Advent Midweek 3:
“Jesus, the Life of Jesse’s Tree”[1]
December 16, 2020
Text: Matt. 3:13-17; Rom. 6:1-11
This
evening we get a little foretaste of the feast to come at the Baptism of our
Lord, which we’ll observe of January 10.
That day we’ll get St. Mark’s account of the Baptism, along with this
same Epistle from Romans 6. Tonight, we hear
St. Matthew’s telling. Now, much of what
is said tonight will bear repeating on that day, but for this Advent midweek
mediation, I would like to focus in on three things: 1. All three persons of
the Holy Trinity, our one God, are in the water for you! 2. As you meet Christ in the water of Holy
Baptism, a blessed exchange takes place.
And 3. Your new life in Christ is a continual return to your Baptism, a
daily death with Him in repentance and a daily resurrection to life with Him in
the Holy Spirit, bearing the fruits of faith.
You
know that all three Persons of the Godhead appear in the Baptism of our Lord in
the Jordan. There is Jesus Christ, the
Son of God, in the water, to be baptized by St. John. And there is the Spirit of God, descending
upon Him as a dove and coming to rest on Him.
And there is the voice of the Father from heaven above: “This is my
beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased” (Matt. 3:17; ESV). Heaven is open. The veil is pulled back. We catch a glimpse of the Trinity in
action. The encounter with God takes
place in the water.
And
now that is the pattern for Christian Baptism in the Name of the Father, and of
the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Our
Lord’s Baptism fills our Baptism with all its substance and saving
benefits. There is Christ for us in the
water. He is baptized into us, that ever
after we be baptized into Him. There is
the Spirit, hovering over the water of His New Creation. Now it is true, in your Baptism He does not
descend upon you visibly as a dove, but He is just as assuredly present. And He comes to rest upon you, the Spirit of
the Father, given you through Jesus the Son, who brings you to faith in Jesus,
who restores you to the Father. This is
the Spirit who calls you by the Gospel, enlightens you with His gifts,
sanctifies and keeps you in the one true faith unto the Day of Resurrection
when He will raise all the dead and give eternal life to you and me and all
believers in Christ. And there is the
voice of the Father. He is making a
declaration about you. He makes this
declaration because you are now in Christ, His Son, baptized into Him. He says of you: “This is my beloved
son, my beloved daughter, God’s own child, I gladly say it. And in this one I am well pleased.” That is a declaration of justification. For, you see, in your Baptism, Christ washes
away your sins. He clothes you with Himself
and with all His righteousness. You put
Him on like a garment, like a spotless baptismal gown. So the Father sees you as He sees His Son,
Christ. Sinless. Holy.
Beloved. And He says so. He calls it as He sees it. And the Word of our God cannot be
broken. Heaven is open for children of
our Father. The saving encounter with
God takes place in the water.
So
what happens at Jesus’ Baptism, happens at yours. Now when you meet Christ for you there
in the water, a blessed exchange takes place.
All that is yours, now becomes His, and all that is His, now becomes
yours. It is not as though Jesus needed
to be baptized. Not for His own sake, He
who is without sin. He is baptized for
you, to take what is yours. That is all
your sin and unrighteousness, your guilt and shame, your death, your
punishment, the condemnation you merit. These
all become His own. He soaks all of
these up from the water into Himself.
That in His flesh, He may be the Sin Bearer for sinful humanity, that He
may expiate our sin by His death on the cross.
But He leaves something else behind in the water. Namely, all that is His, for you to receive,
when you enter the water to be baptized.
That is all His righteousness and holiness, His innocence and glory, His
life, His reward, and the Kingdom He merits by His blood and death. It is not unlike a Bride and a
Bridegroom. In fact, that is exactly
what Scripture calls it. All that is the
Bride’s becomes the Groom’s, and all that is the Groom’s becomes the
Bride’s. He takes on your debt and pays
it in full. You receive His riches, and
you will never lack. He brings you into
His Home, under His protection, and there He provides for you and keeps you in
perfect peace. The wedding ring of faith
seals this exchange. Faith receives all
the benefits. And joy everlasting is
your inheritance.
But
for now, we live here, in this fallen world, the sinful nature hanging on for
dear life. Simul justus et peccator,
at the same time righteous and sinner.
We have one foot in both realities.
In Christ, we are perfectly righteous, saints by virtue of His
righteousness. But in ourselves, in the
flesh, we are miserable sinners, indeed.
It is this struggle between the you in Christ and the you
curved in on yourself that marks the life of every Christian. It is a cycle. It is a pattern of continual return to your
Baptism, of daily death and resurrection.
You are baptized into Christ.
That is the immovable fact of the matter. But it is also true that you daily sin
against your God. So what are you to do
with that? St. John has been preaching
it to us the past two Sundays.
Repent. That is, die to
yourself. Confess your sins to God and
thereby crucify the sinful nature.
Plunge Old Adam back down under the baptismal waters. And believe the Gospel St. John
preaches. Jesus is the Lamb of God who
takes away the sin of the world. That
is, He takes away your sin. And
knowing and believing that Gospel, is resurrection from the dead. The Holy Spirit raises you to new life by
breathing the life-giving Gospel of Christ, the Holy Absolution, into you. So now being raised to new life… live! Live according to God’s Commandments. Fear, love, and trust in God above all
things. Love and serve your neighbor as
yourself.
And
this cycle is always on repeat in this life, because you do not love God or
your neighbor perfectly; because the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. But neither do you jump out of the
cycle. You sin. Okay, now what? Repent.
Confess. Be Absolved. Believe.
Live. Fight against
temptation. Love God and your neighbor,
which is to say, obey the Commandments. Repent,
believe, live… Repent, believe, live… Daily.
Continually. Death and
resurrection. This is just what Luther
teaches us in his Small Catechism: “What does such baptizing with
water indicate? It indicates that
the Old Adam in us should by daily contrition and repentance be drowned and die
with all sins and evil desires, and that a new man should daily emerge and
arise to live before God in righteousness and purity forever.”[2] In fact, this is simply what St. Paul
preaches in our Epistle: “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” (Rom. 6:4). You see, having died to sin with Christ, how
can we still live in it? We can’t. Christ has died for sin, once for all, and He
now lives eternally. We died with Christ
in our Baptism into Him, therefore sin no longer enslaves us. We fight against it, resisting, confessing,
believing the Absolution, living by the Spirit poured out upon us. For we are already God’s beloved children
with whom He is well pleased. He already
said so at the Font, and says so again and again in the Gospel. So now, because we love Him, we live according
to that reality.
Beloved,
you are baptized into Christ. The Son is
in the water for you. The Spirit
descends and rests upon you. God
declares that He loves you and is pleased with you. Christ takes away all your sin and
condemnation. He gives you all His
righteousness and life in exchange. And
now you daily die and rise in Him until the Day when death will be no more and
He will raise you bodily forever. Christ
is the life of Jesse’s tree. Christ is
your life now and forever. In the Name
of the Father, and of the Son X, and of the Holy
Spirit. Amen.
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