IT’S ALL ABOUT JESUS!
Matthew 3:13-17
“Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by
him.”
In every town and city, the people have their local legends.
In Princeton, NJ, you might hear of the time that Albert Einstein was walking in
front of a local hotel there. A fancy car pulled up, a dowager of much means
saw Dr. Einstein, yet did not know who he was. She assumed he was a bell boy,
and she ordered him to carry her luggage into the hotel. Einstein did as he was
told. He was given a small tip for his efforts. He then went back to ponderings
of the mysteries of the universe.
This little story may be true or may not be true, but it
does have something to teach us about Jesus. Because we can look backward in
time, you and I know what the dowager does not: the somewhat
disheveled-looking, scruffy and unassuming, small-in-stature man is one of the
most celebrated intellects of the modern era.
Another disheveled looking scruffy man was rumbling about in
the wilderness near the Jordan River shouting, “Repent, for the kingdom of
heaven is at hand.” The kingdom of heaven was what the Israelites had been
waiting for since they escaped from Egypt in the middle of the night a
thousand-plus years earlier, so they heard John’s message was good news. They
took off for the river to confess their sins, be washed clean, and made ready
to witness the arrival of the Kingdom of Heaven. If there’s a kingdom coming, then there must
be a king coming. They all had grand ideas of what this king would look like—big
and brawny and powerful, dressed to the hilt, riding with his entourage in
invincible chariots of fire.
Like the dowager, nobody at the riverside recognized the
king in their company. Jesus did not look like the king from heaven any more
than Einstein looked like the smartest man in the world. The confessors went
down to the river to pray for forgiveness, to be washed clean and made ready to
rejoice at the arrival of God’s kingdom.
We need to remember that these folks were believers who were
baptized before Jesus died on the cross. Think of that period in history as a
time of transition. When the sinners were baptized, they were looking FORWARD
in faith to “what we now look backward on in faith to the forgiveness and
deliverance that Christ would bring.”[1]
From our knowledge and position today, we can know from the beginning what the
river “repenters” did not: It’s all about Jesus. He was not the carpenter’s
son; he was God’s son.
Yet, my question today is, do WE know—really know—it’s all about Jesus?
Jesus’ baptism is a great place to come to a deep
understanding of our Christian faith—it’s all about the life, the death and the
resurrection of Jesus Christ.
The Life. John wanted to refuse to baptize Jesus, but Jesus
answered him, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all
righteousness” (v 15). Catch the importance of Christ’s baptism here: even
though Jesus’ life is without sin, it is here his obedience to God through his willingness
to be identified with sinners that fulfills all righteousness. The good news is
that Jesus’ righteousness is credited to our account. The righteousness of God
can be fulfilled in us because Jesus fulfilled all righteousness.
The Death.
Christians do well to remember that the baptism includes the symbolism of
death. Sam Houston “was a rather nasty fellow with a checkered past. Later in
life he made a commitment to Christ and Sam was baptized in a river. When Sam
came up out of the water, the preacher said to him, “Sam your sins are washed
away.” Houston replied, “God help the fish.”[2]
Fish are made to live under the water, but we are not.
Being under water figuratively means that one is weighed
down, crushed under, and prevented from living for one reason or another. There
is no air to breathe; we are trapped, we are completely and utterly alone. Sin
does that to us. It’s like death. The good news is that when Jesus was
completely immersed under the water: sin and death were conquered. Jesus’ death
his blood washes away our sin. His gift of salvation is credited to our
account.
The Resurrection.
Not timidly, not weak, nor shaken, but with energy and purpose, that’s what I
think Matthew means when he writes, “Immediately he went up from the water….” Jesus’
baptism marks the beginning of his public ministry and he is eager to get to
it. There’s not much time and a whole world to reach. Likewise, when Jesus came
out of the tomb, he didn’t wait around for people to show up to see him alive, he
abandoned the tomb and took off to reach them, and there wasn’t much time. This
too is good news.
In Romans 6, Paul asks us, “Do you not know that all of us
who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?
Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as
Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so too we might
walk in newness of life” (vv 3-4).
The baptism of Jesus Christ is our baptism, too. When we
arise and understand that our lives, our faith, our daily bread are all about
Jesus, and then we also arise to the same heavenly welcome and delight that God
spoke of his son Jesus by the river that day. Imagine: The heavens are opened
and God from above will say, “You are my beloved [child], with whom I am well
pleased” (v 17). Long for that day, my friends. Live a life that’s all about
Jesus, and these very words, “You are my beloved [child], with whom I am well
pleased” shall be added to your account, forever. Amen.
January 11, 2015/First Parish
Federated Church of South Berwick, ME/The Rev Donna Lee Muise, Pastor
