Key Moments in Jesus' Life: Baptism

Pastor Phillip ’s Sermon

Sunday, February 8, 2009

Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Today we begin the sermon series about key events in Jesus’ life with the study, the conversation, the meditation on the baptism of Jesus. There are two main characters in this story, this event, John the Baptist and Jesus. Now John the Baptist was considered to be the last of the Old Testament prophets and it’s kind of funny to think of him that way because he’s referred to in the New Testament. We hear about him in the New Testament. But the reason he’s called that is because he’s pointing forward to the time when the Messiah would come, just like all the other prophets from the Old Testament. They pointed forward to when God would fulfill His promise to save His people, to redeem Israel and deliver them. John was doing that same thing. In fact, his main task was to prepare the way for the Lord, to make straight paths for the Lord. He was preparing the way for Jesus, the Messiah.

He did this by proclaiming a message and his message was very simple. “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.” Now I think when John said it, it sounded a little different than that, probably a little bit louder. Just imagine what it was like, John standing in the Jordan River, the waters flowing past him and his loud voice ringing out across the waters and echoing off the rocky hills that surrounded the area, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.” At first, probably only a few people heard him because he’s out in the desert of Judea, not the place you would think of to strategically begin a new ministry or proclaim an important message. He’s out in the wilderness, nothing but animals and cactus and things like that.

But he preached and people began to gather. Maybe the first one was a traveler wandering by, happened to hear this man yelling out in the middle of nowhere and wondering what was going on. As he approached, the words became more clear and he heard the word “repent.” And the Holy Spirit, of course, John was filled with the Holy Spirit from birth, we know that, he was filled with the Holy Spirit in his mother’s womb. We read about that in the story of the birth of Christ. John, filled with the Holy Spirit, proclaims those simple words, “Repent,” and the Holy Spirit speaks to the hearts of those who hear so even if somebody wasn’t even planning to hear John preach, God was reaching them, touching them, opening their hearts.

Maybe a shepherd wandered by looking for a place to water his sheep. A traveler wandering along the river. And when they reached their destination, they reported back what they heard. “This man is preaching with power and authority. He’s proclaiming a message of repentance and he’s talking about baptism.” Little by little, more people began to come and hear the message God had given John to proclaim. “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.” And hearts were being transformed and changed. You know, the Hebrew concept, which John was speaking Hebrew at the time, to repent comes from the word “shub” which means turn. And the concept is like this: If God is here and you’re sinning, you’re going this way. And repenting means turning back to God and walking with him. So as John is calling out in this powerful voice and the Holy Spirit is working and touching people’s hearts, they are turning from their sins. They are turning from their sins, they’re turning from their wicked thoughts and ways and they are coming to God.

And as they approached the place where John is preaching down in the river, they have to make their way down the muddy banks and slipping and sliding and scrambling, crawling and getting to where John is in the river. And they have to step into the water to be baptized but it doesn’t matter to them because the Holy Spirit has touched their hearts and called them. So they humbly come and bow before John, presenting themselves for baptism because they are truly sorry and they desire to turn from their sins and John baptizes them and they go on their way, one, two, three, ten, fifty, a hundred, hundreds of people come, broken sinners bowing before John for baptism. Even some of the religious leaders came and offered themselves and John knew who they were. He saw who they were and he knew they weren’t really sincere, they weren’t broke. They were just coming to check up on John and see if they could find a way of arresting him or getting him in trouble because they didn’t like anybody like John who was really proclaiming the truth, powerful and attracting crowds. John saw right through their behavior and he said, “Who warrants you to flee from the coming wrath, you brood of vipers, produce fruits in keeping with repentance.” In other words, if you’re really sorry, act like it. If you’re really broken, act like it.

All those people came, children, elderly, men, women. They all came because they all had the same needs. They were all sinners. They all needed God’s forgiveness. They all needed to repent and they all came. Jesus came, too. He walked where they walked. He stepped in the same muddy footprints as he made His way down the bank of the river. He stepped into the water where they had stepped and stood where they stood and humbly offered Himself for baptism, as so many sinners before Him had.

It doesn’t sound right, does it? That the Holy God of the universe, in flesh, would offer Himself like a sinner. And John knew what was going on. Again, he said, “I have need to be baptized by you and do you come to me?” And Jesus said, “Permit it now.” Let it be now. Allow it now, for it is proper to fulfill all righteousness. Reluctantly, John consented and he baptized Jesus as he had the hundreds of sinners who had come before Him and, as Jesus stepped out of the water, the heavens were opened and the Holy Spirit visibly appeared and came down, like a dove when it settles on a branch. It came down and settled on Jesus. And then a voice spoke from heaven. “This is my Son whom I love. With Him, I am well pleased.” And that was it, the baptism of Jesus.

But what does it mean? There are so many things about that story that just really go against our grain. What does it mean? Well, there are many things we can learn from that story. Probably the most important is that Jesus stood in the place of sinners. This is the whole reason He came, to take our place. In His baptism, He walked where the sinners walked. He stepped where they stepped. He stood in the place where sinners stood. And then later, when He took the whole world’s sins upon His own shoulders, He hung in the place where sinners hang.

The second point is the visual of the sky being opened. This is referred to by the prophet, Isaiah, and it’s also mentioned in the book of Revelations. The sky is rolled up like a scroll. This is an eschatological event, an event of the last days. It means that God has fulfilled His promise and the person standing right before John is the one that God promised. It’s Him. This is the beginning of the last days. The skies opening up remind us of Isaiah’s prophecy, Jesus is the one who God promised. And then the Holy Spirit visibly coming down and descending on Jesus.

In the Old Testament times, all of the prophets were anointed by God with the Holy Spirit so they could speak God’s words, God’s message to His people wherever they were. Each of those prophets were called by God when he chose a king to anoint that king and he would go with oil, the prophet would go and pour oil over the head of the person God chose to rule His people. This person, this king, was referred to as the anointed one or, in Hebrew, mâshach, Messiah. Each king was referred to that way but the prophecies of the prophets spoke of an even greater king, a greater Messiah, the mâshach, the anointed one that God would send to deliver His people. So when John saw the Holy Spirit visibly come down and rest on Jesus, like a dove settling on a limb, when John saw that, he knew this is the anointed one of God, the Messiah has arrived. Finally, when God the Father spoke from heaven about Jesus, He said, “This is my Son whom I love. With Him, I am well pleased.” Only Jesus could receive words like this from the heavenly Father.

Now it’s true that God loves all of us but it’s also true that all of us have, in some way, displeased God and so it wouldn’t be fitting and appropriate for God to say, “In you I am well pleased,” because we’re sinners.

The baptism of Jesus meant a big change for Him. Up until that point, we hadn’t heard too much. We heard about His birth. We heard about how His parents took Him to the temple and the prophecies that were spoken there and we heard about the wise men coming and offering their gifts. We heard about Him going off to Egypt to avoid Herod’s persecution and then we heard a story about when He was 12 and He was in the temple speaking and His parents didn’t know where He was. But from 12 to 30, we don’t hear much. We don’t hear anything. And, all of a sudden, here He is.

So up until this time, He’s kind of been flying under the radar but not any more. This was a public event. There were people all around watching. They saw the sky opened. They heard the voice. They saw the Holy Spirit. This was a public event. And very soon, Jesus would begin to call His first disciples, fisherman and tax collectors and people like that, call His first students, His first followers and then He would begin to perform miracles, turning water into wine and healing the lame and the sick and the blind, raising the dead, performing miracles that only God could do.

His life was changed from flying under the radar. Now everybody would hear about Him. Now everything was in the public eye. It was the beginning of His public ministry. As He walked those steps that God had laid out for the Messiah to follow, everything would be scrutinized, people would gather, crowds so big that He couldn’t find rest. Enemies would plot against Him and plan how they would attack Him but He never wavered. In all of that, He never wavered from the plans for our salvation.

The good news is we benefit from what Jesus did. You and I individually benefit from what Jesus did. It reminds me of something that happened a long time ago. When I was in high school, just finishing my senior year, my dad got me a job working in the car factories. Now he’d worked there for many, many years and he was a plant superintendent over 2,000 employees. So because of his position, he was able to give me employment there. And as I reflect back on it, that was a real blessing because, each summer, I could earn enough to pay for college. That’s pretty tough to do now days. Each summer, I could earn enough to pay for my next school year and so I didn’t have to take student loans. In fact, one year, I earned enough to pay for my brother’s college also because he was in a program that required him to go year round so he didn’t have time to come home. We had that opportunity because of the hard work that my dad did. As I reflect on it, that hard, stressful job that my dad did, day in and day out, year after year, to provide for us as his family, that hard work is what gave me the opportunity for employment. In a similar way, we can reflect on what Jesus did, how He lived in perfect obedience to God, never sinned, walked unwaveringly the steps laid out before Him to be our Savior and offered Himself in baptism and He offered Himself on the cross in the place of sinners. And because of that, you and I have the opportunity for forgiveness and eternal life. It’s a precious opportunity.

We can walk through life beaten down by our guilt but not if we know Jesus, so we can confess our sins and give them to Him and know that He took them all with Him on the cross. When we lose a loved one, we know that it’s a temporary separation. Because of their faith in Jesus, we’ll see them again. It’s a precious opportunity that the hard work and sacrifice of Jesus has given us.

Every child likes to hear words of praise and encouragement from their parents and, as a sophomore in high school, I remember a note that my dad wrote to me because I won my first varsity letter. That was a big deal, a lot of effort to go into that. I worked really hard and it was a big achievement. And my dad came home late from work and he wrote a note and I just treasure that note. He told me he was proud of me and how hard I worked and that I was giving it my all and that I achieved this. And so I saved that note for years and years. I might still have it somewhere but those words of encouragement and love are very powerful.

So in this story of Jesus’ baptism, we hear about the heavenly Father speaking about His Son as someone He loves and is well pleased with, it makes us smile and reflect on our own experiences with parental encouragement.

Right now, we’re kind of going through some hard stuff in our economy. Retirement savings are being lost like that. Years and years of carefully putting money away and it’s gone in a week. And then friends and loved ones are losing their jobs, cut backs, layoffs, all kinds of things like that. And we feel defeated. We feel like we’re not very good anymore because we’ve lost that job. But I want to tell you that your identity is not in what you do. It’s not in how much money is in your retirement account, it’s not in the car that you drive or the house you live in. Your identity is found in this: When God looks at you, He sees Jesus. When He looks at you, He says, “You are my beloved daughter.” He says, “You are my beloved son.” “And in Jesus’ name, in you I am well pleased.” Amen.

Copyright 2009 Gloria Dei Lutheran Church