Jesu Juva
St. Matthew 3:13-17
January 8, 2023
The Baptism of Our Lord
Dear saints of our Savior~
The Baptism of Jesus takes up just a few verses in the gospels. St. Matthew’s account which we heard today is the longest account. And it’s only five verses. But packed into those five verses is a surprising amount of good news. That’s why we never let a year go by without celebrating and unpacking what happened that day at the Jordan River. Jesus was baptized. And that baptism is three things: revelation, consecration, and preparation.
Jesus’ baptism is—first of all—revelation. It reveals wonderful things that we wouldn’t otherwise know. The Father’s voice from heaven lets the cat out of the bag: This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased. This ordinary man named Jesus—the carpenter’s son—Mary’s kid who grew up in Nazareth and took over His father’s carpentry business—this is the only-begotten Son of God. Begotten of His Father before all worlds. Who would have known it?
You wouldn’t have known it. I wouldn’t have figured it out—not by looking at Jesus or by chatting Him up over a cup of coffee. There was no glowing halo above His head. No soundtrack of angelic music to announce His arrival. There was nothing about Him that would identify Him as otherworldly. You would have passed by Jesus on the street or in the grocery store without giving Him a second thought. Nothing in His appearance said “This is the Son of God.” That fact was hidden—buried beneath His humble humanity.
For thirty years Jesus lived in obscurity up in Nazareth. To our ears, “Nazareth” sounds like a place of glory and grandeur. But Nazareth really wasn’t much. People lived there and worked there and went to church there, but it was a town that generated few headlines—good, bad or otherwise. For three decades Jesus lived a perfect, sinless life. He perfectly loved His heavenly Father, kept the Lord’s name holy, kept the Sabbath, honored His parents, did not murder, commit adultery, steal, lie, or even covet. You would have thought Him to be a decent guy—honest—but nothing more.
And then one day when Jesus was about thirty years old, He came down from Nazareth and went down to the Jordan where John the Baptizer was doing
his thing. Jesus stepped into the water, shoulder to shoulder with all the sinners who heard John’s cry for repentance. Jesus waded into the muddy water and stood before His cousin John to be baptized. John was stunned; he tried to talk Jesus out of it. “I need to be baptized by you,” John said. True enough. John was a sinner while Jesus was sinless. John was a son of Adam while Jesus was the Son of God. John, like us, needed to be saved by Jesus. But before that could happen, Jesus needed to be baptized by John. “Let it be so now,” Jesus said, “It is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.”
Then an amazing thing happened. Well, three amazing things actually: The heavens were opened, the Holy Spirit descended like a dove, and the Father’s voice declared Jesus His beloved Son. This is a revelation like no other. All three persons of the Holy Trinity together declare that Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah, the Christ, the Son of God, the servant who comes to suffer for the sins of His people.
Jesus’ baptism is a revelation; and your own baptism reveals something too. Jesus’ baptism revealed His true identity; and your baptism reveals the heart of who you are: a child of God, born again from above by water and the Spirit. Your baptism reveals that you and Jesus belong together. Or don’t you know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life—a life with Jesus, a life in Christ. Your baptism reveals this about you—as surely as a voice from heaven or a descending dove. You are united with Jesus in His death and . . . united with Jesus in His resurrection. And the certainty of that is your Baptism.
Jesus’ baptism is revelation; and that baptism is also consecration. Consecration is a word that has a pious, religious ring to it, and that’s probably why we almost never hear it these days. To be consecrated simply means to be set apart for holy work. Jesus’ baptism consecrated Him to begin His ministry of preaching, teaching, healing, and proclaiming the kingdom of God. Jesus is still dripping wet with baptismal water when He sets off to do battle with the devil, and then to get busy with the work His Father had sent Him to do. His baptism was consecration. It gave Him His marching orders for ministry.
That’s how it is for you and me too. Your baptism is your consecration. You too have been set apart for holy work—the holy work of your vocations and callings. Your baptism has shaped you for the hard work you do in this congregation, in your family, on the job, and in your neighborhood and community. Your baptism is the proof that God has plans for you—that you are men and women on a mission—people with a purpose in this world.
When you ignore your God-given mission—when you despise those callings—when you refuse to do them—when you put yourself first and foremost, you are sinning against God. When we take the easy, wide path to suit our own desires—when we decide to go on sinning because Jesus has promised forgiveness—then we are denying our baptism, rejecting our God-given status, and making a desecration of our consecration.
That’s what St. Paul meant when he asked in Romans 6, “Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase?” Shall we live as if we were never baptized—as if we were not children of God, consecrated for holy work and holy living? By no means! Paul declares. It cannot be that way for you. Does Jesus’ suffering and death for you mean so little to you that you will live as if it never happened?—as if the blood and thorns and nails mean nothing to you? By no means! That’s not who you are. You are dead to sin. You are alive to God in Christ Jesus. You are consecrated for holy work. You are baptized!
Jesus’ baptism was revelation and consecration; and Jesus’ baptism was also preparation—preparation for His sacrifice. Jesus’ baptism was a washing in preparation for His death. His baptism set Him squarely on the road to Calvary and crucifixion. He is God’s suffering servant of whom Isaiah spoke—who was pierced for our transgressions, wounded for our iniquities, who bore our sins and carried our sorrows, by whose wounds we have eternal healing. Without that sacrifice, heaven could never be opened for us, the Spirit would not descend upon us, the Father would never declare us to be His sons and daughters. But with that sacrifice there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
Jesus’ baptism was preparation for His death; and your baptism is also a preparation for your death. At your funeral we will first and foremost remember not your sparkling personality, not your many achievements, not your devotion to the Bucks, Badgers or Packers. No, at your funeral we will first and foremost remember that you are baptized into Christ—that you have been united in a death like His so that you will certainly enjoy a resurrection like His. Jesus was baptized for you—to fulfill all righteousness for you, so that you might become the righteousness of God. Jesus became our sin in His baptism, so that we become His righteousness in our Baptism.
Jesus was baptized to reveal, to consecrate, and to prepare a washing for you—your own blessed baptism. In your baptism you were washed by water and Spirit to die and rise again in Jesus. To you heaven is opened. You are God’s beloved child. With you He is well pleased.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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