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Sermon | Baptism of our Lord, Series A
TEXT: Matthew 3:13—18
8 January 2017
Stained Sheep & the Spotless Lamb
In the Name of +Jesus. Amen.
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; and
behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”
THIS IS THE WORD OF THE LORD.
Dear saints,
What St. Matthew is doing as he is telling us the story of the Baptism of our Lord, is he is taking us all the
way back to the story of Creation. What do I mean by that? Think about the story of creation. When God
created the world, the entire Holy Trinity was there. And each person of the Trinity had a part to play.
The Father was there, calling the world into existence. The Son was there—the Son of God, who, St. John
teaches, is the eternal word from the Father. So that, when God the Father speaks the world into existence,
when God calls forth this world out of nothing, that very Word by which the worlds were made is
himself, another person of the Holy Trinity—the Son of God. So the Father was there at Creation. The
Son was there at Creation. And the Holy Spirit is there, as Genesis 1:2 says, hovering over the face of the
waters—and here, we might think—like a bird, or maybe a dove. And it’s interesting: this is the only
place in the Old Testament where the Holy Spirit is compared to a bird, or a dove.
Once again, at Creation, the entire Holy Trinity is there. And each person of the Holy Trinity has a part to
play. And now fast forward to the Baptism of our Lord. And once again, the entire Holy Trinity is there.
And each person of the Holy Trinity has a part to play. The Father was there, speaking another Word:
“This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” The Son was there, standing in the water. And
this time, he’s not just the Word, but the Word has been made flesh, our Jesus. And the Spirit is there,
once again, hovering over Jesus like a dove, anointing Jesus as the Messiah, the Christ of God.
So we have this comparison, this similarity going on: Father, Son, Holy Spirit there, at the Creation of the
world. And Father, Son, Holy Spirit are there at the Baptism of Jesus. What are we to make of it? What is
St. Matthew trying to tell us? What St. Matthew is trying to teach us is that by Baptism—which includes
the Baptism of Jesus, and your Baptism—by Baptism, God is making a new creation. By Baptism, God is
making wrongs right. By Baptism, God is fixing what is broken. By Baptism, God is reversing the curse
of sin. By Baptism, God is undoing the effects of the fall. By Baptism, God is making this world, once
again, what it was always meant to be. By Baptism, God is making a new creation.
And we’re not going to understand, why is God making a new creation? Unless we first understand that
God’s first creation is broken. And we all know how the story goes: Genesis 3, Adam and Eve are in the
Garden. The serpent comes to tempt Adam and Eve to eat the forbidden fruit. They disobey God. And
through their disobedience, this world is plunged into sin and death. And dear saints, that fall into sin has
affected you in every way. Adam and Eve are your first parents. And that original sin is like a genetic
disease that gets passed down through the genetic code, to every generation of men until it reaches you
and me. So that the Psalmist, David says, “In sin did my mother conceive me.” [Ps. 51:5]
And how has sin affected you? When you look at your own life and see that it is broken, when you look at
your relationships, the relationships you have with those you love—but you see those relationships are
damaged because of the sin and self-centeredness which you have brought into them, and the sins which
others have brought into them, when you look at your body and see that it has gone weak with old age, or
suffers all sorts of pains and trouble, or is afflicted by all sorts of passions and temptations to do what you
know is evil, when you look at your life, and find it broken—all of this is the result of the fall into sin.
So what God is doing by Baptism—and again, this includes the Baptism of Jesus, and your Baptism—is
he’s making it a new creation. He’s taking what is broken and diseased and fallen, and he is healing it,
repairing it, and making it whole. And that new creation project includes you. God is making you a new
you, by Baptism into him. And this is how it works. Now there’s an illustration I’ve used in the past
couple of years on this Sunday, the Baptism of our Lord, to show how this works. And I’m going to give
it to you again to impress upon your mind and heart just how God makes us a new creation in Baptism.
And here it goes: imagine in your mind, the Jordan River. A long river flowing through a dark and
desolate land. And coming up from either side of the Jordan River are two steep river banks. And, on one
of these river banks there stands a flock of sheep. And this flock of sheep is in pretty bad shape. Number
one, their filthy. Their covered in dirt, and grime. They’re up to their knees in mud. Their wool is matted
down and nasty looking. They’re really smelly—it’s hard to even get near them. They’re just a big old
mess. And the reason is because they’ve spent a lot of time running away from their Shepherd. And
number two, their wounded. And they’re hurt quite badly. The wolves have attacked them, so that they’re
not only covered in dirt but, in blood. They’re bleeding and dying.
Now this flock of sheep represents all of sinful humanity. You and me and all the world together—we’re
somewhere in this group. Try to find yourself somewhere in this picture. And all of the mud, and all of
the dirt, and all of the grime that coats our wool represents the stain of sin. We come to Church confessing
we are not only sinful but also unclean. We stand before God with souls that are soiled with the stain of
sin. Because in sin, we’ve turned our backs to him. “All we like sheep have gone astray.” And the wolves
have attacked us: our greatest enemies, the devil, the world, and our own sinful nature, have attacked us to
the point of death. So that now, we are helpless. We can’t clean ourselves up. We can’t bind up our
wounds. We can’t make our wrongs right. There’s nothing we can do to save ourselves.
Now on the other bank of the River stands one solitary Lamb. And on the one hand, he’s like us, because
he’s one of us—he’s a lamb. But then again, this one is not like us. This one is spotless. Even radiant. His
coat of wool shines so brightly that it hurts the eyes just to look at him. He’s beautiful and strong. There’s
not a weakness about him. No spot, no blemish on this one. This one is without sin, without stain, without
blemish, perfect and whole and complete in every way. And this one is Jesus, the Lamb of God.
Now imagine the flock of sheep on one side of the River, and the Lamb of God on the other side of the
River. And both groups start charging toward the water at the very exact time. And in that very instant the
flock of sheep hit the water, their wool is clean, their wounds are bound, they come out the other side,
looking just like the Lamb who stood before them: perfect, whole, complete in every way. Meanwhile the
Lamb, when he hits the water, in that very instant, all the mud and the dirt and the filth and the blood is
absorbed into his radiant wool. So that now he bears in himself the sin of all the world.
And at that very moment John the Baptist points and says, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the
sin of the world.” [Jn.1:29] And at that moment the prophet Isaiah points at him and says, “Surely he has
borne our griefs and carried our sorrows…and God has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” [Is. 53:4] And
at that moment the Apostle Paul points at him and says, “God made him who knew no sin to be sin for us
so that we might become the righteousness of God in him.” [2 Cor. 5:21]
Do you see the point? Jesus goes into the water—the water of his Baptism—to take your sin. So that
when you go into the water—the water of your Baptism—you take his righteousness. Jesus goes into the
water to get what’s yours. So that, when you go into the water, you might get what’s his.
Jesus gets your sin in the water. And then he goes to the cross. And he’s condemned in your place, as if
he had done all the things you had done. As if he had been the world’s greatest sinner. As if he had been
denying Peter, persecuting Paul, betraying Judas, doubting Thomas. As if he had been all the things sinful
humanity had been. And he’s condemned in our place, for our redemption.
Jesus gets your sin in the water, so that you get his righteousness in the water. So that when you are
baptized, dear saints, the Father looks at you, and he doesn’t see an unholy sinner anymore. He sees his
perfect Son, his perfect daughter. He sees one who has been washed in the blood of the Lamb, clothed in
the righteousness of Jesus, wrapped up in the holiness and perfection of your Savior—because it’s all on
you now. Paul says, “As many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.” [Gal. 3:27]
So that a great transaction, a great transferal, a great exchange is going on in the water, the water of
Baptism. There in Baptism, Jesus trades your sin with his righteousness. And by trading your sin with
his righteousness, this is how God is making you a new creation. St. Paul talks about Baptism in this
morning’s Epistle as dying and rising with him. The Old Adam in you, with all of his sins and evil
desires, is drowned and dies at the font. And a new man in Christ is raised (daily raised!)—a new man
that now fears God and loves God and trusts God, a new man in Christ that is active in works of mercy
and charity toward his neighbor, a new man in Christ that shares with all the saints in the hope of
salvation—a new man is raised up at the font, to stand before God in righteousness and purity forever.
And we look forward to the Day when God’s new creation project will be complete. When as Paul says,
the good work which God has begun in you will be brought to completion. On that Day: the renewal of
our souls and bodies, will be complete. On that Day, we will rise from our graves, and this body which
has known weakness and decay here on earth, will stand before God, immortal and incorruptible. On that
Day, those relationships with those we love which have been damaged here on earth will be repaired, and
we will be reconciled to one another. And on that Day, our lives which, here on earth, are broken in many
and various ways, will be restored. And the separation which divides man and God will be dissolved. All
wrongs, righted. All broken things, fixed. And it’s all because our Savior took our sin in the water, and
gave us his righteousness in the water, in one great exchange, and made us a new creation in him. Amen.
In the Name of the Father and of the +Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.