Epiphany 1

Welcome to the Lord’s House.

Today is the Sunday after Epiphany – the revealing of our Lord. Today the Holy Trinity is revealed in the Jordan River as our Lord Jesus goes into the water and is baptized by John the Baptist - marked as if he were a sinner for our salvation.

Our organist has returned! And so we will once again be led by the organ sing the praises of the Lord.

In the Eastern Orthodox churches, their big festival isn’t Christmas, it’s Epiphany – the revealing of the Lord. And they don’t hear the account of the wise men. They hear the account of Jesus Baptism. Luke alone records the birth of Jesus, Matthew alone records the visit of the Maji. All 4 Gospels record the Baptism of Jesus. There aren’t a lot of things in all 4 Gospels. Feeding of the 5000, Holy Week (ending with) Death and Resurrection – obviously – and Jesus Baptism.

In the Western Church – which includes the Lutherans – we have Epiphany as the visit of the Magi, and then the Baptism of Jesus 8 days later. Since few congregations celebrate the Epiphany of Jesus on Epiphany – it’s more likely to be moved to the nearest Sunday – there are very few that have daily services and include the baptism of Jesus a week later. So, Jesus Baptism got moved as an alternate reading for Epiphany 1 in the new hymnal. The other option would have been to put it somewhere randomly in the summer. Compromises had to be made.

Today, we hear the alternate Gospel – the Baptism of our Lord Jesus. And in this we see the prototype for our own baptism – the time where we were made children of God. Jess comes to John to be Baptized. John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. People came to John, heard his preaching that called them to repent of their sins, and return to the Lord, and went into the water.

John’s Baptism points to Jesus and his work. John explicitly uses it for this. “I Baptize with water, but there stands among you one you do not know. He is the one who comes after me, the thongs of whose sandals, I am not worthy to untie.” John calls the people to repent, and then washes them. That’s what the word baptism means. The word is reserved now for Holy washings. The difference between a washing, and a Holy washing – a Holy Baptism – is the Word of God, as we learn in our catechism. Without God’s word it is plain water and no Baptism, but with the Word of God it is a Baptism, that is a life-giving water, rich in grace, and a washing of the new birth in the Holy Spirit.

The Baptism of John is different from the Baptism Jesus will introduce in this – John’s Baptism is not commanded for all. It is optional for the faithful. But it points to the new birth of Baptism in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. John’s Baptism, on it’s own, is just a plain washing. But John never intends it to be on its own – just as Baptism is never water on its own. John intends that those who hear his word will repent, and be washed in the Jordan as a sign of their repentance, their desire to drown the old man, with all sins and evil desires and have a new man arise, to live before God in righteousness and purity forever. This is the goal of John’s Baptism. To prepare the hearts of the people to hear and believe the Word of Jesus. This is why John figures so prominently in Advent. We are preparing our hearts, turning away from sin, turning to our Lord Jesus Christ. Advent is finished, we are on the other side of Christmas. The Wise men have made their visit, Jesus is 30 years old, and he is on that riverbank with John. But the message remains the same – Jesus came into the world to save sinners.

Baptism is for the sinner. The righteous have nothing to gain by repentance – they can not turn away from sin, for they have no sin. They are already looking to the Father in heaven as the author and source of every good thing. They have complete fear, love and trust in God. But they is the wrong word here. There is no they. There is only one who is righteous: Our Lord Jesus. He comes into the world to be our righteousness. He is without sin. He is the only one without sin, because he is the only one who is – according to his divine nature - very God of very God, begotten not made, of the same substance with the Father by whom all things were made. And yet, he makes himself to be a little lower than the angels, to be incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary and made man, for your salvation. This is the great gift of Christmas. The Eternal Majesty of the almighty God was brought down to this world, wrapped in flesh, and born of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Jesus is therefore without sin. And yet, we are told, he will be made sin for us. And that’s what is happening today. Jesus isn’t suddenly made sin for us on the cross. He is already under the judgement of sin and death by that time. Condemned, forsaken of his Father. Today Jesus becomes sin for us. Today his ministry begins. He goes into the water as if he were a sinner, so that when you are brought up out of the water, you would be accounted as righteous.

Today is a great mystery. Jesus, Son of the Eternal Father, and also Son of Blessed Mary – goes where he need not go, so that you can gain entrance to the heavenly realms, where you can not get on your own because of your sin.

Jesus counts himself a sinner. His cousin John points out the absurdity of the situation: “I should be baptized by you.” John – as mighty and holy as he is – is still a sinner, born of earthly father and mother, and so in need of forgiveness from God. Jesus is without sin, and so should by rights be the one cleansing John. But Jesus needs to take our sins on himself. And so he goes into the water, like any other sinner. He isn’t like any other sinner, because he is a sinner with no sins. All the sins he carries are counted as his sins. They are your sins. And yet, Jesus will carry them. He will be the one to pay for them. And so, he goes into the water as if he were you. His work of redemption begins. From here on out, the cross is set before him. Jesus goes willingly into the water. He willingly takes on your sin, the debt you owe to God, so that you would be declared righteous, so that you who are by nature sinful, would have no sin.

And now, a great mystery arises from the water. Jesus comes up, and the Voice of the Trinity sounds at the Jordan. The Son stands in the midst of the water. The Father declares his work as pleasing, according to the will of the Father. And the Spirit makes himself visible to those who see him. John testifies that he descended from heaven like a dove.

The Holy Trinity is revealed in Jesus Baptism because it is the will of our Lord God that none he created be lost. It is why we bring even the little children before him in the holy font. So that they might receive Jesus blessing, so that they might also receive the salvation he won for them on the cross.

We have Baptism marked in glass. The three-fold washing as the water is poured three times, the dove descending – that is the Spirit given through Baptism to us, just as He descended visibly on Jesus to mark him as the one redeemer of the world. So he now descends at Baptism to create faith in the hearts of the little ones whom Jesus loves and died to save. And now, all those who are baptized into Jesus baptism are joined to him, to his righteous life, to his sacrificial death, and to the new life that he gives to those who believe on his name.

This is the great gift of Baptism. It is the great mystery, and the glory, of this day. We can not understand all that happens here: only by faith can the mystery be grasped. Only by faith, do we grab hold of the salvation given in the water. That is why faith is the second and most important part of repentance. Part 1) We turn away from sin, Part 2) we turn to the Lord, and receive him in our hearts by faith.

But faith is not just a belief in itself. Faith has an external object. Just as you trust your car to bring you here safely, and so get in and turn the key or push the button, so your faith is in an object outside yourself – the car. And here you have arrived, now you hear the Word of the Lord, and as you believe it, so you receive the salvation of the Lord, not for your sake, but because it is promised through Jesus Christ. And it is delivered to you through that external gift – Baptism. And now when Satan comes to you to bring doubt and disbelief about your salvation, you can say, “Begone Satan, for I am claimed by God, Father Son and Holy Spirit. I am Baptized into Christ Jesus and his death, and his death now is my death, his atonement is now my salvation, and his resurrection is now my future.”

And this day we pray that God would, by the washing of water and word and the Spirit brought to us through that word, cause our hearts to conform ever more closely to Jesus. Paul says in Romans 12, “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” We test everything according to the Word of God; in the Holy Scriptures God’s will has been revealed to us. And as we consider that Word and hear it again this year, we pray that we would be transformed – inwardly refashioned – according to the pattern of Christ Jesus, that we would grow in love and trust toward God, as our Lord Jesus perfectly did throughout his life. He even entrusted himself into the judgment of God on the cross, knowing it was for your salvation, not his. And so the mercy of God comes through, is revealed to the world. Today the Holy Trinity testifies to Jesus, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am pleased.” And we look forward in this year to hearing more and more about the work of Jesus for us, the work that is pleasing to his heavenly Father. The work of salvation. All of this is going on in the Jordan this day. The people don’t see everything happening – how could they? We can barely see it all and we know the end of the story. Only by faith can we receive the fullness of what happens in that water. After Jesus explains it, John seems to get it. He understands who Jesus is and what he has come to do. He sees the Dove descend, he hears the voice of Jesus Father in heaven.

Just so, in Baptism we are brought into this kingdom, this family of God by our being brought to the font and by the words spoken over us as water is poured. And it is not the work of mere men. Human hands pour the water and speak the word, but it is God’s word and at his command, and so it is the work of God in and on us. The name of God is placed on you in that water. The salvation of God given you through the water. And God will not let you go, but will continue to grant you his grace and favor, to call you back and discipline you when you stray, and to bless you all the days of your life according to his rich mercy, so that, when this life is over, you may depart in the peace of the Lord, and go to be with him. May the Lord grant it to each one of us, for Jesus sake. Amen.