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The Baptism of the Lord

Writer's picture: Rev. Chris BrademeyerRev. Chris Brademeyer

Baptism

The Baptism of the Lord – 1/9/2025

Matthew 3:13-18

Rev. Christopher W. Brademeyer

 

That portion from God’s holy Word for consideration this morning is our Gospel lesson from St. Matthew’s third chapter with special emphasis on verses sixteen and seventeen which read as follows:

 

“And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him;  and behold, a voice from heaven said, ‘This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.’”[1]

 

Thus far the Scriptures.

 

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

 

                Baptism is an important thing in the Christian life. We all were baptized at some point, many of us at too young of an age to even remember it. And for us and the baptism we receive, it easy to see they why of doing it. Scripture teaches us in Romans chapter six and Colossians chapter two that baptism unites us to the death of Christ.[2] In other words, baptism is the delivery vehicle that God has ordained to give us what our Lord died for us to have so that, by His Word with the water used in baptism, we receive forgiveness and life and salvation. Baptism delivers these treasures, and faith receives them. Without faith, the gifts given in Baptism do us no good, that is, they are not being received for our benefit.

                And this is easy enough to wrap our minds around. We are sinners. We need help, that is, to be forgiven and saved from our sins. And our Lord Jesus not only has earned forgiveness for us, but has established ways to hand it to us so that we might have faith created and awakened in us by the Holy Spirit so that we would be beneficiaries of the saving work of our Lord on the cross. Baptism, as one of these means of grace, is a vehicle that delivers to us these great blessings.

                But what then do we make of the baptism of our Lord Jesus? Jesus is not a sinner. He does not need to be forgiven. More still, he does not have need of receiving everlasting life since He posses immortality by nature. He does not need to be saved. So what was the purpose of His baptism?

                Simply put, our Lord’s baptism is the place where He is publicly revealed to be the Christ. It served as a sort of ordination and consecration, officially showing Him as the Redeemer of Israel, the Messiah, the one anointed to be the perpetual ruler, prophet, and priest of Israel. When we are baptized, we are given righteousness from Christ Himself. When Christ is baptized, He received no righteousness, but was baptized to fulfill all righteousness.

                And how is this fulfilling righteousness? He takes on Himself the duty to die for the sins of the world. Indeed, He took on our sins such that He who did not sin became so identified with sin that He becomes sin for us, as St. Paul says.[3] And by doing this, we become righteous. In other words, the work of Christ stands as our righteousness. It and it alone is the basis of our place before God. It and nothing else serves to be our entrance into heaven. And without Christ or His work we have no standing before our Father and are not able to enter paradise.

                Jesus says that it is necessary that He be baptized. But, as we have said, he needed no repentance, forgiveness, life or salvation. It was necessary, yes, for Jesus to formally and publicly begin His work for our salvation. But it was also necessary that Jesus be proclaimed the Christ, that is, the Messiah, and the Son of God the Father. This is the place in Scripture that we most clearly see the Holy Trinity reveled to us.

Yes, in other places we have the revelation of the Trinity.  In Genesis chapter one, right at the beginning of the Bible, we see that God, His Spirit, and the Word that God speaks, that Word being Christ. But this is not as plain and direct as here. Similarly, in Matthew chapter twenty-eight, where Jesus institutes baptism commanding it to be in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, we get the name, but there is no theophany, that is, revealing of God Himself. But here we get the full picture. The voice from heaven is that of God the Father. The Son, Jesus Christ, is baptized by John and, while these things are going on, the Spirit descends from heaven as a dove onto Christ. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit acting as one, marking and testifying that Jesus is the Christ and the salvation of the world.

Baptism is connected deeply with who God is: we are baptized into God’s thrice holy Name, that is, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. To be baptized is to have God’s name put on us. This is an adoption. While Jesus is the Son of the Father by nature, we are not. And in baptism, God puts His name on us, marking us as His, placing us into Himself, marking us as part of His Church. Compare this to an adoption among us. One of the things that happens when a child is adopted by new parents is that the child is given the family name of his or her new mom and dad. So, for example, if little Suzy is adopted by Mr. and Mrs. Johnson, Suzy would become a Johnson upon her adoption. She is fully and completely now a member of that family and household. Even though she does not share the bloodline or genetics of her parents, she is socially and legally as much their child as if they had given birth to her. Baptism does this for us in the family of God. Christ’s baptism reveals that God is central in the whole thing. His teaching about it reveals that it puts us into God and marks us with God’s Name, thereby adopting us into God’s household and family. Christ is our brother in Baptism and His Father is now our Father. And all we need to do is trust that this is the case, that is, have faith in this work and promise.

It is necessary that Christ be publicly known and identified as the Messiah, the Savior of Israel. It is necessary that He be revealed as the eternally and only-begotten Son of the Father. This is to ensure us that not only does Jesus of Nazareth have a divine, that is God-given, mandate to being about the redemption of Israel and, even beyond them the entire world, but that He is also known to be the true Son of God. This means that those around Him, who witnessed His baptism, should have no doubts about His ability to do this thing. After all, He is almighty God and perfectly capable of doing this thing. And, He certainly did.

 

In the holy Name of + Jesus. Amen.

 

 The peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

 




[1] Matthew 3:16-17 English Standard Version

[2] Romans 6:4, Colossians 2:12

[3] 2 Corinthians 5:21

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