Sermon January 10, 1999 Let It Be So based on Matthew 3:13-17

Grace to you and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Once there was a young pastor who kept boring his congregation with sermon after sermon on baptism. Finally the church elders instructed him to preach on the subject of "pills" the following Sunday. They could see no connection between pills and baptism. So on Sunday, the young pastor announced that "Pills" would be his topic for the day. "There are big pills and there are little pills," he said, "bitter pills and sweet pills, cheap pills and expensive pills. Another pill is the gos-pill (GOSPEL)-and that gets to my real subject-'baptism.'

My real subject today is, not pills, but baptism. However, I suspect I have not been boring you by preaching every week on baptism. In fact, I wonder if I do not mention baptism frequently enough. As we consider our Lord's baptism today, we look to our own baptism also.

The gospel selection read today follows on one we read a few weeks ago in Advent. It discusses the work of John the Baptist. The Pharisees came to John to be baptized and he refused. Then he really lets them have it. He gives a message to them which is intended to wake them up. Baptism is not a work they do just for show. Baptism reflects true repentance in the heart. The Pharisees did not have this and were instead trying to use baptism to deceive others. So John went on baptizing and calling people to true confession of their sins and repentance from the sinful lifestyle.

In today's reading, Jesus comes to John to be baptized. John doesn't feel that would be right, but after Jesus explains things, John consents. As Jesus comes up from the water, the Holy Spirit descends upon Him, looking like a dove, and then the Father speaks words identifying Jesus. "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased."

What does this baptism of Jesus mean for us? To get to answering this, we will narrow our focus to the dialog between John and Jesus, which is as follows. But John tried to deter him, saying, "I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?" Jesus replied, "Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness." Then John consented. This short dialog between John and Jesus can teach us quite a bit about our attitudes in approaching God. It can teach us about being humble. It can teach us about doing things because they are righteous and proper in God's sight. It can teach us about Jesus who was our substitute.

Let us consider for a moment, John's statement: "I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?" In making this statement, John was making a point about himself and a point about Jesus. The point about himself is that He needs to be baptized by Jesus. He felt the need to undergo baptism, which should come from Jesus. Baptism was practiced by John as a sign of confession of sins and repentance. Quite simply, by John admitting he needed to be baptized, he admitted he was a sinner. Here was the man who was baptizing others, yet he knew he was a sinner. Was John not putting himself above others, by serving as the one baptizing them? Yet, here he claims the need to repent of his sins and be baptized by the one who is greater, whose sandals he is not fit to untie or carry.

This might cause you to think about your own pastor. Is the one you called, through the Holy Spirit, to preach to you free of sin? Is the man serving the Lord's Supper to you, and baptizing you and your children, and forgiving and not forgiving sins also guilty of sin himself? There is a heresy, a mistaken idea, which teaches that pastors must be free from sin or we cannot accept them as our pastors. This idea would consider the Lord's Supper and Baptism as being invalid if the pastor was a sinner. This idea is false on two counts: first all people are sinners, including pastors. Secondly, the validity of the sacraments does not depend upon the sinlessness of the pastor, but rather they depend on the power and efficacy of God's Word. It is God at work in the supper and baptism, not the pastor. The pastor merely represents the instrument delivering God's grace. We can take comfort in knowing that God works through pastors who are not perfect to bring His glorious gifts to people who are not perfect. We can also understand in those difficult times when a pastor must take a stand, that he does it out of the authority God grants through the congregation. It is not because the pastor elevates himself above others or considers himself better than others. Rather, the pastor serves as an under-shepherd of the great Shepherd. We all bow to the great Shepherd's authority, as John did when he said, "I need to be baptized by you."

John was also making a point about Jesus in his statement and question: "I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?" John questions why Jesus would come to him. Why would our Lord come to John the Baptist, who confesses himself a sinner and in need of baptism himself? John is really stating that things should be the other way around: Jesus should baptize John. Instead, Jesus is coming to John to be baptized. It is backwards from the way John feels it should be.

This gives us a lesson about approaching God. We come to God not with an arrogance over our lack of sin. We come to Him not with an attitude that we are doing pretty good. Rather we are humble. In humility, John is confessing that he is just as sinful as the people whom he is baptizing. He is not worthy to have Christ come to him for baptism. John gives us the perfect example of a humble attitude toward God. Admitting our sinfulness, we come to God seeking salvation. We come to God to be freed of our sins. We come to God to be baptized and to be washed of all our failures and crimes against Him.

John holds up Jesus as the source of baptism. John needs to be baptized by Jesus. He turns to Jesus in humbleness over his own sinful life, but he also turns to Jesus in respect, honor, and awe for he knows Jesus is the source of forgiveness. He knows Jesus is the one fountain of salvation. He looks to Him as the way and the truth and the life. He is the name above all names, our only hope in time of trouble.

In addition, John holds up Jesus as one who doesn't need to be baptized. He asks the question, "Do you come to me?" Jesus didn't need to come to him. Jesus didn't need to be baptized because he was without sin. Fully human in every way, the Son of God lived a perfect, sinless life. He had no sin to confess nor was any repentance necessary. He did not need to come to John, John needed to come to Him.

John is correct in what he says to Jesus. Yet Jesus has another point of view on the subject. Jesus replied, "Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness." Jesus' reply admits that John does have a point. He is telling John to permit it, to allow it, to let it be so, even though John is correct in saying it should be the other way around.

Jesus explains a lot with the little word "now" at the end of the statement. "Let it be so now;" Jesus is saying that His baptism by John is important at this time. John's statements have meaning, but at this time, Jesus is asking for something different.

The time frame is important. What we have with Jesus' baptism is the beginning of His intense period of preaching, teaching, and healing on earth. It is the beginning of his earthly ministry. After being baptized, Jesus goes into the desert for forty days and then comes the rest of his ministry which fills the pages of the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. So the context of the "now" Jesus mentions is the beginning. Now the time is right for Jesus to be baptized.

One of the early false teachings which crept into the Christian church was the idea that one should wait to be baptized. People who fell for this error would try to wait until they were on their deathbed to be baptized. See, they thought that baptism was the one shot they had at forgiveness. If you sin after you are baptized, then you are stuck. Others will teach that after baptism, sins must be paid for by good deeds, or years of suffering in purgatory or whatever other kind of nonsense you can think of. The truth is baptism forgives our sins, and it keeps on forgiving our sins. Baptism is not a one-time, "shot in-the-arm" but rather baptism is entering into the promises of God. It is having the promises of God applied to us, just as the water is applied. Baptism is coming to be God's child and with that coming, to receive all the benefits of God's limitless grace which keeps on forgiving and forgiving.

No, baptism is not a one time thing, but instead it calls us to keep coming back to our Lord to receive from Him through His promise. We use baptism each day to remind us that we are under God's promises and that we need God's promises. Each day, we can say the same statement John did, "Lord, I need to be baptized by You." We need our baptism each day. Martin Luther wrote about our daily use of baptism, when he answered the question of what does baptism indicate? Luther wrote, "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." Each day, baptism reminds us of God's promise to drown the sins in us and our sinful nature. Each day, we arise a new person, as we seek to live before God in righteousness and purity forever. Each day we work to live our lives according to God's will and command. We live each day in attitudes of the new man, the baptized, purified, child of God.

The second part of Jesus' reply teaches us of the higher purpose that He had in mind in coming to John to be baptized. Jesus said, "Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness." Jesus wanted all righteousness to be fulfilled. In His human nature, Jesus Christ had to be completely and fully righteous, without sin, right with God. In being righteous, Jesus could be our substitute. In being perfect and holy, He could die the punishment we deserved. He could go to the cross, though He did not deserve it. Jesus was baptized to fulfill all righteousness, meaning that Jesus in His human nature showed that humble attitude toward God, an attitude of confession and repentance. Jesus did this though He had no sins to confess or repent from. Jesus was baptized when He did not need to be and Jesus was crucified when He did not need to be. He did not need to be, unless He wanted to serve as our substitute. Then Jesus would undergo the baptism we needed and the punishment for sins that we deserved, as our replacement.

After Jesus replied to John, "Then John consented," reported our reading from Matthew. John was obedient to what Christ asked. He followed Jesus' request, because it would fulfill all righteousness.

In Jesus' baptism, we learn of John's humble attitude toward God, seeing His own need for forgiveness. Yet he also held up Christ as not needed to be baptized for He has always been without sin. Jesus and John showed us how to be obedient to what God calls us to, in fulfilling all righteousness. Foremost, we see how Christ was our substitute. He was baptized and He was executed for us. Jesus said "Let it be so," and John consented and Jesus was baptized for us. Fulfilling all righteousness, He was to be our savior, who is Jesus Christ. Amen.

Now may the peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.