Tag Archives: Baptism of Our Lord

Working with Jesus – Sermon on Matthew 3:13-17 for the Baptism of Our Lord

Matthew 3:13–17

13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. 14 John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” 15 But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he consented. 16 And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; 17 and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

At Christmas, we celebrate the fact that the eternal God the Son came down to us so He could bring us up to Him. God, who is spirit (Jn. 4:24), became flesh and dwelt among us (Jn. 1:14). This is the wonder of wonders and deserves our eternal contemplation, thanks, and praise. That being said, God simply becoming flesh wouldn’t have done us any good unless He did more than simply have a body. God came in the flesh and used that body to be your Savior from sin, and that is what we see happening at Jesus’ Baptism.

Today, we’re mainly going to focus on how Jesus responds to John’s objection, but before we do that, we need to consider for a minute what Jesus’ Baptism accomplishes. John said the reason he was preaching and Baptizing in the wilderness is for repentance (Mt. 3:11), and Lk. 3:3 says John’s baptism was for the forgiveness of sins. But Jesus doesn’t have any sin, so He doesn’t need either repentance or forgiveness. That is why John objects and would have prevented Jesus from being Baptized (Mt. 3:14). Jesus isn’t Baptized because of His sins because, again, He didn’t have any. Instead, Jesus is Baptized to be anointed with the sin of the world. In His Baptism, Jesus steps into the office of being the Messiah or the Christ, both of those titles mean ‘the Anointed One.’

Imagine what was happening as John was Baptizing. People who recognized how they had sinned against God by idolatry, profaning God’s name, and breaking the Sabbath; people who were convicted of how rebellious they were toward their parents, murderers, adulterers, thieves, liars, and coveters; they were all coming to John repenting and to have those sins washed away in the waters of the Jordan River. So, imagine all the sins of all those sinners floating around in the water, making it filthy.

But then, Jesus steps into those repugnant waters. Since Jesus didn’t have any sin to wash away, He soaks up all those sins into Himself like a sponge leaving the waters clean again. This is why, the next time John sees Jesus, he says, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (Jn. 1:29). It is at His Baptism that Jesus, at least, begins to fulfill what was prophesied about Him back in Isaiah 53 – that He would be numbered with the transgressors (Is. 53:12), and that God would lay on Him the iniquity of us all (Is. 53:4-6).

One of my favorite verses is 2 Cor. 5:21, which could be viewed as an interpretation of or teaching about what happens at Jesus’ Baptism, “For our sake, [God] made [Jesus], who knew no sin, to be sin.” And I’d encourage you to personalize that verse: “For my sake, God made pure, perfect, sinless Jesus to be sin. God did that for me.” And the verse doesn’t stop there. It also tells you why God did this. He did it so that in Jesus, you “might become the righteousness of God.” Because of Jesus, believer, you are pure as God is pure (1 Jn. 3:3). Because of Jesus, dear saints, you are holy as God is holy (1 Pet. 1:16). Because of Jesus, Christian, you are righteous as God is righteous (2 Cor. 5:21).

Now, that brings us back to Jesus’ response to John’s objection. John doesn’t want to Baptize Jesus because John is the sinner who needs to be Baptized and have his sins washed away by Jesus. But Jesus replies, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness” (Mt. 3:15). Notice that, Jesus doesn’t tell John that He needs to be Baptized so He can fulfill all righteousness by Himself. No. He tells John that John has a role to play in fulfilling all righteousness, “It is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.”

John had a role and works to do with Jesus in Christ’s work fulfilling all righteousness. John’s role was to prepare the way of the Lord (Jn. 1:23), to proclaim a Baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins (Lk. 3:3), to point people to Jesus (Jn. 1:29) and finally, to Baptize Jesus. That was God’s purpose for John. God put John into that specific office and vocation, and God did that long before John was born. 

The Old Testament closes with the prophet Malachi, which was written about 430 years before Jesus was born saying that God would send Elijah before the “great and awesome day of the Lord comes” (Mal. 4:5). And Jesus says that John is the fulfillment of that prophecy (Mt. 11:13-14). All four Gospels say (Mt. 3:3; Mk. 1:2-3; Lk. 3:4; Jn. 1:23) that John the Baptizer was the fulfillment of what God said in Is. 40:3 about the voice crying in the wilderness to prepare the way of the Lord, which was promised about 750 years before John was born. For at least three-quarters of a millennia, God had planned that John would work with Jesus to fulfill all righteousness. John’s identity and purpose is completely bound up to Jesus’ identity and purpose as the Savior of the world.

Dear saints, the same is true for you. Jesus has also called you to work with Him to fulfill all righteousness. Christ calls you into particular offices and vocations to work with Him in fulfilling all righteousness. Sure, you weren’t called to do the things that John the Baptizer did, but you are called to work with Jesus – even from before the foundation of the world (Mt. 25:34). You’re familiar with Eph. 2:8-9 which says, “By grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” And don’t forget what the next verse (Eph. 2:10) says, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”

God places you into different offices in which you work with Jesus to fulfill all righteousness. You kids here, from the moment you were conceived, God put you in the office of being a child so you can work with Jesus to fulfill all righteousness by honoring and obeying your parents. You who are married, at your wedding, God put you into the office of husband or wife to work with Jesus to fulfill all righteousness. As God blesses you with children, He places you into the office of parent where you fulfill all righteousness by raising your children, training them in the way they should go, and teaching them the faith. The same is true in your job, in your extended family, and with your friends. In each and every relationship you have, God is placing you into an office and giving you good works to do in order to fulfill all righteousness.

Whenever you do what God gives you to do in the different offices He places you in, you are serving God by loving your neighbor, and as you do that, you are working with Jesus to fulfill all righteousness. In every good work you do, God’s light shines through you, others see your good deeds, and they will glorify their Father in heaven (Mt. 5:16). Dear saints, you are God’s fellow workers (1 Cor. 3:9) and your deeds follow you (Rev. 14:13).

Now, to strengthen you in those tasks and to give you what you need, your heavenly Father invites you to His table where He will fill you with Jesus’ Body and Blood given and shed for the forgiveness of your sins. Through this meal, He fills you cup so it runs over with His righteousness (Ps. 23:5) and spills over to those around you. Amen.

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

Entrance – Sermon on Matthew 3:13-17 for the Baptism of Our Lord

Matthew 3:13-17

13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. 14 John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” 15 But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he consented. 16 And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; 17 and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

John the Baptizer didn’t invent Baptism. Baptism had been around for a long time before John. The most basic meaning of the verb ‘baptize’ is ‘to wash.’ In the Old Testament, God gave instructions to people who had become spiritually unclean to wash themselves before going to the priest to be declared clean. Just a few examples: If a person had contact with a corpse, he had to wash himself before being declared clean (Lev. 11:25). People with a skin disease, they were unclean, but when that disease cleared up, they were to wash and become clean (Lev. 13:6). And the person who brought the scapegoat into the wilderness was unclean because that goat was loaded up with the sins of all the people (Lev. 16:21, 26). When he returned he would wash and become clean from his proximity to all that sin. I could go on, but you get the picture. If anyone had contact with something that was unclean, that person was to wash and be declared clean. This is part of the background of the baptisms going on before and in John’s day.

To get an idea of what happens at Jesus’ Baptism, I want you to think about what happens when you wash dishes. You fill the sink, and the first dish goes into clean water and is washed. But the second dish goes into water that less clean because of the grime that has been washed off of the first dish. With every dish you wash, the water in the sink gets dirtier and dirtier. But you don’t empty the sink and replace the water for every dish. Even though that water is dirty with the filth and grime of many dishes, it still gets the final glasses and silverware clean. But when you are all done, you wouldn’t want to drink the contents of the sink.

Picture a similar thing happening as John baptizes. A thief would come to John confessing his sins. John would apply the waters of the Jordan to him, and he was clean because that sin had been washed away by the water. Adulterers would confess their adultery, and those waters cleanse them. A gossip would confess her sin and is washed. This was happening over and over. Sins are being washed away from sinners while the waters of the Jordan are getting dirty – even filthier than your sink does when you wash dishes. But now, Jesus comes to the banks of that sin-filled, scummy Jordan River to be Baptized, so John hesitates. He doesn’t want to Baptize Jesus because he recognizes that he is the sinner who needs to be washed by Jesus. But Jesus says, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.”

Then, Jesus enters those sin-filled waters and absorbs all those sins into Himself like a sponge. In His Baptism, Jesus takes all those sins so that He can bring them to the cross and die for them. And we say this because it is only after Jesus’ Baptism that John declares that Jesus is the Lamb of God who ‘takes away the sin of the world’ (Jn. 1:29). John can say that because of what happened in Jesus’ Baptism.

Scripture wants us to see that Jesus is absorbing all the sins in His Baptism because what happens in Jesus’ Baptism is the opposite of what happens to us sinners in our Baptism. In Jesus’ Baptism, He had all the sins of all people placed upon Him. In Isaiah 53, God says that Jesus would be numbered with the transgressors (Is. 53:12) and that God would lay on Jesus the iniquity of us all (Is. 53:4-6). Just like the scapegoat had the sins of the people confessed on it and laid on its head (Lev. 16:21), Jesus had the sins of the world placed upon Himself in His Baptism.

Baptism didn’t wash Jesus clean like it does you (1 Cor. 6:11; Eph. 5:26). Jesus was already clean because He lived a sinless life. Instead, Jesus’ Baptism infects Him with our sins, and Jesus does this willingly. We sinners come to the clean waters of Baptism filthy in our sins, and we come out with the washing of rebirth and renewal of the Holy Spirit (Tit. 3:5). Jesus is clean, pure, and without sin. But then, He steps into the filthy waters and comes out loaded up with all those sins leaving the waters completely clear and clean to be used in your Baptism.

Now, that brings us to what happens to each of us in our Baptism. Some Christians will say that Baptism is merely symbolic, but they are only half right. The Bible does teach that Baptism symbolizes things (which we’ll get to in a minute), but the Bible also teaches that God actually does stuff in Baptism. So first, what does the Bible teach that Baptism does – not just symbolically but in reality?

Scripture teaches in Ro. 6:3-5 that in your Baptism God joined you to Jesus’ death and resurrection. Galatians 3:27 teaches that God clothed you with Christ’s righteousness and holiness in your Baptism. 1 Peter 3:21 says that your Baptism saved you. God did all of that to you in your Baptism. This is not my opinion, understanding, or interpretation; it is what the Bible teaches. God works through Baptism to do all those things. So, continue to live every day in all the gifts and benefits that God gave you in your Baptism.

Baptism actually does each of those things, but does that mean that Baptism is not symbolic? No. Baptism is also symbolic. But the reason Baptism is symbolic is because God actually does things in Baptism. The symbolic things about Baptism teach us how to use our Baptism. While Romans 6 teaches that Baptism actually joins you to Jesus’ death and resurrection, Paul will go on in the rest of Romans 6-7 to say that we Baptized still sin. From that we conclude that Baptism also symbolizes the new life we are to have after our Baptism. Baptized Christians should daily repent and die to sin so that our new man would daily come forth and rise to live before God in righteousness and holiness forever (SC Baptism IV).

1 Peter 3:21 teaches that Baptism actually saves, but when you look at the context, you also see that Baptism symbolizes Noah’s Flood. In the Flood, the water was both the instrument of judgment and deliverance. The floodwaters were sent to purge evil from the world and wash it away. But the waters were also the instrument that saved Noah and his family. So, the picture in Christian Baptism is that the waters wash away, purge, and judge the sin and evil in you. But that doesn’t mean that once you are Baptized, you never need to darken the door of a church again. Instead, those waters of your Baptism also lift you up above God’s judgment and save you as you remain in the ark of the Christian Church.

1 Corinthians 10:2 teaches that Baptism symbolizes that you are led out of slavery to sin just like the Israelites were led out of slavery in Egypt by passing through the waters of the Red Sea, so don’t go back to your slavery in sin. And I could go on and on about other things that Baptism symbolizes. But I want to leave you with one final thing that your Baptism symbolizes, and that is your entrance into the kingdom of God.

In our Old Testament lesson (Josh. 3:1-3, 7-8, 13-17), God led His people out of the wilderness and into the Promised Land through the waters of the Jordan. In the same way, God leads you out of the wilderness of sin and death and into the promised land of His kingdom, His rule, and His reign as you follow Jesus. This is so comforting. In your Baptism, God led you out of death and into new life with Him.

But, dear saints, let us also remember where Jesus was led after His Baptism. In a lot of ways, we could say that Jesus’ Baptism was the beginning of His work as the Savior. Everything Jesus did before His Baptism – His birth, His obedience, and sinless childhood – was preparation. Then, after Christ exited the water of His Baptism, He was led by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness (Mt. 4:1). He went to battle with the devil fighting against temptation; casting out demons; healing the sick; restoring creation; raising the dead; and suffering, dying, and rising again.

In the same way, Christian, your Baptism is your entrance into a life of following Jesus as you fight temptation, as you serve your neighbor, and walk in a life of holiness and righteousness. In your Baptism, you are saved by grace through faith (Eph. 2:8-9). And your Baptism is your entrance into a life filled with good works which God prepared beforehand that you should walk in them (Eph. 2:10).

Even though you repeatedly fall into sin, the things God has done for you in your Baptism are still available to you. You will fail in your Christian walk, but God remains faithful to all the promises He has given to you in your Baptism. So, keep returning to them. Keep trusting in those promises because God is faithful to you, even when you are unfaithful to Him (2 Tim. 2:13).

Dear saints, Scripture teaches that God began a good work in you in your Baptism, and He will be faithful to complete it at the day of Jesus Christ (Php. 1:6). Amen.

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

I Need to Be Baptized by You – Sermon on Matthew 3:13-17 for the Baptism of Our Lord

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Matthew 3:13-17

13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. 14 John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” 15 But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he consented. 16 And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; 17 and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

John the Baptizer tried to prevent Jesus from being baptized, but it wasn’t the first time that John had the inclination to not baptize. A few verses before our text (Mt. 3:5-10), Matthew tells us that all Judea and all the region around the Jordan were being baptized by John. But, when many of the Pharisees and Sadducees were coming to John to be baptized, John sees them and says, John the Baptizer“You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruit in keeping with repentance.” The text doesn’t explicitly say it, but it appears as though John refused to baptize at least some of the Pharisees and Sadducees. But why? Why do they get a tongue-lashing and no baptism?

To get to an answer, we need to have a little background. First of all, we have to understand a little more about what baptism is because baptism isn’t something John invented on his own. The most basic meaning of the Greek word βαπτίζω (which gets translated ‘baptize’) is to wash something either by immersing it in or sprinkling it with water.[1] In the Old Testament, God had given lots of instructions to people who had become unclean to go and ceremonially wash themselves before going to the priest to be declared clean (like when a person had contact with a corpse Lev. 11:25, had a skin disease Lev. 13:6, the person who led the scapegoat into the wilderness Lev. 16:26, etc.). After becoming unclean by contact with what was unclean, that person was to wash and be declared clean, and this is the background of the baptisms going on in John’s day. They were further washings that weren’t commanded or forbidden in Scripture. Things that are neither commanded or forbidden in Scripture can be either good or bad. Scripture doesn’t command us to celebrate Christmas, but it is good and even necessary to do so. But we can make celebrating Christmas such a big deal that it becomes the only day that people come to church, which is bad.

We don’t have a lot of information about the history, but we do know that people who wanted to become part of the Jewish people would be baptized (though, these mainly appear after Christ’s ascension into heaven). But there are records outside of Scripture where baptisms did happen and were somewhat common during the time of the Old Testament and between the Testaments. However, these baptisms were all self-washings. They were a way of physically confessing your sins, turning over a new leaf, recommitting yourself to God, and making a better life for yourself. In other words, those baptisms were something people did forGod.

Now, we can’t say for sure, because Scripture doesn’t explicitly say it, but this is possibly why some of the Pharisees and Sadducees were coming to John to be baptized by him. Their thinking possibly went like this, “It is good to commit your life to God, and maybe people who are more sinful than I am will follow my example and commit their lives to God.” But here’s the problem with this attitude of the Pharisees and Sadducees, if that is correct, they weren’t coming in repentance to receive the forgiveness of their sins. And Scripture does say that John was baptizing unto repentance for the forgiveness of sins (Mk. 1:4).[2]

John was baptizing unto repentance for the forgiveness of sins, but the Pharisees in particular didn’t see themselves as having sins to confess. Remember Jesus’ parable about the Pharisee who thanked God that he was not like that rotten sinful tax collector (Lk. 18:11).

So, it is possible that these Pharisees and Sadducees who are denied baptism by John are not coming to be baptized because they have sins that need to be washed away. They are stuck in a way of thinking that they could do enough things for God that God would be pleased with how holy they were. They thought getting baptized was something more they could do to earn favor with God, so John refuses to baptize them because they aren’t repentant. The sad thing is that many Christians today have this type of view of Christian Baptism. They view Baptism as something they do for God once they have come to faith. But this is not the picture of Baptism that Jesus and the rest of the New Testament gives. Not at all!

Jesus' BaptismNow we come to our text. John is baptizing all these people. A thief comes confessing his stealing, an adulterer confesses his adultery, a liar confesses her sin, and John absolves and baptizes them. But then to the front of the line comes Jesus, and John knows Him (Lk. 1:39-45). They’re related to each other. John knows what the angel Gabriel told Mary, that this Jesus would be Son of the Most High, that He would reign over the house of God, and that His kingdom would have no end (Lk. 1:26-38). John knows the angel Gabriel told Joseph that Jesus would be the One to save His people from their sins (Mt. 1:18-25). John knows that Jesus is the sinless God in the flesh. And here He is coming to be baptized unto repentance for the forgiveness of sins? This shouldn’t be!

John recognizes that he is the sinner who needs to confess his sins and be baptized by Jesus. “I need to be baptized by You, and do You come to me?”

But Jesus reassures John, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” So, John consents and baptizes Jesus. The heavens are opened. The Holy Spirit descends like a dove and rests on Christ. And God the Father says from heaven, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” Such a beautiful picture of each Person of the Holy Trinity there at our Lord’s Baptism.

What happens when Jesus is Baptized is both the opposite and the same thing that happens to you in your Baptism. In your Baptism, God washed away your sins (Tit. 3:5-6). But when Jesus was Baptized, the opposite happened. Picture it this way. Those sinners who had been baptized by John in the Jordan came to have their sins washed away. But when Jesus enters those sin-filled waters, He absorbs all those sins into Himself so that He can take them to the cross and die for them.

We say this because it is only after Jesus’ Baptism that John says Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. John can say that because of what he saw in Jesus’ Baptism. There, Jesus had all the sins of all people of all time piled upon Him. in Isaiah 53, God says that Jesus would be numbered with the transgressors (Is. 53:12) and that God would lay on Jesus the iniquity of us all (Is. 53:4-6). That happened at Jesus’ Baptism.

You know how you feel when you are caught doing something wrong. You have a physical reaction – maybe you feel a rush of heat and guilt, and you feel the weight of it. Imagine having every sin of every person of all time piled upon you. How crushing would that be for Jesus? But having the weight and burden of the sin of the world put upon Him, Jesus hears the comforting voice of His Father, “You are My Son, with You I am well pleased. You are doing what I have sent You to do.” So, Jesus’ Baptism works the opposite direction of yours. Your Baptism washes away your sins, and Jesus’ Baptism is where Jesus is loaded up with your sins.

Matthew 3_17 - Baptism of Jesus Holy Spirit DoveBut also, the same thing that happens to Jesus in his Baptism happens to you in yours. In your Baptism, you are given the gift of the Holy Spirit and are made God’s beloved child. In your Baptism, God intimately joins you to Jesus, and to His death and resurrection (Ro. 6:3-6).

John’s question in our text, “I have need to be baptized by You, and do You come to me?” can be turned into a confession of faith. “Jesus, I need to be Baptized by You, and You have come and Baptized me.” Jesus does come to Baptize you and make you His disciple (Mt. 28:18-20). God has Baptized you through the hands of whatever pastor did the Baptism. It wasn’t the pastor doing it alone; God was Baptizing you. The pastor was simply God’s instrument to put the water upon you.

I have one final encouragement for you, and it is going to seem to come out of left field but bear with me. In Genesis 15[:1-6], God appears to old Abraham who has no children. God tells Abraham to try counting the stars and says, “So shall your offspring be.” God made a promise to Abraham and connected it to something physical that Abraham could see. And Scripture says, “Abraham believed the Lord, and He counted it to him as righteousness.”

Now, imagine every night of Abraham’s life after this. I wonder how often he would go out at night with that promise of God echoing in his ears and start counting. Imagine him trying for a while but then having to give up counting because he’d lose track. And yet, Abraham continued to believe God’s promise.

Dear saints, God has given you something even more precious in your Baptism. God connected His promise of mercy, forgiveness, and life to something physical, to water – something that you interact with daily. Baptism 2In your Baptism, God has given you the new birth of water and the Spirit (Jn. 3:5). In your Baptism, God has promised to wash away your sins (Act. 2:38-39), save you (1 Pet. 3:21), make you His child (Mt. 3:17), connect you to Jesus’ death and resurrection (Ro. 6:3-6), clothe you with Christ (Gal. 3:27), and fill you with the Holy Spirit (Tit. 3:5). So now, whenever wash your hands or take a shower, you can remember that God Himself has washed you clean and made you holy and sacred. Whenever you take a drink, you can remember that, in your Baptism, Jesus has given you to drink of the living water that wells up to eternal life (Jn. 4:10, 14).

You have need to be Baptized by God, and God has done this. Believe these promises of God. Trust them. Don’t leave them. And if you do walk away from the blessings and promises that God has given to you in your Baptism, remember that God hasn’t changed His mind. Those promises are there for you to return to because God is always faithful. He who began a good work in you in your Baptism will be faithful to bring it to completion in the day of Christ (Php. 1:6). Amen.

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

[1] In Mark 7:4, Mark mentions that the Pharisees had rituals for baptizing (most translations will simply say ‘washing’) they would baptize cups, pots, copper vessels, and dining couches. Unless you want to ruin it, you don’t immerse a dining couch. So, to say that Scriptures always mean immersing when they speaks about baptism is simply wrong.

[2] Scripture does make a distinction between John’s baptism and Jesus instituting Christian Baptism (especially in Mt. 3:11-12 and Act. 19:1-7). And we could spend a whole bunch of time considering the differences but let me just say this. According the Scripture, John’s baptism is a precursor to Christian Baptism. John would have repentant sinners come to him, confess their sins, and be baptized by him. And it was those very sins that Jesus would die for. So, God was granting forgiveness through John’s baptism.

Exalted – Sermon on Matthew 3:13-17 for the Baptism of Our Lord.

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Matthew 3:13-17

Jesus' Baptism Spirit Descends13Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. 14John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” 15But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.”Then he consented. 16And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; 17and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Our texts today (both this Gospel lesson and the Old Testament lesson [Josh. 3:1-3, 7-8, 13-17]) bring us to the banks of the Jordan River. And to understand what is going on at Jesus’ baptism, we have to understand what happened in Joshua.

In that Old Testament reading, all the people of Israel are outside the land that God had promised to give to them. They had been waiting and wandering in the wilderness for forty years. Their leader, Moses, went up on a mountain to die. And Joshua, as God’s appointed man, takes over the leadership responsibilities.

Anyway, it is time to enter the Promised Land. So, God tells Joshua that He is about to exalt Joshua in the sight of all Israel so that the people will know that God is with Joshua as He had been with Moses. The priests who carry the ark of the covenant are to stand in the Jordan, and the waters of the river will be cut off from flowing so that the people can pass through on dry land. Just as God parted the waters of the Red Sea to lead God’s people out of bondage and slavery in Egypt (Ex. 14), God will lead His people through water into their own land.

The priests were carrying the ark and as soon as their feet are dipped in the brink of the Jordan (which, like our river here, floods its banks) the swollen waters stop flowing. The river stands and rises up in a heap. The people pass into the Promised Land near Jericho. And Joshua is exalted in the sight of the people just as God had promised (Josh 4:14).

So, what does this text from Joshua have to do with Jesus’ Baptism? Well, first the place is the same – the Jordan River, but there is so much more. Bear with me for a bit.

When John was out in the wilderness preaching and baptizing, he was there by the Jordan River – the place where God’s people entered their own land. Now, baptism is something that had been going on well before John ever started doing it. When someone who wasn’t a Jew converted and wanted to become part of God’s people, they would be baptized. The idea was that Israel had all gone through water to enter the Promised Land and become God’s people through their ancestors, so people who were converting would also go through water.

But remember, John was baptizing people who were already Jews. John is out there calling people back to their roots, back to the Jordan, back to where God brought them into their own land and made them a people. And they are being baptized ‘unto’ repentance (Mt. 3:11), confessing their sins, and receiving forgiveness. Sinners are going to John. They receive a baptism that is for sinners and brings about repentance.

Baptism of Christ - TheophanyTo that very place and in that very context comes Jesus Christ, our Lord. And what is He coming to do? He’s coming to be baptized!

John says, “No way! No sinner’s baptism for You.” But Jesus corrects John, and John consents. Jesus enters the waters of the Jordan. The heavens open. The Holy Spirit descends like a dove. And a voice from heaven says, “This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”

There is a lot for us to see in those two verses (v. 16-17). But to get the whole picture, we need to hear what John has to say about this event in the Gospel of John(1:29, 32-34[it’s in your Scripture insert]). After Jesus had been baptized, John is hanging out with his disciples. He sees Jesus and points to Him saying, “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.” John goes on to say how he saw the Spirit descend on Jesus and remain on Him after He was baptized. And John testifies saying, “This is the Son of God.”

So, here is the whole picture:

When Jesus, our great High Priest, was baptized, He stepped into the Jordan River. But the waters did not part like they did for the priests carrying the ark of the covenant. Instead, the heavens opened, and God proclaimed His presence in this world. And what is Jesus, our High Priest, here to do? He is here to be the sin-bearer.

All the sins of the people who had been baptized by John are there in the Jordan River. Jesus enters those waters. And as He is baptized, Jesus sucks up all those sins into Himself like a sponge. As Isaiah wrote, “[Jesus] has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. The Lord laid on [Jesus] the iniquity of us all” (Is. 53:4, 6, 11). That is why John can say that Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

As God lead His people through the Jordan to exalt Joshua in the sight of the people, God led Jesus (who shares Joshua’s name), the new and greater Joshua, and exalted Him by saying, “This is My beloved Son with whom I am well pleased.” And know why it is that God is pleased with His beloved Son. It is because He, in His baptism, takes on your sin. He takes on your sin so He can carry it for you. So He can bear it to the cross for you. So He can bear God’s wrath against that sin for you. So that He can die in those sins for you. And so that, when He rises from the tomb leaving it empty, your sin is nowhere to be found.

Baptism 2Christ’s glory, His exultation is to call you and chose you who are not wise according to worldly standards, not powerful, not of noble birth. Instead, He is exalted to choose us who are foolish, weak, and despised in the world (1 Cor. 1:26-31).

Christ’s glory is to be numbered with us transgressors and to bear our sin (Is. 53:12). He has taken your shame, your pride, your lust, your iniquities and given you His righteousness.

God’s delight and pleasure is in His Beloved Son, Jesus. And that is where you are. In your Baptism, you were united and clothed with Christ (Gal. 3:27). You were buried with Christ in your Baptism so that you would be joined to His resurrection (Ro. 6:3-4). Jesus has indeed fulfilled all righteousness, and you are in that. Amen.

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