Matthew 3 13-17 2005
Baptism of Our Lord/Epiphany
Matthew 3:13-17
January 9, 2005
“And a Wave Came Crashing Down”
Introduction: And a wave came crashing down – a surge of water more powerful than a nuclear explosion. Sometime after 7:30 in the morning on December 26, 2004 a massive earthquake in the earth’s crust off the western coast of Indonesia shook the oceans and set off a massive wave of water, a tsunami that exploded onto the shores of south East Asia. We have seen the pictures of its aftermath. We have seen the pictures of the death and the devastation that it caused - over a hundred and fifty thousand dead, hundreds of thousands more left mourning the deaths of all those people as they too face homelessness, starvation and disease and death. We have witnessed the awesome power of water and what it can do to the lives of people. Now, many countries of the world struggle to aid all these people, that in the midst of death, life might begin again.
Of course one of the questions that come to mind is why. Why did this happen? One of our first thought could be that God is pouring out His wrath on godless people. Perhaps they deserved it, brought it upon themselves because they have rejected the God of creation and His Savior Jesus Christ. They are sinners deserving of God’s wrath. After all only 1 percent of all the people affected are were Christians. That is only 15, 000 out of 150,000. This is not the case. We can immediately be reminded of the story that Jesus told about the tower of Siloam when some of the people present exclaimed that these people must have been worse sinners and thus deserved God’s punishment. As Jesus was calling the people to repentance Luke tells us, “There were some present at that very time who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And he answered them, "Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish." The people of south East Asia were not worse sinners than you and I are. Jesus warns us that unless we repent we too will perish in like manner.
If we want to know why this happen we must look closer to home. We must look at ourselves. As sin entered into the world with a wave of destruction, it brought with it death, and devastation. As sinners we have contributed to the devastation that continues to go on in our world. As God said to Adam, “Cursed is the ground because of you (Gen 3).The apostle Paul wrote, “For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption [that is destruction] into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now (Rm. 8). We talk a lot about sin here. Sometimes I think we take it to lightly. Sin in the world has earthshaking consequences. It is no small matter. To take our sin lightly means that we take the salvation that God has given us through His Son Jesus Christ lightly too. To understand our sin and it consequences we can all the more appreciate our salvation and our Savior.
Two thousand years ago another wave came crashing down. As Jesus stood in the Jordan River He was baptized by John the Baptist. Jesus was not just splashing and frolicking around in the water in a light hearted gesture that reminds us that we too should be baptized. As that water came over Him the wave of our sins and fallen creation came down upon His head. He began to take upon Himself the burden of our sins and its devastating affect on our lives, death, disease and spiritual starvation. In the water of the Jordan river Jesus humbly accepts not only to be numbered with us, sinners, He chooses to be the sin bearer that will be crushed by a wave of God’s wrath on the cross. Can you imagine the weight of that water upon His shoulders? We can not. But it is a very real weight that He would carry to the cross for us.
We also celebrate Epiphany during this time. We often see Epiphany as a time of glory when God revealed His Son, our Savior. The Gospel says, “When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him. And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” What is the glory of God that is revealed here, it is not a halo that shines over Jesus head? It is not a moment in the spotlight on His way to destiny. The glory of God is revealed as Jesus shoulders the burden of our sin. Jesus comes up out of the water with the satisfied words of His Father because now He carries the weight of the sins of the world. It is not a moment of glory as we know it, but a focusing on the cross. Epiphany is the revelation of the cross that is to come.
Another wave came crashing down. It came crashing down on us when we were baptized into the name of Jesus. It came down on us as water accompanied by the name of the Father Son and Holy Spirit. Often we see our baptism’s as a cute affair as we bring, or as we ourselves were brought to the font in church. It all seems so delightful as an adorable infant is brought into the family of God. We often treat it as another of the churches festivities when families gather together in church and then hold parties later. It is not a cute affair celebrating a churchly rite. Something terrible and awesome happens to us as we are baptized. In baptism God uses a wave of water to totally drown our sinful nature. In baptism He destroys in use that which is opposed to Him. He devastates all the things that separate us from Him. He washes away our sin and recreates us anew by His Holy Spirit, making us a new creation in Jesus Christ. In baptism we are joined to Christ’s crucifixion. Through baptism we die to sin and its power in our lives, even the power to bring death. As St. Paul wrote, Romans 6 “Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” All this occurs when we are baptized. This is the awesome power of God through water connected to His Holy Word.
Conclusion: Life will begin anew in south East Asia. New homes and businesses will replace those that have been washed away. The people there will begin to rebuild their lives and they will remember the terrible day of destruction when a wave came crashing down. God has begun to recreate us anew in His Son Jesus through the waters of baptism. Out of those waters we emerge with a newness of life that springs eternal. That work of God continues in our lives as God’s Holy Spirit enables us to live faithfully as God’s people here and now, dead to sin, and alive to God’s love as we express our faith in Christ and His love to those around us and in south East Asia. Through our lives we bear witness to Jesus Christ, who was baptized for us, who was revealed to be the Son of God who takes away the sin of the world through His cross. We remember that great and terrible day when the wave of God’s grace came down upon us in Holy Baptism. Amen.