Sunday January 11, 2009
Baptism of the Lord
Brothers and sisters,
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Anybody who has ever served in the military as an enlisted person has been to boot-camp, and so knows what it’s like to be woken up in the morning by a screaming and yelling drill instructor, at an hour of the morning when most people are still hours away from waking up. And if you haven’t served in the military then you have perhaps seen it in movies like Full-Metal Jacket or some other military-themed movie. Indeed the image of the hard-as-nails drill instructor bursting upon the scene, and bursting into the lives of his young charges is a fairly iconic figure in our culture.
Well that sort of reality is really probably not that different from what it would have felt like to have been an inhabitant of Jersualem at the time of John that Baptist’s arrival upon the scene. This is not to say that the Jews were not expecting or waiting for something. It had been years since the last prophet. Israel had been living under the oppression of corrupt and pagan Rome for many years. They were waiting and waiting for some kind of sign. They were ready for the God of their ancestors Abraham, Isaac and Jacob to send someone their way. They just were not expecting him to show up like this.
And so, into the chaotic wilderness of an oppressed Israel John the Baptist was sent. The Jews knew of God’s saving power and they remembered it every year at Passover. But now John comes, not simply recalling for them once again the great Passover story, but he comes splashing around in the water inviting them to now be the players in a new and even more radical Passover. John was not simply proclaiming freedom from earthly bondage, he was proclaiming freedom from bondage to sin, death, and the devil. And the path that would get them there would include, and in the case of those whom John was preaching to, begin with repentance.
Repentance is nothing less than the recognition that the sin that we are in bondage to, the sin that we are born in, is far too deeply rooted to be mastered by any outward changes, or any of our best efforts. Contrary to what some may believe, the Kingdom of God does not come about through human will-power or worship or election of a particular political candidate or any other human-driven effort or institution.
The coming of the Kingdom of God comes about only through the forgiveness of sins. Repentance is indeed a part of it, but repentance in and of itself is not the Gospel. The Gospel is the forgiveness of sin through the perfect life, death and resurrection of Christ Jesus. Repentance is simply the recognition that short of that, there is no hope for us in this world. Repentance is simply the recognition that even on our best day, all of our best efforts amount to nothing more than, as Paul says, filthy rags. Repentance is simply the recognition that we are sinners in need of a Savior.
And this is the difference between the baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins that John speaks of and the baptism of the One whom He speaks of who is more powerful than He, Christ Jesus. John’s baptism of repentance was in preparation for the much greater baptism of Christ Jesus who baptizes with the Holy Spirit. John was preparing the way for the coming of the Kingdom. He was announcing the arrival of a radical new royalty.
It has been said that everywhere the queen of England goes she smells fresh paint. In other words whenever the queen decides that she would like to visit a certain community there will always be someone sent to the community ahead of her to announce her intention of visiting and to make sure that all the proper steps are taken to prepare for her arrival. And this will involve cleaning everything up, and making sure everything looks spic and span, which could theoretically and probably involve painting some areas that need to be re-painted, and so everywhere the queen goes she smells fresh paint.
And that is kind of like what John the Baptist is doing. He is announcing the arrival of the new King of Israel. Except in this case, through our best efforts we couldn’t possibly make ourselves clean enough for His arrival. And so all we can do is repent and recognize our need for Him and He comes to us and baptizes us with the Holy Spirit, and He, Christ Jesus makes us clean. He serves us. He makes us new. He gives us new life, by laying down His life for us and taking upon Himself the burden of all of our sin.
And we get a vision of this radical new baptism at the baptism of our Lord Jesus that we read about in this morning’s Gospel lesson. Now it was not necessary for Jesus’ sake that He be baptized, because as the sinless Son of God He was and is righteous. But, as Jesus Himself tells us in Matthew’s recounting of the baptism of our Lord, it was necessary for Jesus to be baptized to fulfill all righteousness, which of course includes the righteousness of the Kingdom of God that comes about through the forgiveness of sins. And because of the precious and holy blood shed upon the Cross and the death that He died for us, we receive in Holy Baptism the same declaration that our Lord Jesus received when the Holy Spirit descended like a dove upon the Lord Jesus and the voice of the Lord declared “You are my Son, the beloved; with you I am well pleased.”
The baptism for repentance that John brings comes as an invitation, while the baptism with the Holy Spirit that was ushered in with the baptism of Christ Jesus comes as an invasion of the entire Godhead; the Son Christ Jesus entering into our humanity and submitting Himself to baptism, the Holy Spirit descending upon Christ Jesus and through the Holy Spirit; God the Father declaring His good pleasure in His Son. This is why those disciples in the lesson from Acts had to have Paul lay his hands on them; because they had not yet received the baptism in Christ Jesus. The fact that they spoke in tongues is certainly a sign of the righteousness that they had just received, but it was not the righteousness itself, as some like to suggest.
And today we see God invading us once again as He comes to us through the words proclaimed by me, an imperfect sinner and the water sprinkled over Parker’s head as yet another child of God is claimed for the Kingdom of Christ. But we still await the day when all righteousness will be fulfilled, when all things will be made new and so for that reason our Lord sees fit to surround those whom He claims in the waters of Holy Baptism with parents and sponsors and a congregation.
For the Christian life or baptismal journey or whatever you want to call it is nothing other than one of daily repentance and forgiveness. And so the invasion of God to us that we read about in this morning’s Gospel lesson continues as our Lord comes to us daily through Word and sacrament and this happens in and through those people whom our Lord blesses us with in our lives; parents, sponsors, congregation, the entire Body of Christ.
Everybody loves a good baptism. I do. I’ll admit it. And what’s not to like? You got a baby, you got new parents. You got grandparents and sponsors and family coming in from out of town. It’s a joyous and festive occasion. But I tell you this, there is much more going in baptism than a ceremony. In baptism we see nothing short of the continuation of what we have seen the Almighty God doing since the beginning of time; separating the light from the darkness as we see Him doing in the Old Testament lesson.
For when our Lord Jesus was baptized He was essentially revealed as the light of the world in opposition to the darkness of sin, death and the devil. And so when He comes to us in the waters of baptism He takes us through the darkness of sin and death and brings us into the light of new and eternal life. And so if the call to daily repentance seems jarring ad disturbing, rest easy knowing that it is simply the Lord Christ Jesus rescuing you from the darkness and preserving, nurturing and sustaining you in the eternal light of His glorious Kingdom.
Amen
Brothers and sisters,
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Anybody who has ever served in the military as an enlisted person has been to boot-camp, and so knows what it’s like to be woken up in the morning by a screaming and yelling drill instructor, at an hour of the morning when most people are still hours away from waking up. And if you haven’t served in the military then you have perhaps seen it in movies like Full-Metal Jacket or some other military-themed movie. Indeed the image of the hard-as-nails drill instructor bursting upon the scene, and bursting into the lives of his young charges is a fairly iconic figure in our culture.
Well that sort of reality is really probably not that different from what it would have felt like to have been an inhabitant of Jersualem at the time of John that Baptist’s arrival upon the scene. This is not to say that the Jews were not expecting or waiting for something. It had been years since the last prophet. Israel had been living under the oppression of corrupt and pagan Rome for many years. They were waiting and waiting for some kind of sign. They were ready for the God of their ancestors Abraham, Isaac and Jacob to send someone their way. They just were not expecting him to show up like this.
And so, into the chaotic wilderness of an oppressed Israel John the Baptist was sent. The Jews knew of God’s saving power and they remembered it every year at Passover. But now John comes, not simply recalling for them once again the great Passover story, but he comes splashing around in the water inviting them to now be the players in a new and even more radical Passover. John was not simply proclaiming freedom from earthly bondage, he was proclaiming freedom from bondage to sin, death, and the devil. And the path that would get them there would include, and in the case of those whom John was preaching to, begin with repentance.
Repentance is nothing less than the recognition that the sin that we are in bondage to, the sin that we are born in, is far too deeply rooted to be mastered by any outward changes, or any of our best efforts. Contrary to what some may believe, the Kingdom of God does not come about through human will-power or worship or election of a particular political candidate or any other human-driven effort or institution.
The coming of the Kingdom of God comes about only through the forgiveness of sins. Repentance is indeed a part of it, but repentance in and of itself is not the Gospel. The Gospel is the forgiveness of sin through the perfect life, death and resurrection of Christ Jesus. Repentance is simply the recognition that short of that, there is no hope for us in this world. Repentance is simply the recognition that even on our best day, all of our best efforts amount to nothing more than, as Paul says, filthy rags. Repentance is simply the recognition that we are sinners in need of a Savior.
And this is the difference between the baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins that John speaks of and the baptism of the One whom He speaks of who is more powerful than He, Christ Jesus. John’s baptism of repentance was in preparation for the much greater baptism of Christ Jesus who baptizes with the Holy Spirit. John was preparing the way for the coming of the Kingdom. He was announcing the arrival of a radical new royalty.
It has been said that everywhere the queen of England goes she smells fresh paint. In other words whenever the queen decides that she would like to visit a certain community there will always be someone sent to the community ahead of her to announce her intention of visiting and to make sure that all the proper steps are taken to prepare for her arrival. And this will involve cleaning everything up, and making sure everything looks spic and span, which could theoretically and probably involve painting some areas that need to be re-painted, and so everywhere the queen goes she smells fresh paint.
And that is kind of like what John the Baptist is doing. He is announcing the arrival of the new King of Israel. Except in this case, through our best efforts we couldn’t possibly make ourselves clean enough for His arrival. And so all we can do is repent and recognize our need for Him and He comes to us and baptizes us with the Holy Spirit, and He, Christ Jesus makes us clean. He serves us. He makes us new. He gives us new life, by laying down His life for us and taking upon Himself the burden of all of our sin.
And we get a vision of this radical new baptism at the baptism of our Lord Jesus that we read about in this morning’s Gospel lesson. Now it was not necessary for Jesus’ sake that He be baptized, because as the sinless Son of God He was and is righteous. But, as Jesus Himself tells us in Matthew’s recounting of the baptism of our Lord, it was necessary for Jesus to be baptized to fulfill all righteousness, which of course includes the righteousness of the Kingdom of God that comes about through the forgiveness of sins. And because of the precious and holy blood shed upon the Cross and the death that He died for us, we receive in Holy Baptism the same declaration that our Lord Jesus received when the Holy Spirit descended like a dove upon the Lord Jesus and the voice of the Lord declared “You are my Son, the beloved; with you I am well pleased.”
The baptism for repentance that John brings comes as an invitation, while the baptism with the Holy Spirit that was ushered in with the baptism of Christ Jesus comes as an invasion of the entire Godhead; the Son Christ Jesus entering into our humanity and submitting Himself to baptism, the Holy Spirit descending upon Christ Jesus and through the Holy Spirit; God the Father declaring His good pleasure in His Son. This is why those disciples in the lesson from Acts had to have Paul lay his hands on them; because they had not yet received the baptism in Christ Jesus. The fact that they spoke in tongues is certainly a sign of the righteousness that they had just received, but it was not the righteousness itself, as some like to suggest.
And today we see God invading us once again as He comes to us through the words proclaimed by me, an imperfect sinner and the water sprinkled over Parker’s head as yet another child of God is claimed for the Kingdom of Christ. But we still await the day when all righteousness will be fulfilled, when all things will be made new and so for that reason our Lord sees fit to surround those whom He claims in the waters of Holy Baptism with parents and sponsors and a congregation.
For the Christian life or baptismal journey or whatever you want to call it is nothing other than one of daily repentance and forgiveness. And so the invasion of God to us that we read about in this morning’s Gospel lesson continues as our Lord comes to us daily through Word and sacrament and this happens in and through those people whom our Lord blesses us with in our lives; parents, sponsors, congregation, the entire Body of Christ.
Everybody loves a good baptism. I do. I’ll admit it. And what’s not to like? You got a baby, you got new parents. You got grandparents and sponsors and family coming in from out of town. It’s a joyous and festive occasion. But I tell you this, there is much more going in baptism than a ceremony. In baptism we see nothing short of the continuation of what we have seen the Almighty God doing since the beginning of time; separating the light from the darkness as we see Him doing in the Old Testament lesson.
For when our Lord Jesus was baptized He was essentially revealed as the light of the world in opposition to the darkness of sin, death and the devil. And so when He comes to us in the waters of baptism He takes us through the darkness of sin and death and brings us into the light of new and eternal life. And so if the call to daily repentance seems jarring ad disturbing, rest easy knowing that it is simply the Lord Christ Jesus rescuing you from the darkness and preserving, nurturing and sustaining you in the eternal light of His glorious Kingdom.
Amen
posted by Steve at 5:09 PM
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