The Baptism of Our Lord
Isaiah 42:1-7; 1 Corinthians 1:26-31; Matthew 3:13-17
In the name of the Father and of the ☩ Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
In the rite of Holy Baptism, we ask a number of questions. The questions themselves aren’t necessarily essential to the sacrament, and they’ve changed a little over time. But they’re good to ask. They confess what Scripture teaches. So we have this threefold question about satan. Do you renounce the devil, do you renounce all his works, do you renounce all his ways? Then we use the Apostles Creed to ask if the person believes in the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Finally, we ask, very simply, if the person desires to be baptized.
The questions are pretty straightforward. We’re not startled by them in any way. Unless the person being asked is lying in their mother’s arms and maybe gurgling a little or possibly screaming aloud. But ever since the Church began, we have asked these baptismal questions of infants. Sure, the parents and the sponsors provide the answer for the infant who cannot yet speak, but it’s still a little startling, even to the pastor, to name the infant and then ask such important questions they cannot possibly answer.
Of course, this is why many do away with infant baptism. They wait until the child is old enough to understand, old enough to confess the Faith and sincerely commit themselves to God. Some will even ridicule the practice of baptizing infants.
So what do we do? We want to respond, especially if it’s someone close to us. But we often do one of two things. We might attempt to show that infants, too, can have faith. We try to prove that. Infants can believe. Which really isn’t difficult at all, because we can just point to John the Baptist, who hears the greeting of Mary from inside his mother’s womb and leaps. If a child in utero can be given faith, then certainly the argument has nothing to do with what a person can intellectually understand.
Or, we might try to find evidence of children being baptized in Scripture. So you have the whole household of Lydia being baptized in Acts 16, and the household of the Philippian Jailer, “he and all his family”(Acts 16:33), it says. You have Paul in Colossians referring to baptism as the “circumcision made without hands” (Col. 2:11), something that was done for infants. St. Peter preaches about baptism and says, “the promise is for you and for your children” (Acts 2:39). In fact, nowhere in Scripture does anyone warn against baptizing infants.
But as satisfying as those arguments may be to us, they actually miss the point. Rather than trying to prove that infants can believe, or that Scripture describes baptism as being for infants, we should instead focus on what baptism is.
Jesus tells us, this is how we make disciples, by baptizing (Matt. 28:19). Peter says it’s “for the forgiveness of your sins,” and that in baptism you “receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38). Paul calls it a “regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit” (Titus 3:5), and in 1 Peter 3, it says, “Baptism… now saves you” (1 Pet. 3:21). In fact, every reference to this sacrament is described in terms of what God does in Baptism. He’s the one running the verbs. He’s the one doing the doing.
So the question we should be asking is not “What are infants capable of,” but “What is God capable of, and what has He promised to do in Baptism?” Because if Baptism was your commitment to God or a symbol of your devotion, then we’d never baptize infants. We wouldn’t even need Jesus to enter the Jordan River. But God promises the forgiveness of sins in this washing, rescue from death and devil, eternal salvation without condition. So we ask infants questions. We don’t forgo those questions when the person being baptized can’t answer. The questions are important to hear because they teach all of us what Jesus is doing in this text. They teach us that baptism is a gift.
The Jordan is dirty, not because of the pollution and runoff, but because this is the water in which all of Judea has been baptized. It’s filled with the sins of the people. This is how it works. Everyone goes into the water with their sin, with every spiritual filth they’ve accumulated. They go to be washed clean. But not Jesus. He’s the only one who doesn’t need baptism. He’s the only one without sin. Which is why John questions Him, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” (Matt. 3:14).
So why does Jesus want to be baptized? Well, He answers for us, and He doesn’t say, “John, you know, this act symbolizes my faith.” He doesn’t say, “This is an outward expression of an inward change,” or “This shows my commitment to God.” That’s not what Baptism is. He says this is “to fulfill all righteousness” (Matt. 3:15).
For when your Lord enters that Jordan, all of the uncleanness of sin, all the filth that was washed off the people in their baptism, the filth washed off you, it’s all sucked onto Jesus. He absorbs it. It sticks to Him. He’s the only one to enter the Jordan clean, and the only one to come out dirty. In that way, Jesus is the greatest of sinners. That sounds strange to say, doesn’t it? Jesus is the greatest of sinners. He’s the worst and most filthy of all. Not because He sinned, but because He bears all your sins as if He committed them Himself. He bears your sins to the cross, and the sins of all humanity, and this is how He fulfills all your righteousness. This is how He takes away the sins of the world, by being covered in them. On the cross, He is considered to be the greatest of sinners. He suffered that punishment for you.
This is why your Baptism is such a treasure. You do nothing to earn it. It doesn’t depend on you at all. So you can say the same. If you were on your way to be baptized, and someone asked you, “Why,” you too could say, “So that Jesus can fulfill all righteousness.” By those waters, you are given the righteousness of Christ and made a child of God. And no one is excluded from this, certainly not infants. You can’t hear the pastor ask questions of an infant and think, in any way, that the child has earned or deserved this. Holy Baptism is nothing but pure gift.
You remember when the disciples tried to keep children from coming to Jesus. Our Lord rebuked them for it. And then He said, “whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it” (Mark 10:15). You see, it’s not that children must first grow up and achieve some sort of understanding before they can receive the salvation of Christ. It’s the other way around. The adults must become children. Children cannot earn this sacred washing. They don’t deserve it. They can’t understand it. When an infant is baptized, and we hear the pastor ask the questions, we tend to think, “Well, this is an exception. The child can’t answer, so the parents and the sponsors have to answer, because the infant can’t.” That’s wrong. It’s not the exception. This is the standard. This is how God works.
“God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God” (1 Cor. 1:27-29). So that you might not boast in your understanding, or rely on your commitment, your confession, how well you’re doing in life, or your faith. Baptism is God’s undeserved gift to you, forgiveness of sins, rescue from death and devil, eternal salvation, for you. It’s all gift. And an infant doesn’t reject it. Adults reject it.
This happens. The child, once baptized and given salvation in Christ, grows up to dismiss and refuse it. The sign of someone rejecting it is that they no longer make use of God’s Word. Church attendance is occasional. Scripture is a closed book. Prayer is silenced. And you have all flirted with that danger. At times, you have even used your baptism as an excuse to sin. Repent. Just because Baptism is pure gift—you do nothing to receive it—that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t actively live in your baptismal grace.
So use your Baptism. You have to think this way. Rather than Baptism just being something that happened long ago, use your Baptism. Remember it. The Old Adam in you wants to sin, wants to turn away from God and engage in filth, and despair, and doubt, and rely upon the things of this world. So daily, daily you take that Old Adam, that sinful flesh of yours, and you drown it. You shove it under the waters of your baptism, and you live in the grace of having been made a child of God. You need to know that the promises of Christ are applied to you in the water. This is whole point of making the sign of the cross. It doesn’t matter that you don’t understand the depths of God’s love, He assigns it to you anyway in this Sacrament. That doesn’t mean you’ll never struggle with sin, but you live in the forgiveness of your baptism. You live in the long, slow growth of grace.
And when you find that you have neglected your faith, when you fall into sin, you feel the depths of despair—you know you shouldn’t give in to such things, but you do—when it comes to mind that you haven’t been grateful, you haven’t trusted God, what then? Should we redo baptism? Should we wonder if it didn’t take? Maybe ask all of the questions again? Not at all. Remember, you’re the infant of God, the child who can only receive this gift by grace. And while you have struggled to be faithful to Him, Christ has never been unfaithful to you. He has never betrayed His promise, never rejected you. The Father counts you as His dear child with whom He is well-pleased. Christ has fulfilled all your righteousness. For you are baptized.
In ☩ Jesus’ name. Amen.
The peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Amen.
"If God is for us, who is against us?" 