1.
Grace,
mercy, and peace to Your from God our Heavenly Father and our Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ. Amen. Well, here we are in worship with another
season of the Church Year, the Season of Epiphany. Epiphany
is the time in the Church that focuses on how God reveals himself in Jesus,
God’s Son and the Son of Man, the Savior, to the whole world. This begins with
the visit of the Wise Men, demonstrating that he came even for Gentiles, as
promised, and not just for the people of Israel. On
this First Sunday after the Epiphany, Jesus begins his public ministry with his
Baptism. Here, the Holy Trinity is manifest in three distinct persons. Even so,
the whole focus is on Jesus, in whom, the entire Godhead dwells bodily (Col
2:9). God the Father speaks of him, and the Spirit rests on him, showing that
Jesus is fulfilling all righteousness in himself. Jesus does all things well,
and the Father is pleased, but it’s for us that he’s come to do this. We
participate in “all righteousness”
through the waters of our own Baptism, lived out in this world under the cross
with the hope of the resurrection. The
message today is taken from Matt. 3:13-17 and is entitled, “Jesus, Why Do You Seek a Sinner’s Baptism?” Dear brothers and
sisters in Christ.
2.
Christmas is over and the Wise Men have come
and gone. The decorations are put away, and we risk putting the purpose of this
all in storage as well. Jesus has come, but for what? Some 30 years pass
between the Christmas readings from the Bible and our text from Matthew 3. But,
maybe it’s good the church year fast-forwards to the Jordan River so we don’t
lose sight. John the Baptist baptized many, but here’s a baptism unlike any
other, a baptism that lays the groundwork for our own. Today we’re going to try and learn why Jesus
sought out a sinner’s baptism.
3.
When Ed Koch was mayor of New York City, he
would stroll the streets and ask his constituents, “How am I doing?” He would set his course based on their replies. He
was pleased when people were pleased. How’s
Jesus doing? We have an interest in the answer to that question, an eternal
interest. At Jesus’ birth, angels proclaimed God’s gift. “Peace on earth, good will toward men.” On whom does God’s favor rest? On people in
general? Yes, but because of the gift sent. In Epiphany God makes that clear. That
focus is clear in today’s Gospel, where God is well-pleased not in general, but
in Jesus. And good for us that God is pleased because of what Jesus has done
here.
4.
All sorts of people came to John for his
baptism of repentance. Critics came as well. Pharisees and Sadducees questioned
the need for what John did and instead spoke of having Abraham’s heritage,
which they also so graciously guarded. But, Abraham lived by faith with
repentance and trust in God’s promises. The fruits of the Sadducees and
Pharisees said otherwise. So why is it
then that Jesus seeks a sinner’s baptism?
5.
Well, Jesus came to the Jordan River to stand
with the same sinners who came to John to be baptized. Jesus wanted baptism
like the others who had come under the threat of God’s wrath, but John the
Baptist at first would have none of this and says so in no uncertain terms. But
this is happening on Jesus’ terms, “Let
it be so,” says Jesus, as if to say, “But
that is not the point; something else must happen now.” What should happen?
All righteousness must be fulfilled.
6.
John had a point: in and of himself Jesus
had no need of this baptism. But Jesus makes a point: I will be baptized. Why? Because
I have come for sinners, I stand with sinners, and I’m to be the chief of
sinners, shouldering the burden of all. Righteousness can be tied to a manner
of living, a way of being. But here it especially is tied to following God’s
will. For Jesus that means becoming the embodiment of humanity and then by
observing God’s will heading toward the end where the sin of humanity leads.
This is the start of that path to end 3 years from now on the cross. So John should
“let it be” even as Jesus chooses to
side with sinners, to stand with them figuratively, to stand with them even
literally in the Jordan waters. This is
why Jesus comes to seek a sinner’s baptism, to stand in our stead as our
substitute for sin.
7.
What comes next is an “Amen” to what Jesus
has done. The Pharisees and Sadducees would say he’s blown it mixing with this
crowd. They’d tell him that more than once during Jesus’ 3 year public ministry.
But their approval doesn’t count. “How am
I doing?” the question goes. No waiting for the focus groups or the next
election. There’s immediate feedback better than any exit poll: Jesus is
baptized, comes out of the water, and immediately heaven opens. “This is my Son, whom I love, with him I am
well pleased.” Not just anyone, but “my
Son.” And not just pleased, but “well
pleased.”
8.
God stands with Jesus our Messiah. We can
understand if those on the riverbank were stunned. After all, there were
messianic expectations of all sorts. Jesus likely looked most ordinary, even
after all that happened. But beware wanting Jesus on our terms. Rather take
what’s given, trust what’s said, and cling to what’s given. It’s rude to want
to remake a gift—certainly foolish here given the nature and love of the giver.
9.
To
understand more fully why Jesus sought out a sinner’s baptism consider this
illustration. A poor Scottish farmer
named Fleming heard a cry for help from a bog near where he was working. He
dropped his tools, ran, and found a terrified boy waist deep in black muck. He
was screaming and struggling desperately to free himself. Fleming saved the lad
from what could’ve been a slow and terrifying death. The next day an elegant
carriage pulled up to the Scotsman’s humble house. The nobleman who stepped out
introduced himself as the father of the boy Fleming had saved and said, “I want to repay you. You saved my son’s life.”
Fleming waved off the offer saying, “I
can’t accept any payment.” At that moment the farmer’s son came around the
comer. The nobleman asked, “Is that your
son?” to which the farmer said, “Yes.”
“I’ll make you a deal,” the nobleman offered. “You won’t accept any payment, but let me give your son a good education.”
And he did. Later he was known as Sir Alexander Fleming, the discoverer of
penicillin. Some years after that the nobleman’s son was stricken with
pneumonia and was saved by the penicillin. That nobleman’s son, first saved by
farmer Fleming from the muck, then saved by Fleming’s son with penicillin, was
Sir Winston Churchill. God, who is so much greater than we are, often places
the right people in the right place at the right time, especially his own Son
Jesus, who was in the right place at the right time to save all of us from our
sins.
10.
To those there that day at Jesus’ baptism who
witnessed the giving of the Spirit, the anointing, this scene in Jesus’ life shouts
approval. And the voice from heaven says, “Son,”
from the inner circle. Can it get any better than that? But the voice from
heaven even says “well pleased.” Who
this Jesus is can’t rank any higher on the quality scale. What’s important here
is the divine stamp of approval on what Jesus has done: he has stood with us
sinners, he’s made himself one of our company. Is that the loss of a Son? No,
it’s the first steps on a path to regaining prodigals like you and me, in
making sons and daughters in abundance.
11.
Jesus stands with us sinners, God with Jesus,
and God with us. How so? Where? In our Baptism. To be sure, John’s
baptism that Jesus sought is not identical with our own. The path wasn’t
finished. There are still cross and empty tomb to come. We’re baptized into
that death and resurrection. What’s Christ’s becomes ours even as our sin
became his—Luther’s “happy exchange”
is made ours in Baptism. The “who for us
and for our salvation” confessed in the creed is bound to us even as
Christ’s name is put on us. All righteousness was eventually fulfilled in
Christ’s doing, starting in public with the events of this text, as Jesus
himself said. All righteousness is fulfilled in another sense in our Baptism:
faith is planted and we become sons and daughters in the kingdom of God.
12.
As far as we know, at Baptisms today there are no reports
of church roofs opening up with doves descending and voices from the sky, but
there’s no need for that. Something spectacular still happens as the Father, and
the Son Jesus give to us the gift of the Holy Spirit. We have the record in the
Gospel and the promises of God—promises rooted in Jesus, who still stands in
our stead as sinners with all righteousness for us and for our salvation. In this Jesus, God
our Heavenly Father is well-pleased. Amen.
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