The Baptism of Our Lord - January 9, 2011

The Church Season of Epiphany,
The Baptism of Our Lord,
Our Savior Lutheran Church, Midland, MI (January 9, 2011)
One Year Series

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

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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

Baptism is all about reversals—God taking upon Himself what we deserve and giving to us what we do not. When Jesus was baptized, the great reversal was that the Son of God was baptized into a life that identifies Him, the One who knows no sin, as the One who now bears our sin. When we are baptized, the great reversal is that we who know nothing but sin now bear the righteousness of Christ. Maybe it’s simpler to here it this way.  When Jesus approached John the Baptist at the river Jordon, Jesus arrived without sin.  And then Jesus went into the river, was baptized, and when He walked up out of the river, Jesus’ robe was stained with sin.  John the Baptist even said so, “Look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world”(Jn. 1:29)  It is the exchange, the contrast, clean and pure baptized in filthy and dirty water.  And for us? The exchange is, God brings us to baptism, in a filthy sinful state, and the water washes away our sin.  Christ takes all our sin, He takes our life, in baptism we approach dead in our sins, and baptized we live to Christ.

But as with the Son of God, after we are baptized, we too must remain in this world even as heaven has been opened to us and we have been declared by God the Father to be His beloved in whom He is now well pleased. We too will endure the cross--the cross of living in a world that will often treat us just as it treated our Baptized Lord.

Baptized into Christ, we will look no better to the world, and to paraphrase Isaiah, in fact we will have no beauty or majesty to attract [the world to us], nothing in [our] appearance that [the world] should desire [us]. [We will be] despised and rejected by men, [children] of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces [we will be] despised, and . . . esteemed . . . not. Baptized into Christ we will feel no different.

We all know that one day we shall die, but we don’t often think about it.  But for those who do know that it approaches, it is a real and imminent struggle to the end.  It is a struggle of irony for those who watch, and pray, who see their loved ones falter.  As with Christ Himself, the life of the Baptized remains a life of temptations to sin and turn away from God and His Word; a life of trials to your faith in what remains unseen; a life of tribulations of our bodies.   With all our might we struggle to not die and go where in almost every prayer we pray to go.  Ironic, twist, I pray for heaven, but not just yet.

That is why Baptism is so important. Through all we face, God gives us our Baptism which never ends so that we will never forget.  In your Baptism God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit says to you: "I am you're your God and You are my child. In you I am well pleased." By believing this you will never really die, but have eternal life. That you are baptized means that you are no longer dead in your sins but alive in Christ and though the world will surely hate you and make this life difficult at best, as God's redeemed, baptized children, you know you are loved by Him forever.

That is also why it is so important to hear the Word and receive God's forgiveness often—it reminds you of and even keeps you in your Baptism—and thus with Christ and His Father in heaven.As tough as it is for those of us who regularly hear the Word of Baptism, receive the forgiveness and Name of God, and partake of the very body and blood of Christ, think of how it must be for those who do not—for those who have separated themselves from Baptism and the Name of God by not hearing His Word and receiving His gifts.

Even though it sometimes doesn’t look or feel like when we recall our baptism we are really in the best place of any of us—secure in the baptismal grace of God. For Baptism is God's help for the helpless, His hope for the hopeless, His heaven for those ravaged by the hell sin brings to earth.

The ones we really should be concerned about are those who are not hearing the Word of God, who have better, more important things to do.The ones who are really in trouble are the ones who prefer not to be helpless before God and throw themselves on His mercy. These are the ones, especially those we know and love, whom we should be pursuing and inviting back to where heaven is open to them too—back to Baptism--and the preaching of everything our Lord has spoken for the forgiveness of sins that is a continuance of Baptism—the gift of God that ensures in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that “neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”(Romans 8:34-39)

Dear Baptized, despite whatever you may be going through and see others going through, heaven has been opened to you and all who are baptized, because you have been baptized into Christ, His suffering, His death, His resurrection, and His ascension. This is God’s mercy for you, He has exchanged perfection for your sin, He has taken your sin and offers you perfection.  And if you would take that gift of mercy and cast it away, or bottle it up.  Then your light would not be shining toward your fellow man.  God’s grace is unconditional, your salvation does not depend on your works.  At the same time that which you do for others show that your faith is active.  God uses you to bear fruit and bring the kingdom of heaven to others through your suffering.  Hear that again, for most do hear it but do not listen, your suffering offers others a chance to show their mercy.  So even in your suffering there is opportunity for mercy.  Listen and hear, look and see, so many are touched by the mercy you offer to those who suffer.  Just a couple of weeks ago a group from here sang carols for Elsie.  That was our opportunity to show our mercy, not only to Elsie, but also the other residents who slowly wheeled their chairs closer to better hear the singing.  The blessing for one expanded beyond the bounds of a single room, mercy is contagious.

And we hear in Christ’s baptism an incredible act of mercy.  For you are God's beloved children for whom Christ exchanged heaven for earth, for sinlessness to being the Lamb of God bearing all your sin.  In Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit descended, God spoke His approval. And in Jesus Christ God well pleased with you, because in your Baptism you are forgiven all of your sins, now and forever.  

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

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