The Feast Of The Baptism Of The Lord
We have left the Christmas season—the 12 days celebrating the birth of our Savior are now in the season of Epiphany. In a sense Epiphany is really a continuation of Christmas. At Christmas we saw the Baby born of the virgin and now in the Epiphany season we see exactly who that Baby is who was born. That’s what Epiphany means—manifestation/ revelation. In the Epiphany season, we see that indeed that Baby is no ordinary Baby but that He is the very God Himself, just as the angel told the Blessed Virgin at the Annunciation [Lk. 1.35]: that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God.
Today’s Gospel is an Epiphany/ revelation of who Jesus really is. St. Mark records:
In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. Just as Jesus came up out of the water, he saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love. I am well pleased with you.” Here is a clear picture of just exactly who Jesus is; and here is also a manifestation of the Holy Trinity. First off, who is Jesus? He is the Son of God, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, the One of whom the Father says [Psalm 2.7]: You are My Son, Today I have begotten You. –Today: that’s that eternal today, the Son is always being begotten by the Father.
Of course when we recognize that Jesus is the Son, then it is the Father who is speaking: You are my Son, whom I love. I am well pleased with you. And we see the Holy Spirit coming on Jesus— and the Spirit descending on him like a dove—marking Him for all to see as the long promised and awaited Savior/ Servant of the Lord, the fulfillment of the words the Lord spoke through the OT prophet St. Isaiah [42.1]: Behold! My Servant whom I uphold, My Elect One in whom My soul delights! I have put My Spirit on Him. So here at His baptism Jesus, true man born of the Virgin, is shown to be the true God, the Son begotten of the Father from all eternity. And at Jesus’ baptism the holy Triune God—one God and yet three Persons—reveals Himself.
But perhaps Jesus’ baptism raises a question in our minds: Why did Jesus have to be baptized? After all, the Father said of Him that He is One: in whom My soul delights. So obviously Jesus would, then, be sinless/ perfectly pleasing to God in every way, perfectly doing His will. So if baptism is for sinners, why would Jesus need to be baptized since He is sinless? Even St. John the Baptizer recognized this and, as St. Matthew records [3.14,15]: tried to prevent Him saying, “I have need to be baptized by You, and You are coming to me? But Jesus answered and said to him, “Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Far from being just an example for us—Jesus was baptized as an example for us to follow if we want to Christians: this is a very legalistic way of looking at baptism—instead, it is much more: Jesus’ baptism shows that although He didn’t need to be baptized because of sin, since He was sinless, Jesus was baptized because He had taken the place of all sinners and must fulfill the whole law for them/us; Jesus was there in the waters of the Jordan as the representative for all of humanity. And here He truly begins His work as Messiah. Although Jesus is completely sinless and holy, He was standing there in the Jordan River as a sinner—not with his own sins but the sins of the world He took upon us—in need of baptism. “Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” In other words, you must baptize Me so that God’s plan of salvation in Me can begin.
And something else glorious happens here! As the holy God Himself steps into the waters of the Jordan River, He cleanses all water for use in holy Baptism since water has been touched by the holy flesh of Christ. Luther puts it this way in his baptismal prayer: Through the Baptism in the Jordan of Your beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, You sanctified and instituted all waters to be a blessed flood and lavish washing away of sin.
Today as we hear of Jesus’ baptism, it does us well to reflect on our own baptism and what happened to us in Holy Baptism. Our OT reading for today —the beginning of the creation—is quite helpful for that. As we reflect on it a few moments this morning, we will see that holy baptism is our re-creation.
The very first verse of the Bible: In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The very first thing that strikes us here is God’s power. Of all of God’s characteristics, the one that seems to stand out above all others is His power: God created. This word “create” is used only of God. Whenever we make something, we simply take materials that are already there and rearrange or change them and make something else. But when God created the heavens and the earth, He had absolutely nothing; He first had to make everything out of nothing. The holy Apostle put it this way [Hb 11.3]: By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible. In other words, God has nothing to work with and yet He makes something.
Isn’t that like holy Baptism? After all, what does God have to work with? When we come to holy baptism, we are nothing but sinners; our hearts are sinful and corrupt and turned away from the Lord; we have nothing good for God to work with; we are spiritually dead. St. Paul puts it this way [Eph 2.1]: And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins. But when the waters of Holy Baptism hit us, we are brought from spiritual death to spiritual life. The thing is, God doesn’t/ can’t just take and slightly change/ reform our spiritually dead hearts that are turned away from Him and turned in ourselves; there is no bit of goodness in us God can use. Like at the original creation, our hearts, our spiritual life must be made out of nothing; there is nothing God can use. We must be a new creation of God. He makes us anew, He re-creates us into His dear Christians by, in, through the waters of Holy Baptism; by, in, through His almighty power in the water and word. We pray in our liturgy with St. David his psalm prayer [Ps 51.10]: Create in me a clean heart, O God. That’s that same word we have in our text: Create. Only God can create in us, out of nothing, that clean heart, purified by faith, that fears, loves and trusts in Him alone. And when we sin, our prayer of confession is that the Lord not cast us away from Him but that we renew that right, steadfast spirit He has given us so that we turn away from sin and remain faithful to Him.
God created the heavens and the earth. That’s the power of God shown by the creation of everything out of nothing. This creating is something only He can do; and we have personally experienced His almighty power in Holy Baptism, where He created, out of nothing, in us that new heart and life. But behind that power, what else do we see? Don’t we also see His grace? God didn’t have to create the universe but He did. We see how He loves. He created the whole universe so that He could love us and show us His love; so that we could be the objects of His love.
And now in Holy Baptism we see that same grace and love. God didn’t have to create that new heart in us. He could have just left us in our sin and our misery. But He didn’t. He sent Jesus to be our Savior from sin and death—that’s His mercy. Now in Holy Baptism, in love and grace He uses His almighty power to create that new heart in us, to give us a heart cleansed by faith.
Again our text: In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Notice here: God made everything—the entire universe and everything in it. But what does our text, and, indeed all of Scripture, focus on? The earth! The earth was undeveloped and empty. Darkness covered the surface of the deep. Notice, God is very particular. Although He made everything, all His attention is on earth; all else—the sun, moon, planets, all the universe—had to serve His purposes for earth, for us! We are not just a fluke of evolution, a cosmic accident. The description of the rest of the days of creation shows God’s great care and attention to make sure everything was perfect for earth/ humanity, whom He loves.
And here we see another great comfort we have in Holy Baptism. What’s happening in Holy Baptism? God Himself is coming to us, washing away our sins, creating that new heart—faith in and love of Him. Just as in this whole wide universe, the earth is the object of God’s attention in the creation—preparing it for people, the object of His love—so also when we are baptized, the holy God Himself, the God of the entire universe is dealing with each one of us personally and individually. He is coming to us to create faith and to make His dwelling in our hearts. Baptism is that glorious, almighty and gracious work of God alone; a work that only He can do—re-create us.
As we look next in the creation account, we see another parallel with our baptism, our re-creation: and the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters. What a glorious image of Holy Baptism! Here the Holy Spirit was hovering over the waters to give life and form, like a mother hen brooding over her eggs. Here we are reminded of Holy Baptism—for baptism is water, but not just any water; it is water that is combined with God’s word—and God’s word is what? It is given by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit; it is that though which the Holy Spirit works to create faith and give and strengthen spiritual life; it is not just some words or letters on a page or coming from a mouth but the Holy Spirit is there! And the Holy Spirit is, as we confess in the Creed, the Lord and Giver of life. At Baptism, look at the baptismal font and there see the life giving Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, hovering over it giving life to that water through the word. That’s how we got our spiritual life; that’s how we were re-created, dear Christian—by the work of the Holy Spirit in the water and word of Baptism.
Our text continues: God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. The first thing God created was light. This is light, not just light from the sun which came later. And here too the original creation gives us a beautiful picture of what happens to us in Baptism, at our re-creation. Before we were brought to faith in Holy Baptism, we were in great spiritual darkness. We did not know God rightly. We were oblivious to our true spiritual condition. We were not on the one true path to heaven. We sensed something wrong with our lives, that something was missing but because our lives were filled with darkness we didn’t/ couldn’t figure it out. But God said to us in holy Baptism: “Let there be light,” and there was light. In Baptism He worked that faith in us so that we know Him rightly, so that we no longer walk in spiritual darkness. St. Paul writes [2 Cor 4.6]: For the God who said, “Light will shine out of darkness,” is the same one who made light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the person of Jesus Christ. In Baptism is God’s re-creating work in sin-darkened hearts.
And then, finally, our text says: God saw that the light was good. He separated the light from the darkness. God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” There was evening and there was morning—the first day. By calling the light “day,” and the darkness … “night”, God showed and claimed dominion over them. And that’s what He does in holy Baptism—He claims us as His own. In holy Baptism, the Lord has re-created us and claims us as His own. He is at work mightily in our hearts and leading us into a life of faith and good works. How glorious for us is our Baptism! We are through Baptism God’s new creation; He has claimed us as His own. What a glorious gift of His almighty power and grace. INJ