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 6th 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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