Hey Alexa: Where is Jesus? (Baptism)

Hey Alexa

Smart home devices have changed the way we live. The smart speakers provide convenient access to music, control over smart home devices, and quick answers to questions – they can be quite helpful. But these devices are far from perfect. Over the Christmas holiday, Amazon scrambled to reconfigure Alexa’s information when a viral tweet revealed that a 10-year-old had been encouraged to play the penny challenge. Anybody do that? The penny challenge is the stuff of high school thrill seekers who touch a penny to the prongs of a phone charger half-connected to a wall outlet. The moment I describe it is the moment somebody tries it. Don’t. Bad things happen. Amazon revealed that, over time, Alexa has been adjusted on occasion when questions are asked that lead to high risk behavior. What was fascinating about this 10-year-old is that Alexa got the information from a “don’t do this at home” page gleaned from the internet.

But Alexa isn’t simply for pranksters and dangerous games. A recent study done by the University of Nebraska found that older adults living by themselves who were introduced to an Amazon Echo for eight weeks found that they were less lonely at the end of the study. Over the course of the 8 weeks, the adults who reported they were less lonely also revealed that the daily questions they were asking Alexa increasingly treated Alexa as if she had human qualities. Many of the study participants acknowledged that when they woke up in the morning, they would great Alexa with “Good Morning”. This correlated with reductions in loneliness.

I don’t have Alexa. I have Google. If I ask Google, “where is Jesus?,” you know what the answer is? Nothing. Multiple attempts at asking Google “where is Jesus?” ended in failure. All of the results for asking that question, were met with answers as if I had asked “Who is Jesus?” There were hundreds or thousands of different responses for “Who is Jesus?”, but absolutely nothing about “where is Jesus?”

“Who is Jesus?” is closely connected to “Where is Jesus?” in the Bible. This is another of those areas that took me a long time to figure out. We spend a lot of time answering the “Who is Jesus?” question.. not just for ourselves and our friends and our families. It’s an important question. But fundamental to the “Who is Jesus?” is “Where is Jesus?” And I would surmise that most of the time when we think about talk about Jesus, we’re like Alexa… we can tell you all day long about “Who is Jesus?” We can debate and discussion his life, his death, his resurrection. But we are less comfortable talking about “where is Jesus?” Over the next few weeks, we’re going to help Alexa. If Amazon is watching, maybe Alexa can learn a thing or two.

Where we’ve been

At the beginning of 2021, we began a journey through Martin Luther’s Small Catechism. Martin Luther wrote the Small Catechism after visiting towns around where he was a pastor and observed that people not only did not know their Bibles, people… good church people… didn’t know the basics of what it meant to be and live as a Christian. Catechism simply means instruction. Luther sat down and seemed to ask himself, “what are the basic necessities for living as a Christian on God’s green earth?” We have covered 3 of the 4 sections in his Small Catechism:

The Ten Commandments

The Apostles’ Creed

The Lord’s Prayer

Again.. Luther wasn’t making stuff up. Everything Luther wrote came straight out of the Bible. And that’s what we are doing.

Over the next six weeks, “Hey Alexa, Where is Jesus?” will take us through the fourth section of Luther’s Small Catechism. Baptism, the Lord’s Table, Confession/Forgiveness, and Community.. all basics of the Christian experience and all places where Jesus can be found.. or rather, where Jesus finds us. And the first place Jesus finds us is in Baptism. Your baptism, my baptism, Jesus is there for us.

Jesus and His baptism

And the place to begin our discussion about baptism, is with Jesus. This is all about Jesus. It’s why we start any discussion about what baptism is and what baptism does with the story of Jesus’ baptism.

We read the story moments ago. Jesus shows up at the Jordan River where his cousin John is baptizing. And John protests Jesus’ request to be baptized. John knows that his baptism is about repentance. It’s for sinners. And he knows full well that Jesus is no sinner. But Jesus makes a curious statement. Here’s what Jesus says:

Matthew 3:15 “Jesus answered him, “Allow it for now, because this is the way for us to fulfill all righteousness.”

Jesus is there to fulfill all righteousness. Jesus isn’t there because he’s a sinner. Jesus is there in place of the sinners. Jesus is there saving sinners. This is what is meant by “fulfilling righteousness.” Jesus is becoming the righteousness necessary to make sinners righteous. Jesus is the one who will save his people from their sins, and here at the Jordan and in the water, Jesus is showing how he will save sinners. He will die and he will rise for them.

Salvation

So the first thing we can say about “what is baptism?”, baptism is salvation. Because Jesus was baptized on behalf of sinners, baptism since then has been salvation for sinners. Jesus’ baptism is connected to his own death on the cross, which would save his people from their sins. What Jesus says about “fulfilling all righteousness” means that there is more going on with baptism than simply symbolism. Jesus wasn’t saying, I’m doing this so we all have a picture of what is going on in baptism. Jesus says he is actually providing righteousness in baptism. His righteousness, a righteousness that becomes ours in his death and in our baptism.

This is why we start with Jesus’ baptism. It’s the first baptism. If Jesus is not baptized in the Jordan, my baptism and your baptism mean absolutely nothing because that day, Jesus is going into the water to save us.

Word

The second thing we can say about baptism is that this is Jesus’ word for us. The Bible, God’s word gives life. Baptism is God’s Word in water form a form that saves. One of the most used Scripture verses for baptism actually contains the saving element in it, though we don’t see it enough.

Matthew 28:19 “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”

Make disciples is to make Christians. How does this happen? Baptizing. In baptism, a disciple is made. It’s really easy to focus on the water. That water we use in our font is tap water. I’m not afraid to drink tap water, but many don’t. Tap water is ordinary water. How could God use ordinary water? Baptism isn’t just water. Baptism is God’s Word combined with the water. Baptism is God’s name and God’s Word combined with the water. One of the reasons why we say that baptism isn’t symbolism is because God attaches his name to it. We are baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Life-giving name. We are baptized in God’s name because we are baptized by God himself.

We baptize in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit because it’s God doing the baptizing. Baptism is not something we do. Baptism is not a decision we make. Baptism is not our obedience. Baptism is all God’s work.

Notice the words Matthew uses to describe the baptism of Jesus’ that day at the Jordan. Three times Matthew says

Jesus came to be baptized.

I need to be baptized.

John allowed Jesus to be baptized.

Be baptized. Not do baptism. Be. Receive. That’s passive language. That’s receptive language. Baptism is God’s work on us, not our doing something for him or something to show others or to profess something. Baptism is what is done to us by God.

Baptism is done to us and for us. If Baptism were a work we do or obedience, then our baptism would be in the name of Chad Bresson. God’s name in baptism isn’t waving a magic wand over something we do. No… his name in baptism means He’s the one doing the work.

This is why baptism is so offensive to many people. It is God’s free grace to us. We are used to making things happen for ourselves. Baptism is God saying, you need to park your efforts. This is my doing, not yours. We get offended that our help isn’t needed. It’s got to be our faith. Our decision. Our choice. And God says… be baptized. I’ve got this.

“To be baptized in God’s name is to be baptized not by human beings but by God himself. Although it is performed by human hands, it is nevertheless truly God’s own act.” - Luther

Baptism isn’t just the water. It’s the water and the Word of God. And without the Word, it’s just plain, ordinary water. Jesus uses plain water with His Word to forgive our sins and make us God’s children. In Baptism, Jesus is telling us that he is making His decision for us. We aren’t deciding for Jesus. Jesus is deciding for us through the water and His Word. The water and the Word cannot be separated.

Promise

Because God’s word is involved, the gospel is involved in baptism. In baptism, God gives us a promise.

Mark 16:16 “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.”

That’s a remarkable promise. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved. Jesus promises to save you in baptism. And so we believe Him and His promise to save us. This promise includes all the benefits of salvation that many of the other passages regarding baptism talk about:

forgiveness of sins

rescue from death and the devil

eternal salvation to all who believe

This is the promise of baptism. Baptism provides the promise of the gospel to those who are baptized in faith.

Life-giving water

Because baptism holds a promise and that promise is salvation to all who believe, baptism provides life. A new birth. Eternal life.

Here’s what the great missionary Paul says about baptism in writing to one of his pastor friends:

Titus 3:5-8 “God saved us—not by works of righteousness that we had done, but according to his mercy—through the washing of regeneration and renewal by the Holy Spirit. He poured out his Spirit on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior so that, having been justified by his grace, we may become heirs with the hope of eternal life.”

Paul is saying that our baptism is a washing of regeneration. A washing of new life. It’s where he gives us His Spirit. He pours the Spirit into us as the water is poured onto us. That’s the point of this passage. Baptism is life-giving water. This is not talking about Spirit baptism, but baptism with water. This isn’t the only place where baptism is referred to as a washing. When Paul is first converted to be a Christian, this is what his mentor tells him to do, before he does anything else:

Acts 22:16 “Why are you delaying? Get up and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on his name.”

This is the same thing that Peter told the crowd at the end of his famous sermon right after Jesus ascended into heaven:

Acts 2:38 “Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, each of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”

Be baptized for the forgiveness of sins and the gift of the Spirit.

This is why we say baptism is the beginning of real life. It’s where God gives us a new identity. We have the forgiveness of sins and a new life. Jesus uses ordinary water and His Word to make us God’s children.

Death

There’s one last thing to say about baptism, at least for today. Baptism involves a death. A very real death.

Romans 6:3-5 “Are you unaware that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore we were buried with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too may walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in the likeness of his death, we will certainly also be in the likeness of his resurrection.”

We could spend hours talking about baptism from Romans 6, but we will highlight just this thought. Our baptism was a baptism into Christ’s death. We were buried with him by baptism into death.

Notice these two phrases talking about our baptism:

• All of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death

• We were buried with him by baptism into death

His death was our death. Death of the old self. Death of the old life. What Paul says is the Old Adam. The selfish narcissistic me… in baptism, was drowned. Death by drowning. We go into the water as dead people and come out of it alive.

In the days of the early church, after the church had been around long enough to finally have buildings and ways of existing as an institution, the day between Good Friday and Easter Sunday was set aside to baptize those who were desiring to come into the church. After the sun was down, when it was dark, the Christians started lighting lamps and gathering in the local church building (a fairly new idea: having a building to use as a church) and the whole community would gather there, together. If you were there to be baptized, there would be a point in the evening in which everyone would descend into the lower levels of the building where there was an octagonal pool cut into the floor about 3 feet deep. There in the deep darkness of the church, those being baptized would hear the promise of what happens in baptism. There would be a reading of scripture. There would also be a renouncing of the devil and sin as you faced west. Facing east, there would be embracing the kingdom of God and his community. At that point, you would get into the 3 foot pool and kneel as the pastor and others assisting would basically drown you in water.

And that was the point. Baptism is a drowning. The old man dies. The sinner dies with Christ. The new saint comes out of the water being regenerated. It’s not symoblism. This is all happening because Jesus himself was baptized for us in the Jordan so that all righteousness would be fulfilled.

Gift of the Spirit

What does this mean for life this week? One more thing from Jesus’ baptism:

Matthew 3:16 “When Jesus was baptized, he went up immediately from the water. The heavens suddenly opened for him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming down on him.”

Baptism is a gift of the Spirit. And it is the Spirit that gives us life. We are sinners. And we need this daily drowning of baptism because the Old is still clinging to us even as the New calls us forward. And the thing is, we don’t want it. We need it, but we don’t necessarily want it. There’s something in me, and you, and each of us: there’s something that doesn’t want to own up to our sin, that doesn’t want to admit that we’re sinners, that doesn’t want to let other people in on the secret that we’re not perfect.

I’m a sinner, who needs drowning. And the Spirit, who is alive in me through Christ’s Word brings me to life again. He makes us New Creation. He produces in us a new life. It is through the Spirit we live our our new identity as children of God. It’s the Spirit of Jesus who conforms you to Jesus and his cross and empty tomb.

All this is done for us in baptism. Baptism is a miracle. An unbelievable miracle in which Jesus uses plain, ordinary water for His salvation purposes. Earthly elements used to make us His, to tie us to himself. Forever. It’s not our doing. It’s all his doing.

Let’s pray.

Baptism isn’t just a one-time event. All the benefits of baptism we find here in the Table every week. Forgiveness of sins. Life. We remember our baptism here at the Table. What began for us in the waters of the Jordan ended up at the cross. The perfect Lamb of God who was baptized by John became the perfect Lamb of God dying for sinners. What Jesus provides for us here is his body and his blood to give us forgiveness and life. Again.