` Baptism of our Lord - 2002

Baptism of our Lord - 2002



Todd A. Peperkorn, STM
Messiah Lutheran Church
Kenosha, Wisconsin
Epiphany 1 – Alt (January 13, 2002)
The Baptism of Our Lord
Matthew 3:13-17
TITLE: “Us”

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.  Amen.  Our text for today is the Baptism of Our Lord from Matthew chapter 3.  We focus on the word us from our text.

Christians often are baffled by Jesus’ baptism.  Why did Jesus have to be baptized?  He wasn’t a sinner, and if baptism washes away sins, then why did Jesus need to be baptized?  It’s a good question, and it is one that Christian churches of other denominations often misuse.

For some churches, baptism is kind of a promise that we make to God.  It’s kind of like getting engaged, I guess.  For these churches, baptism is what the believer does when they decide they are serious about being a Christian.

But this is all wrong.  Baptism is not our work; it is God’s work.  Jesus’ baptism in the Jordan River shows us in plain words that Baptism saves us, and gives us all of Christ’s perfect righteousness for lost sinners like you and me.

So let’s look at the text.  Jesus comes to John to be baptized, and John just can hardly believe it.  And John tried to prevent Him, saying, "I need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me?"  

John knows that the purpose of Baptism is the forgiveness of sins.  So he asks a good and important question: why, Jesus, do you need to be baptized?  Jesus had no sin of His own.  He was perfect and righteous before God the Father in every way.  And yet He comes to be baptized like a common sinner who needs God more than anything in the world.

Jesus’ answer is very instructive for us: But Jesus answered and said to him, "Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness."  Notice that little word us.  It is fitting, it is proper for us to fulfill all righteousness.  Who is the us Jesus is talking about?  Whose righteousness are we talking about here?  Jesus is the Son of God and the perfect image of the Father.  His relationship to His Father is complete; His own righteousness doesn’t need fulfilling.  So whose righteousness is it?

The answer, of course, it is your righteousness.  Christ our Lord comes to earth to take on our sin in Himself so that we might be saved.  Saint Paul put it this way: “He [the Father] made Him [Christ] who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor. 5.21).  This is why Saint John the Baptizer understands this so well when he proclaims the day after Jesus’ Baptism: “The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, ‘Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!’” (Jn. 1.29).

In His Baptism, Jesus Christ became the greatest sinner on earth.  He took on the sin of the whole world.  He took on your sin and mine.  The filth and rebellion and rejection and apathy we all have toward God was laid upon His shoulders in His Baptism.  This is the time when Jesus publicly takes on His office as the Messiah, the Savior of the world.

Now all of that is contained in this little word, us.  Jesus says, It is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.  Jesus identifies with us.  He is one of us.  He takes on our grief and pain and sin.  He makes it His own.  And by taking that sin upon Himself, He then clothes you with His perfect righteousness and holiness before God.  It is all His work.  All of that wrapped up in this great treasure we call Holy Baptism.

In your baptism, you are linked to Christ.  Our Scriptures use language like buried with Christ, clothed with Christ, new creation, and the like.  But the bottom line is that because of Christ’s baptism in the Jordan River, and because of your Baptism into Christ, His life and work now becomes yours.  

This is why Holy Baptism is the foundation upon which the Christian faith is built.  We can truly say with St. Peter that baptism…now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ (I Peter 3:21 ESV).  Hear what St. Peter is saying there.  In Baptism we go to God with a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

That is why Jesus says for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.  Us.  Jesus so connects you to Himself that when He fulfills all righteousness by keeping the Law perfectly AND paying the penalty our sin, we reap all of the rewards.  Us.  Jesus and you go together, linked by water and blood.  As our catechism says, Baptism 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.

So if God gives so many great blessings in Baptism, why is it that Baptism is so maligned and ignored and distained by so many?  How many even know the day of their baptism?  What is your baptismal anniversary?  How is it that there are times when parents make baptism into more of a family event than the beginning of a child’s eternal life in Jesus Christ?  Why is it that there is this nagging tendency among us to think that there must be something more?  Baptism is fine, but real faith is something more, something else entirely.

The answer is that we all want it to be something we do.  We all by nature want to make salvation into our work.  But Baptism is so very much God’s work that it is offensive.  That is why some churches reject that Baptism saves, and others call it an initiation, and still others say that baptism only washes away certain sins, but others you are responsible for yourself.  All of these false teachings lead the sinner away from Christ and His work on the cross and the empty tomb, and point the sinner back upon himself and his own works, prayers, or whatever else the spirituality of the day may demand.  Hear again the words of our Epistle lesson:

For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called.  But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence.

But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God -- and righteousness and sanctification and redemption -- that, as it is written, "He who glories, let him glory in the LORD."  (I Corinthians 1:26-31 (NKJV))

That, my friends in Christ, is the miracle of Baptism.  He who glories, let him glory in the Lord.  Your glory as a Christian is not in your piety, or your good works, or the appearance you give to your spouse or friends and neighbors.  Your glory is in your Baptism into Christ.  Your glory is in the Lord.  God uses the simplest, most common element in all the world to bring about your salvation.  He uses water.  But not just simple water only.  It is water included in God’s command and connected with God’s Word.  For when that water/Word touched your head, you became a child of God and heir of eternal life.

Cling to your baptism, my friends.  Hold on to it for all everything, and do not let the devil and the world tear you away from God’s grace.  God’s Word and work is complete.  You are righteous and holy in His sight.  You are baptized.  In Jesus’ name.  Amen.

The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in true faith, unto life everlasting.  Amen.
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This page was created on 01/15/2007 and last edited on: 01/15/2007
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