Baptism of our Lord

January 12, 2014

Matthew 3:13-17

In Nomine Jesu

Jesus had traveled some fifteen miles to reach the Jordan River. As He walked along its edge, His eyes didn’t behold a pristine and pure river, a seamless coast of crystallized sand and a sea of fathomless sanctity. This was no blue lagoon. All in Jerusalem, in Judea, and the surrounding regions were bent low in this river, confessing their sins, averting their eyes from their fellow fallen comrades and being baptized by the baptizer. The scum that slapped the rivers edge was grimy and soiled by the twisted tales of sinners, of temple prostitutes and adulterers, of cheaters and thieves, of liars and lepers, of the shamed and the disgraced, of the unwanted and the unrighteous. Jesus beheld a watery grave and John was standing 6-feet down.

Now, just wait a min. This isn’t right. Why is Jesus even here? Of all the places that the manifested Son of God would be, this is the place that He has chosen? John shakes his head in disbelief as he bows before the Holy One, the Mighty One, the Righteous One, stuttering out the words, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me? [Mat 3:13]. John’s baptism is for the forgiveness of sins. But what sins does Jesus have to confess? What has He done to transgress the Holy Law of God? What sinful secrets does He have buried beneath His flesh? The answer is: none, which is why John reacts the way that He does. He doesn’t want the Righteous One having to rub shoulders with the unrighteous. He doesn’t want Jesus cuddling up to crowded lines of river trash, much less wading in it, or worse yet, being baptized in it. It just wouldn’t be right. That river of repentance is no place for the Lord’s anointed and perfect Son. It’s no place for the unbroken and unblemished Lamb of God. And yet, this is exactly why Jesus comes. He comes for sinners, for sinners won’t come to Him. He comes knowing this is exactly where He is supposed to be. So He tells John, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness” [Mat 3:15]. It’s as if Jesus is saying, “John, it’s good that I am here. It’s good that you are here. Allow this to happen, for this is for the blessing and righteousness of you and all people. Trust me John, I know what I am doing, and in what we do now and I do in times to come, it will be for the rescue and salvation of you and all people.”

We are often like John. We push Jesus away, the very love of our lovelessness, the very purification of our impurity. We hide in the reeds of the river, consumed by the horrendous thought of exposure. We slowly sink into the river of hell, fully aware that this is no place for God to dwell. We siphon off little by little the church’s gifts hoping that it’s enough to keep us from complete and utter despair. We tremble at the thought of openly admitting our sins, our nakedness before God and neighbor, hearing those filthy words coming out of our mouth. We wonder what good it does to confess before God our hurt and anger, our failure and shame, our demons and self-injurious thoughts. My life, oh Jesus, is far too gone. Just go and save somebody worth saving. My life, oh Jesus, You are far too good to be a part of it. You shouldn’t be here. This is no place for you.   

Maybe I am looking at this all wrong. Maybe it’s not the shame of a guilty conscience that torments us, that keeps us from the blest baptismal waters of the Father’s beloved Son. Maybe it’s our pride. In our excessive love of self we easily think that God really doesn’t need to be here. Why? Because we got this. Life is good. Money in the bank, food on the table, wife on the arm, kids headed for college. We can sit back and relax in our backyard hammock and daydream about how good we have it. And church? I don’t need that. My “real” life really doesn’t have much to do with church. I dare say it’s just a place I pop in every once and a while to get something off my chest and to see some old familiar faces. Why go to a river where all is muddied by sin and conflict, by dying and death, by brokenness and failure? I am so unlike nor do I want to be bothered by those hunkered down and bearing their soul to the baptizer at the edge of a cesspool of dysfunction. My life, oh Jesus, is fine without you. My life, oh Jesus, doesn’t concern you. My life, oh Jesus, You need not be a part of, cause I got this. You shouldn’t be here Jesus. This is no place for You. And this is no place for me.

Only one of two dispositions is possible. Either you stand in the sin-polluted river with your disgrace. You keep it all inside. You try and swallow the sin that eats at you from the inside out, and you try and look the part. Or you stand on top of your sand castle life keeping Jesus out of your life. You live and let live. You roll the dice blindly hoping it rolls in your favor. You enjoy the ride and when it’s over its just over. Silly mortals, the immortal Son of God has become mortal. He has come into His own creation. This truth, though denied by man, remains truth and is reality. What God has done, He has done. The Son of God, in becoming flesh has already gathered up the river’s despairing and weak ones, the onlookers and the gawking self-righteous ones. Jesus came for all. He is for all. He wasn’t baptized for His sin, for He had none. He wasn’t baptized for His repentance. He didn’t confess His sin for He had none. He was baptized into your sin. He was baptized for your repentance. He confesses your sin as His own. He is baptized in the midst of sinners, and for sinners. He is for those who confess it and even those who tragically who deny it. Strangely enough, the wheat and the weeds dwell together in this floating ark, even as they keel and receive the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ. An elbows length separates sinners on bended knee, and yet we can see for miles the anger they possess toward one another, the quickness at which they turn on another, and their refusal to forgive even as they eat and drink for their own forgiveness.  

If you, like the crowds on the banks of the Jordan River have acknowledged your shame and pride, this doesn’t mean you get a gold star. Your sin is not special. It’s probably quite bland and routine. Don’t get me wrong, its enough to incur the eternal punishment and death of the Lord, but its not so much that Jesus doesn’t want to take it away from you. You’re shame and disgrace, you’re unworthiness and unrighteousness, Jesus wants it. You’re fornicating and cheating, you’re lying and uncleanness, Jesus wants it. You’re pride and sand castles, you’re stubborn hatred and you’re refusal to forgive, Jesus wants it. He wants it all. He is the Lamb who is broken for you the broken. He is the beloved Son who is disfigured and dead on a tree for you the guilty. He takes upon sin the world upon Himself, you’re sin and shame, you’re demons and death. He wants you, no matter your condition. He wants you, his son. He wants you, His daughter. That’s why Jesus walks the banks of the Jordan River, beholding sin and death, gathering your sin and your death in a water-world of sin and death. He is baptized in order to take upon Himself that which you could never get clean of, never get away from, and never conquer. ‘Such is the grace and power of baptism; not an overwhelming of the world as of old, but a purification of the sins of each individual, and a complete cleansing of all the bruises and stains of sin” [St. Gregory of Nazianz, Orations, 40:7-8].     

He is baptized in water today. He will be baptized in blood when His hour comes upon Him. That baptism He underwent upon the cross; a baptism you could not bear, but He could. And yes, this is the last place you would expect to behold God. Just as He shouldn’t have been at the Jordan, nor should He have been at Calvary. A river sin and death gives way to a mountain of sin and death. And what sins shall Jesus die for upon that wooden cross? What evil has He done? What sin is in Him? None of course. But Jesus is not confused. He knows why He is hanging there. He is there for you, hanging in your place. It is finished. Righteousness is fulfilled. God is baptized in water and blood and now these testify to the Father’s promise, that you are His beloved child, a new creation, born from above. Jesus doesn’t despair over sin nor is He deceived as to what sin is. He knows its wrath, its power, its death. From the most inconceivable places, He brings about the most inconceivable results. He takes sin from man’s heart. He takes shame from man’s soul. He takes death from man’s body. Only God could be baptized into death in order for dying and dead ones to walk in newness of life. My life, oh Jesus, is hidden in Your baptismal death and resurrection. My life, oh Jesus, is Your cross and crucifixion. My life, oh Jesus, born from above, is Your glorious resurrection. This baptismal water, this baptismal blood, this shall be my peace now and in the days to come; in trials and temptations, at my last hour, at my last breath, though dead I lay, I shall rise and live forever in Christ. Why?  Because I am baptized into Christ.     

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