

Christ the incarnate God of peace insisted upon fulfilling our righteousness and He was baptized for sins He didn’t commit. Jesus was baptized, by just a plain man, in a plain river, in plain water. But, God uses the ordinary things of this world to make extraordinary things happen. And because of the extraordinary life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, plain sinful mankind is baptized in the Name of Christ, in Holy water. And from that Holy baptism you will be gathered at the river of eternal of life, and you will most certainly join Him there. For Christ has made it so for you for both now and forevermore. AMEN

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