Baptized for our salvation

Sermon for the Baptism of Our Lord

1 Corinthians 1:26-31 + Matthew 3:13-17

From the age of 12 to the age of 30, nothing much is revealed about Jesus. He has grown up in the northern region of Galilee, in the city of Nazareth. He has been obedient to His parents. He has learned the carpentry trade from Joseph, who apparently died during this interval. Jesus has grown in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men. He has dutifully attended the synagogue every Sabbath, and, presumably, He has made the journey to Jerusalem every year for the three required feasts. He has been a heavenly light shining in His home, and in His day-to-day contact with others in Nazareth, as a layman, not as a teacher of Israel. But now, it’s time. Time to leave His home, and His mother Mary, and His brothers and sisters in Nazareth. It’s time to step forth to be a Light for the whole nation of Israel. It’s time to begin His ministry of preaching and teaching, gathering disciples to Himself as a Rabbi, and performing the great miracles that will attract the whole nation to His light. It’s time to step forth to save all mankind from sin, death, and the power of the devil. And the first step into that saving role is to be baptized.

For the life of him, John the Baptist couldn’t understand why Jesus was coming to him to be baptized. John tried to prevent him, saying, “I am the one who needs to be baptized by you, and you come to me?” John was very clear in his own preaching that his was a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. It was a baptism for sinners only. And he knew that Jesus was no sinner. John, a sinner like all men, only dared to baptize people because God had directly commanded him to do it. And so, when John baptized, he stepped into the role of God, washing away the sins of the penitent; God had given him that ministry. But Jesus—Jesus was the Son of God. How could John possibly step into the role of God to baptize his God?

Jesus replied, Allow it for now. For thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness. Notice, Jesus didn’t claim to be a sinner in need of forgiveness like everyone else. He wasn’t. He said that it was fitting for John to baptize Him “to fulfill all righteousness.” What does that mean?

Well, it means three things. First, Jesus had come to save mankind from their sins. And God’s plan for our salvation involved the Son of God stepping forward as the Son of Man, to carry out this saving ministry, to redo rightly everything that mankind had done wrong, and to suffer all the things mankind had earned by our wrongdoing. And He was ready to step forward to begin that ministry. But no man, not even the Son of Man, could just take such a service or ministry upon Himself. As a man, He could volunteer for such a ministry, but He needed the Father’s Word, the Father’s approval, the Father’s choice made known, made public. Jesus knew that it was His Father’s will to use this baptism to make that choice public, as we’ll see in a moment. So this baptism would serve as Jesus’ ordination, by the Father, through the Holy Spirit, into the office of the holy ministry, His public anointing as the Christ. Righteousness required it.

Second, this baptism allowed Jesus to step forward and truly be numbered with the transgressors. Everyone else who was being baptized by John was a transgressor. Now Jesus steps forward to be baptized, just like them, just as He would one day be “numbered with the transgressors” on the cross, even though He hadn’t done anything wrong. His willingness to be numbered among us sinners, without being sinful Himself, was absolutely essential for our salvation. As Paul wrote to the Corinthians, God made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. And so He said to John, It is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.

Third, this baptism allows the Lord Christ to join Himself to this Sacrament of Holy Baptism in such a way that everyone who is now baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus is united to the Lord Jesus, counted as a member of His body, clothed with Him, and with the robe of His righteousness, crucified with Him, buried with Him, and also raised from the dead with Him. And so it was fitting for Jesus to be baptized to fulfill all righteousness, as a necessary step toward our salvation.

Now we come to the awesome events connected with Jesus’ baptism. He was baptized in the same way everyone else was baptized by John. Nothing appeared any different in the baptism itself. But as soon as Jesus came up from the water, the heavens were opened to him. And John saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming upon him. And behold, a voice from heaven, saying, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” This is the first clear reference in the New Testament to the three distinct Persons of the Godhead—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—all in one place. John saw the Spirit coming down from heaven upon Jesus like a dove. In John’s Gospel, it says the Spirit remained on Him. That fits with what Isaiah had prophesied about the Christ: The Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon Him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD. Then the Father spoke from heaven, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. There’s the public selection of Jesus for the office of Christ, Savior, Servant of the Lord, the public endorsement of Jesus as the Father’s Minister to mankind and as the Savior of the world. And from that moment on, Jesus took on that task with every fiber of His being, dedicating every moment of the next three years (and, in reality, the next 2,000 years as well) to serving His Father in the work of our salvation.

It was no coincidence that, after fulfilling His earthly ministry, Jesus commanded His apostles to go, teach, and baptize all nations in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Just as all three Persons were present at Jesus’ Baptism, so they are present at every Christian baptism, where, as Luther says in that hymn we just sang, God Himself is the true Baptizer. The Father is there, the Son is there, and the Spirit is there. The minister, like John the Baptist, is called to act in the place of God, to baptize, to wash away sins, to join the baptized person to Christ, thus making the baptized person as acceptable to the Father as Jesus is, and to pass on the gift of the Holy Spirit, so that what was said about Jesus is now said about each and every one who is baptized in His name: This is My beloved Son, in which I am well pleased. For sinners, that means “forgiven.” It means “saved.” And it’s true, by the way, whether it’s a boy or a girl, a man or a woman being baptized. Because no matter who you are, your baptism transports you back through time (in God’s estimation) to the moment of Jesus’ Baptism and binds you to Him forever, so that what was spoken about Jesus is now spoken about you who believe and are baptized. As Paul wrote to the Galatians, You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

And just as Jesus went forth from His baptism to devote His life to carrying out His Father’s will, so you and I must go forth from our baptism, every day, to carry out our Father’s will. We who have been baptized in Jesus’ name are God’s beloved sons and daughters. We bear the name of the holy Trinity in the world. We have been made kings and queens in His kingdom, and holy priests, charged with offering up not only prayers but our very selves as holy sacrifices pleasing to God. All this flows from your baptism, and your baptism flows from Jesus’ baptism, just as it flows also from His life, death, and resurrection. Return to your baptism every day. Remember it. Take comfort in it. And then step forth from it again to live for Him who was baptized for our salvation. Amen.