Baptism of Our Lord

January 10, 2021August 16, 2021

Bethlehem Lutheran Church, Lebanon, OR

Readings: Genesis 1:1-5| Romans 6:1-11 | Mark 1:4-11

Text: Mark 1:4-11

Now, you may think this is ten days late, but today we’re going to talk about beginnings.

In the Beginning – Genesis 1:1-5

The Old Testament reading is the very beginning of the Bible. In fact, that’s the first Word written in the Torah—b’reshith bara Elohim,[1] In the beginning, God made. This sets the scene as we creatures of God are growing in the grace and knowledge of our Creator. God is there making. The Father is creating, the Spirit is hovering over the unordered waters, and out of that primeval mass, God the Word goes to work: “Let there be light,” and there was light. As we heard from John on Christmas Day, “All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. ⁴In him was life, and the life was the light of men.” (John 1:3-4)

God creates through the Word, and the light is good. Then God does something else: “And God separated the light from the darkness.” Where God is creating, it is good, and where God is, there is light and life.

God speaks, and life results, so that by the end of 6 days, God looks at all His work and says, “Behold! It is very good!” (Gen. 1:31) He rests on the 7^th day, stops speaking & creating. What will become of this creation, so newly made?

We know – Another voice spoke, which set the creature against its Creator. The first of many failed attempts to be like God, for that speaking brought death, and. Their eyes looked upon evil and called it good. Darkness enshrouded the sons of God, the sons of light.

The Lord hovered over the waters again in the flood, but that time he brought destruction and salvation. He waited for the creatures to come back, but they would not. He preached their destruction through Noah, but to no avail. So the Spirit took away life, and everything that had the breath of life perished (Gen. 7:22)…but God saved Noah and his family. But God was not done speaking…

In the Beginning of the Gospel – Mark 1:4-11

The Gospel of Mark begins much like the first Book of God’s Word: “The beginning…of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God” The beginning of the good news is a new creation account.

⁹In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. ¹⁰And when he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. ¹¹And a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”

God the Father is there. God the Spirit hovers over the waters, the ordered creation—yet disordered and made chaotic by sin and the devil—the waters of the Jordan. There is no more delay, no more silence. The heavens are “torn open”—not for judging wicked man as in the Flood, not for prophetic visions (Ezek. 1:1)—but for creation and life:

God speaks again, but this time He speaks to a Man. He does not say, “Let there be” because He is not creating from nothing. He is recreating, restoring, returning life that the devil and sin stole away.

He indicates where this new creation is to be found: “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.” You are life. You are very good. You are Jesus, “who will save His people from their sins.” (Matt. 1:21) And as God first separated the light from the darkness, so He is doing again.

In Your Beginning – Romans 6:1-11

The reason we celebrate this Baptism of the Lord God is because He has also made that new creation ours. The Epistle from Romans 6 says,

³Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? ⁴We 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. ⁵For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.

We are brought into those new-creation waters when we are baptized into Jesus Christ, in the Name of the God the Father who creates, God the Son who redeems, and God the Holy Spirit, who sanctifies. St. Paul writes about Baptism in Titus 3, and says, “he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit.” (Titus 3:5) There, it says very clearly that these waters are a washing of re-genesis and newness-from-above. All that belongs to the old creation is made new—or at least it is the beginning for us.

The beginning of your good news of Jesus Christ is that God has saved you by giving you a new birth by water and the Spirit, and heirs of a new creation that is to be complete when the Lord Jesus comes again on the clouds of heaven.

But we ask, can’t He come any quicker? Why does He leave us in this old creation? This sin-rotten flesh? It is His mercy that He does shorten our time in this life, because He hears our groaning, and He sees our weakness.

St. Paul urges us about the weakness of our flesh, because our flesh is drawn toward the darkness: “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? ²By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?” How can we, who are a new creation through Christ, go on living as if something monumental and eternity-changing didn’t happen in the baptismal font? That would be to despise the restoration for which the creation has been longing for millennia! That would be to reject the revelation of God’s mighty work in the Jordan, on the cross, in the empty tomb, and as He now stands interceding for the saints at the right hand of God! How can we, the children of light, dwell in the darkness of fallen man, reveling in blasphemy, astrology, choosing partners after our own lusts, and every manner of evil we see embraced around us? “And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” (1 Cor. 6:11) This is the beginning to which He daily brings you, so that you may die to the darkness and live in the light.

Likewise, He hears our groans under the weight of darkness, as we cry to Him day and night. “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. ¹⁶Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” (Heb. 4:15-16)

Fear not, and be of good courage, children of God, children of light, brothers and sisters in the Lord Jesus Christ. God has called you out of darkness into His marvelous, eternal light (1 Pet. 2:9). Your sinful flesh will pass away. The devil will surely be cast out. “The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers, ⁴²and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. ⁴³Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father.” (Matt. 13:41-43)

This is your beginning, but you will rise with Christ so that there will be no end. Thanks be to God! Amen.

[1] The Hebrew name for the Book of Genesis is Bereshith, the first word. Interestingly, Genesis, which means to bring forth, would be an accurate translation of the second word, bara, which is uniquely used of God’s creation out of nothing (ex nihilo).

January 12, 2020February 5, 2020

Baptism of Our Lord (Matthew 3:13-17)

Among the many mysteries of Christmas is that God was born. This was something that many—trying to use their reason—couldn’t wrap their heads around. God fully embraced our human nature in Jesus Christ: “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us and we have seen His glory” (John 1:14).

Another is that God revealed this great news of salvation to the lowest of the earth—unknown Mary and Joseph, descendants of David but nowhere near the class of royalty. Then it was first announced to shepherds keeping watch over the flocks, not kings or prophets. As His ministry grew, it was not received by the well-to-do religious people of pedigree, but by tax collectors, prostitutes, and sinners (Matt. 21:31-32).

Standing among those mysteries that is offensive to our human nature is that God, who became flesh and associated with sinners, was ministered to by men, by human hands.

John would have prevented Christ from receiving a baptism for sinners. What is this?! Surely there must be a mistake that God’s Messiah needs to receive a sinner’s baptism? “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” John has been sent to “prepare the way of the Lord” and “make His paths straight” (Isaiah 40). But is that to include baptizing the sinless, holy Lord Himself?

Now, this isn’t the first time that the holy Son of God was cared for by human hands. Just last week we heard of the flight to Egypt: It was Joseph and Mary’s hands which carried Him to Egypt. It was Mary’s breast at which God’s Son nursed. Later in His ministry, Luke 8 tells us many women, including Mary Magdalene, among others, provided for Him out of their means (Luke 8:2-3). Our reason says this is far too earthy for God to be born, to be weak, to depend on human care.

But God doesn’t say this. God says, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” It is part of His eternally wise plan to stand in the Jordan with sinners, to humble Himself and make Himself one of us.

God did amazing things by the hand of John. God had said through the prophet, “Prepare my way before Me,” but who imagined that it would look like this! John’s feeble hand—subsisting on locusts and wild honey—would bring Jesus down into the water and out again. With this simple act, God displayed the sign of all signs: “Behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; ¹⁷and behold, a voice from heaven said, ‘This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.’”

The Son of God, even though He is almighty in power, made Himself weak to accomplish our salvation—all righteousness. But again, it comes down to the judgment of man versus that of God. Man thinks that righteousness depends on something we can do to “do our part.” But fulfilling all righteousness is completely a gift. Let it be so now, because this is gaining for sinners exactly the kind of salvation they need: One that doesn’t depend on their contributions in the least.

Rather, it’s a righteousness for all these unrighteous gathered here—the prostitutes, the tax collectors, all who are waiting for God’s consolation. It’s a righteousness to cover your unrighteousness. Your filthy, hateful intents and desires; your words both scathing and callous; what you’ve done and what you have left undone and made excuses for. God has seen it all. This is the fitting way to bring righteousness to you: for the Son of God to be baptized into your sin, so that you can be baptized into His righteousness.

But it wasn’t finished that day with John’s baptism, and neither was God done using people to fulfill His saving plan. Soon enough, the hour came where human hands carried out the wrath of God against sin—your sin—the soldiers seized and bound Him, they blindfolded and slapped Him and spit in His face, the clothed Him in a purple robe and then struck Him on the head, and finally as the soldier’s hands pounded the nails into his hands and feet and hoisted Him into the air. Just hours later, human hands took His lifeless body down from the cross and laid Him into a tomb.

Then, it was complete—God had used these people for His saving purpose. On the Third Day, Jesus rose from the dead and on the fortieth day ascended into heaven—His hands extended in blessing upon His Church (Luke 24:50-53).

Now let’s return to the marvels that God does through humble instruments. We’ve heard about the people in the immediate life of Jesus. But what can we do to be doing God’s work today?

I’ll name the most contrary-to-reason work first: prayer. If you want to do something important in God’s kingdom, put your own hands together and call on the Lord. Truth be told, we often neglect prayer and think little of its ability to turn a hopeless situation around. We confuse thinking and worrying about a person with prayer, but it’s really a different thing. Circling around the small orbit of our understanding can do very little. And maybe that’s where part of the confusion lies, in our ability to affect things versus God’s. If we’re merely worrying, it’s because we are nearly helpless to make anything better. But if our hands are asking and open to the Lord to take over, that’s where we will be amazed. That’s where, after calling on Him in the day of trouble, we will glorify Him for His deliverance (Ps. 50:15).

And that’s not all that God does through us. He works through each of us in serving our neighbor—doing His will in our families, our community, as citizens. Now when we’re doing God’s work, sometimes the things we do make a great impact—as if the heavens were opened and everything changed that moment—like when you have just the right words to save someone’s life. Those are nice, and we really like to see our actions make a big impact. But that’s not always going to be how it goes.

More often than not, the work is long and hard, and the reward is seen much later or maybe kept as a surprise in eternity. Like raising children to believe in and follow Jesus, it takes years of care and attention. Like being a friend to someone who’s a religious skeptic, it’s wondering if you’re getting through. Or like praying for God to get through to a drug addict, you see his many foolish decisions and backsliding and might even lose hope that he could ever change. Yet even in these, God is working through you—your prayers, words, and actions.

This is the God in Whom we believe, who is able to do all things, and who does holy and awesome things on earth as it is in heaven. And the confidence we have before Him comes through His birth among us, His Baptism in the Jordan, His death and resurrection, and our being baptized into Him. And our Baptism is just one more example of God’s work among us—not putting our confidence in the man who did it, but in the Word of God, which says: “All of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? ⁴We 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.”

January 8, 2017

Baptized into Grace (Matt. 3:13-17)

Bethlehem Lutheran Church, Lebanon, OR
Baptism of Our Lord + January 8, 2017
Text: Matthew 3:13-17

If you follow the news, it can be overwhelming—shootings, bombings, betrayals of trust, and political unrest (just to name a few). One common theme in all of these is the thirst for justice. We want to see ISIS destroyed, school shooters disarmed, and drunk drivers driven off the road. When we are attacked, robbed, betrayed—we want blood. Terrorist attacks, a child is taken advantage of, a spouse is found to be unfaithful—we want vengeance. It’s even irksome when we hear that the shooter was killed in the act because we want to see them face the penalty their crimes deserve—and slowly.

For as deep-felt and powerful as our anger is; God’s is more intense. God is out for blood too:

Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image. (Genesis 9:6)
I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me. (Exodus 20:5)
Smoke went up from his nostrils, and devouring fire from his mouth; glowing coals flamed forth from him. (Ps. 18:8)
The soul who sins shall surely die. (Ezekiel 18:20)
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. (Romans 1:18)

As much as we would like God’s wrath to be directed out on all those people, God shows no favorites. “Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming.” (Colossians 3:5-6) Every one of us has aroused the wrath of God, by our actions, our words, and even the thoughts of our heart.

In the Passion of Christ, the wrath of God against sin was unleashed. The sun withheld its light,[1] the heavens which once opened to declare Him the beloved Son of God were closed and silent,[2] and the cup of God’s wrath is drunk down to the dregs.[3] It is the day the prophets foretold:

That day is the day of the Lord God of hosts,
a day of vengeance,
to avenge himself on his foes.
The sword shall devour and be sated
and drink its fill of their blood.
For the Lord God of hosts holds a sacrifice.[4]

Yes, vengeance! Yes, blood! But look at that last half of the verse. All the righteous wrath of God against ungodliness was borne by Jesus.

“Thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” When Jesus receives baptism in the Jordan, He takes up all of the unrighteousness of men, so that in exchange the baptized receive all His righteousness. That means all the wrath against them is removed. God no longer holds their sins against them because justice has been done—on the cross.

After an atrocity is carried out, we often wonder why God allowed it to happen and didn’t destroy the guilty. Where is the wrath of God against Islamic militants who slay Christians? Where is the Sodom and Gomorrah fire and brimstone over immorality in our country? Where was God when that maniac shot up the airport in Ft. Lauderdale? It’s because of Jesus that God does not immediately destroy the wicked. Instead, He is longsuffering and preaches to all, wanting them to turn from their wickedness, repent and live. In the Old Testament lesson, we heard that “He will not grow faint or be discouraged till he has established justice in the earth; and the coastlands wait for his law” (Isaiah 42:7), but justice on the earth is the justice of Christ crucified to save the sinners.

That says something to us too, as those who are baptized into Christ. God, the Righteous Judge, has satisfied His vengeance. Where, then, is there room for our anger and our thirst for blood? If God is patient toward those who are foolish or those who persist in their evil, how can we go beyond Him? How can we hold a grudge, when God went to such lengths to forgive even the whole world?

In that way, it is fitting for us to fulfill God’s righteousness, by living in His beloved Son. By acknowledging that God is patient even the most hardened of sinners, we confirm that He has put away our sins.
[1] Isaiah 13:10
[2] Deuteronomy 11:17
[3] Psalm 75:8
[4] Jeremiah 46:10