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In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Well, this morning we hear this account from St. Mark of the baptism of Jesus, and maybe it’s just me. Maybe I’m the only one that does this, but I think sometimes we might be tempted—often tempted—to overlook the importance of it. I mean, we came out of Advent and Christmas, and now we’re maybe even, like I said, looking forward to Lent and Easter, and we’re just kind of skipping over some things. But maybe we downplay the significance of it because maybe we don’t even really understand it.
We do find an account of Jesus’ baptism in the three synoptic Gospels, and Mark actually begins his with the baptism. We have this depiction in the left-hand panel of Christ’s humiliation. We have that depiction in the middle of his baptism. So it’s obviously an important event, but although we confess in the Creed about our own baptism that it is for the remission of our sins, we don’t really confess anything about the baptism of Jesus—not quite like we do the other acts and deeds that he does in the Creed that are the basis of our Christian faith.
So what’s this baptism all about? Why is it an act of humiliation? As Lutheran Christians, because of what we do confess about baptism, we might simply look at it and ask why. Why did Jesus have to be baptized? His baptism clearly wasn’t for the remission of sins—not his own sins—because he was, of course, sinless. And so I think that we will see in understanding Jesus’ baptism that while his baptism is indeed different than ours, what we believe, teach, and confess about our own baptism is because of his.
So maybe first we set this up by saying what baptism—what his baptism—is not. Some would say that for Jesus this was simply an act of obedience. This was an example for us to follow—this obedience to the calling of the Father. And I do say, and we should say, that is true to some extent. There was this notion of him being baptized at the will of the Father. We just heard in the hymn that he did the Father’s pleasure, but I think that to distill the meaning of his baptism down to simply submission or an act of obedience denies what Scripture tells us about baptism, and it also either denies or at least diminishes the work of the Holy Spirit—and more about the work of the Holy Spirit in a few minutes.
But for right now, let’s say that in making Jesus’ baptism merely this example to be followed, I think that we really have two things that happen in relation to that. It makes us think about what we believe about our own baptism. First, the door is maybe unnecessarily opened to the insistence on what the mode of baptism should be, and that in turn creates maybe doctrinal and denominational differences and disagreements that unfortunately place the focus on the how and not the why. Some will insist that our baptism has to look like Jesus’ baptism—at least what they think it looked like.
I don’t know. We weren’t there. There’s no YouTube videos for us to look at, but our text does tell us that John the Baptist was baptizing in the River Jordan, that the people were repenting and coming to him, and that Jesus came to the Jordan to be baptized. So the assumption, the inference is that people were going out into the river and that they were being immersed—as we say in Texas, dumped. And this is, of course, entirely possible. Maybe, maybe that’s even the way it happened. We don’t know. But I think we also have plenty of historical writing. We have a knowledge of kind of the customs and the social factors of the time that we could make a pretty compelling argument against it.
The point is facts don’t matter when feelings are involved.
So I have to tell a quick personal story about something. So my wife and Carrie and I were, years and years ago, going through adult instruction together, and at some point I knew that I had to go see my grandmother—my very Southern Baptist grandmother—and I had to tell her that we were taking this class and that it was really our intention that we were going to be confirmed in the Lutheran Church. And I say, I don’t think up to this point in my life I had dreaded anything more than going and seeing her.
And so I did go to her. I went to her house one night and I confessed. At first, she was kind of quiet. She said, well, I figured that’s what was going on. And then she said a couple of things that have always kind of stuck with me. The first was, she said, well, I was there when you went down to the front. I was there when you were saved. And I think I was about six, you know, when I answered the altar call. And then she said—and I’m trying to remember, I don’t remember. I know she didn’t look at me. Maybe she looked down. She looked at the wall and she said, all I know is the Bible says Jesus came up out of the water.
And she was clearly stating her belief and her conviction that Jesus was immersed and that this is the only correct baptism because that’s what baptism is, and that was Jesus’ baptism. And I knew better than to argue, but I asked, is that all you got? And I can kind of—we can kind of laugh about that today, but it’s also sad because I think that’s the attitude that many Christians have about baptism—that it has to look right to be right.
And second, in making Jesus’ baptism about being only an example to follow, we tend to place the emphasis on ourselves, on what we’re doing, the work we’re doing, and not what God is accomplishing in baptism. Some may say, well, baptism is this outward sign of an inward change, of some kind of transformation. Maybe it’s a symbol of that, but it’s really me making this public profession. It’s me telling the world what I’m doing. I want to show the world who I am, what I’ve done, what I’m now accomplishing. It’s a symbol of this faith.
We have to ask ourselves if that’s the way we feel. What do we think when we—using more Texas terms—backslide, when we become overwhelmed with sin, when we don’t have that kind of Holy Ghost feeling anymore? Well, I’m afraid that this modern—I seem to think it’s modern—this phenomenon of rebaptizing, which has somehow crept into favor now, tells us that once we rededicate our lives to Christ, then we ought to be baptized again so we can make yet another public profession because that first baptism must have just not stuck.
And so while we don’t view this as outright heresy, these views are not desirable, and sometimes they can be dangerous, because at some point it seems that baptism can become optional, and it’s certainly not a means of grace.
So we’ve talked about that. So what is Jesus’ baptism? What’s it about? Why did he need to be baptized? Again, we know John was there baptizing those who were repenting for the remission of their sins, and here comes Jesus down from Nazareth. He actually searches out John, and he comes to be baptized. Jesus, the one without sin, comes to be baptized. Why?
Well, first, actually, it was for the remission of sins—not his—for the remission of sins of the world. We know, we confess, that Jesus died on the cross for the sins of the world, but it is here at the Jordan River where Christ first takes on the sin of the world and carries it to Calvary with him. It is here where Jesus is revealed to the world as the Messiah, the Anointed One, and begins his earthly ministry. As Luther writes, this is where Christ began to be Christ. This was his ordination; maybe we call it his commissioning, his inauguration—whatever word you want to use—this was where he was publicly being put into the office and the being of the Messiah, of the Christ.
And also we want to see where that Jesus’ baptism shows us this explicit picture of the Holy Trinity as revealed in Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Now we had a little bit of a glimpse of the Trinity in this reading from Genesis this morning about the creation of the world when God the Father created all things by the Spirit and the Word. The earth was formed out of the water and through water by the Word. All things were created through Jesus, for he is that Word, and he is the light—the light of the world.
And so the created world is brought into being by the uncreated Word. In many ways, here at the Jordan, the world is being recreated in Jesus’ baptism, where the Father speaks to His only Son and sends the Holy Spirit to Him to be upon Him in this clear picture of the Trinity. Just as the Holy Spirit hovered over the face of the earth at the creation of the world, so the Holy Spirit is there at Jesus’ baptism over the waters of the Jordan.
We see that water has always been, to God, a means of taking life and giving life—just as he did in the flood, but yet he preserved Noah and his family. At the Red Sea, when he delivered the Israelites from the hands of the Egyptians, so water for God remains a way to preserve and to protect life, and it is with the Holy Spirit that he makes this water holy. Maybe you recall in our baptismal rite, we pray, through the baptism in the Jordan of your beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, you sanctified and instituted all waters to be a blessed flood and a lavish washing away of sin.
So Jesus’ baptism makes our baptism holy. And this promise is now for all of us—for all nations. Saint Mark tells us that the heavens were opened—some texts say, torn open—when the Spirit descended. And in this, the kingdom of heaven was open to all believers. Jesus was there at his epiphany. So salvation is no longer for those—only those faithful ones among the Israelites—because in doing such, Christ’s baptism became a baptism for the nations—for all nations, for the church.
And so Jesus steps out of the Jordan to be revealed as the prophet, priest, and king that he was. He was revealed to all—even to John the Baptist, this forerunner of Christ who really knew him not, and he didn’t know him till his appearing at the Jordan until the Father made public this pronouncement of his Son and gave the assurance that all would be accomplished through him and the Father is pleased—he is pleased that he has chosen his Son for this—that he would be the one to redeem the world. And the Father accepts him for this most holy work.
And so the Spirit remained with Jesus because although he was true God, also being true man, the Spirit was given to him so that he might be strengthened—so that he might be made ready to accomplish what he was about to set out to do. I mean, I don’t think we can imagine this burden of sin placed upon him—on his shoulders, the sin of the world taken upon himself—and yet here he accepts all this willingly. As he proclaims in the temple of Nazareth, he says, the Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor, liberty to the captives, to recover sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.
So, dear Christians, you have been given all that in your baptism—the gift of good news, liberty, of sight, and of proclamation to you of the Lord’s favor. So to relegate baptism to only an example or a symbol is to strip the means of grace from it. Or like some who make it an ordinance—a law—a law to be followed, we remove all traces of the gospel. And so why would we want to reject this most precious gift? Why would we want to do and deny what is clearly given to us in Holy Scripture?
In John’s gospel, our Lord tells Nicodemus, truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. At Pentecost, St. Peter exhorts those who have heard the gospel, repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
In St. Peter, in his first epistle, baptism now saves you. In St. Paul, writing to Titus, God our Savior saved us by the washing and renewal of the Holy Spirit whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior. So in our baptism we are united with Christ so that we may receive the benefits of his sacrifice on the cross.
We are inextricably tied to Jesus’ baptism because he placed himself among us poor sinners and in his humiliation took on our very sin. St. Paul, in this epistle lesson today, tells us that in our baptism we are baptized with Christ because we were baptized into his death, and in doing so we are now dead to sin. Sin and its power to convict us is killed. In Luther’s words, baptism is death unto sin, death to death, and this is what we confess about baptism.
And so, in our baptism, God tells us he is well pleased—not in us, not in some work that we have done, not even in the fact that we are coming to be baptized, but well pleased in us for the sake of Christ. In our baptism, we are no longer looked upon by God as sinners, but as ones redeemed by Christ the Crucified.
It is where we too, like Jesus, receive the Spirit who strengthens us for this Christian life—for service to God and service to one another. He strengthens us for the fight against Satan, against the devil, and all his attempts to bring our sins to bear against us—to oppress us with our conscience and tell us, there is no way you can be saved. But it is then when we find comfort in saying, again in the words of Luther, turns out Luther really, really likes baptism.
And that’s because God himself loves baptism, and we ought to love our baptism. Luther says, and we should say, nevertheless I am baptized. I have been made holy and saved. I have been given victory over death and the devil. I am a child of God.
So brothers and sisters in Christ, remember your baptism because you are a new creation. You’ve been given a new life of faith, and so whether you were baptized as an infant or well into adulthood, whether you were baptized at this font or another font, or in a baptistry, or under somebody’s garden hose, we should remember not how, but why.
And so go now with joy and peace, trusting that in his incarnation, in his suffering, crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection, and yes, in his baptism, Christ has accomplished all. You’re baptized; you’re saved. Amen.
Now may the Almighty God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has given you the new birth of water and of the Spirit and has forgiven all your sins, strengthen you with his grace to life everlasting. Amen.