Göttinger Predigten
Göttinger Predigten im Internet hg. von U. Nembach
BAPTISM OF JESUS, 01/13/2013
Sermon on Luke 3:15-22, by Nathan Howard Yoder
As the people were in expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Christ, John answered them all, saying, "I baptize you with water, but he who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire." So with many other exhortations he preached good news to the people. But Herod the tetrarch, who had been reproved by him for Herodias, his brother's wife, and for all the evil things that Herod had done, added this to them all, that he locked up John in prison. Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heavens were opened, and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form, like a dove; and a voice came from heaven, "You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased." (ESV)
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day. (Gen. 1:1-5, ESV)
The first day. A phrase emphasizing the inception of creation, the totality of its goodness, and the continuing plan of its author. God spoke, and creation began, and it was good. And there was much more to come. Here we have the awesome mystery of the Holy Trinity first articulated. There is nothingness, emptiness, darkness; not even "space", per se, as "space" implies that you can put something there - a box, a planet, a star - and there is nothing to put anywhere. There is, literally,nowhere. But God the Father is there. The Spirit of God is present in that absence, moving over the waters. And God spoke:and the Word goes forth, in whom light and all other things are made, the Word in whom all creation will be fulfilled. The everlasting light in the dark streets of Bethlehem, the eternal Son of the Father, Jesus of Nazareth, Christ the Lord.
Jesus stands in the waters of the same river the LORD had parted to allow Israel entrance into the Promised Land after their 40-year Exodus Odyssey. And He lets his wild and wooly cousin baptize him. A baptism for the forgiveness of sins for One who knew no sin. Why?
Luke doesn't offer an answer. Neither does Mark. But Matthew provides the logical exchange between the cousins. "I need to be baptized by you," John says, "and do you come to me?" And Jesus answers. "Let it be so now; for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness" (3:14-15, ESV). So the Word is baptized. The Spirit descends over the waters as a dove. And the voice that echoed into the nothing and brought forth light, the same voice that sent the galaxies whirling through the deep, created space where there was none, and matter and life to fill it, the voice of the Father comes from heaven. "You are my beloved Son, with you I am well pleased." I am - the LORD, the great I AM. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
With the Word made flesh, God is well pleased. In His Incarnation Christ took on our godlessness, and He succumbed to the consequence of our disobedience, our embrace of darkness in sin, on the hill whose very name speaks hopelessness. He died, and He descended into hell. And on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, He rose, never to die again. By His Cross and Resurrection, Jesus destroyed the dominion of death and the devil. He brought our sin, our nothingness, to nothing, and so ensured the fulfillment of all creation. And all righteousness.
You and I have been joined to His righteousness. Joined by the same Spirit who hovered over the face of the deep, the same Spirit who descended upon our Lord as a dove. As John told the people on the banks of the Jordan, "He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit." And so He has! Holy Baptism: a treasure, Luther reminds us, "that is greater and nobler than heaven and earth" - greater than all creation, and so most certainly greater than all the forces of evil, the devil, and all his empty promises! The Holy Spirit has joined us to our Risen Lord. And for His sake, God is well pleased with us. Through Him, with Him, in Him, we have faith. And the righteousness He fulfilled is ours.
We live in the light of this gospel. We know that sin has no more lordship over us, that our baptism into Chris is an endless call to repentance. We belong to Him, and so we do not, we cannot live as if sin were still our master! We love Him, and so we obey His commandments. And in Him, we do not fear the shadows of evening at the end of life.
Christ is Risen! We are a new creation in Him, and for His sake, God calls us forgiven. There will be evening, and there will be morning. The first day. Alleluia!