What Reveals1 1 YrB (Baptism of Our Lord) [Psalm 119:97–104; Genesis 1:1-5; Romans 6:1-11; :4-11] 10, 2021 Rev. Frank C. Ruffatto ( Lutheran – LCMS – Charleston, WV)

Grace, mercy, and peace be unto each of you from our Father and our Lord, and King, the . Amen.

Let us pray: Heavenly Father, at the you revealed Jesus as Your Son: may we recognize Him as our Lord and know ourselves to be Your beloved children; through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.

You are having a delightful conversation with a new acquaintance at work. Your exchange reveals that you have a lot in common. You are both . Even though you have different church backgrounds, you share many of the same values. You both agree that the is God’s inspired, infallible Word. You both trust Jesus as the only way to heaven. You both recognize the greater culture’s precipitous slide into utter depravity and as Christians you hold to a higher standard of morality. You recognize that God has blessed you both in so many ways.

But then you come to a subject that reveals some differences between the two of you. The subject is Baptism. The teaching of Baptism is one among a number of doctrines that clearly reveals that not all churches are exactly the same. Your friend views Baptism as merely an “outward sign of an inward faith.” In other words, after a person repents and believes in Jesus, then he is baptized. This point of view sees Baptism only as our act of obedience to Jesus’ command in the so-called . It is something that people do to show that they are followers of .

But you have been taught differently. What you have learned from God’s Word is that in Baptism, God is the actor, not man. Baptism is not a law or demand, but a gift of God to bring us into his family. It is a word! In the Lutheran Church, we hold that Baptism is a “Means of Grace.” That is, God brings us forgiveness and eternal life through Baptism. In Baptism, the is given to us to bring faith and to strengthen faith.

I would not be surprised if most of us have friends or even family members who view Baptism as an “outward sign of an inward faith.” In this season after the Epiphany, though – a season of revealing and shining forth of Jesus – may we see anew that

BAPTISM REVEALS THAT GOD IS THE ONE ACTING THROUGH IT TO BRING US FORGIVENESS AND THE ASSURANCE OF SALVATION.

1 Sermon notes and background from Rev. Daniel Rinderknecht, , Lutheran Church, Billings, Montana Concordia Pulpit Volume 31, Part 1, Year A “John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of .”2 Suddenly, almost unexpectedly, here comes John, garbed like an prophet. He does his work out in the country, out in the wilderness by the river Jordan. He spends all his time in that desolate place preaching to the people. And the people! All those people! They just keep coming and coming! So, John baptizes, one after another after another! What does it all mean? God is taking action! The time had come for God’s last prophet to do what the Lord had planned centuries before: prepare the way for the Lord. (Does that Advent theme sound familiar?) The promised Savior was about to be revealed!

The fact that so many people were coming out to John to be baptized reveals that God was also at work in the hearts of the people. Mark emphasizes the movement of the great crowds we can picture in our minds by using hyperbole: “And all the country of and all were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.”3 Yes, this great multitude of people shows that God had given John some powerful tools: God’s Word and the blessing of Baptism. John’s Baptism reveals that God was at work.

John’s Baptism was not an “outward sign of an inward faith.” No, this Baptism was a real ‘Means of Grace.’ The great multitudes coming out to him were not there to show their faith and demonstrate that they already had the forgiveness of sins. They went out to hear God’s Word and to turn to Him in repentance to receive the forgiveness of sins. “John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.”4

John’s was a Baptism of repentance. The Greek word for repentance literally means “to change your mind.” Change your mind about your ! It will not bring you satisfaction or fulfillment. With every temptation to sin, there is always the deception that it will bring something good to us, some benefit, some fulfillment. But when we fall into the sin, we find the opposite is true. We experience guilt, emptiness, and shame. We know about relationships that are strained or have fallen apart. We know about the anger that simmers in our hearts and minds. We know of the envy – the covetousness – we can have as it seems others around us are doing so much better with so little effort. We know what it is like to be ungrateful even amid God taking care of us. And we know the death that that brings – not only in the end but the little deaths along the way that eat at our souls, that kill our joy, that can destroy our faith.

So, beloved: ‘Change. Your. Mind.’ Change your mind about sin! It only leads to pain and ultimately death! At the same time, in repentance, we change our mind about God. He gives us His Law to help us, to protect us, to bless us. He forbids sin not because He is trying to eliminate every pleasure in life, but to keep us from harm. Change your mind about God! He loves you even though you have sinned, and He offers you forgiveness.

2 Mark 1:4 3 Mark 1:5, emphasis added 4 Mark 1:4 2

John’s was a Baptism of repentance “for the forgiveness of sins.” The Greek word often translated “for” could be translated “for the purpose of.” John proclaimed a Baptism of repentance for the purpose of the forgiveness of sins. This little word for gives the sense of “leading to.” John’s was a Baptism of repentance, leading to the forgiveness of sins. All those people who went out to John, responding to his preaching, were being baptized for the forgiveness of sins. They were receiving God’s grace!

But there was one exception. “In those days Jesus came from of and was baptized by John in the Jordan.”5 Jesus was the only one among all the multitudes of people who came to John for Baptism who did not need the forgiveness of sins. Jesus is the only one who ever lived who did not need to repent. Yes, Jesus’ Baptism was different in that sense. But the Baptism of Jesus revealed that He was true God who had come to enact our rescue. “You are my beloved Son; with You I am well pleased.”6 So, the Father’s voice from heaven confirms. Jesus’ Baptism reveals that God had acted to keep His promise, sending the Savior.

The Baptism of Jesus marks the beginning of His ministry of salvation for us. At his Baptism, Jesus identifies with sinners and was anointed to bring good news to all. While sinful human beings receive Baptism for the forgiveness of sins, the only sinless human who is also God received Baptism as the one who would take all sins upon Himself. In the Garden of Gethsemane, we get an indication of this, when Jesus voices His distress, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death.”7 In this mysterious expression of agony, our Lord was already feeling the weight of sin with its guilt and shame. Soon, our Savior would be nailed to the cross, carrying the load of the world’s sins, and would receive not the commendation of the Father, but His rejection and punishment! At that moment, the Father was not well pleased with his Son!

But because Jesus acted to bear our sins in His body and took our place under God’s judgment, we have grace and mercy. We are blessed with the gift of forgiveness. When we were baptized, God was acting to do amazing things. “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like His.”8 In our Baptism, God acted to unite us with Christ in his death and resurrection. What a powerful Means of Grace!

St. Peter encourages us: “Baptism … now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the Christ …”9 In comparing the flood of Baptism with the historic flood of Noah’s time, Peter reminds us that by grace, Baptism is a means of salvation through which the Holy Spirit produces faith; and, that the life we are given in Baptism was earned by Christ.

5 Mark 1:9 6 Mark 1:11 7 :34 8 Romans 6:3-5 9 cf. 1 Peter 3:18-22 3

I think that the character, Delmar, in one of my favorite movies, ‘O Brother Where Art Thou?,’10 got baptism (mostly) right (even if unintentionally!). Hear the dialogue …

Pete: Well I'll be a sonofa[gun]. Delmar's been saved.

Delmar: Well that's it, boys. I've been redeemed. The preacher's done warshed away all my sins and transgressions. It's the straight and narrow from here on out, and heaven everlasting's my reward.

Ulysses: Delmar, what are you talking about? We've got bigger fish to fry.

Delmar: The preacher says all my sins is warshed away, including that Piggly Wiggly I knocked over in [Kanawha City].

Ulysses: I thought you said you was innocent of those charges?

Delmar: Well I was lyin'. And the preacher says that that sin's been warshed away too. Neither God nor man's got nothin' on me now. C'mon in boys, the water is fine.

Yes, God promises that in our He does not hold our sin over our heads but washes them away. And so, what a joy to know that every aspect of our salvation depends on God’s action; none of it depends on what we do. Even as we are encouraged to prepare for and perform good works, these are the harvest of God’s grace in saving us from our sins and are not prepayments or repayments for His salvation. The love and the grace God extends to us are in keeping with His merciful nature. So, it is no stretch to say, along with Peter that Baptism brings new life and spiritual cleansing.

God acts in our Baptism to save us! God acts in our Baptism to regenerate us – to make us new people, believers in His Son, Jesus Christ, the one who saves us. Our Baptism reveals the kind of God we have, one who is always in action for us.

We were not the ones acting in our Baptism; God was. In our Baptism, God acted to make us His beloved sons and daughters, with whom He is well pleased! Amen.

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.”11

10 You can find info on this film here: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0190590/ 11 Romans 15:13 4