The Baptism of Our Lord

John preached a baptism of repentance into the forgiveness of sins. So it’s understandable that he did not want to baptize Jesus. John was a sinner. He needed baptism. You and I are sinners. We need baptism. But Jesus, from the moment of His conception until His death never committed a single sin. He is, very literally, the only man in the history of the world who did not need to be baptized. John recognized this. He knew who Jesus was: the incarnate Son of God. And so he tried to prevent Jesus’ baptism. “You are not a candidate. You do not qualify. You are not a sinner. I’m the sinner here. I need to be baptized by you!”

John is absolutely right. Jesus does not need to be baptized. But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness” (Mt 3:15). In other words, Jesus said, “You’re right, John. I don’t need to be baptized, but I want you to do it anyway. It is proper. It is necessary. You need Me to be baptized. Every sinner needs Me to be baptized.” Why? In order to fulfill all righteousness.

How does the baptism of Jesus fulfill all righteousness? Let’s ask the question another way? How can plain water wash away sins? The answer is: It can’t. Water by itself has no magical properties. There is no such thing as super special, extra secret, holy water. There’s just water. It can get the dirt off your hands, but it can’t get the sin out of your heart. Christians who visit Palestine in order to see the Jordan River are often disappointed: It just an ordinary river with brownish-green water.

But baptism is not just plain water. It is the water included in God’s command and combined with God’s Word. It is certainly not just water that forgives sins, rescues from death and the devil, and gives eternal salvation to all who believe. The Word of God in and with the water does these things. But without the Word of God the water is plain water and no Baptism. This is why Jesus said, “It is necessary that I be baptized in order to fulfill all righteousness.” Jesus is the Word of God in human form. He must be added to the water, or else no one will become righteous. Without Jesus, without the Word of God, if we pour water on someone, all we get is a wet guy. But when Jesus is in that water, then we have a baptism. That is, a life-giving flood, rich in grace, and a washing of the new birth in the Holy Spirit.

St. Paul speaks of being baptized into Christ. This is exactly why His baptism was necessary, and why baptism can and does deliver salvation. Jesus has all the forgiveness, all the righteousness, all the salvation. He purchased this forgiveness at His cross with his suffering and death. He earned your eternal life with his perfect life. Jesus has everything we need for life and salvation. But how do we get it? We need to be connected to Jesus. This is why Jesus had to be baptized. Baptism connects us to Jesus, the source of all life. We become joined to His cross. This means that our sins were crucified were in actually, not symbolically or metaphorically, but truly nailed to his cross. Because we are joined to Him in baptism, His death means the death of our old sinful nature. And His resurrection is the beginning of our new life, the second birth.

We sinners go to be baptized, we bring along all our sins—every wicked thought, word, and deed, a lifetime of failures to love God and our neighbors as we should. Every sin we have every committed or will commit in the future. We bring all of this to the water of baptism, and then we leave it all behind. We come to the font with putrid, black stone-encrusted hearts. And we come away from the water of baptism cleansed from every stain. We go away with pure hearts, leaving all our sins behind in the water.

But what happens to those sins? Does God simply overlook them? Is baptism a big cosmic game of pretense, where God acts as though we were not guilty sinners deserving punishment? No. This is why Jesus must be baptized, in order to fulfill our righteousness. Jesus came to the water already clean, the pure and spotless Lamb of God. He didn’t need to be baptized for His own sake. He could have simply continued on His way and gone back to the Father in heaven, the only perfect Man. He could have left us to suffer the fate we deserved because of our sins. John, without knowing it, was encouraging Jesus to do just that.

But instead, Jesus stepped down into the muddy, sinful water. The spotless Lamb of God shouldered the terrible burden of every sin every committed by every member of the human race. How is it possible that we can leave our sins behind in the water of baptism? How is it possible that God the Father can declare us not guilty even though we have committed sins every day of our lives? Because Jesus took up all those sins in His baptism. “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” He picked them all up, and he took them to His cross.

That is why baptism saves—not metaphorically, not symbolically, but truly saves you! Jesus stands in that water, claiming your sins as His own. His victory over sin, death, and the devil and Calvary is applied to you in baptism. Jesus lifts from our backs the crushing weight that would surely have brought us down to hell, and instead, at the moment of Jesus’ baptism, the heavens were opened! What a glorious exchange it is that takes place when we are joined to Christ through holy baptism. He trades our sins for his glorious righteousness. He gives us his place in heaven, and we give Him our place on the cross. We come out of the water freed from sin’s dreadful burden, and instead, Jesus, the sinless one, is left carrying that burden, which he bears gladly for our sakes. “John, let it be so,” Jesus says, “This is necessary to fulfill all righteousness.”

The baptism of Jesus is the beginning of His ministry, where he began His mission to take away the sin of the world. From that moment on, He refused every distraction, every temptation to avoid His cross, until He breathed the words, “It is finished.” And then what Jesus began in His baptism was finally completed. All sin stands paid for and removed. Righteousness has been fulfilled for you. The door to heaven opens wide to receive you and all others who have been joined to this saving work of Jesus through Holy Baptism. And just as God the Father pronounced upon Jesus, “You are my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased” (Mt 3:17), so His verdict stands for all who are are baptized into His Son.

Is baptism just plain water? Not on your life. As we sang today:

All that the mortal eye beholds Is water as we pour it. Before the eye of faith unfolds The pow’r of Jesus’ merit. For here it sees the crimson flood To all our ills bring healing; The wonders of His precious blood The love of God revealing, Assuring His own pardon.