{"id":3261,"date":"2017-01-08T21:28:20","date_gmt":"2017-01-09T04:28:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/revtucher.com\/?p=3261"},"modified":"2017-01-08T21:28:20","modified_gmt":"2017-01-09T04:28:20","slug":"baptism-lord-baptism-matthew-313-17","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/revtucher.com\/?p=3261","title":{"rendered":"Baptism of Our Lord – “Baptism” (Matthew 3:13-17)"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a>Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, amen. The text for the sermon is the Gospel, which was read earlier.<\/p>\n

As we go through life, there are certain monumental occasions that we deem to be important: births, graduations, wedding day, deaths, and other days that mark a significant time in our lives. When it comes to Jesus, there are obviously certain events in His life that we could say are monumental, and one such event takes place today \u2013 His Baptism.<\/p>\n

Why is today such an important day in the life of Jesus? Surely it\u2019s because of what Baptism gives. Luther asks in the Small Catechism, \u201cWhat benefits does Baptism give?\u201d<\/em><\/span> He answers by saying, \u201cIt works forgiveness of sins, rescues from death and the devil, and gives eternal salvation to all who believe this, as the words and promises of God declare.\u201d<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

As we look at Luther\u2019s answer, we are quick to identify some problems: Jesus has no sins to forgive! Jesus does not need rescuing from death and devil. Jesus does not need eternal salvation, for He is the Son of God. It seems as if we are left with a conundrum: based on what Luther says Baptism gives, Jesus doesn\u2019t need it, and yet, He insists on being Baptized.<\/p>\n

All of this seems out of the norm, for when Jesus comes to John to be baptized, John quickly responds by saying, \u201cI need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?\u201d<\/em><\/span> John knows who John is and John knows who Jesus is. John knows that John is a sinner, conceived in sin, born in sin, lives a life of sin, and eventually dies as a sinner. John also knows who Jesus is, that is, the Son of God and therefore, not a sinner. Clearly only one person needs to be baptized, and that person is not Jesus. Does Jesus need to repent? Does Jesus need to be converted from unbelief to faith? Is Jesus among the lost sheep who were no longer members of the true Israel and who needed to be brought back into the family of God? Of course not, and yet Jesus insists upon being baptized by saying, \u201cLet it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.\u201d<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

What is needed \u201cto fulfill all righteousness\u201d <\/em><\/span>as Jesus tells John? The sinless Son of God receives the baptism meant for sinners because He shall be the sin-bearer. For Jesus, this is what is necessary because it shows perfectly how Jesus will save His people from their sins. Here, Jesus stands in the place of sinful man and is baptized, literally standing in the place of the many. And so here begins the true work and ministry of Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n

What takes place after Jesus is baptized identifies for all who are present and for all of creation who Jesus is: \u201cthe heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to reset on him; and behold, a voice from heaven said, \u201cThis is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.\u201d\u201d<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Immediately following Jesus\u2019 baptism, we see the Trinity present. What is the purpose of the Holy Spirit descending upon Jesus? The Holy Spirit manifests Himself as a dove descending upon the Son. As the symbol of peace, it is a reminder to us that, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. When the voice of God from heaven speaks, He says something very simple, yet very profound: \u201cThis is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.\u201d<\/span><\/em> The Son has been obedient to the Father’s will.\u00a0Here the Father acknowledges that the Son is indeed living a life of perfection and fulfilling the promises given through the prophets.\u00a0The Father tells us that Jesus is the cause and target of His good pleasure.\u00a0He tells us that Jesus is His beloved Son.<\/p>\n

Since Jesus stands in our place, the Father’s pleasure with His Son is also His pleasure with you and me.\u00a0Because the Father is pleased with His Son, Jesus, He is pleased with us. We are now the Lord\u2019s beloved child because of the work of Christ.<\/p>\n

Here Jesus begins the work of salvation by taking the place of sinners.\u00a0Here Jesus takes John\u2019s place \u2013 your place \u2013 my place.\u00a0Here Jesus takes up the sin of the world and offers us the gift of His holiness.\u00a0He becomes the greatest sinner of all; not with His own sin, but with our sin.\u00a0Here He takes up our burden for us.\u00a0As John performed the simple act of pouring water on Jesus, God poured on Him the iniquity of us all.<\/p>\n

St. Paul expanded on this in today’s Epistle: \u201cDo you not 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.\u201d<\/em><\/span>\u00a0Here Paul tells us that our baptism joins us to Christ and His baptism.\u00a0Our sin becomes His and His perfection becomes ours. His innocent suffering and death are credited to our account.\u00a0The eternal life and salvation that He earned are already ours.\u00a0We will rise from death to live in eternal joy just as He rose from the dead and lives and reigns to all eternity.\u00a0Through His Son, Jesus, God has done everything needed to secure our salvation for us.<\/p>\n

Jesus\u2019 baptism identified Him with the world of sinners. Paul describes Christ\u2019s substitution for sinners by telling us, \u201cFor our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.\u201d<\/em><\/span> Even though Jesus never sinned, God made Him to be sin. Paul then takes us back to today\u2019s Gospel.\u00a0Through baptism, we are joined to Christ.\u00a0His life is for us.\u00a0His death is for us.\u00a0His resurrection is for us.\u00a0Jesus came to John to be baptized for us.<\/p>\n

God\u2019s justice requires punishment for sin.\u00a0Our sin has earned eternal hell for us many times over.\u00a0God\u2019s love for us seeks to save us from that eternal punishment.\u00a0The only solution was for God to take up our human flesh so that He could take up our sin.\u00a0That is what Jesus did.\u00a0When John baptized Jesus, he baptized the only one who can carry the sin of the world.\u00a0Jesus carried those sins to the cross.\u00a0There on the cross, Jesus satisfied both God\u2019s justice and His love.\u00a0God\u2019s justice was satisfied by punishing our sin IN Jesus Christ.\u00a0God\u2019s love was satisfied by punishing Jesus Christ instead of us. In this way, God punished our sin without punishing us.<\/p>\n

In solidarity, Jesus in the water is one of us.\u00a0He suffers with us. He died for us. He shows us that He is the sinner\u2019s friend and savior. In His baptism, He publicly continues the work that makes me His own so that I may live with Him forever.<\/p>\n

Every time we celebrate a Baptism, the one being Baptized is made a child of God by the waters of Holy Baptism, and every sin that they will ever commit will be washed away by those waters. That person receives sonship in the kingdom of God. Their sins are forgiven. How is this done? It is done by a man named Jesus, sent from God to be our sacrificial Lamb, baptized in the waters of the Jordan River, forever joining Himself to sinful man in order to redeem us. It is accomplished for us by His death on the cross for us sinners. It is accomplished for us only by Jesus who has atoned for all our sins. In Jesus\u2019 name, amen. Now the peace of God that passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds through faith in Christ Jesus, amen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, amen. The text for the sermon is the Gospel, which was read earlier. As we go through life, there are certain monumental occasions that we deem to be important: births, graduations, wedding day, deaths, and other days […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64933,16840,9016],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3261","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-baptism","category-epiphany","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/revtucher.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3261","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/revtucher.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/revtucher.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revtucher.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revtucher.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3261"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/revtucher.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3261\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3263,"href":"https:\/\/revtucher.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3261\/revisions\/3263"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/revtucher.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3261"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revtucher.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3261"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revtucher.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3261"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}