The Baptism of our Lord

The Baptism of our Lord (obs.) – January 12, 2025

Psalm 89; Isaiah 25:1; 26:11a; 28:5a, 2b, 10a; 41:18a, a; 52:13b; 12:3-5; Ephesians 1:13b-18

St. Matthew 3:13-17

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

In the season following the Epiphany of our Lord, the Church pays special attention to the miracles of our Lord. This is recognizing the connection between Christmas and Epiphany. At Christmas, we celebrate that God has become man. At Epiphany, we celebrate that this man is God. He is one man with two natures – True God and True Man.

It might be a little strange to think of the Baptism of our Lord as one of His miracles, but it is. And I’m not talking just about the revelation of the three Persons of the Holy Trinity, though these are the clearest words of Scripture on that point. The Son rises from the waters. The Holy Spirit descends from heaven as a dove and alights upon the Son, anointing Him, setting Him apart for His work of salvation. The Father opens the heavens and says, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”[1]

Our Lord’s baptism is a miracle because by it, He is sanctifying all waters to be used for your baptism. His baptism is not for the remission of His own sins, He doesn’t have any. His baptism is a baptism into your sins, that they would be placed on Him. This also has the effect of making your baptism powerful. In your baptism, your sins are taken away. In Jesus’ baptism, your sins are placed upon Him. If you imagine your sins as dirt and muck clinging to a washcloth, all that dirt and muck is washed away in your baptism. Christ, the perfect and clean washcloth, is baptized into that dirty water to soak up all the muck and take it upon Himself. You arise from the waters pure and clean. He arises bearing your sins. The miracle of your baptism is the miracle of our Lord’s Baptism.

So then, what is Holy Baptism? It “is not simple water only, but it is the water comprehended in God’s command and connected with God’s word.”[2] Though the image of a dirty washrag being made clean is helpful, Holy Baptism is not just a bath. It is not the removal of dirt from the body. It is a sacrament, that is, God’s word combined with a physical element (in this case water) and used according to God’s command. That command comes at the end of St. Matthew’s Gospel, “Go ye and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost.”[3] Holy Baptism is therefore the rite of initiation into the Body of Christ. It is the means by which Christ brings sinners into the Church, into His Body.

But what does it do? Or, what benefit is there to Holy Baptism? “It works forgiveness of sins, delivers from death and the devil, and gives eternal salvation to all who believe this, as the words and promises of God declare.”[4] Holy Baptism forgives the sins of the baptized. It takes the sinner, born a citizen of the kingdom of satan, and grants him citizenship in the Kingdom of Heaven. It takes a son of this world and makes him a son of God, marking him as an heir of eternal life, giving him a share in the inheritance of all that Christ has done.

This is a great treasure and should be prized by all who would bear the name of Christ. When satan rears his ugly head and tempts you to despair, it is good to remember the suffering and death of Christ on your behalf. But satan is an expert in temptation. He will tempt you to question if what Christ has done is good enough for you, or if you are good enough for Christ. For that reason, look to your baptism. There can be no question that you are baptized. You have had the waters of forgiveness poured out upon you. You have been baptized into Christ and no amount of suffering can take that away. You have been baptized into the suffering, death, and resurrection of Christ. Of this you can be absolutely certain.

And if you have been baptized into Christ, then He is good enough for you. No matter what wicked things satan might whisper, it can never overcome the voice of the Father, “You are my beloved child, in whom I am well pleased.” If you are baptized into Christ and the Father has said these words of Him, then He has said them of you as well. He says them at every Holy Baptism, even if our mortal ears are too weak to hear the sound.

How can water, plain water drawn from the tap, do such great things, deliver you from death and the devil and forgive your sins? “It is not the water indeed that does them, but the word of God which is in and with the water, and faith, which trusts such word of God in the water.”[5] Holy Baptism is not our work. It is not my work, even if I am the one saying the words and pouring the water. Holy Baptism is the work of God who, through His word, is tying Himself to the water. Through the Word of God, this water becomes “a gracious water of life and a washing of regeneration in the Holy Ghost.”

Now, even this miraculous work of God must be received. It is received by faith. At the same time that Holy Baptism bestows this faith, it is faith which receives the benefit of this glorious sacrament. This means that the baptized must continually be nurtured by the Word of God. The forgiveness of sins and deliverance from death and the devil cannot be taken away from faith but faith itself can be abandoned. The mighty ship of Holy Baptism is unsinkable, but we have the ability to jump ship if we prefer the things of this world to the Word of God. While Holy Baptism is a miraculous working of God, it is not a once-and-done, get out of hell free card. Using baptism according to the command of God necessarily includes a lifetime of learning. “Go ye and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost.”

The gift of Holy Baptism is for you, your children, and your grandchildren but it also necessary that you, your children, and your grandchildren continue to hear the Word of God, receive the forgiveness of sins, learn and grow in and into the things of God. Holy Baptism grants the baptized of any age everything necessary for salvation, but the slothful ignoring of your baptism is to despise your baptism. Satan is a crafty deceiver and will spend every day of your life tempting you away from the Word of God which has been joined to you in Holy Baptism. Don’t give him the upper hand by refusing to hear and receive that Word.

And when I say hear, I don’t mean sitting in the pew and letting the sound reverberate against your eardrums without entering your heart. The teaching connected to Holy Baptism is something that must continually work on your heart, mind, and soul. If at the end of the year, you are unchanged by the Word of God, from the youngest of you to the oldest, then you have prevented the Word of God from working on you. You have prevented the very faith into which you were baptized from acting upon your soul. Now is the time to return to your baptism. Now is the time to repent of your sloth and indifference to the Word of God and return to your baptism as a little child, hearing the things of God and receiving from Him the forgiveness of your sins.

And as the Baptized, such repentance will always result in the forgiveness of sins. That is why we are here. No one within these walls is without sin. We do not come here to receive forgiveness as a license to do whatever we want. We do not come to receive forgiveness as though it was something we are owed. We come to receive forgiveness as repentant sinners who know the cost of our sin. We see our sin and want to be free from it. We see that our sin has again stained the waters of Holy Baptism and that the Son of God, motivated by His great love for us, has taken that sin upon Himself and died for it. Hating sin and seeing the sacrifice of Christ, we gather in remembrance of His great mercy, humbly begging for that which is not our own – eternal life and salvation.

In this humility, we find confidence that what we ask for has been given to us. Though none of us deserves it, Christ our Lord sanctified the waters of the Jordan and all water to be a life- giving flood. He descended into the waters of Holy Baptism that we might rise to a new life. Holy Baptism “signifies that the Old Adam in us should, by daily contrition and repentance, be drowned and die with all sins and evil lusts and, again, a new man daily come forth and arise, who shall live before God in righteousness and purity forever.”[6]

The life of the Baptized is a combination of humility and confidence. We humbly recognize that we do not deserve a moment of God’s time, let alone His grace and mercy. We also are confident that He has had mercy on us and graciously poured out His blood on the cross that we might die to sin and rise to new life. In Holy Baptism, you have received the Holy Body and Precious Blood of Jesus, wrapped around you in a glorious robe of white. Humbly approach His throne of grace, confident that you are counted among the righteous—not by your own virtues, but by the Blood of Jesus, as a baptized child of God.

In + Jesus’ name. Amen.

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[1] St. Matthew 3:17.

[2] Martin Luther, Small Catechism, IV:1.

[3] St. Matthew 28:19.

[4] Small Catechism, IV:2.

[5] Small Catechism, IV:3a.

[6] Small Catechism, IV:4.

Vespers - Advent 1

 Vespers on the Wednesday of Ad Te Levavi – December 4, 2024

Psalm 24; James 5:7-10

St. Matthew 3:1-6

In the Name of the Father, and of the T Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

When placed side-by-side, the preaching of St. John the Baptist and St. James might seem in conflict. St. John preaches with urgency, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!”[1] The voice crying in the wilderness is desperately calling for the repentance of man. Now is the time to repent. Do not tarry, do not wait. Now is the time for repentance, not later.

But St. James calls for patience. “Be patient until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and latter rain.”[2] This seeming conflict can be resolved in three ways: historically, theologically, and practically.

Historically, St. John and St. James are addressing two different audiences at two very different times. St. John is calling Jerusalem, all Judea, and the region around the Jordan to repentance.[3] He is preparing the way of the Lord in a very present and historic sense. He has been called by God as the final prophet of the Old Testament to prepare the hearts of the faithful to receive the Christ. Our Lord is walking among these people, and it is urgent that they be prepared to receive them.

Those who hear the preaching of St. John the Baptist are in a dangerous position. They have the testimony of the Scriptures, the Old Testament. They also have the preaching of the Pharisees, who have turned the Messiah of God’s Word into a warrior of the state. They are looking for someone to arise and lead them to a new political state, one they can call their own. The hope of salvation is the hope for an independent country, without foreign influence. The faithful who hear the preaching of John, hear of the Messiah who will save them from their sins. They hear that the promise of the holy city is the promise of eternal life with God. The overthrow of their invaders is the overthrowing of their sin and all those who would persecute them for their faith.

They are in a precarious position because not only do they have these opposing preachers calling out to them, but they are soon to see One who claims to be the promised Messiah. They will have to determine if He is in fact the One who is to come or if they should look for another.[4] They must witness not only the teachings of the Christ, but His suffering, death, and burial. And, of course, His resurrection. But for the moment, they have the words of John and the words of the Pharisees and they must discern which aligns with the Word of God.

For those who have ears to hear, who recognize the voice of John as the voice crying in the wilderness, they must be prepared. They must be prepared through repentance and the forgiveness of sins. Their hearts are jagged with sin and must be planed smooth to receive the Christ.

St. James is preaching to those who have seen and heard the teachings of Christ, His sufferings, death, burial, and resurrection. They have the sure and certain Word of God that has transformed their hearts from jagged stones to hearts of flesh. These faithful are now anxious for the final coming of the Lord. They look for the Last Day and anticipate its coming at any moment. For many of them, this causes distress. ‘The Lord is coming very soon and yet there is so much to do!” Especially at this time of year, when many of us are entertaining friends and family, we understand this anxiety. There is always one more thing that needs cleaned, one more dish to prepare, one more load of laundry to put away.

For those of St. James’s day, this anxiety could even lead to abandoning the faith. ‘Christ said He would return but He hasn’t yet. Maybe He isn’t the Christ.” It comes a bit later in history, but there were even Christians who sought martyrdom. They would purposely turn themselves into the Roman or Jewish persecutors, believing that by sacrificing themselves they would become more holy. While it is true that those who are martyred for the name of Christ are especially blessed, nowhere does Christ call us to foolishly throw ourselves onto the fire. That is, in fact, against the commandments of God, especially those commandments concerning vocation. It is against both the errors of pride and despair that St. James is calling for patience among the faithful of Christ.

Historically, we see that St. John and St. James are preaching in two different situations on either side of the death and resurrection of Christ. Theologically, their preaching is also harmonious. Repentance is a matter of urgency. Now is the time to repent of your sins. Now is the time to throw yourself onto the mercy of God that He would forgive your sins for the sake of His Son. The Lord admonished Cain, “If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it.”[5] Sin is always waiting at the door, seeking to devour your soul. The more it is ignored, the larger and more ravenous it becomes. And, the more you ignore your sin, the more oblivious you become to it. Repentance is a matter of urgency.

The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand and the Lord may reveal Himself at any moment. Watch yourselves, that when He returns, you are not caught in the midst of sin. “The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light… But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.”[6]

At the same time, “do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?... Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”[7]

Anxiety is contrary to faith. Whether about the needs of daily life or the final coming of Christ, do not worry. Do not be anxious. The Lord will give you meat in due season and when the harvest is ripe, He will return to gather His faithful wheat into the heavenly barns.[8] That doesn’t mean we sit idly by and await the coming of the Lord. St. James compares our waiting to the farmer awaiting the harvest. If the farmer doesn’t tend the field, the seeds will be devoured by birds and the young plants will be choked out by thorns and thistles.[9] Although we are to be patient regarding the coming of the Lord, we are to tend the field of our faith through repentance and prayer.

And this is where the texts are united practically. If you think of your soul as the field, then we are to urgently tend the field. It is what lies before us. Tend to the field by repentance and faith. Tear out sin by the root and work tirelessly to increase the quality of the soil. This work is attending to the Word of God and prayer but also attending to your vocations. Serve your neighbor as a faithful wife, father, son, or daughter. Children, be diligent in your studies so that you can grow into serving your neighbor in other ways. Parents, be diligent in teaching your children, both the faith and the virtues necessary for life in this world. Care for the things you’ve been given and those beloved souls placed into your care.

Do these things with patience. Your reward is guaranteed. The Lord has given you the Kingdom in Holy Baptism and He will not take it away from those who wait on Him. Do we urgently and fervently pray for the final coming of Christ? Absolutely. Every time we pray, “Thy Kingdom come,” we pray that Christ would return to gather us home. But we need not pray with anxiety. We may pray urgently and with patience, resting in the promises that have already been fulfilled, even if our fleshly eyes and ears can’t see or hear it.

In + Jesus’ name. Amen.

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[1] St. Matthew 3:2.

[2] James 5:7-8.

[3] St. Matthew 3:5.

[4] St. Matthew 11:3.

[5] Genesis 4:7.

[6] Romans 13:12, 14.

[7] St. Matthew 6:25, 31-34.

[8] Psalm 145:15-16; St. Matthew 24:27, 36-37.

[9] St. Matthew 13:3-9.

The Second Last Sunday in the Church Year

The Second Last Sunday in the Church Year – November 17, 2024

Psalm 54; Daniel 7:9-14; 2 Peter 3:3-14

St. Matthew 25:31-46

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

The words of our Lord concerning the Sheep and the Goats is not a parable. A parable is an illustrative story that may-or-may-not be true (but generally isn’t), where the people, places, and events stand in for other people, places, and events. Next week, we will hear the parable of the 10 virgins. That parable depicts those within the church who have genuine, saving faith and those within the church on earth who are hypocrites, who give no attention to the faith once delivered to them. However, when Christ returns, there will not necessarily be 10 women waiting by a wedding hall where 5 enter in and 5 do not.

The Sheep and the Goats is not a parable because the division of the nations into the righteous and the wicked will happen, and it will happen as Christ describes it. He calls these two groups “sheep” and “goats” as an illustration and this illustration delivers the key to understanding this teaching of our Lord. The eternal fate of the nations, that is, all people, is not determined by works. It is determined by what they are. Sheep and goats are different animals. To use biblical language, they belong to different kinds. One kind of animal is saved. The other kind of animal is damned.

It is fundamental to understanding the final judgment that you understand this concept. We will get to the judgment of works in a moment, but the separation into the categories of those who are saved and those who are not is determined by what you are. Are you a baptized child of God? Are you a new creation in Christ? Do you find your origin in the living Word of God? Then you belong to one category of man. Are you a citizen of the kingdom of satan? Are you the old creation of Adam? Do you find your origin in the loins of man? Then you belong to the other category of men.

On one of the occasions that the Pharisees challenged Jesus, they claimed to have no father but Abraham.[1] Fundamental to their understanding of the world is that they can trace their blood and their faith from man to man, all the way back to Abraham. What are they saying? They claim that the most important aspect of their salvation is who donated DNA to their existence. They find salvation in their blood heritage. Since the time of Christ, the Jewish people have obstinately continued in this lie.

Compare this to the teachings of Christ who said, “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple.”[2] Jesus is not teaching disobedience to parents. He is boldly stating that the Word of God is more important than blood. We are the true children of Abraham because we have continued in the same faith delivered to Abraham. We are the true children of Adam because we continue in the same faith delivered in Eden immediately following the Fall. We are a different kind of being than the Jew, the Muslim, and the hypocrite.

The nations are divided according to the kind of being. The goat-sons of satan and all who disbelieve the Word of God are set to the Lord’s left. The true sons, of Adam, Abraham, David, and Christ, the sheep in the hands of the Almighty, are set to the Right.

After this division has taken place, our Lord judges the works of the sheep and the goats. After the determination of salvation or damnation, our Lord evaluates their works. The sheep are surprised to learn of what deeds they’ve done. They have no idea that they were serving Christ in all those ways. This is because they are true sons of God. A son does not need to work to gain the love of his father. Born within the son is the desire to be like his father. He wants to become the man who defines masculinity in the eyes of the son.

From the son’s perspective, that usually means trying to find great deeds of heroism to impress his father. But from the father’s perspective, it is the subtle traits of maturity that make him proud; the effort to become a better man that warms his heart. This relationship found in man is a reflection of the Almighty’s relationship with mankind. We distract ourselves with the idea of big, heroic works of righteousness when what our Father sees is our works in secret. He sees the daily acts of love toward our neighbors.

The goats are likewise surprised to learn of what they haven’t done. They believe that they’ve done their best, that they are “pretty good people,” that they did their time in Sunday School and that those things should be enough. Yet the Lord has placed them on His left, sentenced them to eternal perdition. Why? They have rejected the Word of God made flesh. They have rejected the messengers of this Gospel. They have rejected the Church and her true love – the Words and Sacraments of God. If the Church is the Body of Christ, then these have amputated themselves from the body and a limb that has been cut off, shrivels and dies.

Now, it is incredibly significant that although our Lord speaks of the goats last, He concludes His teaching with a statement about the righteous. “The righteous will [will go] into eternal life.”[3] This indicates that whenever we consider the Last Day, whenever we consider the end of times, it is for the consolation of Christians, the comfort of your conscience. When Christ reveals Himself on that Last Day, it will be in glory, as He revealed Himself at the Transfiguration. He will reveal Himself in His glorified flesh, at the sound of angels’ trumpets. And this will be our call home. Like the dinner bell on the farm, or a mother’s whistle into the neighborhood signaling that it is time to come home for dinner, the return of Christ will be a joyous occasion for the righteous. Even before the division between the sheep and the goats, all those in Christ will rejoice that their King has come to dwell with them eternally, to bring them home.

In + Jesus’ name. Amen.

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[1] St. John 8:33. See also St. Matthew 3:9.

[2] St. Luke 14:26.

[3] St. Matthew 25:46.