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The Baptism of Our Lord, 01/12/2020
Sermon on Matthew 3:13-17, by Ryan Mills
13Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan, to be baptized by him. 14John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” 15But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now; for it is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he consented. 16And when Jesus had been baptized, just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens were opened to him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. 17And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.” (Matthew 3: 13-17, NRSV).
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Well welcome to worship as we celebrate the festival of the Baptism of Our Lord. There’s an old joke about a church down South having baptisms one Sunday, when the town’s most notorious sinner walked into the building. “Brother,” the pastor called out to him, “are you ready to find the Lord?” “I guess so,” he said, and into the great big pool of water the pastor dunked the man under. He came up and the pastor asked, “Brother, have you found the Lord?” “Not yet” the man replied, and again he was dunked under, and again he came up to the same question, “Brother have you found the Lord?” “No, still not yet,” the response came and finally the pastor dunked him under one more time, and up he came to the same question, “Brother have you found the Lord?” The man cleared his face from water and answered, “Still not yet. But Pastor, are you sure this is where He fell in?”
Today we celebrate that the Lord has indeed fallen into the water, entered the waters of baptism for us, so that all of us who enter this water are no longer defined as
notorious sinners, so that sin and death and the devil no longer get the last word over us, but rather in this water and its Word, by faith, we find all the riches of God. Martin Luther in the Large Catechism tells us that in Baptism we receive “victory over death and the devil, forgiveness of sin, God’s grace, the entire Christ, and the Holy Spirit with his gifts. In short, the blessings of Baptism are so boundless that if timid nature considers them, it may well doubt whether they could all be true."
I was once called to a nursing home to a ninety-year old man who was dying. I asked about his faith, and he said, “I’m a Baptist, I’ve been a Baptist my whole life.” “Well, great,” I said, “then you have all the promises that God gives you in baptism: victory over death, forgiveness of sins, God’s grace, the entire Christ, the Holy Spirit and all his gifts--you’ve got it all!” “Oh,” he said, kind of embarrassed, “I’ve never been baptized.” “Never baptized?” I asked. “It’s literally in the name ‘Baptist’. Why not?” “I never felt worthy, I never felt good enough,” he replied. Ooff. We know that feeling don’t we! Of not being worthy. It’s what John the Baptist says today, “I’m not going to baptize you, Lord, you should baptize me, I’m not worthy,” it’s our being defined and finding our identity defined in the word “not”.
And this is how life is, isn’t it? As a child, we get labeled, “Not smart, not well behaved, not good at this or that.” As we get older, you hear the messages that you’re not pretty enough, not skinny enough, not employable, you’re not “in,” you’re not quite what we’re looking for. As we get into our golden years we hear the same, you’re not able, you’re past it, you don’t matter anymore. And in our heart of hearts, we begin to believe the ‘nots,’ “I’m not lovable, I’m not worthy, I’m not enough.” The world knows that we’re told these things, that we think these things, so it says, “Just buy this, just
own this, just wear this, just do this, and then you’ll measure up,” but we know it doesn’t work for too long, we’re still left alone, defined by what we’re not.
And so it is that today that Jesus enters the waters of the River Jordan for all who have been defined by “not”, for all who know they’re not worthy, for all who have real sins, for all who know the dark terror of death, for all who can find no answer in any of it. Jesus, the perfect, spotless Lamb of God, enters the River Jordan like an ordinary sinner, like you and me, for you and me, and is baptized. And as Jesus, the Son of God, comes out of the water, he sees the Holy Spirit coming down like a Dove, and hears the Voice of the Father.
Here we have the Holy Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, revealed together in their saving work. See, baptism is not just a ritual, not just a dunking or sprinkling with water, baptism is not about the hand of the minister, or the cute baby gown, or even eternal fire insurance, it’s about God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit getting to work in us, claiming us, and bringing us into their eternal life, into the life of God himself.
And what does God the Father say at that moment of baptism? What is it that Jesus hears? “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.” Just listen to that for a moment, and let is seep in, the words of our Heavenly Father for his Son, but also God’s Word for all those who have entered the waters of baptism, “This is my Son, the beloved with whom I am well pleased.” There’s no “not” here, no “this isn’t my son, who I don’t love and am not very pleased with.” No, “This is my Son, my Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.” This is what God speaks to you today, to all who have been baptized, whether it’s been a month or 60 years since the day of your baptism,
whether you remember it or not, whether you were ninety years old or nine minutes old when you were first washed with water and the Word, God’s words of affirmation, of “Yes” for you are clear today, no matter what: “This is my Son, my daughter, my Beloved, with you I am well pleased.”
What would your life be like if you took this affirmation with you this week? If in the midst of every “not” you’ve come to believe in, in the midst of every sin you know you’re guilty of, if in the midst of every striving to prove something or defend something against what others say or think about you, in the midst of all the fear and death we see around us, what if you took this affirmation with you and lived into it, used it in every struggle, relied on it in every temptation, “This is my son, my daughter, my Beloved, with you I am well pleased.”
I baptized the man in the nursing home later that day, and he died hours later, at peace, and ready. Maybe that’s the heart of baptism in our lives, that it is a death, a drowning of this old self, a washing away every day of what has been, the only death we ever have to really fear takes place in our baptism, so that every day the new self, the new Adam or Eve can float to the surface to live in faith, so that you joined to Christ, to his death and Resurrection, you and I can face the future without fear.
For Jesus needed his baptism to face what was to come, just as we need it. For Jesus is baptized again before long, not under the hand of John, standing in a river, but under the hand of the soldiers, hanging on a Cross. Jesus is baptized in his own death, blood and water stream out from the wound in his side, the water of baptism flows straight from the death of Christ out of love for us, he pours this water out on us so that
joined to his death, we also might share in his life, and so that every day when we wake up and wash our face, or as we walk outside during these giant winter rainstorms, whenever we have water splash on us we might remind ourselves of the words spoken to us, “This is my son, this is my daughter, my Beloved, with you I am so pleased.”
For Jesus has entered the water this day, but there is no need to dunk down and find him! For he has found you, and poured out water from his wounded side upon you, making you his own, making you loved and worthy. And he promises you again this day, “This is my Son, my Daughter, my Beloved, with you I am well pleased.”
And the Peace of God which passes all understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.