Baptism of our Lord

Matthew 3:13-17 - Quinquagesima/Baptism of Jesus - February 19, 2012

Preaching Baptism

We call him John the Baptist because he baptized.  But John the Baptist was also a preacher.  St. Mark writes, “he came baptizing in the wilderness and preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins” (Mk. 1:4).   John’s Baptism and his preaching were inseparable from each other.  In fact, the sacrament of Baptism can never be separated from the preaching of God’s word.  After all, it’s from the word of God that Baptism gets its power to save in the first place. 

Baptism doesn’t wash away sin simply by getting people wet—like some sort of magic potion.  No, it washes away sin by the power of the word that Jesus Himself attaches to the water.  He attaches His word to the water first by commanding that everyone be baptized, and second, by promising that he who believes and is baptized shall be saved.  Because of God’s command and promise we are able to point to our Baptism with confidence and say that that is where God forgives us our sin, rescues us from death and the devil, and gives us eternal life. 

Baptism is for sinners.  We need to know this.  John knew this.  The law he preached exposed sinners for what they were and prepared them to receive what they could not find in their hearts.  This is what it means to preach repentance.  The gospel he preached and the Baptism he administered forgave sinners for the sake of Him who would bear their sin on the cross.  This is what it means to preach Christ crucified. 

John was a great preacher!  Like all faithful preachers, John took the words he preached and applied them also to himself.  He knew his own need for the forgiveness of sins.  And He knew who it was who took his sin away.  And that’s because he knew Jesus.  He had already identified Jesus as the Lamb of God who bears the sin of the world.  Jesus was the very content and the fulfillment of the Gospel that John was sent to proclaim. 

And now here came Jesus, wanting to be baptized by John.  From John’s perspective, the idea of baptizing Jesus was as ridiculous as telling Jesus to repent of His sin.  John wasn’t even worthy to carry Jesus’ sandals, let alone preach to Him.  He knew that Jesus was a righteous man.  And he knew that he himself was not.  Jesus needed nothing from John, but John needed everything from Jesus.  And that’s why he tried to prevent Him from being baptized.  “I need to be baptized by You,” he said, “and are You coming to me?” 

But Jesus quickly persuaded him.  “Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.”  This convinced John.  …But why?  Jesus didn’t really say much.  I suppose it was enough that Jesus commanded him: “Permit it be so. Baptize Me.”  One should always do what Jesus tells him to do, after all.  Jesus says to us, “Go and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”  And so we do.  We obey His command.  But surely for us, as well as for John the Baptist, there is more than just the command that persuades us to bring our children to the font and to hold fast to our own Baptism as well.  There must also, with the command, be a promise. 

Jesus said, “For thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.”  Jesus was already righteous.  He was born without sin.  He lived a sinless life.  He never did anything wrong.  He never left any duty undone.  And He certainly didn’t need to be baptized in order to become a righteous man.  He already was a righteous man.  And here we find the promise.  Because Jesus was not baptized for Himself.  He was baptized for us. 

When Jesus submitted to Baptism, He placed into the water His righteousness, which our Baptism gives to us, and He took from the water our sin and unrighteousness that our Baptism washes away.  Here in the Baptism of Jesus we see the blessed exchange of our salvation.  Here Jesus commits Himself fully to the work of our redemption – to live a righteous life, to die the death of a sinner, and to deliver us from evil.  Just as Christ’s Baptism obliged Him to do battle against the devil – both in the wilderness and on the cross – so also our Baptism gives us victory over the devil He defeated.  Jesus placed into Holy Baptism all the treasures that we receive from it.  

When Jesus was baptized the Holy Trinity was clearly revealed.  This teaches us that our salvation is the work of the entire Godhead.  The Father spoke in a voice that came from heaven.  The Son was standing in the Jordan River.  The Holy Spirit descended upon Him like a dove.  In this way, Christ’s Baptism is joined to ours, because we are also baptized in the name of the same Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. 

“This is My beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased.”  When God forgives us our sins, He always does so for Jesus’ sake.  There is no such thing as forgiveness that is not earned by Christ.  No, our salvation is the direct result of Jesus’ obedient life and satisfactory death.  We do not rely on the general goodness of God to save us from our sin.  No, we rely on a God who is pleased with His beloved Son for specific things that His beloved Son has done.  We rely on the goodness of God that is revealed nowhere else than where His Son takes upon Himself the sin of the world.  We don’t look for where God is doing anything else in order to find Him in His mercy.  Instead we look only to where Jesus is living the life that pleases His Father, and setting His course toward the cross to satisfy His wrath in our place.  We look to where Jesus commits Himself to our salvation by being baptized by John in the Jordan. 

When the Holy Spirit descended upon Jesus, He confirmed this.  The Holy Spirit is the Lord and Giver of Life.  He rests upon those in whom He is pleased.  And He is pleased with us only where we receive by faith the life that Christ has lived for us.  Here is where you find life.  Here is where you find all the benefits of Christian faith.  You find it all in your Baptism. 

We call him John the Baptist because he baptized.  It’s ironic that when we hear the word Baptist today, we usually think of a group of Christians who deny that we should baptize babies and who don’t believe that Baptism even saves.  They teach instead that this sacrament is an act of commitment on the part of him who is baptized, rather than a commitment on the part of God who baptizes.  They sort of hear the command, but then they certainly ignore the promise. 

The main argument that they give against the teaching that Baptism saves is that we are saved by faith alone.   Well this is true.  We are saved by faith alone.  But faith in what?  Is not our faith placed in Him who fulfilled all righteousness?  Is not our faith placed in the Father’s declaration that He is well pleased with us?  Is not faith engendered by the Holy Spirit alone who turns us from the strivings of our sinful hearts to trust in the merits of Jesus Christ instead?   Yes.  That is exactly what faith does.  Faith holds onto the promises that God makes. 

And where does God make these promises?  And to whom does He make them?  Listen to what St. Peter proclaimed on the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit had been fully poured out on the infant Church: “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.”

This answers our question.  God makes the promise of forgiveness where the Lord our God calls us in Baptism.  And this promise is for us and our children as well.  Faith holds onto this promise.  Infant faith, adult faith, weak faith, strong faith – faith holds onto what God gives in the life-giving waters that joined our name to His.  Faith holds onto what reason despises.  But faith receives what the natural man cannot. 

We will not find the power of Baptism in our own commitment to God.  For then what a lowly thing Baptism would be!  Just look at your commitments.  How often have you sworn to be more patient, more helpful, kinder, less gossipy?  How often have you made the concerted commitment to read the word of God more regularly, to do family devotions at home, to go to church more often like you know you ought to?  How often have you promised yourself never to do that again – those things that bring pain to your loved ones, that give you a guilty conscience, and that bring shame to the holy Name which God has placed on you?  How often have you not behaved like a Christian, or not lived like a child of God? 

But the power of Baptism is not in your commitment.  No, it is in God’s commitment to you.  The value of faith is not in our own hearts.  No, it is in the waters of Baptism where God gives to our faith what the Lamb of God accomplished as our Substitute. 

Baptism is for sinners.  It is for those who see their sin, and see that it makes them filthy.  Baptism is for sinners, because it saves sinners – not by a removal of filth from the body, but, as St. Peter writes in our Epistle this morning, by cleansing the filth of our conscience, so that we can with all boldness and confidence approach God as our true Father who sees no sin in us at all.  But what does He see?  He sees His own dear child clothed in the righteousness of His Son whose labors for you pleased Him.  And so the Father says to you as well: “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.” 

Jesus suffered and died once.  The just for the unjust.  St. Paul tells us that in Baptism we have been joined to Christ’s death and resurrection.  So we too need only be baptized once.  But we return to our Baptism as often as we hear the preaching of the Gospel.  We return to our Baptism as often as we take part in the Holy Supper where the body and blood of Christ confirm that we are united to Him in one body forever.  We return to our Baptism right here where every Sunday we invoke the same Triune Name by which we were made God’s children.  When we return to our Baptism we find refuge in Christ. 

Do this, dear Christians.  Our good Lord has commanded us.  But in this command, He requires nothing of us, only that we become as little children and receive what is good and beneficial from your Father in heaven.  Do this.  For in His command you receive the promise that you are God’s own dear child.   

Jesus had you in mind when He was baptized by John in order to fulfill all righteousness.  He knew the struggles that you would face, and the temptations under which you would stumble.  He knew your failures to fulfill the good name of ‘Christian’.  And so He fulfilled it for you.  And in His Baptism, and in yours, He wants you to know that you are a sinless saint clothed in His own righteousness forever.  Your Baptism seals this verdict.  And you may boldly claim what is yours as a child of God. 

In Jesus’ name, Amen.