The Buck Stops with Baptism

In Nomine Iesu
St. Luke 3:15-22
January 13, 2019
The Baptism of Our Lord-C

Dear Saints of Our Savior~

If you visit the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library in Independence, Missouri, one of the many interesting things you’ll see is an exact replica of the Oval Office—just as it looked during the Truman presidency. And sitting there on President Truman’s desk is a carved, wooden, sign which reads: The buck stops here. Passing the buck—shifting the blame—is a good summary of what happens in our nation’s capital day in and day out. With his famous sign, President Truman seemed to be saying that—whatever the dilemma—whatever the problem—he would address it. He would fix it. He would make it right. And if not, then he alone would bear the blame.

With His baptism in the Jordan River, Jesus assumed a similar position. The buck would now stop with Jesus—the buck of human sin. The shame, the blame, the guilt, the lies, the finger-pointing—it will all now come to rest in, with, and under Jesus. He Himself will now assume the blame and fix the problem. He Himself will make all things right—including the dilemma of our sin and death. The buck will stop with Jesus, the Christ.

The Baptism of our Lord is a profound and significant moment in His earthly ministry. Some have described it as Jesus’ public

inauguration into office. We understand how that works. President Truman couldn’t be the buck-stopping president until he was inaugurated. In Wisconsin, we inaugurated a new governor last week (although you may have missed it since the Packers hired a new head coach on the same day). We do it with pastors when they are ordained. You could say that God the Father was publicly ordaining Jesus and visibly anointing Jesus with the Holy Spirit so that He could begin His holy work in earnest. For three decades or so He’d been laying low up north in Nazareth. But now, the Son was going public. The buck would now stop with Jesus, the Christ.

Jesus’ baptism was quite a spectacle. All three persons of the Trinity are made manifest. If you had been there, you would never forget it. That public baptism was to set Jesus apart. It marked and identified Him as the one and only Son of God. For no one else did the heavens open wide. On no one else did the Spirit descend like a dove. For no other human being did the Father testify from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”

One of the unique details St. Luke provides about the baptism of Jesus is that our Lord was praying as He was baptized. And as He prayed the heavens were opened. Only Jesus can do that. No one else can open heaven with their prayers. The original sin we inherited from our first parents—and those actual sins of ours that ruin everything everyday—that sin has shut heaven tight. No amount of praying or pleading on our part can change that. Adam passed the buck and blamed Eve. Eve passed the buck and blamed the serpent. And you and I have often imitated their talent for passing the buck and shifting the blame and justifying ourselves. But who do we think we’re fooling?

The buck stops with Jesus. The redemption of the world—the forgiveness of our sins—the resurrection of our bodies—it all hinges on Him. He’s the Son sent by the Father. The Father is pleased with him—well pleased, in fact. Apart from Jesus, the Father would never be pleased with you or me. There’s nothing “pleasing” about us—no matter how good we try to be, no matter how religious we think we are, no matter how much other people may admire us. Apart from faith in Jesus and His salvation, we are displeasing and unacceptable to God.

But the Baptism of Our Lord brings some very good news: Jesus is God’s beloved Son and, in Jesus, you are beloved by God. Jesus is precious, honored, and loved by God. And, in Jesus, so are you. His baptism spells it out for us—reveals that Jesus is your stand-in substitute—the Lamb of God come to take away your sin in His death. St. Luke points out that Jesus was baptized together “with all the people.” Jesus wades into the water, shoulder-to-shoulder with sinners, expressing solidarity with sinners, linking Himself to the likes of you and me.

But the baptism of Jesus is different from all the rest. Everyone else came to have their sins washed away; but Jesus is baptized so that your sins might be applied to Him. In fact, He comes to be our sin. There’s a movie called “The Green Mile,” and it’s a parable of this very thing. I caught some of it on television recently. In the movie a man is wrongly convicted and is sent to death row. But this man possesses a miraculous ability to heal other people. But there’s a catch. He heals others by taking their sicknesses into his body. Cancer cells, viruses, infections—he draws them all into Himself.

This is what Jesus comes to do with your sin. At His baptism He takes a bath in your sin—immerses Himself in your death. And then, wonder of wonders, He turns that putrid, polluted water into the sweet, pure, cleansing splash of your Baptism. Does it by the power of His death and resurrection. The buck stops with Jesus.

Luther called this a “blessed exchange.” Others more recently refer to it as a “sweet swap.” Jesus takes our sin and swaps it for His sinless perfection. He became sin for us so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. He stood in your place on Good Friday so that you might stand in His place on the Last Day—precious, honored, and loved. He soaks up every last drop of our evil and immorality and bears it to His crucifixion cross. Think of the worst you’ve done—of what you are most ashamed—of what causes you to deserve God’s judgment most of all. Now see it washed away by the cleansing blood of Jesus—who makes our scarlet sins snowy white.

It’s the sweet swap—the blessed exchange. Jesus becomes our sin, and we, baptized into Him, become His righteousness. What Jesus accomplished on the cross for the whole world now comes crashing and splashing onto you in your own baptism. He was baptized into your sin and death. You were baptized into His death and life. You have been buried with Him. You have been raised with Him.

St. Paul in Romans six tells us what this means: You are no longer enslaved to sin. In fact, you are dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Shall you then continue in sin—carelessly, casually continuing in sin—coolly pre-planning your repentance and presuming God’s forgiveness? Shall you go on living your life as if your baptism was a meaningless custom? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? You’ve been united with Christ. Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. Sin no longer has dominion over you. Your baptism means that the buck goes no further than you. You don’t need to blame others or make excuses. You can be the holy person your baptism has made you to be. Live in the love of God that flows from the font directly to you.

This past summer you may have heard the big story that water had been discovered on Mars. Supposedly, a vast underground lake of liquid water has now been detected by a radar instrument onboard an orbiting spacecraft. This is big news because water is the key, they say. Where there’s water, there’s life. That’s close, but not quite. On this day, when Baptism is front and center, let’s put it this way: Where there’s water and the Word there is life. There is forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation.

But wait, there’s more! In your baptism the heavens have been opened to you. The Spirit descends upon you. The Father declares your own adoption into His family by grace, as His own beloved child. With you God is well pleased—not because of what you do, but because of who you are in Jesus. The buck of your sin stops with Him; and your new life begins with Him—in the water and the Word of your own baptism.

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.