Genesis 1:1-5 -- "Created and Remade"

“Stop the world! I want to get off!” This is the reaction most of us have when we run into a major roadblock in our day. You know that feeling when something out of your control happens and throws a major monkey wrench your way. The coffee pot just exploded; your computer decides to take the day off as you try to finish an important project at work; the dishwasher and the washing machine stage a rebellion and fill the house with soap and water. Most of the time we get sidetracked with minor annoyances, but there are other times when life is downright chaotic.

Nobody likes chaos. We can’t thrive under fear or when being bombarded by demands, worries, and problems from every direction. We go bananas! When the kids are late, you’ve got to get to work, and the dog tracks who-knows-what into the house, it feels like chaos, and we just want things to stop. Life can’t exist in chaos.

4.

“Let there be light” (Gen 1:3). And all of a sudden, there it was. There was light—brightness, shining, warmth, life. There it was, all of a sudden, by the command of God’s Word. Before God spoke, there was no light. It was cold, dark, blackest night — Chaotic. But God’s Word changed everything. Before God’s Word, it was only dark and full of chaos; now a heavenly light spilled into every part of creation.

God continued creating in the same way. He called something into being and it came—land, water, sky, trees, birds, fish, animals. God spoke, and there it was. But then we all know what happened in this creation. “Did God actually say . . . ?” (Gen 3:1). With a few words, the devil tried to undo everything God did. He tried to destroy Adam and Eve and all the birds and trees and fish and land. But the devil is not God. God is able to call things that did not exist and bring them into creation. The devil cannot. As hard as the devil tries, he can’t just dissolve us away into nothingness. But the devil was able to mess up all of creation a bit. He was able to twist this perfect creation into something that looked a little more like him—a world wrenched with disobedience, people filled with thoughts of only themselves, men and women whose lives will ultimately end in death. In a word, Chaos!

3.

In Luther’s explanation of the First Article of the Apostles’ Creed, he says,

“I believe that God has made me and all creatures; that He has given me my body and soul, eyes, ears, and all my members, my reason and all my senses” (Luther’s Small Catechism, p. 15).

This is true. Our loving Father has done all these wonderful things for us. But as fallen creatures in this world, we could almost add a little something about what the devil does. “I believe that the devil has tried to destroy me and all creatures; that he has given me my cancer, my heart attack and this Coronavirus pandemic; he has given my eyes a lust for pornography, my ears a love to hear gossip, and all my members he has plagued with wicked actions. My reason has been plagued by madness, and my senses slowly fail as this body of mine sinks closer and closer to death.” Luther never wrote that creed. But as people who have been made by God, we must also admit that we have been twisted by the devil into things God never intended.

What has happened to God’s creation is so sad. How sad that his beautiful creation, his perfect people have been twisted into what we are. And God aches over this world and what has happened. He really does. God cries over what has happened in creation. God weeps every time we sin. The angels shudder every time we forget God; the saints cry when we forfeit life for death.

2.

Through Jesus’ Baptism, God Began Recreating Creation!

And so Jesus came to be baptized in the Jordan. Jesus came in the waters. Blessed by the Spirit and sent forth by the Father, Jesus was a new creation for us in this world. Remember how God first created everything? God created the heavens and the earth, the Spirit hovered over the waters, and the Word called everything into being. And today, this day, the Baptism of Our Lord, we remember that our God has not just left this world in decay. Our God has not abandoned us to the clutches of the devil. Our God has not left you to die in death. Jesus is remaking everything.

I once read an article about a craft show where an elderly gentleman sat on a chair surrounded by dead branches. All around him were piles of dead, dried up, spindly branches, and right in front of him was a small bowl of water. And what this man did was amazing. He took these branches, soaked them in the water, pulled them out, and began to bend them, to reshape them, to twist and mold them into different shapes—into new creations. Out of these lifeless branches his hands formed baskets and chairs and even purses. As this artist shaped these objects, he spoke: “May this chair support people for good conversations, for times of reminiscing, for talking and sharing. May this basket carry God’s flowers of creation for pleasure. May it carry baked goods to tired neighbors to feed bodies and nourish souls.” This man took dead branches and gave them new life. He reshaped things that looked like their use was long over and gave them new lives one could only imagine.

Through the waters of Baptism, Jesus calls us into a New Life through Him.

And today, the Baptism of Our Lord, we see how Jesus has reshaped you. Jesus wasn’t baptized for himself. Jesus didn’t need to be remade. Jesus didn’t need to be soaked in water to be a new creation. But Jesus knew you did. Jesus didn’t die on the cross for His own sins. Jesus didn’t need to suffer punishment for the wicked things he had done. But Jesus knew you did. Jesus didn’t rise from the dead for his own sake. Jesus rose from the dead so that you could also rise from the dead, right now and for all eternity.

So today, we celebrate not just Jesus’ Baptism, but we also celebrate that we have been united to Jesus through Baptism. Today we celebrate that through water, Jesus has gathered us dead branches around him. He has placed all of you in the water of Baptism, pulled you out, and said, “I baptize you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Your bodies are now remade. Your bodies won’t just be filled with cancer; they will be filled with my body, which promises you an Easter resurrection. Your souls do not have to lust anymore; now you can long for a life lived in me. Your ears are now new; they will be used to hear my Word and to crave hearing the Good News of salvation. And your senses, even though they will slow and fail as death approaches, will tingle on the day of resurrection as all of my children are raised from the dust of death into eternal life.”

Through Water and the Word God Created All Things, and Now through Water and the Word You Have Been Remade.

God hasn’t abandoned you. He hasn’t forgotten the pains you have. He has called you to be new people in him. And you are. You are new. You are forgiven. You are now alive, even though you were dead. In Christ, you will live even though you will die. The devil has tried so hard to destroy God’s creation, but he has failed. He has failed because God has not abandoned you. God has not left you. And God never will.

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.