Readings: Isaiah 42:1-7 | 1 Corinthians 1:26-31 | Matthew 3:13-17
Text: Matthew 3:13-17
What sort of God do we have? If you look at just general revelation, you will conclude that God is great and powerful, but unmoved by the needs of puny people like us. Only those who are a cut above catch the eyes of the One in heaven.
And how does Heaven look at all that is done on earth? There must be a terrible animosity between God (if there is a creator) and the human race. Think of all the evil that takes place behind closed doors, or shamelessly by the bold and proud—the abuse, cheating, lying, and tyranny. It’s these things that cry out for judgment when we see people seem to “get away with it.”
And the preaching of John tells us what we long to hear:
7[John] said to them, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8Bear fruit in keeping with repentance. 9And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. 10Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
11 “I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 12His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.” (Matt. 3:7-12)
It is about stinking time that judgment be carried out on earth! Because people have been either ignorant or corrupted by favoritism! The great exonerate their family members. Drum-beaters are unwilling to see their own fault. Everyone is clamoring for power and control. But when we spend too much time with the concept of a righteous, impartial judgment from Heaven, we realize that we also must be judged by the same standard!
So what will happen when the Judge comes with the winnowing fork in His hand?
13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. 14 John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” 15 But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he consented. 16 And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; 17 and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”
The heavens had been silent for quite some time. There were precious few who had witnessed anything from heaven—Abraham and Moses, all the way to Zechariah and Malachi. Chosen prophets, usually in the form of dreams and visions anyway.
But on this day, the heavens were opened before many witnesses, including John, and God revealed Himself unlike any appearance before. Not just the Word of the Lord coming to one. Not just the Spirit of the Lord. Not just the mysterious dialogue between the Lord and His Servant (Isaiah 42, 52-53, etc.). No, on this day the heavens opened so that man could see One God in Threefold Unity: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
And in this glorious display, what is the big take-away? After the God of the universe has displayed His magnificence before man, the message is: “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”
There is one Man who has positive confirmation that God is well-pleased with Him. Everyone else heretofore has been on shaky ground. They’ve been throwing their best heavenward and self-confident or even if they had faithfully done all that God commanded through Moses, there never was certainty. With the Baptism of Jesus, that all changed.
However, Jesus, the Son, is not there for Himself. What’s does it mean that He says before this to John, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.”? This is what the heavens are doing that sinful, guilty man might be saved.
He has come to restore for us the righteousness we have utterly fallen short of in thought, word, and deed. Our consciences collectively cry that there is need of divine judgment and that we have dreadfully deserved a death sentence. As the one thief crucified alongside Jesus truly said, “41 And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” (Luke 23:41) Your sins and mine, though they are many [Luke 7:47-50], receive their just condemnation in the crucifixion of Jesus. This is so powerful that all people are bidden to look to this: “if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. 2 He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.” (1 John 2:1-2)
Yet, there’s more to righteousness than being “let off the hook.” The sinful flesh in all of us would love for the sacrifice of Jesus to give us free license to get back to doing whatever we want. If we stop with the forgiveness of sins, we imperil our salvation! Jesus has come to restore in us the righteousness we are made for. Consider each of these teachings of the Apostles:
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. (2 Corinthians 5:17)
We say that Baptism “works forgiveness of sins, rescues from death and the devil, and gives eternal salvation to all who believe…” (Small Catechism IV, “What benefits does Baptism give?”) This is true, and it is also, as Titus 3:5 says, “the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit.” In Christ, a believer is made into something new, an heir of the resurrection. That means that everything that belongs to the “futile ways inherited from our fathers” (1 Pet. 1:18) is passing away. Where Christ is, there is a new creation, day by day crowding out the old until this sin-borne flesh breathes its last. In death, we are freed from sin and await the resurrection where we shine like the sun in the kingdom of our Father [Matt. 13:43].
7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. (1 John 4:7-8)
While God is at work in us, His new creation, we are transformed into loving people. It’s a love after the model of the God who so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son. Wherever we see a lack of love, a closing of the heart, a hatred and demeaning of other people (as people do in cultural Marxism and the in-kind reactions against it)—this is not from God. If we know God, we will reject these ways and pursue His ways.
8 Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind. 9 Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing. (1 Peter 3:8-9)
This is what such love looks like day to day. It’s never that we become pleasing to God by how well we do this. This is what God’s new creation works in us, because this is what you and I as human creatures are made for. We have our mental faculties so that we may think well of others and seek unity over strife; our ability to sympathize that we might others who are hurting; brotherly love so that the Church might be the refuge of those who have been hated by their families and the world; a tender heart and humble mind so that we may always be teachable by God and have open ears toward others. Finally, we have our mouths that we might bless as God does, and not curse or desire evil toward those who may deserve it.
And whenever we see that we have not been the people God desires us to be, it’s not just a moment to promise to do better and try more, but to repent for our unrighteousness and hope in the One who stood in the Jordan river with sinners. This is the one Man to whom the heavens opened, and who was declared beloved and well-pleasing to God. Trust in Him and you will have life.
In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.
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