The Baptism of Our Lord
8 January, Anno Domini 2017
St. Matthew 3:13-17
Pr. Kurt Ulmer
In the Name of the Father, and of the +Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
There it is again! Did you catch it? Yet another reminder of your Baptism – or at least it should be. The invocation of the Trinitarian Name. Every time you hear it, alarms should be going off in your head and your mind and heart should be swept back to the font where that Name became your own Name, where you became a member of that family and an inheritor of that kingdom.
No doubt, it’s easy, surrounded as we are by false teachers, to downplay and even forget the immeasurable treasure that we have been given in Baptism. If only God would silence the lying tongues of those who rob tortured consciences of the great comfort of baptism, who say foolish things like baptism is merely symbolic, an ordinance of God which the Christian is to obey, a person’s own commitment to follow Jesus and live according to His word. These are servants of Satan. Flee from them because they do not speak what God Himself has spoken. They would have you look within for the comfort you seek, comfort that only Christ can give and does give in Holy Baptism. If there is any part of you that doesn’t take comfort in Baptism then I beg you in the Name of Jesus to stand there on the banks of the Jordan and see and hear what God Himself teaches about Baptism. And then, Lord-willing, your Baptism will become for you your most precious and prized treasure, exactly what your Lord gave it to you to be.
Baptism certainly can’t be insignificant in the eyes of God if the public ministry of the Christ begins with His Baptism and ends with the command to baptize all nations in the Triune Name. And certainly the evangelists all understood this to be the case – Jesus’ baptism by John sets the tone for everything that follows. “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” In other words, there is no righteousness apart from the Baptism of our Lord as sinner and the whole purpose of Jesus’ incarnation and ministry is to make you and me righteous, because we aren’t. Jesus clearly tells us, His righteousness for us is found and delivered to us in Baptism.
So Jesus’ ministry begins by submitting to a baptism for sinners. That’s what John’s baptism was. That should be our first clue that something strange is happening when Jesus shows up and demands to be included. Jesus is the sinless Son of God! What is He doing? There are no sins of which He must repent or for which He must be forgiven. At least, none of His own. And that’s true. But Jesus isn’t there for Himself. Jesus wasn’t born of the Virgin Mary for His own benefit. Jesus is there for you. He is there as you and as every other sinner. He stands there in the water as your substitute, because, as the prophet Isaiah says “the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all”. That changes everything. Now Jesus isn’t even just A sinner. Jesus is THE sinner. My sin, your sin, the sins of all people were laid on Jesus so that as the appointed Lamb of God, He could take all of them away from us forever. His life, His obedience, His righteousness offered in place of your death, your disobedience, your unrighteousness. In Jesus’ Baptism, Baptism is made, it is filled. It is now the perfect, complete Baptism. The waters that poured off His head flow to you (trickle-down salvation, if you will). His Baptism is your Baptism and thus your Baptism is His. Are you baptized? Then you are a participant in all that Christ did and a recipient of all that Christ lived and died to win for sinners. He gives you His life and His atoning death. He gives you His own perfect keeping of the whole Law of God. He gives you His perfect love for God and neighbor. He gives you His perfect submission to the Father’s will. He gives you His perfect humility. You now wear the glorious robe of Christ’s righteousness that covers all your sin so that when the Father looks at you He sees nothing but Jesus.
How then can anyone say that baptism is a work of man, a nice ceremony that Christians do? Real, substantial things, not empty works, happened at Jesus’ baptism. Hear again what three incredible things happen at Jesus’ for-you Baptism. First, the heaven’s were opened. The Eden of God’s presence and fellowship had been closed by our first parents in their rebellion against the word and promise of God. But now we who must for a time dwell in this wasteland surrounded by hatred and death, constantly assaulted by the evil that is perpetrated against us and the evil that we perpetrate against God and our neighbor, have hope and can look forward to walking again in the cool of the garden with our Creator. No longer must we be afraid when the Lord draws near and try to hide ourselves and our guilt. The flaming sword of the angel has been sheathed, the curtain torn, and the way to God opened once again.
Second, the Holy Spirit, in the form of a peaceful dove, descends upon Christ and remains with Him, marking Him as both the anointed Christ and the source, the giver of the Holy Spirit to all who are baptized into Him. Through our Baptism into Christ, the Holy Spirit is given to us and works His proper work of giving life, for He is the Lord and Giver of Life, eternal life, as the Church confesses in the Nicene Creed. In your baptism you have been made a participant in Christ’s own death to sin. And in the same way you have been raised to new life, eternal life. You have been set free from sin and death – not so that you can return to a life of self-indulgence and self-righteousness, but so that you may in joy and true freedom carry out the good works which God has prepared in advance for you to do.
Finally, the voice of the God the Father Almighty proclaims His pleasure with this Jesus, His beloved Son who has gladly taken your place and your punishment and your death. And now, all who receive this Baptism, all who are baptized into Christ can be assured of nothing less than this – you are God’s beloved son, because you are baptized into God’s beloved Son, and with You, God is well-pleased.
The proud and the arrogant will never understand that Baptism is the work of God Himself through which He works faith and salvation. They will forever dismiss it as utter foolishness, a thing of weakness to be mocked despised just as they do Christ our dear Lord Himself. It is not grand enough or flashy enough. At every turn and by every means possible the devil will try to rob you of the comfort which God has prepared for you in your Baptism. He will tell you that it isn’t enough. He will have you question whether you have used it up. He will seek torment you with the idea your baptism is weak because you are weak.
Pay him no mind. Let him fill the whole world with his hot air. God is true though every man be a liar. Our Savior has Himself despised all that the world counts as strong and wise and godly. Your baptism is more than enough because Christ is more than enough. God has chosen what is foolish and weak, what is low and despised, so that the world can have nothing to boast of before Him. God Himself has promised that through the humble and lowly waters of baptism, you are saved, you are forgiven, you are joined to Christ who has gone before you into the heavenly places to prepare a place for you. “In Baptism we now put on Christ – our shame is fully covered with all that He once sacrificed and feely for us suffered. For here the flood of His own blood now makes us holy, right, and good before our heav’nly Father.” (LSB 596, stz. 4) Your Baptism has granted you new life and a share in the kingdom of God. Your baptism is your shield against all your enemies who seek to destroy you by bringing you into doubt and despair. Your baptism declares you a redeemed child of God and no man, no disease, no devil can undo the work which God Himself has done. Your baptism ensures that death has no power over you because you have already died in Christ. When you stand before the judgment seat of Christ you will do so confidently because you will have this to say “I AM BAPTIZED!”
The devil know this and believes it. His only hope is that you don’t or that you won’t take advantage of it. He hopes that you will forget that you are baptized. He hopes that he can overwhelm you by throwing your sins in your face. He hopes that he can rob you of the promises of baptism by drawing you in sorrow and suffering and pain. He hopes that you will only think of your baptism as something that happened a long time ago and that doesn’t really have much value for you right now. And if that is how you think of your baptism or if you treat it as little more than a scrapbook memory, then Satan has won. Baptism doesn’t fail. Our trust and our exercising of it do.
But be sure of this, if your confidence and your hope is built on this glorious, divine work of baptism, Satan will have to submit and flee from you. There is no weapon in his unholy arsenal that can do you an ounce of harm or rob you of this treasure. He has nothing left to accuse you of because ALL your sin, every last bit of it, has been swept away in the waters of the font. When the whole world seems set against you, when suffering seems to be your only lot, when your conscience is is tormented by your sin and your guilt run to your Baptism because that is where you will find Jesus. Nourish the faith once given by hearing again and again the precious promises made to you on your baptismal birthday. Taste with your mouth the promises of baptism brought to fulfillment on Golgotha. “O Christian firmly hold this gift and give God thanks forever! It gives the power to uplift in all that you endeavor. When nothing else revives your soul, your Baptism stands and makes you whole and then in death completes you.” (LSB 596, stz. 5)
In the Name of +Jesus. Amen.