Feast of the Baptism of Our Lord

And it all started with John, charging out of the water: "No! No! No! This isn't right. You? Here? For this? This is a baptism of repentance, Jesus! This is a sinner's baptism! This is for people who need their lives turned around and transformed. I need you to administer it to me." But Jesus won't be put off. "Allow it to be so now, John, in order to fulfill all righteousness."

And what did John make of that? What do we make of it? Jesus stands on the banks of the Jordan and strips off his clothes, and descends into the water for John to baptize him, just like all the other sinners there were baptized. Jesus says that's how he will fulfill all righteousness, that's how he will make his righteousness available for all people. His uprightness, His holiness, His worthiness, His unbroken "yes" to the will of the Father brings him down to the water to stand together with us bunch of sinners who have spoken countless "no's" to the will of God.

The incarnation was a great marvel, to be sure: that God should take on human flesh and blood. But here is a greater marvel, that God the Son in that human flesh and blood should stand together with us sinners. He stands with us in the water under the verdict of condemnation that we might stand with Him in the water and hear the verdict of righteousness, the announcement that in and with Him we are beloved children of the Father. In the water already there looms the shadow of the cross and the sweet swap.

So what happens, then, as Jesus comes up, dripping wet? John is astonished. There above Jesus in the water, heaven itself is opened, and as John looks up, he sees far more than sky. He gasps as he is given an unfathomable glimpse into the overwhelming love and joy of heaven itself. He sees the Spirit coming down from heaven with the gentleness of dove and lighting on Jesus. He hears the Father's voice speak words of tenderness and unimaginable love: "This is my beloved Son, in Him I am well-pleased." Luther adds that there would certainly have been all the angels present too, for where Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are there is all of heaven itself.

Such shining glory God imparts to the waters of Baptism not merely to grace the occasion of the Son's standing in solidarity with the plight of a sinful human race, but above all to show us what He gives and imparts in every Baptism; what He gave you on the day of your baptism. An open heaven. The gift of the Spirit. The joy of being a beloved child of the Father.

Yes, on the day you are baptized, heaven itself is open to you. Above the water that poured over you, the Cherubim sheathe their swords and the gates to paradise swing open wide. Heaven is not barred and sealed to the baptized. It stands open wide to you - your true home.

Yes, on the day you were baptized, the Holy Spirit descended from heaven and lighted on you. To live with you and never leave you again. He who is the personal Joy and Love that has always existed between the Father and the Son, He made an entrance into your life and promised to be with you for all time, imparting to you His endless Life which is Love and Joy. He brings and keeps alive in you the gift of faith.

Yes, on the day you were baptized, God the Father peeped down from heaven and said before all his angels and all the world: "Look! This is my own child! This is my beloved! How pleased I am with this one!"

And you say: "Oh, pastor, come on. A little bit of water and few words and all of that is the result? How can water accomplish all of that? How can water do such great things?" Ah, you know the answer to that, don't you? "It is not the water that does them, but the Word of God which is in and with the water and faith which trusts that Word of God in the water." So God makes foolish the wisdom of the world! “The splash of the water, the power of the Word, and the Spirit now binds you to Jesus the Lord. And wonder of wonders, though by sin defiled, the Father in heaven now makes you His child.” (Coleman)

That you might never doubt that the events of Christ' baptism were the guarantee of what God does for you in your own Baptism, Christ gave a command in the last chapter of Matthew's Gospel. "As you go, make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." Father, Son, and Holy Spirit show up again, don't they? This time not at the Jordan, but wherever the water landed on you.

Where God's name is, there is God. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. In and with the water, And so that water becomes far more than H2O. With the Triune God thrown in as the seasoning (Luther), it is truly a life-giving water, because He is a life-giving God. It drives away death and hell and makes eternally alive, because He is there.

All this we celebrate today on the Baptism of Our Lord. In the joy of faith you cling to the events of Jesus' Baptism and know that they for you too, that on the day you are baptized, heaven is opened for you, the Spirit given into you, and the Father owns you as his own much-loved child. Know that the gifts given you in the water are irrevocable. You may leave them, but they will never leave you. And if you have wandered away from your Baptism, you need only return to it again. It remains in all its fullness - an open heaven, the gift of the Spirit, divine sonship all in and with Jesus Christ in the water. And for that all glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen!