St Matthew 3:13-17/Isaiah 42:1-7/1 Corinthians 1:26-31
In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.
John stands in the river with his unbending ethic. He calls sinners to repentance. He hearkens the fallen children of Adam and the progeny of Israel back to the wilderness into which they were driven and from whence they came. He calls them to die to themselves. He calls them to leave the false gods of their own making.
Adam usurped God’s authority and took for himself that which was not given. Israel erected a golden calf in the desert and called it Yahweh. Your idolatry is much more subtle.
You shall have no other gods, so says the First Commandment. “We should fear, love, and trust in God above all things.” But you fear all sorts of things. You fear crime and robbery. You fear loosing your job and being unable to pay the bills. You fear your credit rating and the car that’s on its last leg. And so you love what can bring you happiness and pleasure and relief, if even only for a moment: the extra $500 to fix the water heater; the friend at the bowling alley who commiserates about your hard life; the roommate who gets you alcohol. We trust these things. We put our faith in them. They are our gods.
Repent. John calls you back to the Jordan, back to the wilderness. For it was there that the Lord fed Israel with manna from heaven. The Giver of their daily bread was obvious. And He was trustworthy. Still they grumbled against Him and horded His provision in unbelief and fear. I am the Lord your God, He said, who brought you up out of the house of slavery, out of the land of Egypt. You shall have no other gods before Me.
And so it is that tax collectors and sinners, prostitutes and crooks, went out to John in the wilderness; and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. Folks just like you and me: husbands who lusted after other women, mothers who antagonized their children, workers who bad-mouthed their bosses, children who ridiculed their parents. They all come out to the Jordan to receive John’s baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
For there John stood, as the prophets of old, as a shepherd of God’s people, tending to His dear lambs and sheep. Its as if he would take a sheep from the fold; dirty and filthy, covered in mud and grime and blood and thorns, and he would dip him in the water and bring him out clean on the other side. A whole flock of filthy, grimy sheep made clean in baptism for the forgiveness of sins.
Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. Here is the one spotless Lamb. Pure and holy. Pristine. He has no need to be baptized. He does not require the cleansing for the forgiveness of sins. He is the Mightier One. John is unworthy to loose His sandal; yet He submits to his baptism. Jesus submits to the will of His Father, and takes His place among sinners; among folks like you. Among those who know their desperation and their need for a Savior; He is not ashamed to be called your God.
John would have prevented Him. But in that enigmatic phrase, He says, Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness. And John consented. He dips this spotless Lamb, the Lamb of God, into the dirty water, polluted with our sin, and the Lamb soaks up the filth. He takes the pollution of our flesh into His own holy flesh.
In His baptism Jesus is anointed as the Messiah, as the Sin-Bearer. He who knew no sin, became Sin for us. Jesus is baptized for you. His baptism removes your death so that your baptism grants you His Life. His baptism soaks up your sin so that your baptism pours out His forgiveness. He is baptized for you and you are baptized into Him.
Responding to the request of James and John to sit at His right and left, Jesus once said, Are you able to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized? (Mk 10:38). He spoke of His crucifixion; His baptism of blood. For there, His baptism is complete. In His death He destroys the power of death and by His resurrection He gives power to Holy Baptism. For the sin that He bore from the Jordan He suffers and dies for upon the Cross; the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
For this reason the Father declares Him to be His beloved Son, in whom His soul delights. Recall Christmas, He is named Jesus, for He came to save His people from their sins. To save you from your sin. And here, in His baptism, He begins that rescue. The Holy Spirit confirms the Father’s declaration; as it is written, Behold, My Servant, whom I uphold; My Chosen, in whom My soul delights; I have put My Spirit upon Him; He will bring forth righteousness to the nations. And we are back to Epiphany – nations, ethnos, heathens; God’s revelation to the Gentiles,
St Matthew records that the heavens were opened to Him. St Mark’s language is a bit more graphic: the heavens were torn open. The heavens were closed to Adam and all his posterity on account of his sin. The gates of Paradise were barred by the flaming sword. But now, in Christ the Second Adam, heaven is opened once more. Indeed He is heaven come down to earth, and He steps out of the water bearing the whole world with Him, such that heaven is now opened to you, for you are in Christ by virtue of your baptism into His death and resurrection.
And the dove that signaled the end of the flood, alights on Christ Jesus, the Ark of Life, in whom you are brought safely through the flood of Holy Baptism. For is not His side torn open and out comes water and blood, Baptism and the Eucharist? Life, flowing our of death, from Life Itself. Is not the Temple curtain torn from top to bottom, and you are given free access in Him to the Holy of Holies? Beloved, He is the Holy of Holies, come down to dwell with you!
To dwell with you, unfaithful husbands, poor mothers, wicked children, to dwell with you and call you sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, His beloved. To dwell with you condemned sinners and ease your troubled conscience with the sweet voice of His Gospel, saying, “Your sins are forgiven.”
Let me hear what God the Lord will speak, says the Psalm, for He will speak peace to His people, to His saints (85:8). The peace of His absolution, His forgiveness. For He speaks over you in your Baptism, “This is My beloved Child, with whom I am well pleased.” Hearken to John. Return to your baptism, drown the old Adam. For Christ is your righteousness. He is your redemption. Jesus is your sanctification. Baptized into His Name, He lives within you and you in Him. There is now no condemnation for those that are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, He condemned sin in the flesh (Rom 8:1-3).
Allow your faith to be strengthened in this Baptism of our Lord, for all that Jesus does, He does for you. For us men, and for our salvation, He came down from heaven and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary, and was made man. He was born in Bethlehem, fled to Egypt, raised in Nazareth, baptized in the Jordan, crucified upon Golgotha, for you.
A bruised reed He will not break, and a faintly burning wick He will not quench. Meaning, He comes not to threaten and demand and condemn. Rather, Jesus comes as herald of salvation, preaching mercy and life and light. Fulfilling all righteousness by His Cross, His righteous death for the unrighteous.
His Cross is traced over you in baptism, marking you are His own. He is your God. You are His people. He has named you with His Name. He has worked for you forgiveness of sins, rescue from death and the devil, and eternal salvation. You are spotless in the blood of Lamb. The Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you. And He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you (Rom 8:11).
And He is the Giver of the Bread of heaven, here in this wilderness beyond the Jordan of the font. You eat and are satisfied, given the food of paradise, the Body and Blood of the Lamb of God. Rejoice, dear ones, for heaven is opened to you in Christ, in Him you dwell secure.
In the Name of the Father + and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.
John stands in the river with his unbending ethic. He calls sinners to repentance. He hearkens the fallen children of Adam and the progeny of Israel back to the wilderness into which they were driven and from whence they came. He calls them to die to themselves. He calls them to leave the false gods of their own making.
Adam usurped God’s authority and took for himself that which was not given. Israel erected a golden calf in the desert and called it Yahweh. Your idolatry is much more subtle.
You shall have no other gods, so says the First Commandment. “We should fear, love, and trust in God above all things.” But you fear all sorts of things. You fear crime and robbery. You fear loosing your job and being unable to pay the bills. You fear your credit rating and the car that’s on its last leg. And so you love what can bring you happiness and pleasure and relief, if even only for a moment: the extra $500 to fix the water heater; the friend at the bowling alley who commiserates about your hard life; the roommate who gets you alcohol. We trust these things. We put our faith in them. They are our gods.
Repent. John calls you back to the Jordan, back to the wilderness. For it was there that the Lord fed Israel with manna from heaven. The Giver of their daily bread was obvious. And He was trustworthy. Still they grumbled against Him and horded His provision in unbelief and fear. I am the Lord your God, He said, who brought you up out of the house of slavery, out of the land of Egypt. You shall have no other gods before Me.
And so it is that tax collectors and sinners, prostitutes and crooks, went out to John in the wilderness; and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. Folks just like you and me: husbands who lusted after other women, mothers who antagonized their children, workers who bad-mouthed their bosses, children who ridiculed their parents. They all come out to the Jordan to receive John’s baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
For there John stood, as the prophets of old, as a shepherd of God’s people, tending to His dear lambs and sheep. Its as if he would take a sheep from the fold; dirty and filthy, covered in mud and grime and blood and thorns, and he would dip him in the water and bring him out clean on the other side. A whole flock of filthy, grimy sheep made clean in baptism for the forgiveness of sins.
Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. Here is the one spotless Lamb. Pure and holy. Pristine. He has no need to be baptized. He does not require the cleansing for the forgiveness of sins. He is the Mightier One. John is unworthy to loose His sandal; yet He submits to his baptism. Jesus submits to the will of His Father, and takes His place among sinners; among folks like you. Among those who know their desperation and their need for a Savior; He is not ashamed to be called your God.
John would have prevented Him. But in that enigmatic phrase, He says, Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness. And John consented. He dips this spotless Lamb, the Lamb of God, into the dirty water, polluted with our sin, and the Lamb soaks up the filth. He takes the pollution of our flesh into His own holy flesh.
In His baptism Jesus is anointed as the Messiah, as the Sin-Bearer. He who knew no sin, became Sin for us. Jesus is baptized for you. His baptism removes your death so that your baptism grants you His Life. His baptism soaks up your sin so that your baptism pours out His forgiveness. He is baptized for you and you are baptized into Him.
Responding to the request of James and John to sit at His right and left, Jesus once said, Are you able to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized? (Mk 10:38). He spoke of His crucifixion; His baptism of blood. For there, His baptism is complete. In His death He destroys the power of death and by His resurrection He gives power to Holy Baptism. For the sin that He bore from the Jordan He suffers and dies for upon the Cross; the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
For this reason the Father declares Him to be His beloved Son, in whom His soul delights. Recall Christmas, He is named Jesus, for He came to save His people from their sins. To save you from your sin. And here, in His baptism, He begins that rescue. The Holy Spirit confirms the Father’s declaration; as it is written, Behold, My Servant, whom I uphold; My Chosen, in whom My soul delights; I have put My Spirit upon Him; He will bring forth righteousness to the nations. And we are back to Epiphany – nations, ethnos, heathens; God’s revelation to the Gentiles,
St Matthew records that the heavens were opened to Him. St Mark’s language is a bit more graphic: the heavens were torn open. The heavens were closed to Adam and all his posterity on account of his sin. The gates of Paradise were barred by the flaming sword. But now, in Christ the Second Adam, heaven is opened once more. Indeed He is heaven come down to earth, and He steps out of the water bearing the whole world with Him, such that heaven is now opened to you, for you are in Christ by virtue of your baptism into His death and resurrection.
And the dove that signaled the end of the flood, alights on Christ Jesus, the Ark of Life, in whom you are brought safely through the flood of Holy Baptism. For is not His side torn open and out comes water and blood, Baptism and the Eucharist? Life, flowing our of death, from Life Itself. Is not the Temple curtain torn from top to bottom, and you are given free access in Him to the Holy of Holies? Beloved, He is the Holy of Holies, come down to dwell with you!
To dwell with you, unfaithful husbands, poor mothers, wicked children, to dwell with you and call you sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, His beloved. To dwell with you condemned sinners and ease your troubled conscience with the sweet voice of His Gospel, saying, “Your sins are forgiven.”
Let me hear what God the Lord will speak, says the Psalm, for He will speak peace to His people, to His saints (85:8). The peace of His absolution, His forgiveness. For He speaks over you in your Baptism, “This is My beloved Child, with whom I am well pleased.” Hearken to John. Return to your baptism, drown the old Adam. For Christ is your righteousness. He is your redemption. Jesus is your sanctification. Baptized into His Name, He lives within you and you in Him. There is now no condemnation for those that are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, He condemned sin in the flesh (Rom 8:1-3).
Allow your faith to be strengthened in this Baptism of our Lord, for all that Jesus does, He does for you. For us men, and for our salvation, He came down from heaven and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary, and was made man. He was born in Bethlehem, fled to Egypt, raised in Nazareth, baptized in the Jordan, crucified upon Golgotha, for you.
A bruised reed He will not break, and a faintly burning wick He will not quench. Meaning, He comes not to threaten and demand and condemn. Rather, Jesus comes as herald of salvation, preaching mercy and life and light. Fulfilling all righteousness by His Cross, His righteous death for the unrighteous.
His Cross is traced over you in baptism, marking you are His own. He is your God. You are His people. He has named you with His Name. He has worked for you forgiveness of sins, rescue from death and the devil, and eternal salvation. You are spotless in the blood of Lamb. The Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you. And He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you (Rom 8:11).
And He is the Giver of the Bread of heaven, here in this wilderness beyond the Jordan of the font. You eat and are satisfied, given the food of paradise, the Body and Blood of the Lamb of God. Rejoice, dear ones, for heaven is opened to you in Christ, in Him you dwell secure.
In the Name of the Father + and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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