The Baptism of Our Lord

The Baptism of Our Lord (C)

January 12, 2025

Text: Luke 3:15-22

            The Baptism of our Lord Jesus Christ in the River Jordan turns the whole world upside down; in fact, the whole cosmos, all creation, all things, visible and invisible.  Heaven descends.  God comes down to you in the flesh.  All the way down into your sin.  Jesus needs no Baptism for repentance and forgiveness.  He has no sin of His own.  But He is baptized into you, and into your sin, and the sin of the whole world.  He takes it into Himself.  He becomes sin for you (2 Cor. 5:21).  And so, He comes all the way down into sin’s wages, into your death… even death on the cross!... all the way down into your grave and your hell.  Why?  To put your sin to death in the flesh.  And to raise you up in the flesh.  To take you with Him in His ascent.  Up from the grave.  Christ is risen, but your sins are not.  Up into heaven.  Up to the seat of honor at the right hand of God.  Up into righteousness… His for you.  Yours in Him.  Up into life… Eternal life.  Resurrection life.  “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?  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. 6:3-4; ESV).

            So your Baptism into Christ turns your whole world upside down.  In Holy Baptism, you died with Christ.  No longer dying, your death is done.  In Holy Baptism, you are raised with Christ.  Eternal life flows to you from the font.  You, who once were far off, have now been brought near by the blood of Christ (Eph. 3:13).  You, who once were naked, have now put on Christ as your robe of righteousness (Gal. 3:27).  You, who once were lost, have now been found (Luke 15:24).  You, once walking in death (Col. 2:13), are now born again, anew, from above, by water and the Holy Spirit (John 3:5).  You’ve been circumcised, not in the flesh, but in the heart (Rom. 2:29).  You’ve been given a new heart (Ps. 51:10).  And now, your whole life is a life of daily death and resurrection in Christ, repentance and faith.  You daily drown old Adam, your flesh, by repentance and contrition.  And you daily emerge and arise, a New Creation in Christ, to live before God in righteousness and purity forever. 

            And it is an Epiphany.  An epiphany is a revelation, a manifestation, a showing of something that has been hidden.  January 6^th was the Feast of the Epiphany of Our Lord.  Known as the Gentile Christmas, on that day the Church commemorates the revelation to the wise men (Gentiles), and to the world, that Christ is born, not just for Jews, but for all people.  And that means, for you.  Here this little Baby is shown to be God in the flesh, your Savior, your Lord, and Wisdom incarnate.

            Now we are in the Epiphany Season, and each successive Sunday will be a revelation, a manifestation, a showing of this truth.  And this Sunday’s epiphany is a whopper!  In the Baptism of our Lord, our God reveals Himself as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  See how our God paints the picture for us.  There is the incarnate Son, standing in the water, baptized by St. John, baptized for you, and into you.  Heaven, once closed to sinners, now is open, and the Holy Spirit descends on Jesus in the bodily form of a dove.  And now the Spirit will be with Him always… not always visibly, but with Him always, in all His Words, and in all His works, delivering all His saving benefits.  And there is the Voice from heaven, God the Father Almighty, declaring to Jesus “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased” (Luke 3:22). 

            And now this is the baptismal pattern.  What happened to Jesus at His Baptism, happens to you at yours.  There is Jesus, the incarnate Son of God, in the water of the font, with His blood and death for the forgiveness of your sins, with His righteousness and life for your justification and salvation.  And heaven is opened to you.  The Holy Spirit descends upon you and remains with you, not visibly, as a dove, but assuredly nevertheless.  And that is faith, by the way.  Saving faith is God’s gift to you as the Spirit comes to you in His means of grace.  And a Voice speaks.  It is your Father in heaven.  “You,” He says at your Baptism into Christ… you, now…  you “are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.” 

            Well, clearly everything has been turned on its head.  You can’t see all this with your eyes, of course.  All you see is the water dripping from your head.  And if you were baptized as an infant, you don’t even remember that.  But you know it.  You know it to be true, because that is what the Lord proclaims to you in His Word.  And what is that Word?  The Divine Name: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  You are baptized into the Name, as Jesus commanded when He instituted this Sacrament (Matt. 28:19).  Where the Name of God is, there is God Himself.  And God wants to be with you, to help you, to counsel you, to guide you, to bless you.  To provide for you and protect you.  To save you.  To give you life.  So He writes His Name on you, for the same reason you write your name on anything.  You belong to Him.  You are precious to Him, and He never wants to lose you.  He gives you His Name, for the same reason you bear the family name of your parents.  You are a member of His family, the Christian family, the Church.  He adopts you as His own.  He is your Father.  You are his child.  He loves you.  Because you are in Christ, His Son.  “God’s own child, I gladly say it: I am baptized into Christ” (LSB 594:1). 

            By the way, it’s not that you were baptized, past tense.  Sure, your Baptism happened at one particular point in time.  But your Baptism is never simply over and done.  Beloved, you are baptized, present tense.  That is your ongoing and eternal reality.  Don’t say, “I was baptized.”  Say, “I am baptized.”  Even if, God forbid, you fall away from the faith, the fact remains, you are baptized.  Now, you can leave your Baptism, that is true, and that would be absolutely tragic, because you would forfeit eternal life.  But your Baptism will never leave you.  And when any apostate (lapsed Christian) repents, and returns to the faith, there is his Baptism.  He need not be baptized again.  He simply returns to his one Baptism, the reality, the state of one who is baptized into Christ.  Because, after all, Baptism is not your work for God.  It is God’s work for you.  And He is faithful.  Therefore His Work abides. 

            Beloved, every day, remember your Baptism and the gifts that flow from it.  And by remember, I don’t mean simply that you should call it to mind.  Rather, live each day immersed in the water.  Repent of your sins every day.  Push old Adam back down under the water, and drown that sucker, your sinful nature, by dying to self and confessing your sins to your Father who loves you.  Read and hear the Gospel every day, that all your sins are forgiven on account of Christ.  And know that you are baptized into that reality, His death, His resurrection, for you.  Arise in Christ every day, to live in Christ, Christ living in you.  His Word in your ears, and in your heart and mind, the scent of His blood on your breath.  The Spirit in these means of grace, coming upon you and sanctifying you.  Every day, remember your Baptism in that way.

            And every day, as God’s own child, born anew in blest baptismal waters, and dearly loved, take upon your lips the prayer of the Baptized.  “Our Father,” we are given to say.  For in Baptism, “God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba!  Father!’” (Gal. 4:6).  And we know that “With these words God tenderly invites us to believe that He is our true Father and that we are His true children, so that with all boldness and confidence we may ask Him as dear children ask their dear Father.”[1]

            Sinners once alienated from God, now beloved children of our heavenly Father.  Your whole world turned upside down.  Jesus upended it by His Baptism into you.  And then, by baptizing you into Himself.  Once you have died and arisen with Christ in Holy Baptism, your whole life becomes an Epiphany of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, one God, for you.  And all things are made new.  In the Name of the Father, and of the Son X, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.      

 

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[1] Luther’s Small Catechism (St. Louis: Concordia, 1986).

Second Sunday after Christmas

Second Sunday after Christmas (C)

January 5, 2025

Text: Luke 2:40-52

            Mary and Joseph were mistaken.  He was not lost.  He was never lost.  He was right where He was supposed to be.  He was doing just what He was supposed to do.  He was in His Father’s House.  That is the holy Temple, the place of sacrifice and atonement, the place of Torah and prayer, the place of God’s abiding presence with His people, Israel.  But there is another possible translation for the words rendered here, “in my Father’s house” (Luke 2:49; ESV), and perhaps it is the better one.  That is, “about my Father’s business.”  “Did you not know that I must be about my Father’s business?”  And, of course, that is His divine saving mission, accomplishing once and for all, and bringing to fulfillment, all the purposes for which God gave the Temple in the first place.  He is the Sacrifice, our Lord Jesus.  He is the Atonement.  He is Torah made flesh, and the object and answer to our prayers.  He is God’s Presence with us, our Emmanuel.  He is the true Temple.  And so, maybe these words are delicious Spirit-inspired double entendre.  Where else would He be, but in the Temple?  Where else would He be, but immersed in Torah with the teachers of Israel?  What else would He be doing, but His Father’s business… the business of undoing all that went wrong in Eden… doing to the full all that should and must be done if man is to be righteous before God… accomplishing the salvation of Israel, and of the world… present for us… saving us? 

            Mary and Joseph were desperately searching.  Don’t be troubled by their assumption that the twelve-year-old Boy was somewhere in the caravan.  That’s just par for the course.  On the yearly pilgrimage to the Holy City for the Passover, families, friends, and neighbors travelled together for safety and for fellowship.  And you know how that works.  All the kids gravitated toward one another.  They played together, while the adults did their boring adult things together.  Everybody watched for everybody else’s kids.  And while there weren’t street lights to come on at twilight, the sign that it’s time to go home, the kids knew to meet up with their parents at the end of the travel day, at the appointed stopping place.  It was there that Mary and Joseph realized… something is wrong.  If you are a parent, perhaps you know that terror.  Where is my child?  For Mary, it may have been the first taste of the sword prophesied by Simeon, the one piercing her own soul, also.  In any case, it is a foreshadowing.  This will not be the last time she tastes that terror with regard to her Son. 

            So the Holy Parents returned to Jerusalem, and they searched everywhere, or so they thought.  The reality is, they searched everywhere, except where they should have.  “After three days” (v. 46)… a time stamp I think not insignificant… they found Him.  You know where.  Doing you know what.  And as mothers are wont to do, Mary asked the question that would have produced tremendous guilt and contrition in any mere human child: “Son, why have you treated us so?  Behold, your father and I have been searching for you in great distress” (v. 48).  Of course, any mere human child would have sinned grievously against the Fourth Commandment by staying back, disappearing from his parents, worrying them half to death.  Take note of this, children.  Do not do this to your parents!  But Jesus is no mere human child.  Oh, He is human.  But He is also the sinless Son of God.  And He has a Father who takes precedence over Jospeh, and even over Mary, and He must honor that Father, by His presence in His Father’s House, doing His Father’s business.  And Mary and Joseph should have known that.  This is why He came.  This why He was born.  As Gabriel told them both.  Our Lord’s Third Commandment obligation (holding the Word of God sacred, and gladly hearing and learning it) trumps His Fourth Commandment obligation (honoring father and mother).  And, of course, in honoring His heavenly Father in this way, He hasn’t actually dishonored Mary and Joseph.  He has honored them greatly, by doing the work of the Law for them, fulfilling it for them… and for us… in their place, and in ours.  Also, teaching them, and us, that our first loyalty is to God, then to parents and other earthly authorities.  Always.  God comes first.  And that, as you know, is the First Commandment: You shall have no other gods.  We should fear, love, and trust in God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) above all things.

            But back to Mary’s question for a moment.  It is not only the question of a distraught mother.  She is speaking for us.  Isn’t she?  Well, isn’t that your question, after all?  God… Jesus… where have You been?  Why have You treated me so?  I’ve looked everywhere for You!  I’m desperate, here!  I’m in great distress!  But I guess that doesn’t matter to You…  Are you sure about that?  Is it really that Jesus has sinned against you?  Now, be honest here.  You’ve been in Mary’s shoes, with her question, with her rebuke for Jesus.  Maybe you’re there right now.  Hear His answer to Mary… Hear His answer to you… not as scathing reprimand of your lament, but as a loving turning, a changing of your mind (a repentance!), an opening of your eyes, from the blindness of misperception and false belief, to the truth that you should have known, and, in fact, do already know: When you are searching for Jesus, for His help and deliverance, for His comfort and salvation… for the incarnate Presence of God for you… where should you look?  Where will you always find Him?  In His Father’s House.  Doing His Father’s Business.  Isn’t that self-evident?  Didn’t you learn that in Catechism class?  He is the Sacrifice of Atonement, offered upon the Altar of the cross.  Where else would He be, but where the fruits of His cross, the body and blood of the crucified and risen Lamb of God, are distributed and feasted upon?  He is the Word made flesh.  Where else would He be, but where the Scriptures are read and proclaimed into the ears and hearts of God’s holy people?  When you need Jesus, run to the Word.  You will always find Him there.  When you need Jesus, run to His Church, to preaching and Sacrament.  He is ever and always here, in the flesh, for you.   

            Why is that the last place we look?  It’s not that we’re ignorant.  It’s that we’re stubborn and rebellious.  We want to find Him ourselves, in the places we wishfully think He should be found (where is that?): In our hearts, in our reason, in our resolve.  On the couch.  On the screen.  In pleasure.  In power.  In wealth.  In wellbeing.  Well, you can think of other places.  But you know you will always find those places empty of Jesus, unless you find Him where He has promised to be for you.  In His Word and Sacrament.  Repent of looking for Him in all those other places.  Find Him here, and all those other things will be purified and filled with Him.  But, neglect Him here, and all those other things become filthy, empty idols.  They won’t actually help you with your distress, your anxiety, your sadness, your brokenness.  Rather, they’ll multiply your afflictions and break you to death.  Christ is your only help.  And you know where He is.  And you know what He has done, and what He is doing, for you and for your salvation.  His answer is calling you back.  “Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s House… about my Father’s Business?”

            You know what might be a good New Year’s resolution for you?  Be here more.  In your Father’s House, and about His Business, Word and Sacrament.  Not to fulfill an obligation (although it is an obligation, the Third Commandment).  But because Jesus is here, for you.  Be with Him.  He is here with you.  Read and hear the Scriptures more… to hear His voice.  To receive His Spirit and His wisdom.  Listen more carefully to the proclamation, and the Holy Absolution… that your faith in Christ be strengthened.  Take joy in God’s people.  Love them.  Jesus is here, in their midst.  And when you love them, you love Jesus.  Pray more… He is the object and the answer to your prayers.  Pray for yourself, for your family, your friends and acquaintances… your enemies… the nation, the authorities, your Church, your pastor.  For every need they may have, and most of all, that they know Jesus, and find Him here.  Because you know that praying with and in Jesus, your Father loves to hear your prayers, and answer them.

            Find Jesus here.  You will always find Jesus here with His forgiveness, righteousness, life, love, Spirit, consolation, and every other gift, for you.  When you don’t find Him everywhere else, it isn’t because He’s sinned against you, any more than He sinned against Mary and Joseph.  It’s that you weren’t looking in right places.  He is faithful.  He has told you just where to find Him.  He is always here for you.  He is always doing His Father’s Business for  you.  Beloved, merry Christmas.  Christ is born for you.  And here He is.  In the Name of the Father, and of the Son X, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.