The Baptism of our Lord

Text: Luke 3:15-16, 21,22
Series: ILCW C – The Baptism of our Lord
Theme: The Baptism of our Lord
Place: Amazing Grace Lutheran Church, Myrtle Beach, SC
Date: January 10, 2010

It has been said that as a boy, Einstein was fascinated by a compass, leading him to think about geometry and mathematics. By the age of 12 he had taught himself geometry and had a self-driven desire to learn about the sciences – often skipping class to study independently. He possessed a love for sailing, music, and the arts. Eventually he became known for his theories of relativity, time, the speed of light, the existence of photons, and much more. He’d even gone on to receive the Nobel Prize in physics, 1921.
But you know what? One day as he was walking past the entrance to a hotel, a woman mistook him for a doorman and asked him to take her luggage up to room 214. Einstein obliged, walked up the stairs, and delivered the bags to room 214. The woman gave him a monetary tip and then followed it up with a verbal tip. She told him that he was too old to be a doorman and that he should return to the classroom and get some vocational training. Of course, this is Einstein, the greatest thinker of all time, she just didn’t know it. He looked like a doorman to her. She didn’t know the secret of who he was.
I wonder what the people thought of that boy who grew up in Nazareth. As he played in the streets with the other Jewish boys, his appearance wasn’t any different. He walked and he talked just like all the other kids. Then when mom and dad took their 12 year old son up to Jerusalem for the Passover, I wonder is some thought he might have been a bit of a rebellious child, just like others they had seen, since he stayed behind when the caravan left and he sat in the temple. Who is this man Jesus? As he walked about the countryside of Galilee? As his footsteps plotted a path along the hills of Palestine, he didn’t look like the Son of God. He looked just like any other man from Nazareth. In fact, if you didn’t know the secret, it would be hard to tell that this many wasn’t just anybody else. If you didn’t know the secret it would be hard to tell that this man was God Almighty who sits on the sapphire throne of heaven, who created the world and everything else. When Einstein carried those bags up to room 214, he didn’t like the greatest thinker of humankind. It was the same way for Jesus as he walked those dusty roads of Israel. People didn’t know the secret. Religious leaders didn’t know it. As you read the gospel of Luke, you just want to ask, “don’t you see who he is?” “Don’t you know?”
But God was going to unfold it. He was going to make the unknown, know. He was going to share the secret. Remember that man, John the Baptist we meet during the Advent season of the church year? The one whom the Bible calls a voice in the wilderness? He was God’s specially appointed prophet to prepare the people for the arrival of the Savior. John the Baptist was out in the wilderness preaching a repentance for the forgiveness of sins. Furthermore saying, I baptize you with water. But one more powerful than I will come, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.
It’s not surprising the Bible tells us that we hear people from all over Judea were going out to confess their sins be baptized by John in the Jordan River. The surprising part is when Jesus showed up. That’s kind of surprising isn’t it? That when all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too? That is striking because we know the secret. We know that Jesus is not like any other sinful person. We know the secret. Jesus isn’t just one more guy who looks like the rest from Nazareth. No! This Jesus was in fact the Son of God – holy, sinless, and perfect – with absolutely no need to be baptized. So, what was he doing there?
John had the same question. Matthew’s account tells us that John tried to deter him. “Really Jesus, baptism is for sinners. I need to be baptized by you. What are you doing coming to me? Jesus told John, “Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness. Then John consented. And in those few words we find the key to understanding Jesus’ baptism. We find the answer why the holy, sinless, Son of God is standing on the banks of the Jordan River. In those few words lays the key – it tells us the secret. You see Jesus wasn’t there for sins to be forgiven. No! This baptism was an integral part of his mission to be the Savior of the world.
In other words, Jesus standing on the banks to be baptized was publicly proclaiming to John and all who were there, “John, remember you pointed to me the other day. I am the Lamb of God upon whose shoulders God is going to put the sin of people of all time. I’m going to be the one who takes it all away. This day I stand here. I tell heaven and earth I am ready for my mission.” My friends, that’s what happened that day in the Jordan River. The day Jesus took up the cause of our salvation. The day he took up his office as Savior; as Messiah. This was his Inauguration Day. The secret was shared with everyone. The Son of God has come to save sinners. His work to save publicly begins with his baptism and comes to completion three years later when all my sins are on him so all his holiness can be mine. It started this day and ended three years later so that you and I can stand before the holy God with guilt gone, sin paid for, and our eternal destiny certain. That the world might know this chain of events was about to be set into motion and that Satan himself might be served notice that his doom was soon at hand, Jesus comes to the Jordan today.
If I say “St. Patrick,” what comes to mind? Shamrocks? Ireland? March 17th? St. Patty’s Day? An interesting character, St. Patrick was, but did you know he was a great Christian ministry? Of course, in Ireland! He nearly converted the island to Christianity. One of the more interesting stories about St. Patrick is when he was baptizing one of the kings of the area – King Angus. They were going through the baptismal rite, King Angus was going to become a Christian. Part way through the baptismal rite, St. Patrick, had a very large walking staff he was holding in his hand that had a sharp point on the bottom of it. He moved it and inadvertently stabbed the king in the foot. Left it there, not realizing he had done it. The king didn’t say anything. When the baptism was done, St. Patrick saw the blood on the ground and asked why the king didn’t say anything. The king said, “I thought it was part of the ritual.” That’s an example of not understanding your baptism very well. Here was a man for whom baptism was such a mystery, he wasn’t sure if getting stabbed in the foot was a part of it.
Certainly, we don’t let our baptism ever be that mysterious do we? Or might we? When’s the last time you contemplated your baptism? If it wasn’t his morning, I would suggest we understand it a little better. My friends, your baptism wasn’t something done long ago on a day you may or may not remember, baptism means something for us every day.
Remember what we said about how Jesus’ baptism told the secret about who he was. My friends, your baptism tells the secret about who you are. You may have two hands, two feet, two eyes, two ears, a mouth that makes you look like everybody else in your neighborhood, or on the bus, in the workroom, or on the playground. But there is something secret about you. You’re different. Not because you have brown hair while another has blonde. Not because you have green eyes while another has blue. You’re different because you belong to God. You are his heir and there is a home in heaven waiting for you.
Of course when people watch someone being baptized at the font, water is poured on the head as the words are spoken – in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – people might wonder? What is that? Is it some empty ritual where you may or may not get stabbed in the foot? Is it some elaborate entrance into the church so that when you become a member of Amazing Grace Lutheran Church, you’ll remember the day? A picture? A symbol? An act of outward obedience to demonstrate your faith? It couldn’t be further from the truth.
What God says we have in baptism is phenomenal. He calls it a washing of rebirth and renewal brought about by the Holy Spirit. You are born again to God. God adopts you as his child. He does this amazing thing. He makes a covenant with you – albeit one-sided – saying “I will love you! I will forgive you! I will claim you as my own! I will clothe you in holiness of my Son. You belong to me! With you I am well pleased.”
Seems like a lot for a few handfuls of water, right? How can water do such great things? Water is just plain water. But my friend with the Word of God, the promises of our Savior, that water and Word becomes a washing of rebirth and renewal. It takes you and makes you different. It makes you a forgiven child of God.
That’s something that gives me unbelievable comfort. The story is told that Martin Luther once visited a dear friend who was very depressed and downtrodden. When Luther asked why the man really wasn’t able to articulate what made him so sad. Luther then asked him this simple question: “Don’t you know that you have been baptized?”The man later said he found great comfort in that question because he had been.
My friends, every time sin rears its ugly head or doubt and despair have its grip on you. Remember who you are. No matter what the circumstance is – hospital bound or standing in the unemployment line; healthy and wealthy or sick and struggling. Remember who you are! God claimed you as his own through baptism. Looking at you, that’s hard to tell. But your Baptism tells who you are. That’s your comfort every morning. No sin of mine. No lack of faith. No past or present event. I am baptized. I belong to him.
The story is told of a pastor who was walking a piece of property and came across a gravestone. It was a gravestone for a one year old child. The inscription below the dates for the child read “Gone forever.” As a parent of a two year old and one month old, I read that and that leaves me sad. I mean I think about all the things you don’t know about that one month old or two year old. What my daughter and son like or dislike; what they are thinking; what their career will be; the type of person they will turn out to be. How sad it was for them, “Gone forever!”
I marvel at the love of our God who has given us this Sacrament. This means by which he took these children of mine and washed them clean of their sins and said “this child now belongs to me.” No matter if this person is one year old or seventy-one year’s old or one hundred years old, this person is a child of God. Washed in the blood of the lamb. Heir of the kingdom. And if they die, yet they live because they’ve been baptized.
My friends, every tombstone of a baptized child of God should say, “Gone from here, but home in heaven.” Because that’s where God’s children go. How can water do such great things? It can’t! But God can. God has. When you see those waters, remember what God has done for you. You have been washed! You have been sanctified! You have been justified in the waters of baptism. He has marked you as his own! His redeemed child! He will stretch out his hand to receive you into his eternal home of perfection where he looks you in the eye, and boldly and proudly proclaims: “You are my child, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”