Sermon Baptism of our Lord, 2011

Sermon

Text: Matthew 3:13-17

So, I hope you all like Baptism, because we are going to get a lot of it. This week as you see we are celebrating the Baptism of Jesus, and next week we are going to have 4! Baptisms. So, remember to bring your pillows and sleeping bags for next week, because it’s going to be LOooong. No, well, hopefully not terribly.

But, it leads to a problem, this week we are talking about Jesus’ baptism, so the connection to our baptisms or the connection to holding baptisms today is pretty easy to see. My worship professor said that the days of the church year that work the best for baptisms are Easter, All Saint’s Sunday, and the Baptism of Jesus. But, we are not having the baptism today, for the simple reason that it does not work schedule wise for the families. And that’s not a problem at all, sure the day corresponds well to baptisms, but the truth is everyday should correspond to baptism. Luther repeatedly says that Baptism is a one time event that impacts every day. We should remember everyday our baptisms and understand that we daily die and rise to new life in our baptism.

And now I have done what is common on this day of our Lord’s baptism. I went straight to our baptisms. It is easy to do, and not really bad to do. But, as I was thinking about this text I found that I can’t do that this year, because I would have to just turn around and give the same sermon next week. (I thought about doing that.)

So, Jesus’ baptism. We know the story, Jesus is baptized and as he comes up out of the water the skies open and the spirit descends like a dove and a voice rings from heaven. “This is my Son, the beloved; with whom I am well pleased.” It is the trinity showing forth itself in the world. The beginning of Jesus’ ministry, which this is, begins with a Trinitarian scene. God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit announcing that what God is doing through the Son is good and pleasing.

But, as the question from our senior high class asked, Why did Jesus get baptized? John even asks this. John says, “I need to be baptized by you, yet you are coming to me?” As the video explained in our class, John’s baptism is for the forgiveness of sin. It is a ritual washing. Something that people did all the time, sometimes many times a day, when waking, before bed, before prayers. It was a way to on the outside show purification upon the inside. And as John saw and sensed that Jesus was different, already holy, why did he need to be baptized? Jesus states that it is necessary in his rebuke of John’s plan to switch their places around. There is no one correct answer here, just like so many other stories have no one correct answer. But there are a few that I find important and fit together. One, it marks the beginning as we already heard. This is different than normal baptisms that had been done. This one is fully Trinitarian, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are present, it announces and shows forth this relationship. It marks the beginning of Jesus’ ministry.

Two, it foreshadows the journey Jesus faces.

We need to look at our text from Isaiah for a bit here. This text mentions a servant in whom God delights who is often referred to as the suffering servant. There are 4 passages that deal with this suffering servant in Isaiah, and this is the kindest. In this one the servant simply does not cry out. In others the pain, suffering, cruelty, anger, and fear of the world are put upon it. In Isaiah this is all as the means to save and return Israel from its exile in Babylon. But, here in Matthew it has been repeated and expanded. No longer is the servant an unknown person suffering for the sake of one nation, but here the servant is named, Jesus. And no longer is the suffering for the sake of one nation, but for the sake of the entire world. I would think that even with Jesus being a holy presence I would still want purification. This is no mere task that is occurring, but the beginnings of the salvation of the world.

And finally our third idea. His Baptism again connects Jesus to this world. It is important to remember that this is a regular, ordinary act. Washing, purifying. We do the same, even though it may not have religious significance. We clean ourselves, before a big event we may take an extra shower to make sure we look our best. Jesus shows that he is truly human, he goes through things that we as normal humans go through. There is no special water that is used for Jesus, he uses the same water that everyone else uses.

Through his baptism Jesus again puts himself into our human condition. In this purification through water we remember our purification through water, but also our purification through the actions of this same man in his death upon a cross.

Again Jesus enters our lives and walks with us.

I used a story in our senior high class about two women who become trapped in the cave-in of their school in Haiti during last year’s earthquake. The story talks about their journeying together with each other and our journeying together with Christ. That is a powerful image. This week I travel Wednesday through Friday to Decorah and Dubuque, Iowa, to be with friends as we recognize the one year anniversary of that earthquake and our friend Ben’s death. The reminder of baptism that surrounds this week is much needed. Someone asked me in the weeks afterwards how Renee and Jon, Ben’s Wife and Cousin who were with him in Haiti, how were they able to lead their daily lives, what keeps them going. The only answer I could give is through the strength and support of friends and family journeying together with them, and the complete grace of God in their lives.

There is so much in this world that says that the Christian message is believe and all will be fine. Or "Oh, don’t worry, there is a reason behind this." I cannot disagree more. The Christian message is that we live in this world of chaos and sin in which horrible things happen to us, but Christ, the beloved, with whom God is well pleased, has come to us. God comes deep, deep down to us in all of our hardship and suffering. God, who becomes the suffering servant, who undergoes death for us, who is baptized, is our constant companion in those moments when all seems lost. The Christian message is not that all will always be fine, but that God will be with us through all, especially when things do not seem fine at all.

That is the story we read in our bibles, that is the story into which we are baptized, which we promise to teach our children. That they, we, are not alone.

Let us pray,

God of light,

We thank you for coming to us, be with us in the hard times of our life, be with us in the wonderful moments of our life. Show forth your light, break the darkness that surrounds us and give us comfort. Give us the simple water of baptism daily.

Amen