Bible Text: Matthew 3:13-17 | Preacher: Pastor Christian Preus
People were literally waiting in line to be baptized by John. “All the land of Judea, and those from Jerusalem, went out to him.” That’s what our Gospel says. And they were waiting in line because they were sinners. They wanted a baptism for the forgiveness of sins. That’s how Mark starts his Gospel: “John came baptizing in the wilderness and preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.” And Mark says the people who came, who were in line to be baptized, came “confessing their sins.”
And Jesus gets in line.
This is like Elon Musk getting in line at a foodbank and collecting canned beans and jars of peanut butter.
Jesus isn’t a sinner. He is the only one who doesn’t need to get in line. So John says, “I need to be baptized by you and do you come to me?” That means, “I’m the sinner here, I need forgiveness from you, Jesus, why are you coming to me?” But Jesus’ words are so beautiful. “Permit it now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.”
Whose righteousness is he talking about? He’s already righteous. He hasn’t committed a single sin. His whole life has been pure and holy. So it’s not his righteousness he’s concerned about. It’s ours. And that’s why He comes to be baptized.
He’s in line with sinners, because He comes to take their sin on Himself. You can’t find a more complete identification between Jesus and us than Him lining up with a bunch of sinners to get baptized. But it’s not like Elon Musk in line at a foodbank. Because Elon can’t identify with poor people. He’s not poor. He would just be insulting them. But Jesus can identify with sinners. Because He becomes one. Not in the sense that He ever commits a sin. But He does bear them. He does feel their weight. They do become His. John says this, “Behold the Lamb of God who bears the sin of the world.” And Jesus says it on the cross: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken Me?”
So this is the beautiful picture of Baptism – our Baptism and Jesus’ Baptism. It’s as if all of us sinners got dunked in the water of Baptism and our sins are washed from us and they’re infesting that water – our lustful thoughts, our pride, our temper tantrums, our laziness, our jealousies, our doubt and unbelief of God – all swimming around in that water like dirty little parasites, and when Jesus gets dunked in that same water, it all clings to Him, and He becomes the sinner. And He bears those sins to the cross. This is what St. Paul is talking about when He says, “God made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us.” And then we should picture all of Jesus’ righteousness, his innocence, his life, left in that water, so that when the water of Baptism washes us, it gives us what Jesus is. It’s what Luther called the happy exchange.
Baptism is not simple water. If it were it would just get us wet. And Baptism is not a work that we do. A lot of people think it is and since they know that we aren’t saved by our works and they think Baptism is our work, they don’t think much of it. Water, our work, it can’t be very important. We just kind of have to do it because Jesus told us to. Or we can make Baptism our occasion for making a big deal about giving our lives to Jesus.
But Baptism isn’t our work. And this really shouldn’t be debatable. I know it is debated, but look at the words, “in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” Baptism is done in God’s name, and if it’s done in God’s name God does it. Period.
And what does He do? If you just looked and saw water, you’d say, Well not much. He gets us wet. But God attaches His Word to that water. He attaches His name to that water, and that Word and that name are more powerful than heaven and earth.
God makes you see what happens in your Baptism with the Baptism of Jesus. What happened there happens to you. The Father speaks from heaven, “This is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.” The Spirit descends like a dove. Jesus stands in your place.
That’s what your Baptism is and gives. God gives you His Spirit. He speaks from heaven and puts His name on you. He calls you His beloved child with whom He is well pleased. He identifies you with His Son. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
Jesus calls His death His baptism. “I have a Baptism to be baptized with and I am in anguish until it is accomplished.” Baptism always means death in the Bible. Paul says the Israelites were baptized into Moses in the Red Sea, because the Red Sea killed the Egyptians who were trying to enslave them. Peter says the flood is a picture of Baptism, because by it Noah and his family were saved. But the flood saved only because it killed. Baptism itself is a drowning, a killing. So our Baptism saves us because Jesus’ Baptism killed Him. It drove Him to the cross. And in our Baptism we sinners die with Him to rise again with Him to new life as Christians and children of God.
What Jesus earns on that cross, He gives to you in your Baptism. Baptism doesn’t earn anything. Obviously. Only Jesus’ living and dying and rising for you could pay for sin and conquer death. But Baptism is God giving it to you. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. It’s the Word of God in Baptism. Obviously. It’s not my word. Or your word. We didn’t come up with it. It’s God’s Word. And He applies that word specifically to you. He puts His name specifically on you in Baptism.
This is why we don’t sing, “I was baptized into Christ.” We say, “I am baptized into Christ.” Because it is a present reality. You call on God as your Father now, because He put His name on you and He hasn’t taken that name back. You are His child now, because He named you His child then and he doesn’t make mistakes. You are joined to Christ now and everything He has is yours, because He joined you to Him then.
Christians like to say, especially in hard times, “I don’t know how I could get through this without my faith.” I’ve said this. I’ve heard many of you say it. But it’s amazing that when Jesus talks about our faith, what does he say? O ye of little faith. He calls it little. And we know this from experience. What we should really be saying is, “I don’t know how I could get through this without my Baptism.” Because your Baptism’s not little. And if our faith is weak, if we struggle with doubts and temptations, what our faith trusts in, what it holds on to, is never weak. That’s why Paul says, When I am weak, then I am strong. Because we hold on to what can’t fail us – our Baptism.
The devil attacks the baptized. He’s already got the unbelievers. He attacks the baptized. God puts His name on you, and the devil attacks God’s child. That’s exactly what happens with Jesus. John baptizes Jesus and immediately the Spirit drives Him into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.
What does the devil do there in the wilderness with Jesus? He questions His identity. “If you really are the Son of God,” do this. And that’s exactly what the devil does to you when you are baptized. If you really are a Christian. He questions your identity. And he does it for two reasons. The first is to get you to doubt your status before God. And that is where you return again and again to your Baptism. O I have sinned. I know that, devil. I have doubted, I have been prideful, spiteful, selfish, and I can count them up as well as and better than you, but none of it changes the fact of my Baptism. God put His name on me there. He calls me His child. He unites me to Christ. He promises to forgive me. God doesn’t lie. He named me a Christian and I trust in Him and the word of my Baptism stands to this day.
The second reason the devil questions your identity is to get you to fall into sin. Are you a Christian? That’s really what confronts you every time the devil tempts you to act against God. Should you gossip? Should you say that hurtful word? Should you lose your temper? Should you look at filth? Should you despair of God’s mercy? And when you return to your Baptism, the answer is from God Himself: You are My child. You don’t belong to the devil. I saved you from the life of sin and death. I chose you, I gave you My Spirit, you died to sin, and you don’t need to live any longer in it. You stand on your Baptism and it has the power of God to do battle against the devil. And you know the war has already been won. The victory is yours. Christ is risen. He’s crushed the devil under His feet. We are more than conquerors through Christ who loves us.
And so it was a beautiful sight when your Lord got in line with sinners at the Jordan River to be baptized by John. He still joins us. Still fights for us. That’s the guarantee of your Baptism. And we follow in His train. Amen.