The Baptism of Our
Lord (A)
January 8, 2023
Text: Matt. 3:13-17
The
Baptist is confused by Baptism. John
objects to Jesus’ coming to him to be baptized. John knows that he should be baptized
by Jesus. But it is Jesus Himself who
fills Baptism with meaning and substance.
Apart from the Lord Jesus stepping down into the water, soaking up what
is in it, and filling it with Himself, the water is plain water, and no
Baptism. But with Jesus in the water,
“it is a Baptism, that is, a life-giving water, rich in grace, and a washing of
the new birth in the Holy Spirit, as St. Paul says in Titus, chapter three: ‘He
saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom He
poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having
been justified by His grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal
life. This is a trustworthy saying.’
(Titus 3:5-8)” (NIV)[1]
So,
“Let it be so now,” John, “for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill
all righteousness” (Matt. 3:15; ESV).
Jesus is the Righteous One. He
has no sin of His own, and on that count, John is right to protest. But Jesus has not come to be baptized for His
own benefit. There is no old Adam to
drown, no sin to be forgiven. He comes,
not to be righteous for Himself, but to be righteous for us. Thus, when He steps into the water, He
fills Baptism with all righteousness.
By His Baptism in the Jordan, He sanctifies and institutes all waters
to be a blessed flood, and a lavish washing away of sin.[2]
But
He doesn’t just leave the goods there for us in the water. He soaks up what is already in it. Our sin.
Our uncleanness. Our death. St. Paul says, “For our sake [God] made
him who knew no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the
righteousness of God” (2 Cor. 5:21).
In other words, Baptism is the point at which the Great Exchange
takes place between Jesus and His Christians. Baptized into us, He takes our sin
and all that is ours, that He may bear it before God and suffer God’s
righteous wrath over it in our place.
And baptized into Him, we receive Him, and all
that is His, His righteousness, His holiness, God’s love and favor, the
Holy Spirit, eternal life, and the royal inheritance. That we may bear Him before God, and
stand in His place, as beloved sons.
When
Jesus goes down into the water, it is a death. And in our Baptism into Him, we die
with Him. Old Adam in us is drowned and
dies with all sins and evil desires. We
are crucified with Christ. We get
our death over with at the font. And
then, Jesus comes up out of the water.
Literally, He rises, ascends out of the water. This is a resurrection. It is all a foreshadowing of His
Baptism in blood on the cross, and His resurrection from the dead on the Third
Day. And in our Baptism into Him, we
are raised with Him to new life. Already
now. By faith, the new man daily emerges
and arises to live before God in righteousness and purity. It is as St. Paul says 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). We are raised
with Christ. Even as we look forward
to the resurrection of our bodies on the Last Day, we have been raised
already now, in a hidden way, in Christ, our risen Lord.
And
so, it is with us in our Baptism, as it is with Christ in His. Heaven is open to us as the Baptized. We have one foot in it already. We have access to the royal
throne. We petition the King… we pray. And the holy angels, the courtiers, attend
to us.
The
Holy Spirit descends on us in Baptism.
Now, He doesn’t come as a visible dove, as He did for Jesus. At our Lord’s Baptism in the Jordan, the
Spirit came in visible manifestation for Jesus’ sake, and for ours,
that we may know, first of all, that this is Jesus’ anointing as the Christ,
the Messiah, which means “Anointed One.”
He is anointed with the Holy Spirit for His Office as our
Prophet, Priest, and King. He is anointed
to preach, as the Word made flesh.
He is anointed to make the Sacrifice of Atonement as the Lamb of God
who takes away the sin of the world. He
is anointed to rule, to win for Himself a Kingdom by His saving work,
and then take His seat at the right hand of God the Father Almighty.
And
the Spirit comes upon Jesus in the visible form of a dove, that we may
know that, when He descends to us in Baptism, He brings us God’s peace,
reconciliation with God, forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation. The dove is the symbol of peace. Noah knows that God’s wrath is at an end, and
the flood is receding, when the dove returns to him with a freshly plucked
olive leaf, and again, when she returns to him no more, because she has
found a place to rest. Just so,
the Spirit rests on us. We do not
possess Him, in the sense that we grasp Him and contain Him, any more
than Noah tried to grasp and possess the dove.
But He makes His home with us.
He dwells with us. He abides
with us. Always to grant us God’s peace
and life.
And
then, the Father speaks. A voice
from heaven says of Jesus, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am
well pleased” (Matt. 3:17). We
understand how that applies to Jesus, who is literally God the Son,
eternally begotten of the Father. And we
know why the Father is pleased with Him.
Because He is perfectly obedient.
He is perfectly righteous.
He perfectly fulfills the Father’s will.
But
in our Baptism, because we receive all that belongs to Jesus, and
because we are covered with Jesus and His righteousness, the Father says this of
us! At the font, He says, “This
is my beloved Son,” God’s own Child, I gladly say it, “and with this one
I am well-pleased.” And that is justification
language. You are righteous
before God the Father in heaven on account of righteousness of Jesus Christ His
Son, which He left for you there in the water.
He has taken away all your sins.
Remember, He soaked them up at His Baptism in the muddy, grimy
Jordan. And you are wholly righteous,
not with a righteousness of your own, but that of Jesus Christ, which you soaked
up at your Baptism in the water of the font. When God looks at you, He doesn’t see your
sin. He sees Jesus. He sees the perfect obedience of Jesus. He sees the perfect righteousness of
Jesus. He sees the perfect fulfilling of
His will as it has been done by Jesus.
Of course, He knows you are a sinner.
We didn’t fool Him by getting baptized.
But this is to say, something real takes place in Baptism. It is a real exchange. It is a real washing away of sins,
justification, salvation, and new birth in the Holy Spirit. (I once had a woman, many years ago, ask me
to leave her home because I had the audacity to suggest to her that Jesus is
really present in the water of Baptism, and really does His saving work there! She did not understand that thus it is
necessary for Jesus to be in the water, in order to fulfill all righteousness.) We believe what God says of Baptism in Holy
Scripture. “Whoever believes and is
baptized will be saved,” Jesus says (Mark 16:16). “Baptism… now saves you,” Peter
preaches (1 Peter 3:21). “(H)e saved
us,” Paul says, “by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy
Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior”
(Titus 3:5-6). Baptism unites you to the
saving death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, again, as St. Paul says, buried
with Him by Baptism into death, that as Christ has been raised, so you may now
walk in newness of life (Rom. 6:4).
And
make no mistake. Do not be
deceived. This is all God’s
work. Baptism isn’t your
work. If it was, it couldn’t save you,
as the Bible so clearly says it does.
You aren’t saved by your obedience, as though this is simply some
outward ordinance to be observed.. You
are saved by Jesus’ obedience.
You are saved by what God does for you. By what Jesus does for you. It is God who does the baptizing. The Spirit carries you to the
font. The pastor is simply the hands and
voice God uses to do the baptizing Himself. And there is Jesus in the water.
So
often, you are confused by Baptism, aren’t you? After all, how can water do such great
things? But it is certainly not just
water that does them. It is Jesus in
the water that does these things.
And faith, given by the Holy Spirit descending on you in the
water, receives it.
Baptism
is a whole New Creation. The Father speaks:
“Let there be a Christian.” The Son,
God’s incarnate Word, is the Agent of His creation. He is in the water, and fills the
water, to make it so. He fills
Baptism with all righteousness. And
there is the Spirit, hovering, brooding, and coming to rest
on you in the water. And God looks at
what He has made, and in, and for the sake of His Son, He
declares it “very good” (Gen. 1:31).
He is well-pleased. So much so,
that He even signs His Name on us, the fullest and most intimate
expression of His Name, the Triune Name into which he has given us to be baptized
(Matt. 28:19). God puts His Name on
us! And we believe in that
Name. We call upon that Name. We are all wrapped up in that Name. And it is this: the Name of the Father, and
of the Son X, and of the Holy
Spirit. Amen.
[1] Catechism quotes from Luther’s
Small Catechism (St. Louis: Concordia, 1986).
[2] Luther’s Flood Prayer, cf. LSB 269.
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