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Gaudate Sunday and the baptism of Leah Yvonne Lorentz.

Zephaniah 3:14-20

¹⁴  Sing aloud, O daughter of Zion;
shout, O Israel!

Rejoice and exult with all your heart,
O daughter of Jerusalem!

¹⁵   The Lord has taken away the judgments against you;
he has cleared away your enemies.

The King of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst;
you shall never again fear evil.

¹⁶ On that day it shall be said to Jerusalem:

“Fear not, O Zion;
let not your hands grow weak.

¹⁷   The Lord your God is in your midst,
a mighty one who will save;

he will rejoice over you with gladness;
he will quiet you by his love;

he will exult over you with loud singing.

¹⁸   I will gather those of you who mourn for the festival,
so that you will no longer suffer reproach.

¹⁹   Behold, at that time I will deal
with all your oppressors.

And I will save the lame
and gather the outcast,

and I will change their shame into praise
and renown in all the earth.

²⁰   At that time I will bring you in,
at the time when I gather you together;

for I will make you renowned and praised
among all the peoples of the earth,

when I restore your fortunes
before your eyes,” says the Lord.

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

Dear Leah,

Today, you are baptized. Today, you are joined with Christ’s death and resurrection (Ro. 6:3-5). Today is a day, as our text says, to rejoice and exalt with all your heart because, in your baptism, God has taken away all the judgments against you and cleared away all your enemies. Today, dear Leah, God has come to be with you – you are joined to Him. Because of your baptism today, you have no reason to ever fear evil.

And yet, you live in a world filled with hate, death, and evil. Tony and Angela (and all parents here), I am sure that you worry about what kind of world your child will live in. And I have to admit that I do too. The seemingly random terrorist attacks, of which we have heard whispers around the world, are here. The carefree life that most of us grew up with may very well be a thing of the past.

Leah, you are baptized, and now you have a target on your back. Satan will do everything in his power to cause you to leave the faith into which you have been baptized. Satan will attack you in ways that we, your brothers and sisters in Christ, cannot yet see. Satan will torment you in ways that your parents cannot even fathom. Leah, the devil, the world, and even you yourself will oppress you and give you plenty of reasons to mourn.

And yet, dear Leah, these words from God are for you just as they are for all of your brothers and sisters in Christ here today:

Sing aloud. Rejoice. Exalt with all your heart. The Lord has taken away the judgments against you. He has cleared away your enemies. God is in your midst. You shall never again fear evil. You see, Leah (and all of you here), your existence as a believer is the “already and not yet” of deliverance. Notice how all of these promises are yours now, and still God says that He is a mighty One who will save. He will gather those who are morning. He will deal with all your oppressors. God will change your shame into praise. He will restore your fortunes.

Leah, you will find out, like we, your brothers and sisters in Christ, have found out – life as a baptized child of God isn’t all peaches and cream. You will waver in your faith because you will have reason to mourn. You will have oppressors. You will have shame. Ill fortune will come upon you. And yet, dear Leah, rejoice in the Lord always, I will say it again, rejoice! (Php. 4:7).

As we heard in our Gospel text (Lk. 11:18-28), even John the Baptizer, the forerunner and herald of Jesus, the one who pointed to Jesus saying, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (Jn. 1:29), the one of whom Jesus said, “I tell you, among those born of women none is greater than John,” – even his faith wavered. John sat in prison for proclaiming the Word of God. In that dark, dank place, John sent some of his disciples to Jesus asking, “Are You the One who is to come, or should we look for another?” And Jesus healed many and said, “Go and tell John what you have seen and heard. The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them.”

Jesus doesn’t lead a throng of individuals who needed healing to John’s cell window and heal them so John can see. Instead, Jesus simply sends individuals with a message to preach. Leah, you may, at times, see God do mighty things. But the most important things that God does for you will be what you hear in the message of the Gospel, the proclamation of forgiveness which you cannot see. God and His work will most often be hidden. Even Zephaniah’s name says this – Zephaniah means ‘Yahweh is hidden.’ Even though God’s work is hidden from your eyes, rejoice because it is not about what you see but what you hear. So hear God’s promises to you in His Word. Even when you cannot see the forgiveness, life, and deliverance promised, those promises remain true, certain, and unchangeable.

Leah, today rejoice for your God rejoices over you. God rejoices and sings over you and exalts over you with loud singing because He has made you His own. You live under Him in His kingdom. And you will serve Him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness. So, dear Leah, and all you saints, “Rejoice, rejoice Christ is born of the virgin Mary. Rejoice.” Amen.

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.