Tag: Matthew 3:13-17

Posted on

The Baptism of Our Lord

Readings: Isaiah 42:1-7 | 1 Corinthians 1:26-31 | Matthew 3:13-17

Text: Matthew 3:13-17

Who is Jesus? That’s one of the questions that comes up when we consider the Baptism of Our Lord.  Where can we look for an answer? To men? As the dialogue in Mark 8 with the disciples showed, even during His earthly life, there was misunderstanding and disagreement about who He is and what He’s up to. That’s why we, who are called by His Name some two millennia later, need to continually be reminded who Jesus is.

The Name, Jesus, was given to Him at His circumcision (Luke 2:21). It was given with the shedding of His blood. The Name, “The Lord saves” does not come without the shedding of the blood of God’s Son.

God’s Son was placed under the Law, as we heard last week:

“4But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, 5to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. 6And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” 7So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.” (Galatians 4:4–7)

Under the Law, He became subject to everything we are—every bit of suffering both just and unjust—even though He was without sin and He was under no compulsion to do so. This is foundational to who Jesus is.

Likewise at His Baptism. Reason tells us He had no reason to be there. “I need to be baptized by You and do You come to me?” What is the sinless God-Man doing submitting to a baptism where they are confessing their sins? Just as at His circumcision, He received the mark of the covenant permanently on His body, at His Baptism, He is permanently marked—anointed by the Holy Spirit. He is set apart for God’s purpose.

The Baptism is where Jesus received the title, Christ: the Anointed One. It’s the anointing of the Holy Spirit, for the very work He had come to do: The Lord saves His people from their sins (Matt. 1:23).

He came as Prophet, through whom the Word of God came and is, and who still speaks to us in His Word today (which is why we stand for the Holy Gospel). “I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him.” (Deuteronomy 18:18)

He came to be the Priest, who stands in that water of sinners because He is the one chosen to make the sin offering for the whole world. As St. Paul says, “For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time.” (1 Timothy 2:5-6) And for our sakes, “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. 16 Let 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.” (Hebrews 4:15-16)

Finally, He is anointed to be the King. He rules over a Kingdom which is not of this world (John 18:36). But His Kingdom does bring deliverance to her citizens. For us, Scripture describes what this King does for us: “He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” (Colossians 1:13-14)

And if all of that isn’t clear enough in the title of Christ, God the Father adds His clear voice to the scene at the Jordan: “Behold! A voice from heaven said, ‘This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.’” In this declaration, it shows that Jesus is not simply a functionary—an underling sent to do the dirty work. This reminds us of the hymn, “He sent no angel to our race, of higher or of lower place, but wore the robe of human frame, and to this world Himself He came.” (LSB 544, “O Love, How Deep” v. 2) God is personally invested in reaching each one of us, seeking our eternal salvation!

His Circumcision and Baptism were not just for Him. They are a sermon to us: The Lord Saves. Jesus is the Christ and the Son of God. “At the end of eight days, when he was circumcised, he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.” (Luke 2:21) There God is…in the womb just as we once were, just as all people are. But there is God sanctifying the womb, making it a holy dwelling for His life-giving work. At His circumcision, there the Son of God is again, as a newborn, recently covered in vernix and blood and mucus. But here, He sheds His first blood and bears the mark of God’s promise: “So shall my covenant be in your flesh an everlasting covenant…and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” (Genesis 17:13; 12:3).

Likewise, His Baptism wasn’t just a show for one day. It was a teaching for us who were to come. It cannot be that we are saved simply by knowing about certain truths about God. James says that even the demons know truths about God, but this causes them to shudder [James 2:19]. It preaches a reality to us, by which we might also be called sons of God. Hear it once more:

“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.’”

Certainly Adam would have been considered a son of God, but he and His bride forsook their position. They and their offspring became enemies of God, brutal rebels out to prove their place by their own way. This whole course was a dead end…a deadly end, in fact. Until Jesus was revealed—in the womb of Mary, in the arms of His mother and father, in the waters of the Jordan. He made His place with sinners, with whom He shared flesh and blood. There in flesh and blood, in the water with sinners, God the Father, Creator of Heaven and Earth, declared from heaven: “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” In the water, and in the Spirit, He declared this through His Son who shares our flesh.

He also has come to you at your Baptism.  There, you were permanently marked as His own, witnessing God’s covenant with His Church.  There you too were marked with His most holy Name.  God the Father marked you with His Name!  Bathed in the cleansing water and blood from His pierced side, you were given your personal name and placed into Jesus! And there, in the font, He brought you forgiveness, rescue, and the promise of eternal salvation!

And receiving this Name means a complete change for each of us—even if it took place many years ago in time, or we don’t remember it. At your Baptism, in the waters of Lebanon (or in my case, Piedmont, California), the heavens opened for you and the Holy Spirit was given to you, and the God the Father said about you—in Christ—”you are my beloved son, with whom I am well pleased.” All of this is wrapped up in being called “Christian,” and this is why we call on God as our true Father, and we are indeed His true children.

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

Posted on

The Baptism of Our Lord

Readings: Joshua 3:1–3, 7–8, 13–17 | 1 Corinthians 1:26–31 | Matthew 3:13–17

Text: Matthew 3:13-17

You’ll meet people who are skeptical about God and consider confident Christians arrogant for saying they know so much about knowing what God’s will is or what’s right and wrong.

This plays out in two main ways.  The first is the approach of the atheist, who says there is no god because there’s no empirical evidence to support the claim.  They argue that it’s not reasonable—even foolish—to put your trust in and be convinced of something that can’t be reached by the scientific method.  That isn’t proof for the non-existence of God; but an arrogance that existence hinges on human perception. 

The second is the approach of the mystic, who believes that God exists, but is unknowable and cannot be constrained by human thoughts or even the words of the Bible.  They, even if they claim Christianity, remain unsure about what God says is right and wrong, whether the history of the Bible is factual, and may even consider it going too far for a Christian to be sure they are forgiven and will enter paradise when they die.

In both cases, a personal God is placed out of reach.  The result is that people are left unsure and alienated.  But God would not have us unsure about His existence, so He is the One who makes Himself known.  And He does this in the way that we are able to perceive Him: through words and through the tangible element of water in Holy Baptism.

But to us, doubters and skeptics, to mystics who get lost in the darkness of our own reason, a light has shone.  The Holy God revealed Himself in the flesh, here on earth at the water of the Jordan in the Baptism of John.  Here, He revealed Himself in a Name, in the flesh of His Son, and in the Spirit’s appearance as a dove.  To those who are seeking some firm experience and sighting of God, a voice came from heaven saying, “This is My beloved Son with whom I am well-pleased.”  This man, Jesus, standing there in the water, humbled in the form of a servant like us, is where God appears to us.  And what could this appearing to man mean, but peace, as the Spirit of God descends and remains on Jesus.  Where is peace following judgment, but in Jesus who was born for us, whose heart pumps holy, sinless blood, and who will deliver His peace to the dead in trespasses and sins, those who like the rest of mankind are children of wrath [Eph. 2:1-3].

The Small Catechism says that “Baptism works forgiveness of sins, rescues from death and the devil, and gives eternal salvation to all who believe this as the words and promises of God declare.” (Small Catechism, Part IV, “What Benefits Does Baptism Give?”)

Where is this great promise written? Mark 16:16 says: “Whoever believes and is baptized shall be saved” (Mk 16:16).  Peter echoes, “There is also an antitype [to the Flood] which now saves us—baptism” (1 Pet 3:21 NKJV). Furthermore, St. Paul says, “He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by His grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life. This is a trustworthy saying.” (Titus 3:5-8), and “We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life” (Rom 6:4). We believe what God’s Word says about Baptism. We trust His promises—the Word that has been spoken to us and confirmed by the Holy Spirit’s testimony. We live by faith in that. Baptism works the forgiveness of sins, rescues from death and the devil, and gives eternal salvation to us by naming us as Christ’s own and delivering the power and benefit of His death and resurrection to us.

Baptism does what God says it does. Its glory is hidden from the eyes of the world for it is glory like that of our King and His Kingdom. It is rejected by the proud, the wise, the knowledgeable, the mighty [1 Cor. 1:26-31].  But it is honored by those who know they need saving and know Christ.

The Baptism of Jesus institutes and empowers our Baptism. His Baptism is the beginning of the great exchange. It is a kind of reversal of our Baptism, which works forgiveness of sins, rescues from death and the devil, and gives eternal salvation. In His Baptism, Jesus is anointed as our King.  He doesn’t have any sins to be forgiven, but Baptism doesn’t heal Him. Instead, it infects Him. Baptism gives Him our sins. It marks Him as guilty. We step into the clean waters of Holy Baptism filthy in our sins, and this heavenly washing washes our sins off of us for it is a washing of rebirth and renewal. Jesus steps in clean and pure, without sin, into the dirty water we left behind, full of scum. When He steps out, He is dirty. He is anointed for His Office with our disease and death.  The Christ is the priest who acts on behalf of sinners.

He is most certainly not rescued from death and the devil. Immediately after His Baptism, the Holy Spirit will drive Him out of the promised land and into the wilderness in order to hand Him over to the devil [Matt. 4:1]. Baptism sets Him as the scapegoat who takes our sins away and as the Passover Lamb who shields us from the angel of death by His death. The Lord doesn’t remove our sins by simply dismissing them. He ingests them. He becomes them [2 Cor. 5:21]. Thus, the Father and the Spirit won’t help Him. He is a worm and not a man [Psalm 22:6]. He suffers in the desert without manna. Rather than receiving eternal salvation in Baptism, He is marked for the cross and condemnation. There, He will suffer hell in our place. As our substitute, He will be betrayed by His friends, stripped naked, humiliated, and tortured. He will know and endure all of our sorrows and then some, and He will be forsaken by His Father [Ps. 22:1].

This is what empowers Baptism for us, and makes it for us a saving water. Christ inaugurated and instituted Baptism that saves by being Baptized, by making the exchange. He takes what is ours and in exchange gives us what is His. Our Baptisms joins us to Him and His Baptism. Baptism makes us the beloved sons of the Father in whom the Father is well-pleased. Christ takes our sins and gives us, in exchange, His holiness. He suffers His Father’s wrath so that we would enjoy His Father’s blessings. He accepts the devil’s accusations so that we might have the angels’ praise. What the Father says of Jesus, He says of us. We are the beloved and in Christ He is well-pleased with, even proud of, us.

How much God has revealed Himself to us!  No wonder St. John marvels, “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are!”  And why can’t our fellow men, who carry the same infection, are under the same sentence of death, receive this? John says, “The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.”  Without receiving the testimony, the Gospel of Christ, people remain in darkness.

Thanks be to God that He has called us out of this darkness!  But our heart aches for our unbelieving neighbors.  We want them to be saved and not sent to perdition and eternal fire!  We know that no matter how pleasant and nice they may be, it is only by having Christ as their substitute that they can be saved.  But what can we do?

We share Christ: how He has created us, how our lives belong to Him not to ourselves, how we are weak and have failed God and one another but God being rich in mercy has taken our punishment away, and how we look forward to a world that truly is perfect and bodies that are free of the bondage to decay.  It is Christ who is able to save them, and His Holy Spirit who reaches them through this.  No amount of our cajoling or persuading has the power to bring them to the light; only God can do this and He truly does as we pray, “Thy Kingdom come.”

Dear saints, keep on believing in your God, and keep on praying that He would keep you through the trials of this world and by His Spirit-breathed Word bring us to where faith gives way to sight, and time gives way to eternity, and thorns and thistles give way to Sabbath rest.  Amen.

Posted on

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; 17 and 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? 4 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.”

Posted on

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