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Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
The text that serves as foundation for our sermon are these words of St. Paul from our epistle reading, “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:3-4).
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus,
As we begin this season of the epiphany, as we begin this season celebrating the revelation of our in the mortal flesh, we begin rightly so with the baptism of our Lord, the day in which the church celebrates Jesus coming to the Jordan River to be baptized by his cousin John. Luther writes in the Small Catechism regarding baptism,
What does such baptizing with water indicate? It indicates that the Old Adam in us should by daily contrition and repentance be drowned and die with all sins and evil desires, and that a new man should daily emerge and arise to live before God in righteousness and purity forever. Where is this written? St. Paul writes in Romans chapter six: “We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.” (Rom. 6:4)”
In the Nicene Creed, we confess that we believe in one baptism for the remission of sins. Today in our readings we learn that we have been baptized into Christ's death and resurrection that we may walk in the newness of life.
Let us pray: Almighty God, our heavenly Father, we give You thanks that You sent Your son to the River Jordan to be baptized by Your servant John, that there in the waters, He may bless all waters to be a holy flood, cleansing all of us who have been baptized from sin. May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be pleasing in Your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer, that we who have been baptized into Your Son's death and resurrection may today and every day walk in the newness of life. It is through Your Son's name we pray. Amen.
To be certain, when people talk about baptism in our world, there are many out there who get it wrong. There are many out there who misunderstand what wonderful gifts God gives us here in the font. St. Paul says that “we have been baptized into Christ's death that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life”. The walking in the newness of life comes as an effect of our baptism. It comes as an effect of having died to sin in our baptism. It comes as an effect of that old Adam being drowned in the waters of holy baptism. Yet there are plenty out there who would put the cart before the horse. There are plenty out there who would get things reversed. We see it in a lot of Christendom today, unfortunately. A lot of Christendom would make it so that you do good work, you have a good confession of faith, and then as a sign of your holiness, a certain sign of your righteousness, a sign of your good deeds, your faith, then you go and be baptized. And when you fall away, when you stumble, when you trip up, when you mess up, well then, you get right with God through your own works, and then you go and be re-baptized. You see how this is a reversal of what scripture teaches? Do you see how this is the exact opposite of the gifts that baptism is promised and give us in Holy Scripture. When baptism is placed as our work, when baptism is made into what we do to declare our holiness with God, well then, there's no comfort there, because either you have come here by your own works or it stands there as a painful reminder of how you've fallen away, of how you've sinned, how you need to get right with God again. A lot of Christendom comes to think of baptism the way that Naaman thought of Elisha's command in our Old Testament reading. Elisha told him go wash in the Jordan seven times and you will be clean. And Naaman goes, “There are better rivers than Syria. Why should I wash in this river?” He thought it was about the washing. He thought it was about what he did. I thought it was about his own works. That's what so many think of baptism. That it was about our own works, what we do. And so it makes sense why Naaman and so many Christians in the world today find little to no comfort in baptism. If it was about Naaman going and washing, well then there would be no comfort there because it'd be about what he did. If baptism is about what we do, our proclamation, our righteousness, well then there can be no comfort there.
Thanks be to God then that ain't what baptism is about. Thanks be to God then that that's not the truth about baptism. It isn't about us. And that's why, each and every year, we are right to remember and celebrate the baptism of our Lord in the river Jordan. We are right to celebrate Jesus coming to these waters. Certainly He had no sin. He was the spotless Lamb of God. The Lamb of God who would take away the sins of the world. He was the Lamb of God who was without any blemish. And thus, when Jesus comes to the water of Holy Baptism, when He comes to the river Jordan, He's not coming as the other people were. John was there preaching a baptism for the repentance of sins. Jesus had no sins to repent of, and yet He came. John would’ve denied him, but Jesus said, “No, let it be done so.” So John baptizes him. Jesus enters into the waters. He's baptized by John as He comes up and as He's praying, heaven is open. The spirit descends upon Him in bodily form as a dove. And the Voice from heaven speaks, “You are my beloved son; with you I am well pleased” (Luke 3:22). There in the waters of the River Jordan, God is pleased with His Son. His Son who is doing His Father's will. A couple years later as Jesus is on the Mount of Transfiguration, again these words will be spoken by the Father.
But all of this is pointing to a moment when Heaven would not be opened up to His Son. When God the Father would not look down on His Son with love, but instead would hide His face. All of this is pointing to a moment when thick darkness would cover the earth, as God the Father, refused to look upon His Son. As there the spotless Lamb of God, hung on the cross, suffering and dying, bearing not His own sins, but bearing your sins, bearing my sins, bearing the sins of all creation. As there, the spotless Lamb of God, whom God had said, “you are my beloved Son, with you I am well pleased” now hangs, cut off from God. Now the Father hides His face. Now the Father refuses to look on His Son so that His Son cries out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Psalm 22:1) And yet it was the will of God to crush Him. It was the will of God that He should suffer and die for you and for me. It was the will of God to put him to death for your sins, for my sins. “Do you not know that all of you who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?” (Romans 6:3). “I believe in one baptism for the remission of sins”. All of us who have been baptized share in the same baptism. Yes, we have many different baptismal birthdays, but we all are sharing the same baptism: the baptism into Christ's death. There, our sinful nature was put to death. There, our sinful self was killed. The old Adam was drowned and died with all sins and evil desires. You have experienced death. Think about that. You have already experienced death. Right there, or whichever baptismal font it was where you were baptized, you died. Right there, your sinful self was killed. And right there, you also experienced the resurrection as a new man emerged to live before God in holiness and righteousness forever. And this wasn't your own doing. Naaman didn't get clean because he went and washed in the Jordan. He got clean because God's Word and command were there. You did not get clean from your sins because you washed in this baptismal font. You got clean from your sins because God's word and command were there with the water to make this water—every water—a cleansing flood for you, forgiving you of all your sins, so that you may walk in holiness and righteousness before God all the days of your life.
Does this mean that as we leave this font that we're all going to be absolutely perfect? Oh if it were so! No, as we leave this font, as Luther says, the old Adam, he's a good swimmer. He likes to show his head. But when we sin, and we daily sin, we don't need to come back here to the font. We don't need to come back here and be rebaptized. No we've already experienced the death that baptism makes us a part of. When we sin, all we need to do is confess our sins as we do daily in the Lord's Prayer, as we do every week right here in confession and absolution. And, when there's a sin that is weighing particularly heavily on your heart, absolutely there for you to come to your pastor and ask him for private confession and absolution. Your pastor doesn't care about what your sin is, he cares about giving you the comfort of the gospel. Your pastor cares about making sure that you have the sure and certain hope that your sins are forgiven and there in private confession and absolution He is glad that you lay his hand on you. and say, “I forgive you” restoring you to that baptismal grace each time we confess our sins. Restoring you to that newness of life that Christ has made you a part of through his death on the cross.
And so as baptized children of God, we depart from here, from where we confess our sins, and we go out into the world just as Christ would be driven into the wilderness to be tempted. And as we go through our lives, we get broken down, beaten down. As we go through our lives, we experience the hardships, the attacks of this world. As we go through our lives, we sin. So we come back, and here stands the font, that remembrance of our baptism. Here you confess your sins, and here the pastor proclaims that absolution once again. You again have the certainty that you have been baptized into Christ's death and resurrection because of the Word of God. Short of completely rejecting Christ, nothing you do can separate you from that love.
So my dear brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus, rejoice today and every day that you are baptized into Christ. Rejoice today and every day celebrating that you have experienced the one baptism for the remission of sins, that you have died to sin through being part of Christ's death on the cross. Rejoice that you have been resurrected to walk in newness of life. Continue to hope and trust in the grace that God has given you through the waters of Holy Baptism today and every day until at last we get taken from this veil of tears and we become part of the host arrayed in white and we get to sing God's praises forever. Amen.
And may the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
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