The Baptism of Our Lord

We have now entered the 3rd season of the Church year. We started with hopeful anticipation of the coming of the Messiah. At Christmas, we celebrated His arrival. On January 6 - the Feast of the Epiphany, we celebrated His being revealed to the whole world. And now today, we remember His Baptism, which marked the beginning of His ministry.

John the Baptizer tells us in today’s Gospel lesson that although he himself was not the Messiah foretold by the prophets, that Messiah is coming. And while John is baptizing people with water, the Messiah will baptize with fire and the Holy Spirit. He will separate the wheat from the chaff. But before the Messiah would do any of that, He himself had to be baptized first. And he came to John to make that happen.

I hope that at some point in your reading of Scripture that you have questioned this. John baptized people for repentance and forgiveness of sins (Mark 1:4). John was “preparing the way of the Lord.” But Jesus was without sin - the only human being who could ever or can ever claim that. So why did He come to be baptized? Luke’s telling of this event is surprisingly short. We don’t get much detail. Mark’s Gospel doesn’t tell us much more. In Matthew’s version, John tells Jesus that HE should be baptizing John…and here’s what Jesus says in response: “Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” (Matt 3:15) To fulfill all righteousness. Ok, now we’re getting somewhere.

John the Evangelist gives us another perspective. In chapter 1 of John’s Gospel, he tells us this about John the Baptist: 29...he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! 30 This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who ranks before me, because he was before me.’ 31 I myself did not know him, but for this purpose I came baptizing with water, that he might be revealed to Israel. (John 1:29-31)

So we have two good reasons for Jesus to be baptized - to fulfill all righteousness (according to Matthew) and to reveal Him to Israel (according to John). Let’s start with John.

The Gospels give us very little of Jesus’ life between his birth and his baptism - which doesn’t happen until he’s about 30 years old. Mark and John don’t really talk about Jesus birth and childhood at all. Matthew tells us a good bit about His birth, and then we get the visitation of the Wise Men, the escape to Egypt to escape Herod killing the baby boys, and the return after Herod’s death…but not much about the infant Jesus himself. Luke gives us the birth story, then Jesus’ circumcision and presentation at the Temple. And then we have the story about 12-year-old Jesus hanging out in the Temple and letting his parents go home without him. That’s it.

But all 4 Gospels give a similar account of the scene of the Baptism. Jesus came up out of the water, and the Holy Spirit descended on him like a dove. When all four accounts agree on something, it’s noteworthy…and this certainly is. And this was no private event, either. Today’s reading from Luke tells us that others were there…one of John’s crowd of people who came to be baptized in the Jordan. “Now when *all* the people were baptized...” seems to imply a large number. We don’t know exactly how many, but suffice it to say, there were more than a couple of witnesses.

And that’s what I think it means when we read “…for this purpose I came baptizing with water, that he might be revealed to Israel.” (John 1:31) A booming voice from heaven, in front of all of these people, saying “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.” (Luke 3:22) Is there any doubt that God revealed His Son to people on that day?

But as important as that was, it’s the other reason for Jesus’ own baptism that is FAR more important: “to fulfill all righteousness.” I know this is some of that Bible-language that isn’t always crystal clear. So let’s clear it up. And that’s what Paul’s letter to Romans helps with in today’s reading from chapter 6.

“Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?” (Romans 6:3) For Paul, this is really obvious. Baptism is what unites us with Christ. Remember last week when we talked about how important the word “in” is? How it describes our union with Christ - a vital connection…that He predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ (Ephesians 1:5). He adopts us in baptism. That is when that happens. And we are in union with him through baptism. He was baptized, just like we are, and that unites us to him.

At Christmas, we considered the question: what difference does having a Savior make? Today, I’d like to consider this: what difference does being baptized make? Because if it connects us to that Savior, who makes such a difference to us and to the world, then our baptism must make a difference - in us, and in the world.

If we start at the beginning of Romans 6, Paul asks a ridiculous question: “Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?” He closed chapter 5 by telling us that God’s grace is far superior to sin, and that “where sin increased, grace abounded all the more...” (Romans 5:20) So who wouldn’t want more grace, right? Well, you don’t have to be a master of rhetoric to figure out how ridiculous this question is. Paul makes it ridiculous on purpose so that it can be quickly and easily shut down: “By no means!” Another English translation says “Perish the thought!” - neither of these translations says this strongly enough. ABSOLUTELY NOT, in the strongest terms.

And Paul’s next sentence gets to the heart of *why*: “How can we who died to sin still live in it?” (Romans 6:2) Another way to say this is “If we are dead to sin, how could we continue to be living in it?” It is, quite simply, foolish. Lenski says it this way: “The moment a man is dead he ceases to respond to stimuli. Coax him, command him, threaten him—no response, no reaction. The sphere in which he once moved … is his sphere no longer.” [R. C. H. Lenski, The Interpretation of St. Paul’s Epistle to the Romans (Columbus, Ohio: Lutheran Book Concern, 1936), 389–390.]

The deceased person is no longer a part of that sphere…that realm…that zone. Grace took us from the sphere of sin and moved us to the sphere of faith…and it did so in baptism. More from Dr. Lenski:

“Once sin was the sphere in which we moved and responded to all this power of sin. Then came grace—oh, that blessed grace so vastly greater than the sin!—and possessed our soul which then and there died to the sin and, being thus dead, ceased living in it, ceased responding to it, the sin reached out to this dead one in vain. This is the glory of grace that it made us die to sin. This is the abounding of grace over sin that it rendered us dead. This is our joy and delight in grace, the one reason that we embraced it: to be dead to sin.” [Lenski, 390.]

But it’s not just the death to sin - that’s just the first part. Once that has happened, then we are blessed to enjoy the rest of Christ’s earthly journey: His resurrection. “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. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.” (Romans 6:4) Our unity with Christ is complete. We are connected to Him in his death; so we also are connected to Him in His resurrection.

Paul goes on to explain this in further detail, but I think verse 11 summarizes it well: “So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.” (Romans 6:11) That’s on us to do that. This is how we are to direct our thoughts, to structure our time, to order our values, to make our decisions…when we have a choice to make, how do we choose?

If you read the next couple of verses in Paul’s letter, you’d hear this: “Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.” (Romans 6:12-14) Present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness.

What does that look like? Well, that’s different in every household. It’s different for every person. But if you are baptized, then you are in possession of the gift of God’s grace. You HAVE BEEN adopted by God…claimed by Him. As God said through His prophet Isaiah: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.” (Isaiah 43:1) That is what He did in your baptism.

Very shortly, we will come to the Lord’s Table and receive the other Sacrament he gave us, where we receive His body and blood, reminding us of the promise he made to us and the benefits we receive because of that promise…that we receive in baptism.

And your baptism is given its meaning specifically because Jesus united himself with all of us in His baptism. If you were curious as to the meaning of your baptism, listen to how Luther himself describes it: “24 To put it most simply, the power, effect, benefit, fruit, and purpose of Baptism is to save. No one is baptized in order to become a prince, but as the words say, to ‘be saved.’

25 To be saved, we know, is nothing else than to be delivered from sin, death and the devil and to enter into the kingdom of Christ and live with him forever.

26 Here you see again how precious and important a thing Baptism should be regarded as being, for in it we obtain such an inexpressible treasure.” [Theodore G. Tappert, ed., The Book of Concord the Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. (Philadelphia: Mühlenberg Press, 1959), 439.]

In baptism, we are saved. We are adopted as children of God, and we receive the gift of His precious and abundant grace. And that leaves us with one more question. Just as when God gave us a savior as a gift, we asked this same question: now that we have it, what are we going to do with it? What does it look like to “walk in newness of life”?

This is our task for this season after Epiphany - to find answers to this question. What does God want us to do with His Grace? What does He wants us to do with our privilege of being adopted by Him? What difference does our baptism make in our lives, in our life together as a congregation, and for our surrounding community?

I invite all of you to pray about this, to reflect on this in your private study of the Holy Scriptures, and in your ministry to and among your family, friends, and neighbors. As you discern what that might be for you, I would invite you to share that with your church family; we could certainly support you and help you to grow such a ministry. And what a difference that would make for all of us!