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

Both ‘Messiah’ and ‘Christ’ mean ‘anointed One’. In our Old Testament Reading, God proclaims through the Prophet Isaiah the reality that the Messiah would be anointed with the Holy Spirit: “Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my Spirit upon him” (Is 42:1). Then God goes on to declare how Christ’s messianic mission would be to free us from the darkness of our sin: “I will give you as a covenant for the people, a light for the nations, to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness” (Is 42:6-7).

In our Gospel Reading – as we hear the historical account of Christ’s Baptism in the Jordan River – we also hear the fulfillment of Isaiah’s anointing prophecy. The Holy Spirit descends on Jesus … just as the Holy Spirit is given to us in Baptism as St. Luke writes in Acts: “let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38). And God the Father testifies to Christ’s divinity as well saying, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased” (Matt 3:17).

Our Epistle Reading from Romans also focuses on Baptism –giving us a detailed explanation of what Baptism is and what Baptism does for the Christian. St. Paul writes, “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.” (Rom 6:4-5) So, in Holy Baptism, Christ bestows on us the gifts of His death and resurrection.

Our reflection on this reading will focus on three glorious, divine truths that are revealed to us in God’s Word:
the great gift and benefits of Christ’s sacrificial death,
the great gift and benefits of Christ’s resurrection, and
what Holy Scripture says about how these gifts and benefits are given to us by God.

Regarding Christ’s sacrificial death, we note that it was for all people – not just for the elect people of God. As St. John writes: “He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world” (1 Jn 42:2). Jesus laid down His own life of His own free will: knowing that as true God He could take it up again (Jn 10:17-19). So, Christ’s motivation for laying down His life was His own divine selflessness … His willingness to be the obedient Son and Suffering Servant even unto death. Certainly, none of us deserve such selfless sacrifice on the part of Him who created us in the beginning … we who continue to demonstrate our rebellion against God by our pride and greed, our wrath and envy, our lust, gluttony, and sloth. It’s clear that none of us is deserving of such divine compassion.

Yet, in spite of our complete unworthiness, Christ died for our benefit. When He stepped into the waters of the Jordan River, He took the guilt of our sins upon Himself. And He bore that curse in our place all the way to the cross … where He put them to death in His body along with the imminent, eternal punishment that our rebellion and sins deserve.

Regarding Christ’s resurrection, we note that by His resurrection He has defeated our enemies of sin, death, and the devil. Sin no longer has mastery over humanity because Christ, the Second Adam, lived and died without sin in our place. And by His resurrection He’s defeated death. “Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” (1 Cor 15:54-55). The power of our archenemy Satan is gutted by Christ’s resurrection because death was his greatest weapon against us and now it’s been taken away from him.

Christ, the Stronger Man, has bound our ancient foe and plundered Hades (Matt 12:29) … leading all of us who were captive to sin captive to Him by His grace and mercy.

And Christ’s resurrection also gives us the promise of eternal life with Him. By His resurrection He has proven that He’s able to fulfill all His promises to us … including the promise that His disciples will behold His face in the brightness of His divine light –ruling and reigning with Him forever (Rev 22:4-5).

So, by His death and resurrection, Christ has defeated our enemies of sin, death, and the devil; and has won for us the benefits of sins forgiven, resurrection, and eternal life with Him. But how does Christ give us these gifts? He gives them to us in His life-giving Word as He himself said: “whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life” (Jn 5:24). He also sometimes attaches His life-giving Word to physical means … Sacraments … what we might call the visible Word. For example, He healed a deaf man by attaching His Word to His spit and touch (Mk 7:33). And He healed a blind man by attaching His Word to mud made from His spit and the waters of the Pool of Siloam (Jn 9:6-7). But these were one-off occurrences; He didn’t tell us to continue using spit or mud for forgiveness and healing. Baptism, however, has the enduring command and enduring promise of Jesus: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Mt 28:19).

What our Epistle reading teaches us, is that those gifts of Christ’s death and resurrection that we just heard about are given to us through Baptism. In Baptism, we die to sin. This is powerful stuff that, sadly, many faithful Christians refuse to believe because the Enlightenment rationalism that has dominated secular institutions and education for so long has severely eroded belief in the supernatural. It has formed our thinking to try and explain away supernatural realities and turn things that God has revealed to us in Holy Scripture into figures of speech and symbols. But, if we take God at His Word –if we don’t want to call Him a liar –then we have to believe what Scripture says about Baptism: a text that is not a parable … not a poetic image … not figurative language in any sense.
“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.” (Rom 6:3-4)

In this passage, St. Paul explains the connection between our Baptism and the death and resurrection of Christ. In Baptism we’re incorporated into the crucified and risen body of Christ in a mystical union… mystical because it defies our reason and senses but is nonetheless the spiritual reality that Scripture says it is. Our old sinful natures that we inherited from Adam are drowned. Our sins are washed away and sin’s power over us has been broken as St. Paul continues, explaining that in Baptism:
“We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin” (Rom 6:6-7).

And in Baptism, not only do we die to sin, but we’re given “newness of life” (Rom 6:4). St. Paul writes regarding our death in Baptism: “Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him” (Rom 6:8-9). The certainty of the new life that Christ gives to us in Baptism comes from His glorious resurrection. Since Christ is risen from the dead, death is powerless over Him and in Baptism He bestows that same freedom from bondage to death on us. Baptized into Christ’s death and resurrection you now “must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus” (Rom 6:11).

Again, by virtue of your Baptism, God says through Paul that you must “must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus”. So, in concluding this discourse on Baptism, St. Paul explains how Christians should consider our lives as those who are baptized. Through Baptism we are dead to sin just as Christ died to sin. But we are also made alive to God just as Christ lives eternally to His Father. As those who are dead to sin, we’re not to live in the old, sinful way of life. We’re, not to live according to the desires of our old sinful nature that keeps trying to pull us back into bondage to sin and death.

Rather, we’re to live according to the new man that’s been created in us by Baptism in lives of holiness … a life of holiness that’s empowered by the Holy Spirit who now dwells in us by virtue of our Baptism.

This is powerful stuff. In Baptism we die with Christ, we die to sin and are set free from it, we’re raised to new life, we’re called to walk according to that new life, we’re no longer slaves to our spiritual enemies, and we’re given the promise that we’ll share in Christ’s resurrection and live with Him. No figures of speech here –it’s just what God says He does for us through Baptism.

Holy Baptism is all about gifts … gifts from Christ our Redeemer to us … gifts that include His death and resurrection. Indeed, we could say that Baptism is a matter of death and life – creating spiritual life in those who were dead in their trespasses and sins by the power of Christ’s own death and resurrection.

So, does that mean that since you’re Baptized you can go out and live however you want with all of your pride, greed, wrath, envy, lust, gluttony, and sloth? That question takes us back to St. Paul’s initial point. “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?” (Rom 6:1-2).

We are still capable of rejecting the gifts that Christ has won for us and given to us in Baptism: turning away from Him in sinful rebellion.

That’s why “the old Adam in us is to be drowned by daily sorrow and repentance, and die with all sins and evil desires, and that the new man should daily emerge again and arise to live before God in righteousness and purity forever” (SC IV).

[Which, dear saints of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, is why I would encourage all of you to make Pr. Kangas your trusted confessor –asking him regularly to hear your confession and to absolve you according to Christ’s command … even asking him to have regularly scheduled times for private Confession and Absolution here at Good Shepherd. It’s one of the responsibilities that Jesus has given to pastors and it’s one of the gifts and Means of Grace that Jesus has given to you].

Beloved in Christ, in a blessed reversal … in a great exchange … Jesus stepped into the waters of the Jordan to take our sins on Himself. And He carried that sin all the way to the cross where He put it death for us in His own body. And by His resurrection, Jesus has gutted all the power that sin, death, and the devil held over us –bestowing this gift on you in Holy Baptism … in Word and Water. “For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ” (Gal 3:27) so that you may share in life everlasting. That is your inheritance as a Baptized child of God. It has made you His beloved son in whom He is well pleased.

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

Pr. Jon Holst