A Dunk, a Dove and a Decree

       During my years in Sunday school we talked a lot about Abraham, Moses, David and other Old Testament heroes.  I was convinced that back in Bible times it was easy for people to believe in God because He was always talking to them from a cloud, through an angel, or from a burning bush.

       It was surprising for me to learn, therefore, that there were long periods in the life of Israel when the people had no direct contact with God -- either through these "speakings" or through the voice of a prophet.  Entire generations would live in reliance on the scriptures, the law and the worship forms without any direct voice from God at all.

       Between the last verse of the book of the Prophet Malachi and the first verse of the gospel of Matthew stretches a period of almost four hundred years. Malachi was twice as remote to the New Testament Jews as George Washington or Thomas Jefferson are to us.

       During this long period the voice of the prophet was silent. Israel was a non-prophet organization.  And I do not doubt that during this period many came to disbelieve that God had ever spoken at all.  The words of the prophets were viewed by some as cloudy images out of a dim past -- a time of superstition when their less sophisticated ancestors still believed in a God who acted and spoke and intervened in history.

       Then something exciting happened.  After four hundred years a new prophet appeared in the wilderness.  Matthew tells us, "John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea saying, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.’  John had a garment of camel's hair, and a leather belt around his waist. And his food was locusts and wild honey."

Steve Lady, Godspell

       We did Godspell on Maundy Thursday a few years ago.  Steve played John the Baptist.  I was Judas. 

       But enough about me and Steve.  Let’s talk about John and his baptism.

       Baptism, according to Jewish understanding, was not for Jews at all.  It was for proselytes--  non-Jews who were looking to become Jews.  Baptism was a regular rite for the admission of converts from other religions.

       So the novelty of John's baptism, and the sting of John's baptism, is that he is applying to Jews what had formerly been applied only to Gentiles.  He is suggesting that the chosen people need to be cleansed – that being children of Abraham by itself is not enough to insure favor with God.  And, apparently, many of the Jews agree. Matthew 3:5 says that "all Jerusalem was coming out to be baptized at the Jordan."

        Some representatives of the Pharisees ask John "Why are you baptizing if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the prophet?" John doesn't answer their question.  Instead he adds to their confusion.  John hasn't come to talk about himself.  He points to one who is still to come. "I baptize with water.   That's all I do.  What you see is what you get.  But there is one among you that you do not know and I am not even worthy to perform even the lowest act of a servant for Him -- not worthy to even untie the leather thong on his dusty sandals."

       Now here is the interesting thing, John didn’t know Him either.  He knows He is called to prepare the way for the Messiah.  But he doesn’t yet know Jesus as the Messiah. 

       We know that from the Gospel of John.  In John’s Gospel the Baptist makes it clear that he doesn’t recognize Jesus as “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” until the Holy Spirit came upon Jesus in the form of the dove. He says of Jesus: “I would not have known Him except that the one who sent me to baptize with water told me. ‘The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is He who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’”

       That sign wasn’t given until after Jesus is baptized. 

       So if John doesn’t yet know Jesus as the Messiah, why is he reluctant to baptize Jesus?   Why does Matthew tell us that John says to Jesus, "I am the one who needs to be baptized by you, so why are you coming to me?"

        I believe it’s because of what John knows about Jesus as a man.  It’s because John knows how Jesus lives his life.  John’s baptism is for sinners and John knows that Jesus is not a sinner. 

       Remember that John and Jesus are cousins. John has known, watched, heard and lived with Jesus, at least at a distance, for 30 years of his life.  So John's awareness of Jesus’ sinlessness is not revelation that God gave to John. It’s simply John’s experience.  It is a testimony that Jesus had earned by the way He lived His life before He began His public ministry.    

       Then, after the baptism, John receives the promised sign of the Holy Spirit.  He then learns that the One he has admired as a sinless man is much more than a man.  Jesus is in fact the “lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.”

       We don’t have a lot of information about Jesus from the time of his birth until he was 30 years old. All we know directly is that He grew up and found favor with the people around Him. There is a scene when He is 12 where we see Him gaining the respect of the religious leadership by discussing theology on the steps of the temple. Then suddenly around His 30th birthday, He steps out of the shadows and into the spotlight.

        Matthew writes:  “Then Jesus went from Galilee to the Jordan River to be baptized by John. But John tried to talk him out of it. "I am the one who needs to be baptized by you, so why are you coming to me?"  But Jesus said, "It should be done, for we must carry out all that God requires."   So John agreed to baptize him.”

       John says to Jesus, "you're this sinless person. You should be baptizing me not the other way around."  Jesus could have answered, "Yeah, you’re right.  You don’t even know that half of it.   I'm the Son of God. This is below my station in life.  What’s up with this?"

       Instead, Jesus says, "no. This is what God requires. This is the right thing to do." It is not below anyone's station in life to do the right thing.

       Dale Bruner writes: “Let us first of all simply be surprised that Jesus gets baptized at all. John had predicted the Christ as a baptizer (with Spirit and fire), not as a baptizee, not as a recipient of baptism. It is as if one were to announce the coming of a great preacher at a series of evangelistic meetings, and one night the preacher arrives — not at the platform but at the altar, not at the podium but at the penitents' bench, not to preach but to kneel.

       Bruner writes:  “This is Jesus' first adult act in the Gospel, and now in one scene we see what the adult Jesus will be like in the rest of the Gospel. I consider this incident Jesus' first miracle: the miracle of His humility. The first thing Jesus does for the human race is go down with it into the deep waters of repentance and baptism. Jesus' whole life will be like this. It is well known that Jesus ends his ministry on a cross between thieves; it deserves to be as well known that He begins his ministry in a river among sinners.”

       As Jesus steps into the waters to be baptized by John, He chooses to stand with us.  Jesus doesn’t need baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. But He insists on being baptized anyway because He has come to be with us in our need. 

       He is not qualified to be baptized for Himself.  After all, John’s baptism was for people who needed their sins washed away. It was a baptism of repentance.  That’s why John says, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?" 'I'm the one who needs the repentance!"

        And John is absolutely right.  Jesus is the spotless Lamb of God, who has come to redeem us. This is the one, born of a virgin by the power of the Holy Spirit, who is divine and who will not sin!

        The only thing that qualifies Jesus to be baptized is His love for us.

        There’s a true story about a newspaper reporter during the Korean War who was watching a nurse mop the gangrenous wounds of a Chinese soldier.  The reporter said, “I wouldn’t do that for a million dollars.”   “I wouldn’t either” the nurse answered and went on mopping.  Love takes us places we would never go otherwise.

         Love is the reason Jesus assumed human flesh.  Love is the reason He now steps into the Jordan River.  If righteousness is to be obtained by fallen humanity, Jesus must now stand with those who now bear the label, "sinners." And He does.  As Jesus steps into those waters on behalf of sinners He begins to act as our substitute.  He takes the first step in a life of standing in our place. Here He is baptized.  Later He will die for sins He never committed.

       You have probably read stories of events like one that took place in the town of Reardon, Washington a few years ago.  A picture appeared in the paper with the caption:  “Mark Busse, 16, of Reardon, Washington, poses with classmates from his high school in this eastern Washington state town.  His friends shaved their heads to show support for Busse after his hair fell out following chemotherapy.  His buddies said that they didn't want him to stand out in the 180 student high school.

        Despite his illness Mark Busse is a very blessed young man,  He has the best kind of friends anyone can have. Though they are not sick, although they have no reason in the world to shave their heads and experience some of what young Mark experiences – they do it anyway.  They identify with him.  They walk in his shoes.  They show him that he is not alone.  They perform an act, they give him a sign.

        That’s what Jesus did for us at the Jordan.  Jesus did not have to be baptized.  He did have the sickness we have.  He was not a sinner.  He had no cause for repentance.  He had no need to undergo the baptism of John.  But He did.  He did it because He is here to carry our burdens.

       He is also here to be with us.  I love the way Jesus explicitly includes John the Baptist in his first public act: "It’s proper for us to fulfill all righteousness."   Note the “us”.  John is involved in what Jesus is doing.  The ministry of inclusion starts here at the beginning of His ministry.  It will continue at the end of His ministry when Jesus asks His disciples to watch with Him in the Garden on the night before His crucifixion. 

        As far as possible, Jesus' ministry is shared with others.  Jesus wants John to be a part of His initial obedience.  It is significant that Jesus’ very first words in the Gospel of Matthew includes “us” in His work. 

       When Jesus comes up out of the water from being baptized by John, he receives an immediate confirmation from his family. He sees the Spirit of God, and He hears His Father's approval. It was like having your family come and cheer for you at your graduation.

       This scene is something like a family reunion — all three members of the Trinity reveal their presence in such a way that bystanders including John can see or hear them.  The first of the gifts of baptism is the Holy Spirit. The Spirit comes down like a dove. She does not come in a form that might have been suggested by John's announcement of what Jesus will do – a fire, an axe, a shovel. The Spirit comes as a dove. 

        This gentle dove power will be the hallmark of Jesus’ ministry among us.  John the Baptist will later be disappointed by this.  He announced Jesus as the one who would baptize “with the Holy Spirit and fire – who would burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” But Jesus ministry was characterized by acceptance, love and forgiveness.

       Does this mean that John got it wrong?  No, he just jumped the gun.  The Book of Revelation tells us that a time is coming when Jesus will indeed come as judge and remove all evil from the world.  But that will be at His Second Advent.  In the first Advent he doesn’t come to crush evil from the outside but to defeat it from the inside out on the cross. 

       Yes, the time is coming when Jesus will baptize “with the Holy Spirit and fire – and will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.  But not yet.  We are still in the time of grace where we can come to Jesus and receive forgiveness and wholeness. 

       Jesus receives confirmation of His appointed course from the voice that speaks to Him at His baptism.  "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased."

       That sentence is composed of two quotations. “This is my beloved Son," is a quotation from Psalm 2: 7. Every Jew accepted that Psalm as a description of the Messiah, the mighty King of God who was to come. "With whom I am well pleased” is from Isaiah 42: 1, which is a description of the Suffering Servant.

        By these words Jesus is given two certainties at His baptism.  First there is the certainty that He is indeed the chosen One of God.  The second is the certainty that the way in front of Him is the way of the Cross. In that moment Jesus knew that He was chosen to be King, but He also knew that His throne must be a Cross. In that moment Jesus knew that He was destined to be a conqueror, but that His conquest must have as its only weapon the power of suffering love. In that moment there was set before Jesus both His task and the only way to fulfill it.

       Only twice in the gospels does God the Father speak directly to the world from heaven.  The first is here at Jesus' baptism.  The second is at Jesus' transfiguration.  Both times the Father says the same thing: "This is my priceless Son; I am deeply pleased with Him."   On the Mount of Transfiguration He adds, “Listen to Him.”

       The one fact the Father wants believers to know, above all other facts, is how much we have in Jesus.  This is "My priceless Son. I am deeply pleased."

       So if we know this, we know the most important fact in the world. God is saying of Jesus, "Here in this man, is everything I want to say, reveal, and do, and everything I want people to hear, see, and believe. If you want to know anything about Me, if you want to hear anything from Me, if you want to please Me, get together with Jesus. Listen to Him!"

       We are going to do just that.  This morning we are beginning a sermon series on the life and ministry of Jesus.  This is the most important series I have ever preached here. 

       I’m calling this series “The Human Face of God.”  Because to know Jesus is to know God in our own language.  We need to listen to Him.

      As British biblical scholar, John Stott writes of Jesus in His helpful Basic Christianity:

      “To know Him is to know God;

       To see Him is to see God;

       To believe in Him is to believe in God;

      To receive Him is to receive God;

      To hate Him is to hate God;

      To honor Him is to honor God.”

      We need to listen to Jesus.  God says that that the most important fact in the world. 

      Jesus isn’t Lord because we worship Him. He isn’t Lord because our culture has elected Him. Jesus isn’t Lord because we worship Him and isn’t less Lord if we don’t worship Him. He is still Lord. He isn’t worse off if we refuse to follow Him.

       But we are.  Because Jesus is the way, the truth and the life.  And no one will ever come to God except through Him.