Baptism

Rev. Alex Sloter Mark 1:4-11 Baptism Baptism of Our Lord (1/10/2021) The Strange Event Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Amen. In our Gospel reading this morning, we meet a strange figure. A man clothed in rough camel’s hair and girded with a leather belt appears in the wilderness of Judea. He is standing on the banks of the Jordan river, preaching repentance and baptizing penitents for the forgiveness of their sins, snacking on locusts and wild honey when he has a moment. A mad prophet. Nevertheless, this strange figure gathered quite a following. Men and women from the southern regions of Israel and even some residents from Jerusalem came to John. And it is not hard to see why. Doubtless, some came to gawk. It’s not everyday you get to see a man eating locusts for lunch. But most came because they felt the weight of their sins. They felt their need for repentance. They felt their need to return to God. Even more, they felt their need for the baptism of forgiveness offered by John. They longed to see their sins washed away in the muddy waters of the Jordan. So the strange figure in the wilderness is crowded by needy figures asking to be baptized, seeking the forgiveness offered by this mad prophet. But then, an even stranger event occurs in this already strange scene. Jesus is baptized. Why? Jesus had no need of repentance; he never sinned. He had no need of forgiveness; there was no guilt to forgive. Yet here he is, requesting a baptism of repentance and forgiveness from John. What we learn from this is that Jesus wasn’t baptized because he needed John’s baptism. Jesus was baptized because we need his baptism. In this sermon, we will think about why Christ was baptized and why we are baptized. And we will learn that Christ identified with us in his baptism, and that we identify with Christ in our baptism. Jesus Identifies with Sinful Humanity In his baptism, Jesus identifies with sinful humanity. I can almost see Jesus as he approaches the Jordan. At first, he sees the crowd in the distance, and he pauses. He stands apart and surveys the scene. He watches several people get baptized by John. The first is an adulterer. Jesus knows that this man has much to be forgiven of. His sins will streak the waters of the Jordan with black mud. Another person is consumed by greed, the most pernicious form of idolatry. A third person is filled with anger. In Jesus’ eyes, the water becomes darker and darker as it washes these men and women of their sins. Jesus is not like any of these people. He is the holy Son of God. But instead of contemplating his own holiness as he watches these sinners in the Jordan, he contemplates their great need. And he is the only one who can meet that need, their deepest need, for reconciliation with God. So he starts walking once more, and he takes his stand in the middle of the crowd, waiting his turn to be baptized with them, to stand in the water muddied by their sins, and allow it to muddy him. Jesus’ baptism is the beginning of his public ministry. In this first scene from Mark, Jesus identifies with sinful humanity by accepting a baptism he did not need for people who needed him. That baptism would begin his journey to the cross, the place where Christ identified so closely with sinful humanity that God’s punishment for our sins would fall on him. But that journey begins here, at the Jordan. In his baptism, Christ identifies with us. Baptism was his doorway to the sinful human family. We Identify with Christ as Sons of God In his baptism, Christ identifies with us. In our baptism, we identify with Christ, and because Christ is the Son of God, that means that we identify as sons of God as well, not because we are male or female, but because we stand in the shoes of Jesus, the beloved Son of the Father. In our baptism, we identify with Christ, the Son of God, and the heavenly Father sees us as adopted sons because we are in his Son, Jesus Christ. Thus, baptism becomes our entry, our doorway into the family of God because it unites us with Christ, the Son of God. As Paul says in Galatians, “For in Christ Jesus, you are all sons of God through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.” When you were baptized, you were baptized into Christ. You were baptized in the name of Christ. You were united with Christ and received into the family of God. Baptism is like a newborn child receiving her name. The parents of any family give all of their children the same last name, like Smith or Johnson or Brown. When a new child is born, the last name tells her who she is. She is a Smith, a member of the Smith family. And while she has no idea what that means as her parents fill out the paperwork that makes her name official, she will learn what it means over time. She will grow up into the habits and practices and values of the Smith family. She will become over time what she already was when she was named. The same is true in baptism. When you were baptized, you received the last name of God’s family, Christian, because you were baptized into Christ. My full name is John Alexander Sloter, Christian because I received the name of God’s family at my baptism. And over time, I have been taught what it means to be a member of God’s family. My heavenly Father has taught me the practices, habits, and values of the Christian family. He has made me over time what I already was when I was baptized. And the same is true for you. Like a child, you may not have known what it meant to be a member of God’s family when God adopted you at the baptismal font. And that is okay. God placed his name on you so that you could grow up into the ways, practices, and values of God’s family. The name Christian describes who you really are and who you really belong to, just as surely as your last name. In his baptism, Christ identifies with us as a member of the sinful human family. In our baptism, we identify with Christ as sons of God, as members of God’s holy family. Christ Identifies with Our Life and Death In his baptism, Christ identified with us in a second way as well. He identifies with us in our life and in our death. Christ lived the life we should have lived, and he died the death we should have died. When God created Adam and Eve, our first parents, he made them in his own image. He made them in the image of God. They were intended to live a life that reflected God’s own way of life, his character. The same is true for us. When God created you and me, he intended for our way of life to reflect his way life, his character. Our words should reflect God’s truthfulness and trustworthiness. Our thoughts should reflect God’s purity. Our deeds should reflect God’s goodness. If someone wants to know what God is really like, he should be able to look at us because we were made in God’s image. We were intended to reflect his character and his own way of life. Unfortunately, we can learn very little today about God by looking at God’s human creatures. We no longer image God like we should. Our words are often misleading, outright lies or half truths meant to disguise our faults or promote our successes. Our minds often reflect a garbage disposal more than they reflect God’s purity. Our deeds are often self-serving when we do act, or sometimes they are absent when we should be doing something. If we want to know something about the rule of sin, we can look at God’s human creatures or reflect on our own hearts. But we no longer learn much about God from looking at each other or ourselves. However, in his baptism, Christ identifies with us. He takes our place before God and he lives the life we should have lived. Where our words are dishonest, Christ’s words are truthful. Where our minds are impure, Christ’s mind is pure. Where our deeds are selfish, Christ’s deeds are selfless. Jesus Christ is the perfect image of what God is really like. When we look at Christ, we see the face of God, the image of God, shining back at us in all its glory. Jesus Christ lived the life we should have lived as God’s human creatures. But then he also died the death we should have died. Death is God’s punishment for sin. Jesus hanging on the cross makes no sense because he lived the life we should have lived. He lived the life of a true Son of God. But in his baptism, he not only identifies with our life, but he also identifies with our death, taking the punishment for our sin into his own body and dying the death which rightfully belonged to us. In his baptism, Christ identifies with our life. He lived the life we should have lived. And he also identifies with our death. He dies the death we should have died. We Identify with Christ’s Death and Life In our baptism, we identify with Christ. First, we identify with Christ’s death. Paul writes in our epistle lesson, “We were buried with Christ by baptism into death, in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too may walk in newness of life.” The death Christ died was a death to sin. On the cross, God treated his Son as though he was full of sin, and he punished his Son with death. In our baptism, we died with Christ. But, if we have already died with Christ, then what punishment is left for our sin? None. God’s punishment for sin is death. But if we have been baptized, then we have already received God’s punishment for sin. We have died with Christ. I was teaching on baptism in the adult Bible study this week, and someone asked me about baptism by immersion, where the entire person is lowered beneath the water and then brought back up. That isn’t how we practice baptism here, our font is considerably too small for that. But baptism by immersion provides us with a wonderful picture of what baptism means. When that person is lowered beneath the waves, it is like he has drowned. You can’t see him any longer. He is dead and buried with Christ. But then he emerges from the water. He lives again. He has died with Christ. God’s punishment for sin has been carried out. The only thing that remains for him is new life. In our baptism, we identify with Christ’s death. In our baptism, we also identify with Christ’s life. In our old way of life, we failed as image bearers of God. Our lives should have been reflections of God’s life. But sin stole that dignity from us. And instead of imaging God, we came much closer to imaging evil. But Christ is the perfect image of God because he is the Son of God, and we identify with him. Thus, the gift of baptism opens up the possibility of a completely new way of life. One that is not characterized by sin, but is characterized by God. One that is not animated by sinful desires, but by the prompting of God’s Holy Spirit. A way of life that looks like Christ’s life working itself out in us. One where our last name, Christian, becomes who we really are. In Christ’s baptism, he identified with us. He lived the life we should have lived and died the death we should have died. In our baptism, we identify with Christ. We die his death, and we begin to live his life. The Baptismal Life But that new life Christ gives us is hard to define. It is even harder to live out because we are still within temptation’s reach. We are members of a new family; we have been given a new way of life, but we often fail to live it out. What then? Thankfully, Jesus tells a story that perfectly illustrates the baptismal life. One day, a son comes up to his father and demands his inheritance. He wants to leave the family and go to a faraway place to do whatever he wants. Shockingly, the father gives him what he demands. The son leaves with a pile of money and lives a life of sin. However, the money soon runs out and the son is reduced to feeding pigs in order to scrape up enough to live on. He becomes so hungry that he longs to eat the slop he is giving to the animals. Then he has an idea, “I will return to my father.” He gets up and begins to walk back home. And as he walks, he considers what he should tell his father. This son has given up his place in the family. He has left his father’s house and wasted his father’s property. He can’t call himself a son any longer. Instead, he will ask his father to take him back as a hired hand. At least he will have food to eat if his father agrees. But, while the son is still a long way off, the father sees him and runs to him. He kisses and hugs him, weeps over him with joy. He gives him a new set of clothes and orders the best calf to be slaughtered for supper. The son can’t believe it. He was hoping to return to his father as a servant, but his father took him back as a son. That short story is a picture of our baptismal life. We have been welcomed through baptism into God’s family. We have all been made sons of God with Christ. But we often sin. We often leave the family and waste the life and opportunity God has given us, just like the son in the parable. But our baptism means that we can always come back to God. He will accept us as we really are, not as servants or slaves, but as sons. Our new last name can’t be erased. In Christ, the punishment we deserve for sin has already been carried out. Just like the son in the story, nothing remains for us but new life. Thus, our baptism began a journey toward God’s eternal home, God’s household. That is where we truly belong. And when we get there, we know that God will accept us as sons, just like he does today whenever we repent, because, in his baptism, Christ identified with us, and now, we identify with Christ. God in peace, people loved by God. Amen.