January 10-The Baptism of Our Lord-St. Luke 3:15-17, 21-22

‘Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer.’ (Ps. 19:14) Amen.

‘Grace, mercy and peace will be with you, from God the Father and from Jesus Christ the Father’s Son, in truth and love.’ (2 John 3) Amen.

‘“He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”’ (Vv. 16-17)

Does this sound familiar to anyone? It should. After all, we still do this same thing when the harvest comes on an average year. When you go out in your combine what comes out the back end as you harvest the grain? The chaff. I see it most years, all the combines going through the fields collecting the grain. As they drive along, out the back end comes a shower of plant matter. The chaff.

We do not do things the way that the farmers of the first century did, but we still do much the same things. This is what John describes here. He is telling his hearers what they already know, what a farmer does at harvest. The difference is in what John is connecting this to for his hearers. John is telling you and I that what we see happen at harvest will happen when Jesus comes. He is keeping the end in view as Christians always do. Paul and the prophets teach us this as well (1 Thess. 4:13—5:11). As the prophet Malachi proclaims: ‘for behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble. The day that is coming shall set them ablaze, says the LORD of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch.’ (Mal. 4:1)

In the first century a farmer would use oxen to walk the threshing floor having his oxen step on the stalks of grain piled on the floor. Then he forked away the loose straw. Next the farmer got out his large shovel or basket and used it to toss the grain mixed with chaff up into the air to catch the breeze. The wind would blow the chaff aside. The heavier grain fell to the floor. At last the grain was all gathered into containers for storage, and the chaff was burned.

In the same way, John is telling everyone who hears his preaching that the Messiah will separate believers and unbelievers. His judgement will be thorough. John is saying that this judgement is already in progress.

It will become public and final on the last day when he will ‘“gather the wheat into his barn,”’ and ‘“the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”’ (V. 17) Believers, you and I and all Christians, will enter into eternal life, prepared for you from before the beginning of the world (Eph. 1:3-10). Unbelievers will then suffer the punishment of hell. This punishment would be eternal. The fire John speaks of cannot be quenched. That is, it cannot and will not be extinguished[1].

This is Luke’s opening for bringing Jesus to be baptized.

In the verses left out by the readings, we hear that John the Baptizer was imprisoned by Herod. As with the Apostle Paul, this did not stop John’s preaching. We learn later that John had disciples even there. In this continuing of his prophetic office, John is strengthened in his faith and confidently and without resistance, he went to his death. He was given for the path God had set for him to walk by the words of your Savior. Even in prison, John was free indeed (St. Jn. 8:34-38)

This is a lesson for you and I as well. We, because we have been baptized, are given strength for the journey. It is the words of Jesus given along the way by Jesus Himself, which strengthen you for that journey. It does not matter who it is that gives these words; it could be a pastor, a friend, a stranger, or whomever. Jesus gave to John the words of the prophet Isaiah telling what the Messiah would do when He finally came. This was what Jesus was doing throughout His ministry. In the same way, by whatever means, Jesus gives us words of comfort and strength to carry us through in faith until the end.

‘Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heavens were opened, and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form, like a dove; and a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”’ (Vv. 21-22)

Just as on New Years Day, we hear of Jesus’ circumcision and naming with that first shedding of blood. It is a foreshadowing of what would come on Good Friday with Jesus’ suffering and death. So here we have a connection again. Here at Jesus’ baptism, we see that even in this, Jesus is numbered with we who are transgressors (Is. 53:12)[2].

Jesus was sinless as Paul tells us, ‘For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.’ (2 Cor. 5:21) Jesus was not baptized for Himself. Instead, Jesus was baptized to be numbered as One bearing your sins. In this act then, Jesus takes upon Himself all the sins of our sinfulness and bears them from this point until He pays for them on the cross. We see Luke making this point as we read through the Gospel. The whole Gospel takes on a darker and darker cast as we travel closer to Golgotha.

Jesus submits Himself to being baptized by His servant, John, in order to make holy all water. He does this to make possible your baptism and mine. For instead of cleansing the One, who was baptized here, the waters of the Jordan were purified instead and were honored with blessings! This is all part of the mystery of baptism. That is, how this one washing in the muddy waters of the Jordan River in Palestine could cleanse every flood and stream so that water is now able to cleanse you and I when combined with the word of God.

Jesus submitted to this washing not so that He might be cleansed. Rather, He was washed both to gather up your sins into Himself but also to cleanse the waters for your sake[3].

In the manner that this happened we are taught how God wants to be known. He is not simply one God. Rather He is one God that is three. This is the nature of the Trinity. We see this played out for our learning when we read these two verses.

‘Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heavens were opened, and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form, like a dove; and a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”’ (Vv. 21-22)

When Jesus goes into the water that He might be baptized, He teaches us to always be praying. You or I may often wonder about such commands to be continually in prayer. We feel inadequate because none of us do this. We are eating and getting dressed or we are working and going to school. It is always something.

What we think Jesus and Paul mean by this is not what they actually mean. When the Apostle instructs you and I to be continual in our prayer he is referring to the two times Jews were commanded to pray. They were given to pray both when the awoke and when they went to sleep in the evening, thus Dr. Luther gives us prayers for both of those times (SC: How to Pray).

Yet, have you ever wondered why the Holy Spirit chose a dove for His bodily appearing? Well, remember the Flood (Gen. 6-7). When Noah wanted to know if the waters had gone down he sent out a dove. Noah wanted to know if there was finally peace between God and man. We are washed in Baptism so that we might be innocent as doves. We are washed so that finally you are at peace again with God; your sins have been washed away. So also in Baptism we are made innocent and are gathered into the ark of the Church so that we might be rescued from the flood of sin covering the earth[4].

You now are washed clean and made to be at peace with God. You are no more an enemy of God. Your heavenly Father now declares over you ‘“You are my beloved son; with you I am well pleased.”’ (Vv. 21-22)

In Jesus’+ Name. Amen.

[1] Sermon Studies on the Gospels, Series C, p. 68. Northwestern Publishing.
[2] Ancient Christian Commentary Series, vol. III p. 67. Cyprian The Good of Patience 6.
[3] Ibid. Maximus of Turin Sermon 13A.3.
[4] ACCS vol. III p. 67. Ambrose Exposition of the Gospel of Luke 2.92.