It doesn't take long in the Christ-half of the Church year for the boy Jesus to grow up. It was just a mere week ago that we marveled at the 12 year-old Jesus in the temple. Just four days ago, the church observed Epiphany, and regressed about 10 years to when Jesus would have been no more than 2 years old, when he was visited by sages from the east.

Today, however, our Lord is about 30 years old. Luke helps us realize this when he wrote at the beginning of chapter 3, "Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and the region of Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, while Annas and Caiaphas were high priests, the word of God came to John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness." Then, he also says just after our text that "Jesus was about 30 years old." It was at this time that John preached in the wilderness the sermon just before our text, the same time "when all the people were baptized," and "that Jesus also was baptized."

And so, we have a very important event in the life of the Church, in the lives of Her members, in your life. So, let us explore this Baptism of Our Lord.

We start with John, Jesus' cousin. John was a man who, immediately after he was born, was proclaimed by his father as "prophet of the Highest," the one who "will go before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways."

To give knowledge of salvation to His people
By the remission of their sins,
Through the tender mercy of our God,
With which the Dayspring from on high has visited us;
To give light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death,
To guide our feet into the way of peace.

So, some 30 years later, we find John in "all the region around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins." Matthew and Mark tell us that John "was clothed in camel's hair, with a leather belt around his waist; and his food was locusts and wild honey"...typical wilderness prophet stuff. Matthew and Mark also tell us that "Jerusalem, all Judea, and all the region around the Jordan went out to him and were baptized by him in the Jordan, confessing their sins." We can surmise that this motley group of people included not only ordinary Jews, but also those who belonged to the Pharisees and Sadducees, even Gentile converts and curious Gentiles—Romans, Greeks, Parthians, etc.—all going to John in the Jordan wilderness and being baptized by him for the forgiveness of sins.

And, John's baptism indeed worked the forgiveness of sins. Those who came to John and received his preaching confessed their sins and were baptized for the forgiveness of sins in the Jordan river. John was in the wilderness "preaching a baptism of repentance." Repentance is the acknowledgment of and sorrow for sin, which is worked by God through the preaching of the Law. Those who received John's preaching, by the Law received contrition for their sin and repented of it. It is then that through the preaching of the Gospel that John directed the repentant to trust in Christ for the forgiveness of sins; he made it clear that the source of forgiveness was Jesus Christ, as you may recall from his interaction with the priests and Levites that John, the evangelist, records:

Now this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, "Who are you?"
He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, "I am not the Christ."
And they asked him, "What then? Are you Elijah?"
He said, "I am not."
"Are you the Prophet?"
And he answered, "No."
Then they said to him, "Who are you, that we may give an answer to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself?"
He said: "I am
'The voice of one crying in the wilderness:
"Make straight the way of the LORD,"'
as the prophet Isaiah said."
And they asked him, saying, "Why then do you baptize if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?"
John answered them, saying, "I baptize with water, but there stands One among you whom you do not know. It is He who, coming after me, is preferred before me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose."

Or, as he says in today's Gospel lesson:

I indeed baptize you with water; but One mightier than I is coming, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather the wheat into His barn; but the chaff He will burn with unquenchable fire.

John was fulfilling the Word spoken of him at his birth. By preaching a baptism of repentance, John was going "before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways."

To give knowledge of salvation to His people
By the remission of their sins,
Through the tender mercy of our God,
With which the Dayspring from on high has visited us;
To give light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death,
To guide our feet into the way of peace.

As it also happened, on this day during the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, etc., Jesus comes to John to be baptized. Matthew tells us that John tried to prevent Him from being baptized: "I need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me?" You might imagine that John is shocked at this. "I am the sinner, and you are the sinless One," he could have said, "What need do you have of a baptism for the forgiveness of sins? You are the source of forgiveness." And, John is right!

But Jesus says, "Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness." Jesus needed John's baptism to fulfill all righteousness. In a sense, Jesus needed John's baptism to be the source of forgiveness...to win forgiveness for sinful man. For it is in being baptized that Jesus unites Himself with sinful man and becomes the sinner for us. I like to tell confirmation students that in being baptized, Jesus became the designated sinner or designated sin-bearer for us. But, there are other words and phrases that are familiar to us that also get the point across: our Substitute, the Vicarious Atonement, the Propitiation for Our Sins. In His baptism, Jesus becomes all of these for us, in order to fulfill all righteousness.

Or, you can look at it this way as well. A great multitude came to John to be baptized by him for the forgiveness of sin. He brought them down into the Jordan to wash them, pointing to Christ as the source of the washing. You can look at the Jordan waters as being spiritually filthy waters, then. "When all the people were baptized, it came to pass that Jesus also was baptized," St. Luke wrote. Then Jesus is baptized in those spiritually filthy waters, an act that shatters the perceptions of holiness and His high priesthood, taking all of that filth upon himself.

It is no accident, then, that the Baptism of Our Lord is the beginning of His ministry as Messiah. For the previous 30-or-so years, He learned and worked at the craft of His step-father, making only brief appearances (if you will) as the Son of God (such as at the temple at 12 years old). Now, he breaks away from that life, receives John's baptism, and begins His ministry—He begins His arduous 3-year journey to Jerusalem and the cross—teaching, healing all manners of diseases, casting out demons, raising the dead, and forgiving sins. He begins His way toward the cross by taking into His flesh the sin of the world.

"But, how does He do that for those who were, are, and will be baptized after He was?" you might ask. Because in His baptism, Jesus sanctified the waters of this world for Baptism, as we just sang in the hymn, to work the benefits He promised in His word: "forgiveness of sins, rescue from death and the devil, and eternal salvation to all who believe this." For, it is written in Mark 16, "Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved," and in 1 Peter 3, "Baptism now saves you!" It is the same as saying that at the cross, every sin that was committed and that will be committed was nailed with Jesus and there died with Him. It is a "time-defying miracle" as it has countlessly been explained to me. It is futile to attempt any explanation beyond that; we have to take it on faith because the Word of God declares it to be so.

So it is that Jesus came to John to be baptized. This is He of whom John said, "His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather the wheat into His barn; but the chaff He will burn with unquenchable fire." It is incumbent upon us to recognize the One who joins Himself to us in His baptism also as our Judge. The words John spoke to his hearers are important also for us to hear.

Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves, "We have Abraham as our father." For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones. And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

Yes, dear Baptized, we must also hear the Law of God! Or do you not recall that Baptism indicates that the "Old Adam in us should by daily contrition and repentance be drowned and die with all sins and evil desires, and that a new man should daily emerge and arise to live before God in righteousness and purity forever." Your Baptism is not a one-day deal; it's not that you were baptized—no you are baptized!

Even if you were not yet be baptized, the word of God's Law would be for you, too. Contrition and repentance can be worked apart from baptism, especially in those who want to believe! As an example, recall the contrite thief on the cross next to Jesus. Or, perhaps look even to John's hearers in today's Gospel.

So, do not flee from the wrath to come. You will most certainly be faced with bouts of faithlessness. The toils and stresses of life on this earth will be difficult to bear. Stresses with health, relationships, work, finances, etc., can drive us to the point that we doubt God's love, presence, and providence—to the point where we curse God. However, I proclaim to you that these are not signs that God does not care, but that the contrary is true; these are manifestations of God's Fatherly will that we do not rely on ourselves but on Him—that we do not claim grace or favor because of who we are or where we come from or from whom we are descended, but that we look to God for grace and favor through His Son—that we confess our sins for what they are, in contrition and repentance, bearing that fruit in keeping with repentance, and receive the forgiveness His Son won for us on the cross, where He died with all of those sins washed upon Him when He was baptized.

"[W]hile He prayed, the heaven was opened. And the Holy Spirit descended in bodily form like a dove upon Him, and a voice came from heaven which said, 'You are My beloved Son; in You I am well pleased.'" Coming up out of the water, Jesus prayed. As He prayed, heaven opened. What a miracle! Heaven didn't open for anyone else baptized that day, or any day before, or any day since. The Spirit hasn't descended upon anyone since in bodily form like a dove when they were baptized. No voice came from heaven for anyone else proclaiming them God's beloved Son in whom He is pleased.

On the contrary, our sin keeps heaven shut to us. And so, in order to fulfill all righteousness, Jesus was baptized. In His baptism, Jesus opens heaven for us, for He bears the keys to heaven itself, as He proclaimed to John, the evangelist: "Do not be afraid; I am the First and the Last. I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and of Death."

Dear friends in Christ, that is why Jesus went to John to be baptized, to fulfill all righteousness. He was washed in order that heaven would be opened to us, so that our sins would be washed onto Him, and we in turn receive His righteousness and be received through Him in the presence of His Father in Heaven. For,

God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

What a Blessed Exchange! And so it is, because of that exchange, that in our Baptism we do receive the Holy Spirit, not in the form of a dove, but as our Comforter. Because of that most Blessed Exchange, in our Baptism, God in Christ claims us as His son in whom He is well pleased.

Yes, dear hearers, what a Blessed Exchange! Because of that exchange, it is my joy and privilege to proclaim to you who receive this Word of God that you are forgiven for all of your sins!