✠ Psalmody: Psalm 72:1;Isaiah 60:6b, 1;Matthew 2:2b;Psalm 72:10–11
✠ Lection: Isaiah 25:1;26:11a;28:5a;35:1a, 2b, 10a;41:18a, c;52:13b;12:3–5; Ephesians 1:13b–18;
St. John 1:29–34
In the Name of the Father and of the ✠ Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
It is more than fitting to celebrate the Baptism of Jesus on the octave of the Epiphany, that is, on the eighth day after observing that feast as we did last Sunday. Such is true because He Who was revealed to the world, Jew and Gentile alike, as both God and Man, is shown on this day how the full counsel and intention of the Holy Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, is to carry out the eternal rescue mission of the Son saving the world from our sins. One would expect such a grand event, the inauguration of the ministry of God in the flesh, to be guarded by more than 25,000 armed troops, to be attended by the elite and most important people in all the world, and to take place in a central venue worthy of all three Persons of the Godhead showing up. Yet worldly grandeur is neither seen in the Baptism of Jesus, nor sought at all by God. He made sure that Jesus’ Baptism didn’t exalt man in our own eyes more than we already tend to do, yet made it clear that what the Triune God was carrying out at the Jordan River was, is, and will continue eternally to be about His love for us.
With a full and proper understanding of the one true God, not the one of our making, but the One seated upon the throne of heaven around Whom the angels sing praise without stopping, we then enter the scene at the Jordan River with this in mind: Almighty God in all three Persons showed up that day, which the mere thought of should have had every sinner present instantly face down in the dirt before Him, in fear of receiving what he or she deserves on account of sin. How terrible and frightening a thought it is when God shows up to bring sin to account. But take notice, dear sinner, of the Lord’s thoughts toward you and why the Lord of all Creation entered into those Jordan waters. If you were to view the event of the Baptism of Jesus as a courtroom setting, and all your sins known by others, all hidden from others, and all you’re not aware of were to be on full display, woe to you in the face of a just and holy God; a just and holy One Who is also full of grace and mercy, and in the Baptism of Jesus He begins the Great Exchange, the transaction that takes the worst of what is yours and gives it to the Son and takes what is best of the Son’s and gives it to you. The widespread, well-warranted judgment against all sinners of the world for all time, was poured out upon the head of the Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world. For sinners, blessed baptismal waters washing away sins. For Jesus, the waters placed them upon Him so that He could bear all the world’s sins to the cross.
The Word made flesh by Whom all things were made had no need to appear on the banks of the Jordan River that day. What need did the Lord of Heaven and Earth have in being baptized, in being counted among sinners who had come out to John in repentance. In the midst of a world full of us, who try to get out of and avoid what needs to be done, He Who didn’t need to be baptized did what wasn’t needed for Himself and led the way just as we should expect from the Good Shepherd. Down He came to earth in perfect flesh, conceived by the Holy Spirit, growing in wisdom and stature before God, remaining without blemish, yet coming to His beloved people to enter into the waters of the Jordan River, for them and for you. There, flowing north to south lay the great dividing line that separated God’s Land of Promise from that which was foreign, the place outside where all sinful man is born and dwells. Even more harrowing though was the divide between heaven and earth brought on by the Fall and by our own sins that our flesh so grievously enjoys adding to the fracture. This was the dividing line to which Jesus came to open the gates of heaven so the treasures of God could be poured out upon you in the blessed waters of your baptism and for all your baptized days and life.
Do not doubt that the Lord knows your burdens, your pains, your struggles, the things that weigh down your mind, your heart, your body in the nighttime and/or in the day or that your baptism is is disconnected or useless to you in facing your trials. Jesus does not give ineffective gifts. He could have come into this world to be a live-in miracle worker who traveled around healing diseases, casting out demons, and raising the dead, not for just three years, but ongoing for all the generations that have come after His earthly ministry. Yet, if this free handout Jesus is the one that you desire, repent and look to Him Who has come, as He has come, and accomplished much more. It is the true Jesus Who raises you daily in your baptism to walk in the newness of His life. He did not come to alleviate temporary pain and woes, but to lay the axe to the very root of all the problems saturating this world and its people and to give you the strength of faith in Him to face whatever may come, be it Hell or high water. He gives you not two tylenol for your stage-four cancer nor a band-aid for your arthritis. But, He has taken every cancer, every ailment that we face under the burden of sin, upon Himself in those blessed Jordan waters. The time that you will have to face trials is limited and in that limited time, the Lord promises to bring good for you out of them. Though your fleshly eyes and mind don’t see it, and even try to convince you that it isn’t there, take comfort, beloved child of God, that the source of your problems has been diagnosed and treated definitively once and for all. He calls to you now not with a voice of judgment, but of compassion, encouragement, peace, joy, and hope. The One Who would’ve been justified to destroy you the second you were conceived in sin instead allowed you breath and having shown up at the Jordan in your flesh, stepped down into the depths of your sin so that He could die your death for you and so that you could live in Him here in time and there in eternity. The Holy Spirit, Who equally has the almighty power to destroy you and every memory of you instead descended upon the baptized Son as a peaceful dove showing them then and you now that the Lord is your Deliverer, He is your Comfort, He is your Strength, He is your Peace, He is your Salvation. Only unbelievers make Him their Judge. Heaven, that was once closed off to you because of your sin, was torn open at your Savior’s Baptism and the Father’s voice came down saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” so that, with John the Baptist, you may by faith proclaim, “I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God.”
Christ’s baptism, out of which flows your baptism, may not seem like much to you, but as your flesh drives you to ask and plead for temporal relief, in your baptism you have been given much more; eternal relief that remedies all woes, both as you face the challenge of everyday here and as you face that Last Day when sin and its effects on this world will be forever removed. Whatever lies between now and then, whatever comes your way, whatever comes our way, together let us trust in the Lord that His grace is sufficient for us. For in this life, His strength is made perfect, it is carried out, it is brought to fruition and benefit through our weakness, for there He tenderly guides and teaches us to depend upon Him more and more. Only a gracious God Who loves you dearly can and would do that. Only He Who came to the waters of the Jordan, not to condemn you, but to save you has done that so that you won’t stand before Him still covered in your own sin on Judgment Day. In Jesus, in your baptism into Him in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, do you now possess all the true, eternal riches that heaven and earth could ever give. Take heart. Remember the baptism our Lord. Remember your baptism. In it, in Him, you have received the very gift of God Himself.
In ✠ Jesus’ Name. Amen.
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