Transfiguration (Year A) [Matthew 17:1-8] (23-Feb-2020)

This sermon was preached at Our Saviour Lutheran Church, Semaphore, 8.45am, and Good News Lutheran Church, Albert Park, 10.30am.

Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ.

He was still speaking when, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.”

Prayer: May the words of my mouth, and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.

Today we are celebrating the event of Jesus’ transfiguration. This is the wonderful event in the life of Jesus where he took Peter, James and John up a mountain, and his clothes and face began to shine with bright heavenly light. We are also told that Moses and Elijah appeared next to Jesus, talking with him about his departure, his journey to Jerusalem to die as the Lamb of God for the sin of the world. We are also told that when Peter, who was completely amazed by this appearance and had no idea what to do, was suggesting that he make three tents for Jesus, Moses and Elijah, a cloud came and covered over everything. And God the Father spoke from the cloud, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.”

This is such a wonderful event, and yet many Christians don’t often think about it too much. We have a custom in our church of remembering this event, and celebrating it on the last Sunday of the Epiphany season. The Epiphany season is that time of the year after Christmas, which begins by remembering the visit of the wise men to the baby Jesus, and the Baptism of Jesus. The word Epiphany means to “show”, or “manifest”, or “display”. We see God making a wonderful “showing” when he sent the wise men a star to lead them to the country of Israel, and also when he “showed” himself as the Father, Son and Holy Spirit at the Baptism of Jesus: The Father spoke from heaven, the Son was being baptised in the water, and the Holy Spirit came upon him in the form of a dove. Today, as we celebrate the Transfiguration, we remember the wonderful way in which God showed to us the power and the divinity of his Son, Jesus Christ—he shows us that he is truly the powerful Son of God himself—by speaking his voice from the cloud, as wonderful light radiates and beams forth and shines from Jesus face, and body and clothes.

Actually, the two events of the Baptism of Jesus and the Transfiguration form a kind of pair of bookends to the Epiphany season: we celebrate the Baptism of Jesus at the beginning of the Epiphany Season at the beginning of January, and we celebrate the Transfiguration at the end of the Epiphany season. And both of these events have something in common. On both occasions, God the Father actually speaks his voice in the hearing of all the people who were present at these events. In fact, at both events, he says the same thing: This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased. However, at the Transfiguration, he says something extra: Listen to Him! It’s this command of God to listen to Jesus that I’m going to focus on today, and I think that these words of God the Father actually give us a wonderful interpretation of everything that goes on. In fact, these words are the centre and the focus of this event at the Transfiguration – Listen to Him!

 So firstly, today, I’d like to take us back to the Old Testament, to the book of Deuteronomy, chapter 18. Now, the book of Deuteronomy is a particularly special book in the Old Testament, which contains—if you like—a long sermon or speech from Moses, just as all the people are about to cross the River Jordan and enter into the promised land of Canaan.

Now, during the book of Deuteronomy, Moses gives the people all kinds of warnings to the people about what they should do and not do when they enter the Promised Land. Particularly, they must remain faithful to God, and not start worshipping the false gods of the people in the land. But not only that, but the people were not allowed to copy to worship practices of the people who worshipped other gods, and use these practises to worship the true God. For example, you might remember in the book of Exodus, when the people worshipped the Golden Calf. Not only did they worship this statue, but Aaron said that the calf was in fact God himself, and that through worshipping this statue of the calf, they were worshipping God himself. Do you see? Aaron made it look like they weren’t worshipping some other god, but that they were actually worshipping the God of Israel. But the people weren’t allowed to do this—they weren’t allowed to use idols, and such like, in such a way that they could gain access through them to God. The way to meet God was not to worship a calf statue made out of gold.

So, in Deuteronomy 18, this is what Moses preaches to the people. He says: When you come into the land that the LORD your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominable practices of those nations. There shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering, anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens, or a sorcerer or a charmer or a medium or a necromancer or one who inquires of the dead, for whoever does these things is an abomination to the LORD. And because of these abominations the LORD is driving them out before you. You shall be blameless before the LORD your God, for these nations, which you are about to dispossess, listen to fortune-tellers and to diviners. But as for you, the LORD your God has not allowed you to do this. The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen.

Let me read to you this last verse again. The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen. Moses is saying that God will raise up a prophet like himself, from his brothers, from the Jewish people. Now, there are a number of places in the New Testament, where this verse is taken to be talking about Jesus. After Pentecost, Peter uses this passage to speak about Jesus in one of his first sermons, after he heals a man sitting outside the temple. Stephen, the first person to be killed for the Christian faith, uses this passage from Deuteronomy to refer to Jesus. It’s as if to say, that since the people entered the Promised Land all those hundreds and hundreds of years ago, after Moses had died, they have been waiting for a prophet. And Christians say, that this prophet that the Jewish people had been waiting for centuries, is in fact, Jesus.

Let me read the prophecy again. Moses says: The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen. Now, let’s have a look at the Transfiguration, and see how this prophecy is actually fulfilled in our reading.

First of all, Moses calls Jesus a “prophet like me”. Actually, at the transfiguration, Moses is there. In fact, we’re not entirely sure whether this is Moses in his spirit, or in his body, because at the end of the book of Deuteronomy, it says that nobody knew what happened to Moses body. Mysteriously, here is Moses, talking to Jesus. And after Moses had received the law, we read that his face began to shine with bright light, such that he even had to put a veil, a cloth, over his head, because the people just couldn’t cope with and withstand this wonderful light. In the same way, Jesus’ face shines, but not only that, but his whole body shines, and even his clothes. But Jesus doesn’t normally appear like this, but he is always the Son of God, he is always God of God, Light of Light, but most of the time when people saw Jesus, this light was not hidden by a cloth or a veil, like Moses, but is was hidden simply by his human flesh. So Jesus is like Moses, in that his face also shone like Moses’ face.

Also, Jesus was like Moses, in that both of them performed miracles. But they performed very different types of miracles. Moses performed miracles that were frightening and scary for people. They were miracles that revealed God’s anger and his judgement and his wrath. For example, Moses put his hand in his coat, and it was full of leprosy. He put his staff on the ground, and it became a snake. He poured water on the ground, and it turned to blood. He brought about many plagues in Egypt—flies, frogs, darkness, death—you name it!

Now, when Jesus came, he also performed miracles, but miracles that were comforting and encouraging and which strengthened people. For example, he turned water not into blood, but into wine, for people’s enjoyment. He didn’t bring about leprosy, but he healed lepers. He healed many people, he cast out demons, he gave sight to the blind, and allowed the deaf to hear, and raised the dead. So Jesus’ miracles were of a different character to Moses’ miracles. But the fact that they both performed miracles like this, means that Jesus is very much like Moses.

But also, Jesus was a prophet like Moses, in the way that he spoke. Moses brought the 10 Commandments to the people. But then Jesus applies and comments on the commandments in a way that had never been done before.  He says: You have heard that it was said, “You shall not murder”. (Jesus quotes the 10 Commandments). But then he says: But I say to you, whoever hates his brother is a murderer. So Jesus is also like Moses in the way that he speaks. Moses spoke the thunder of God’s law, and brought the people in a limited way into God’s presence through all the laws and details about worship, about the tabernacle, and the priests, and the food regulations, and all that kind of stuff. But Jesus also speaks the thunder of God’s law, but he does so in order to lay them bare and to bring them the forgiveness of sins, which he won for them through his suffering, his blood, and his death on the cross. That was something that Moses didn’t bring, but Jesus did bring. So in this way, Jesus is very much like Moses, and he is a wonderful teacher of both the law and the Gospel, but especially the Gospel. We read in John’s Gospel: The law was given through Moses, grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

Now, if we look back through the bible, we read that there were many great prophets, like Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel. And if we were to name the greatest of these prophets, we would probably say, Elijah. Elijah was an amazing prophet, and he spoke God’s word clearly and boldly at a time when very few people wanted to hear it. However, we believe that Elijah was not this prophet that Moses spoke about, but that Jesus is this prophet.

And we realise this at the Transfiguration, because not only is Moses standing there with Jesus but also Elijah. And together Moses and Elijah testify by their presence, that the prophet that the Jewish people are looking for is not Elijah, but Jesus Christ. Can you see this wonderful way in which Moses and Elijah point to Jesus here? And together they show that Jesus is the fulfilment of these words from Deuteronomy: The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet from among you, from your brothers—it is to him that you shall listen.

But there are two more things in the Transfiguration that relate to this prophecy. First, it says that Jesus will come from among you, from your brothers. Moses means that Jesus will come from the Jewish people, not from some other people. And so, we see Jesus here, just like an ordinary Jewish man, amongst his three friends, Peter, James and John. He takes them up the mountain, these three fishermen, who grew up similarly to him, and to whom Jesus talks to as an ordinary person to ordinary people. Jesus came from among them, from among the Jewish people. But then, when they arrive at the place, a separation occurs—Peter, James and John are over there, and Jesus is over there. Jesus is shining with brilliant light, with all the light of his divine nature, brighter than the light from heaven itself, and Peter, James and John are completely dazzled by it. Because Jesus is not just a normal Jewish man, but he is also the Son of God, and in fact, true God of true God. At the end of the reading, when the cloud has gone, and everything is back to normal, Jesus touches his disciples, like a brother, like a friend, and he says: Rise, and have no fear. Don’t be afraid, it’s me, let’s go, let’s walk together. And so, Jesus comes from among his people, from the Jewish people, from their brothers.

But secondly, God the Father wants to make it especially clear that these words from Deuteronomy apply to Jesus. Moses says: The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet from among you, from your brothers—it is to him that you shall listen. At the Transfiguration, God the Father himself hides his voice in a cloud, and speaks his voice to all who are there: This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased. Listen to him! Moses said: It is to him that you shall listen. And now God the Father says: Listen to him! It’s as if God the Father is coming with his own finger, and pointing to his only Son, and saying to Peter and James and John: This is the one that you’ve all been waiting for, this is the one you should listen to. In fact, every Sunday, this is what we Christians actually come here to do. We come to listen to Jesus. We don’t come to listen simply to a pastor, or to listen to each other over morning tea. We come to listen to Jesus, as he speaks his own words to his people, through the absolution and the forgiveness of sins, whenever someone is baptised through the words that are spoken, in the Lord’s Supper when we hear that this bread and wine is in actual fact his body and blood, and in the sermon, when the word of God and the words of salvation are proclaimed and spoken to you. So listen to God the Father’s voice, when he says to you: Listen to him! Listen to Jesus!

Now, there’s another aspect to the Transfiguration that we haven’t really spoken about yet. What happens here is an amazing vision. And Jesus himself calls it a vision, but it’s not like the disciples were dreaming or day-dreaming, and what they saw wasn’t actually real. It was real, it happened. They saw it, and they saw it as something that was happening right there in front of them, they didn’t imagine it, and it didn’t happen in their heads.

But also, there’s something very mysterious in the way that Moses and Elijah appeared. Because in one sense, they were dead—but also, there was something very strange about the deaths of both these men. With Moses, nobody knew where he was buried. In the book of Jude, it says that there was some kind of dispute between the archangel Michael and the devil about the body of Moses. We don’t really know much about it, but it’s a strange thing that nobody knew where Moses’ body was, and yet, here at the Transfiguration, here is Moses. Also, Elijah was taken into heaven on a chariot—he didn’t die a normal death, and he also didn’t have a grave site. And yet, at the Transfiguration, here is Elijah. All this is very mysterious, and strange, and is a holy mystery that we leave in the hands of God. We don’t want to delve into it too much, because if we do, it can even become dangerous to us. When Peter starts to ask about these things, God brings down a cloud. It’s as if he puts all these things off limits. Sometimes Christians are deceived into thinking that they need to penetrate through this cloud of unknowing to discover God in the darkness there. No—the cloud comes down, the mysterious things are off-limits, and God the Father points us to Jesus.

Now, there are actually many people in our country and in our society who are interested in spiritual things. In the 60s, many hippies went to India to find spiritual enlightenment. Many people still go to wellness clinics in Asia to find spiritual health. Many people want to receive visions, and they want to contact the dead, and cross over into other dimensions, and they start to wonder about all these things. People even today, just like superstitious people in ancient times, look up at the stars, and practice astrology, and try to derive meaning from them, as if the stars and the zodiac are telling us messages about our lives.

Well, Moses spoke about these things in Deuteronomy: Earlier, I read where Moses said to beware of the practices of the nations when they entered into the Promised Land. Moses says: The nations, which you are about to possess, listen to fortune-tellers and to diviners. But as for you, the LORD your God has not allowed you to do this. Moses makes a long list of these strange practices of the nations: fortune-telling, sacrificing children, practicing divination—which is, let’s say, “trying to get a message from something that doesn’t give messages”—, interpreting omens (like reading stars, or tea-leaves, or bird-calls, or whatever, to get some warning), sorcery (which is witchcraft, or occult), charming (which is attaching some spiritual power to something that doesn’t have that power—like saying, “this magic rock will protect you”). Moses also mentions, “mediums” (who are people who claim to give messages from the dead), or “necromancy” (which is talking to dead)… all these things, Moses says, the nations listen to these people. But the Lord your God has not allowed you to do this. Instead, who should you listen to? Moses says, “It is to him you shall listen!” To the prophet like me! God says: This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased. Listen to him!

What Moses describes with all these strange practices things, is basically the traditional religions which are found all across the world. If you go to India, you’ll find talking to the dead, reading omens, fortune-telling in Hinduism. If you go to Africa, you’ll find it there with the witch-doctors. If you go to South America, you’ll find it there with the shamans, or whoever. And this stuff is making a strange come-back in Australia. If you start take notice, you’ll see this stuff everywhere, and realise just what a pagan country Australia.

What you need to know, and what Moses teaches, and what God the Father teaches at the Transfiguration, is that, if you hear a message from any of these people, who practice this stuff, it is not Jesus. It is not the voice of Jesus. The Word of God does not come through these people, and these practices. It is mutually exclusive to listen to the fortune-tellers, and to listen to him!

So we don’t become distracted by the wonderful spiritual vision at the Transfiguration, and go off trying to chase our own personal spiritual vision, through whatever means. We don’t become distracted by the presence of Moses and Elijah who are there, and start trying to build tents for dead people, and try to talk to them, and get messages from them. King Saul wanted to talk to dead Samuel, and he was rejected by God.

And so, at the Transfiguration, there are so many comforts for us. We don’t need to embroil ourselves in all this complicated, mystical stuff. We are simply told to listen to Jesus, to hold fast to his Word, and never let it go. When we have the Words of Jesus, we have everything we need. We have everything we could ever possibly want, and we will never be disappointed. He is our true Saviour, our true God, our true Light, who has won the true forgiveness of our sins, and promises us eternal life with Moses and Elijah, and all his saints, in wonderful glory, just like we see in the Transfiguration. Our bodies will be transformed to be like his. The forgiveness of sins which receive even today through the absolution and the Lord’s Supper is the beginning of that wonderful Transfiguration that will happen to us on the last day so that all our sins will be completely erased and we will shine like Jesus. So let’s listen to him, and take tremendous comfort in this event! Amen.

Baptism of our Lord (Year A) [Matthew 3:13-17] (12-Jan-2019)

This sermon was preached at St Paul's Lutheran Church, Ferryden Park, 10.30am.

Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ.

Behold, the heavens were opened, and [Jesus] saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”

Prayer: May the words of my mouth, and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.

Today, on this particular Sunday, we remember the Baptism of Jesus Christ. Now this part of the church year is called Epiphany, and this word Epiphany means, “showing”—it’s a time when we particularly think about the fact that God shows himself to the world in Jesus Christ. Now, sometimes when we have a difficult time in our life, we might think to ourselves, “Where is God in all of this?” “Why has he hidden his face from me?” “Why doesn’t he open the heavens and show himself?” People think like this particularly when some tragedy happens in their life, or some terrible, traumatic, sad event. I could only imagine that many people who have been caught up in the bushfires in our country at the moment must feel something like this.

I think we all know what it’s like to wish that God would just come out from behind the clouds and make everything right. We know very well what it’s like to ask questions like this. God’s answer is what this time of Epiphany is all about: God actually sends his Son, Jesus Christ, into the world, who shows himself to us. So, last week, we focussed on the Three Wise Men coming to visit the baby Jesus. God shows himself to these foreigners, these strange people with their strange gifts—he reaches out to them, and leads them to Jesus, through an amazing star and through the words of the Bible which send them from Jerusalem to the small town of Bethlehem. At this time of the year, we sometimes also remember that occasion where Mary and Joseph couldn’t find Jesus, when he was twelve years old, and they end up finding him in the temple. He says: “Did you know that I would be in my Father’s house?” Jesus shows to Mary and Joseph, that Joseph is not his true father, but that God the Father is. And also, at this time of year, we often think about when Jesus turned the water into wine, and performed his first miracle at a wedding in the town called Cana. Jesus shows his glory to his disciples and they believed in him. Today, we read about the Baptism of Jesus, where we read, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”

Now, this event is just such an amazing, wonderful thing. This event is no fairy-tale—the Gospel writers, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, make a special point to let you know that what happened on that day is true, that it is a fact of history, that is really happened, just as truly as you walked in here into this church this morning. And in all those times, when we long for God to tear open the heavens and come down, we can remember this event, and say to ourselves, “Yes, God has come down—he is the Father, Son and Holy Spirit—he has baptised me, I am his beloved child together with my Lord, Jesus Christ, and he will never let me down.”

At the beginning of our reading today, it says: Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptised by him. Now, let’s just think for a minute about this person John. It’s amazing when we think about John the Baptist, and what kind of a person he was. There was a miracle at the time of his birth—his parents were old, Zechariah and Elizabeth, and the Angel Gabriel came and told Zechariah that his wife would be pregnant at the time when he was serving as a priest in the temple in Jerusalem. Because Zechariah didn’t believe the angel, he became dumb, and wasn’t able to speak until the time when John was born. John then when he was older, went out into the desert, into the wilderness—maybe his parents died when he was young, and he had to go out fend for himself. He had to feed himself on what we call bush-tucker—he only ate locusts, and wild honey. He wore a shirt of camel’s hair with a leather belt around his waist. He was a pretty wild-looking fellow! A real bush-whacker!

We also read in the Gospels that he preached fiery, wild sermons, saying, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near! You brood of vipers! Flee from the wrath to come! Today, if we met a preacher like this, we might think he were a bit of a crazy-man! But this aspect to John’s life has a very powerful message for us. When we hear the word of God, we never know who God will send to speak it—and we should always be careful not to reject the Word, because we reject the person. Perhaps, we are posh—and we think that all the good preachers in the world need to be posh too. Or perhaps, we’re rough as guts—and we want a down-to-earth preacher. Never mind—many times God sends us his Word, through someone who is nothing like us—a complete foreigner, someone who has had a completely different life from our life. If this happens, and they speak the word of God, and a particular word of God that we don’t necessarily like, we need to be careful, that we don’t reject the word, because we don’t like the preacher. God chose to send a rough-as-bags, scruffy, bug-eating man to carry out this duty in our reading today—the most holy duty ever to be performed: the Baptism of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Now, in our reading today, it says that Jesus came to the Jordan. Let’s just have a think for a moment what’s significant about this place, the Jordan. We all know that Aboriginal people here in Australia like to think about the significance of a particular place. This place, the Jordan, was also a significant place. It had a history. The Jordan is a river. And all throughout the world, rivers often form a boundary between two countries or something like that. For example, in Australia, if you cross from Victoria into New South Wales, you have to cross the River Murray. The Murray River forms the boundary between those two states. Now, also, the River Jordan forms the boundary between the promises land of Israel, God’s chosen people, and the land of the Gentile people. Many years before John the Baptist and Jesus were there, the people of Israel crossed over the Jordan into the promised land with Joshua. In fact, the priests stood with the Ark of the Covenant in the middle of the river, and the water stopped on either side, so that God’s people walked through on the dry ground. So, we can see, that the River Jordan was a very special, significant place. In fact, it’s almost like, when people were coming to John to be baptised, they were entering the promised land all over again—not the land of Israel, but a new, heavenly country—Paradise, Heaven, the New Jerusalem. And when Jesus is baptised, we get a picture of this, because it’s not the water that splits apart here, it’s the heavens, the sky, the clouds, that split apart, showing us that when we are baptised, we don’t enter the promised land, but we enter into the promise of heaven and eternal life.

So we read in the Gospels that all these people were coming out to John to be baptised. And what do we read that they were doing? It says, that they were confessing their sins. Now, along comes Jesus… what sins do you think Jesus had to confess? None. He hadn’t sinned at all, he had no sin, he was sinless, he was completely and totally without any sin, any guilt, any fault, any stain or blot whatsoever. So why does Jesus come to be baptised?

Actually, even John is a bit confused about it all. He says to Jesus: I need to be baptised by you, and do you come to me? He is thinking: Hang on a minute! Jesus, you are the sinless one, you are the holy Lamb of God! I am a sinner. Shouldn’t I come in all my sin and be baptised by you, who are totally pure and holy and sinless? Why is it, that you, the perfect one, come to me, an imperfect one? Why is it, that you, the sinless one, come to me, a sinner? Why is it, that you, the holy one, come to me? A wretch like me?

And Jesus says to John: Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfil all righteousness. And we read: Then John consented. So how does Jesus and John fulfil all righteousness by doing this? Well, the only people who were allowed to be baptised here were sinners. If you didn’t think you were a sinner, John sent them away. But Jesus, who is not a sinner, wants to come and be with sinners. He wants to show that in baptism, he takes their sin, he takes their impurity, he takes their guilt, and also in baptism, he gives sinners his righteousness, he gives us his forgiveness, his holiness, his purity. We might look at ourselves, even though we are baptised, and think, but I’m not holy or pure! Yes, you’re not, but you’re with Jesus, and he covers over all of that, so that when God looks at you, he doesn’t see your sin, he sees only the holiness and the perfection of Jesus himself, because you are with him.

And so, Jesus takes our sin, and he gives us his righteousness. He fulfils all righteousness. St Paul says in 2 Corinthians: For our sake, [God] made [Jesus] to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. When we realise our sin, and when God allows us to see it for what it is, we might just want to pluck some piece of our body out and leave it on the ground somewhere. If only we could get rid of it! If only we could undo the past, and fix it, so that we hadn’t done that thing or that thing. But Jesus stands there in the River Jordan and he says to us: Listen, I know your sin even better than you know it yourself. And when you look at your sin, don’t see your sin anymore there, see me. Because I have died for your sin, and I have risen again from the dead, and now I clothe you with my forgiveness and my righteousness. I have fulfilled all righteousness. That’s what’s happening here in Jesus’ baptism.

Now, we come to the last part of our reading which says: When Jesus was baptised, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”

This is such an amazing event, which shows to us the three persons of the Holy Trinity: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. We see the Father speaking his clear voice from heaven, the Son being baptised in the water, the Holy Spirit descending on Jesus in the form of a dove.

Now, in the Christian church, we believe that there is God, but that he has revealed himself as three persons. We believe that there are not three gods, but one God, who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Now, when we say “person”, we don’t mean a flesh and blood human being like you and me. Only Jesus, the Son of God, took a human body. The Father and the Holy Spirit are spiritual, divine beings. They are without bodies. But Jesus too is true God, so that he lives and dwells with the Father and the Holy Spirit as one God. Remember how we say at the end of our prayers: We ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with the you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen. That’s a wonderful confession of faith that we make each week, and we shouldn’t take it for granted.

Sometimes, this stuff about the Trinity can sound very complicated, and it can do our head in a bit. And maybe to explain all of this further is a job for another day. But anyway, let’s remember that when God does something, it is always the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit who do it together. For example, when God created the world, it is the Father, Son and Holy Spirit who created it. When God baptised you in this church or another church somewhere, it was the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit who did it.

But at the same time, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit have different personalities, and they are not all the same. So, at the baptism of Jesus, we see God the Father speak from heaven, we see Jesus there in the water, and the Holy Spirit come down on Jesus in the form of a dove.

So, what is special about the way in which Jesus, the Son of God is revealed here? He is a man, a human being just like us, who takes on the weight of all the sin of every single human being who has ever lived in the whole history of the world right up until the present time, until this very minute and second, and right up until the end of time. And he fulfils all righteousness by taking human sin on himself and giving us the perfect righteousness and holiness of God as a complete and total free gift. He does this by forgiving our sins, and this forgiveness belongs to us simply because we believe it. We believe it and it is ours. And Jesus delivers this forgiveness right into your lap, and right on top of your head, when he baptised you.

What is special about the way the Holy Spirit is revealed? He is revealed as a dove—a peaceful, gentle, white bird. It was a dove that showed to Noah that the flood was over, and that everything was now safe and at peace. In the same way, when God sends us the Holy Spirit, we are at peace with God. There is no more flood, no more anger of God, because all is forgiven. And Jesus is the one who sends out the Holy Spirit—the Holy Spirit comes and lands and stays on him. Jesus breathes out the Holy Spirit, he speaks to us his Spirit-filled words, and sends us the perfect peace of God. And so, at the baptism of Jesus, we see the Holy Spirit revealed in the form of a dove.

And what is special about the way the Father is revealed? He is revealed as a voice from heaven. We don’t see his mouth, we don’t see his face, we don’t see his body. We only hear his voice. And this is a very important lesson for us: we should always remember when we hear God’s voice, we never see his face. The Bible, for example, is God’s Word, God’s living voice, but we don’t see God’s face. When a pastor preaches God’s Word, we hear the living Word of God, but we don’t see God’s face. When we’re baptised, we hear God’s voice, “I baptise you in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit”,  but we don’t see his face. When we receive the Lord’s Supper, we hear God’s voice, “This is the body of Christ”, but we don’t see God’s voice.

The reality is that God’s face, God’s form, his shape, his figure, what he looks like, is just too much for us. We wouldn’t be able to endure it. Deuteronomy says: Our God is a consuming fire. So if we can’t see God the Father, if we can’t see his eyes, his mouth, his face, his form, how do we know what he thinks about us? How do we know if we are acceptable to him? If he loves us, or hates us? If he wants to destroy us, or if he wants to bless us? How do we know?

He tells us. He tells us. That’s why we have God’s Word! And at the baptism of Jesus, God the Father doesn’t stay silent, he speaks. And he says: This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased. He says what he thinks about Jesus twice. He is not just his Son, but he is beloved, and well-pleased. He says the same thing in two different ways—he loved his Son, and he is pleased with this Son—because he wants us to be doubly sure. The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, are not three people who live together and bicker all day long. They live together in perfect love and unity.

And so, when we are baptised too, and made part of God’s family, God also shares his love with us. It is because of his love, that he sent his Son into the world as a human being, to die for our sins and to rise again. It is out of love, that he forgives us. And so, when we are baptised, God sends us his Holy Spirit. When we are baptised, we are made children of God together with Jesus Christ his Son. When we are baptised, God says to us: You are my beloved son and daughter, with you I am well pleased. 

People who don’t acknowledge their sin and their sinful life and their sinful condition have no interest in going to Jordan and listening to the preaching of John. They have no interest in meeting the real Jesus there, and seeing his Father and the Holy Spirit. This whole event is of no value to them whatsoever, but is just a joke.

However, if you know your sin, and realise you are completely helpless before God, then run to baptism, be baptised, or comfort yourself with the fact in history that you were baptised at some point in your life. This baptism is God’s gift to you, so that you look to it, and trust that the forgiveness of sins has been poured out on you. Remember that you are baptised together with Jesus, and a swap has occurred. Your sin is on him, and his righteousness and holiness are on you. The Father, Son and Holy Spirit have been shown to you, revealed to you personally, and Jesus has fulfilled all righteousness. Amen.

Heavenly Father, thank you for the wonderful gift of baptism. Send us the power of the Holy Spirit, the heavenly dove, so that we may live as your beloved children on this earth, and finally enter the promised land of Paradise, through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Epiphany / Farewell Sermon [Matthew 2:1-11] (6-Jan-2019)

This sermon was preached at St Matthew's Lutheran Church, Maryborough, 8.15am, and Grace Lutheran Church, Childers, 10.30am.

Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ.

And going into the house they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshipped him.

Prayer: May the words of my mouth, and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.

Today we are celebrating a wonderful festival on the church calendar called “Epiphany”. Epiphany is exactly 12 days after Christmas, and it marks the occasion where the wise men—or sometimes we call them, the “Magi”—came from the east to Bethlehem to worship the baby Jesus.

There are a number of things that happen in this reading. Firstly, we read about the wise men coming to Jerusalem, and they ask Herod about the king of the Jews, who has been born. We don’t really know much about these men, or exactly where they were from. Secondly, they tell Herod how it happened that they came to Jerusalem. They said, We saw his star. And thirdly, they tell Herod why they have come: we have come to worship him.

Next, we read that Herod and the whole city of Jerusalem became troubled when they heard the news. The reason for this, of course, is that they didn’t know about the birth—it wasn’t public news. But Herod then summons the Jewish priests, and they consult the Scripture, as to where such a king would be born. The answer they find is: Bethlehem. This is a very important point. The wise men weren’t simply lead by a star to Bethlehem—somewhere along their journey, not far from where Jesus was actually born, they had to consult the Scripture. The star only led them as far as Jerusalem, but the Scripture pointed them to Bethlehem.

Next, we read about Herod’s jealousy—he didn’t want another Jewish king around the place. So he asked the wise men all about it, and tricked them by giving them the false impression that he wanted to worship Jesus too—in actual fact, he wanted to kill him. This is almost a bit like Judas—Judas gives the impression that he is a friend of Jesus by greeting him with a kiss, as men used to do in those days. But in actual fact, he meant to give Jesus away to the soldiers, so that they would know which one Jesus was and arrest him.

Then, we read about how the wise men leave Herod and continue to follow the star which miraculously rests right above the place where Jesus was. We get the impression that the star pointed the wise men not just to the town, but to the exact address. We read that the wise men rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. They didn’t just rejoice, and they didn’t just rejoice exceedingly, but they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy! And we also read about how they bowed down before the baby Jesus and worshipped him.

And then of course, we read about the wonderful gifts that the wise men brought: gold, frankincense and myrrh. Now, many of our Christmas carols mention the meaning of these gifts. Gold was given to Jesus in recognition of the fact that he was a king. Frankincense seems like a very strange thing to us—frankincense is a product which comes from resin in trees, and was famously grown in the south part of Arabia, which is modern-day Yemen. Frankincense was burned on coals and made a sweet-smelling perfume—the Jews also used it in worship, as a reminder of the people’s prayers ascending to heaven. So this frankincense was given to Jesus in recognition of the fact that he was God. And lastly, myrrh was given to Jesus. Myrrh was another resin, but was often made into an oil. It was also used as a burial spice. Even today, people can by myrrh from a health-shop as a mouth-wash, because it hinders decay. So also people used myrrh for embalming a dead body, because it hinders decay. So this gift was given to Jesus in recognition of the fact that one day Jesus would die.

At the end of our reading, we read about how an angel of God came and communicated with the wise men in a dream and warned them about Herod’s evil motives, so instead of going back and reporting to him, they went back home on a different route, without Herod’s knowledge.

So we can see that this reading, and this occasion, so many years ago, when the wise men came to visit Jesus was a quite an amazing event—we have these exotic people from foreign countries, with their exotic gifts—we read about stars, and prophecies, and dreams. All of these things come together and demonstrate to us the great richness of God’s kingdom, and just what an unexpected and glorious and wonderful thing it is to be in this kingdom. When we consider all the times we’ve come to this place, or in other places throughout our lives, and bowed our knees and our hearts in worship before our Lord Jesus, we should remember all the other weird and wonderful people who have done the same thing over many centuries, and also the amazing way in which God orchestrated everything and brought everything together in such a way that they got to that point. Just imagine if we’d all shown up at the house of Mary and Joseph 2000 years ago with our Queensland rubber thongs and shorts, and bright shirts and sun-glasses. Who would have seemed more exotic? The wise men from the East or us?!

And yet, if we think about how each of us got here this morning—and where we were born, there are many stories to be told—not necessarily involving stars and dreams and prophecies, but still amazing nevertheless. Maybe your ancestors migrated to this region on a ship over a hundred years ago. Maybe you’re a lady who came from a foreign country to marry some local fellow. Maybe you came on holiday from another state, and bought a house here on a whim, and the rest is history. Maybe you don’t really know how you ended up here. But if we stand back and look at everything, we realise that none of us would have ever planned to have these particular people in any Christian congregation. The Holy Spirit is the one who has gathered us together. The book of Proverbs says: Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. Listen to those words: In all your ways acknowledge him. We look back on our lives, and it’s often only in hindsight that we can see the steady hand of the Lord guiding us through everything, even though sometimes at a particular time, we had no idea what was going on. In all your ways acknowledge him.

There’s a wonderful verse in Psalm 119, that is also very well-known. Your word is a lamp to my feet, and a light to my path. I remember a couple of years ago, when we drove up here to Maryborough, I was driving on the “Hay Plain” in New South Wales at night. I don’t know if many of you know that road but it’s a very long and boring road. Something that I did to pass the time was that I would take notice on my speed-o how many kilometres it was from when I would first see the lights of truck on the horizon to when they passed me. I remember seeing one truck from over 10kms away. But often in our life, we don’t have the benefit of seeing things from that kind of distance. Often the reality is that God only lights our path with his word one step in front of us at a time. On one hand, we see heaven in the distance like a shining light, but often, we don’t know what God’s doing in the next 100 metres, 10 metres, or even one step ahead. The wise men would have had a journey like this—they get to Jerusalem. No-one knows where to send them. The priests tell them about Jerusalem. The star leads them directly to Bethlehem. They are warned in a dream—only one step at a time. And it was not simply a star that led them, but God’s word which led them to Bethlehem, since it was prophesied many years beforehand. It was God’s word which was a lamp to their feet and a light to their path.

Now today also marks another occasion, which is much less significant than the visit of the wise men to Bethlehem—which is that today is my final service among you as your pastor. It is often said that the wise men came from Persia—it’s strange that the distance from Persia to Jerusalem, is about the same distance as Maryborough to Adelaide!

At the beginning of December, I celebrated my 10^th anniversary of my ordination as a pastor. It was a strange occasion, because I was on sick-leave at the time. I always wanted to be a pastor from about the time I was 14-years-old. Over the last 20 years, I’ve grown up a lot, I’ve met many people, and done many different things. I also remember when I was about 17, there was a Catholic priest that I knew in Adelaide that I liked a lot. But he died suddenly, and it turned out that on his way to a medical appointment he had doused himself in petrol and set himself alight. This event had a profound effect on me, because it hit me: how is it that a priest, and such a jovial, happy one at that, could be plagued by such darkness?

I remember when I was at the end of my first year of seminary, there was an old pastor, Pastor Noel Weiss, who came up to me, and said: So, Stephen, did you have a good first year in seminary? I said, “Yes, I did”. He said, “Did you meet the devil?” I thought about it, and I said, “Yes”. He said, “Then it was a good year!”

I want to tell you that being a pastor is a wonderful thing—it is a great joy. But it has its darkness—but the darkness is not a punishment, or some victory of the evil one—but it is a training. It’s the same for every Christian—being a Christian is the best thing in the world, but we also have sufferings as Christians. St Paul says in Acts that it is through many tribulations that we must enter the kingdom of God.

Now, I’ve spoken a bit about myself just now, and I don’t often like to do that. Sometimes we pastors can end up talking too much about ourselves if we don’t watch out, instead of talking about Jesus who has saved us. But I want to tell you something: I always talk about myself in sermons. I don’t often tell you that I’m doing it. But there is a wonderful passage about the ministry in 1 Timothy 4, where St Paul writes: Keep watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by doing so you will save both yourself and your hearers. When I first became a pastor, I realised that I wasn’t hearing anyone else’s sermons anymore. All the sermons I heard were mine! Paul says to Timothy that he doesn’t just give sermons for other people’s benefit, but also for his own. Keep watch on yourself, says Paul, and on the teaching. Because you will save both yourself and your hearers.

So often as a pastor, I have often tried to preach to myself, because actually, I’m the sinner that I actually know the best. So when I preach, I’ve always tried to apply the texts to myself. But over the years, I’ve noticed something very strange. When I preach to myself most strongly, it’s often those weeks when someone comes to me at the door and says, “Pastor, you hit the nail on the head today. It was as if you were speaking just to me.” And here I am thinking, “I wasn’t talking about you, I was talking about me!”

But then this shows to us that the sufferings that we pastors go through aren’t for us pastors. They’re for you, and for your benefit. The Holy Spirit shapes and forms us so that we can bring the exact message that he wants to be preached into your ears at a particular time, just when you need it. You might not have noticed the stars, the prophesies, the dreams, the frankincense, the myrrh, but there were all kinds of things that the Holy Spirit orchestrated so that this church, this service, this sermon, and whatever, would be just as it is. St Paul wrote about this as an apostle: We have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So death is at work in us, but life in you.

As I’ve been preparing for today, one thing that has hit me is an overwhelming sense of failure. But whatever sense of failure has been at work in me, I pray that it would serve to your encouragement, just as Paul say: Death is at work in us, but life in you. I remember when I was in confirmation, and my pastor told me about how he had failed Greek at the seminary, and he thought, “Oh no! I’m never going to be a pastor now!” But his old grandmother said to him, “Don’t worry. Failure isn’t always what it seems. Look at Jesus on the cross.”

There’s a very interesting passage in 2 Corinthians 2, where Paul writes: When I came to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ, even through a door was opened for me in the Lord, my spirit was not at rest because I did not find my brother Titus there. So I took leave of them and went on to Macedonia. It’s a strange thing. St Paul says that the Lord opened the door for him to go to Troas, but because his spirit was not at rest, he left and went to Macedonia instead. It’s strange—I would think that maybe Paul would feel quite some sense of failure too, since he says that he turned his back on a door which the Lord opened for him.

But in actual fact, he says in the next verse: But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. Doesn’t this take you by surprise? St Paul says, that even though he turned his back on a door which the Lord had opened for him, he didn’t fail Jesus at all, but instead Christ continues to lead him in triumphal procession. It isn’t a failure at all, but we are clothed in gold, and frankincense and myrrh, and led in a procession with music and camels to worship the baby Jesus on bended knee, not only in Maryborough or Childers, but wherever we happen to be in life. It’s just as that pastor’s old grandmother said: “Failure isn’t always what it seems. Look to Jesus on the cross.” When Jesus gave up his spirit and said, “It is finished”, it wasn’t his failure, but it was his glorious atonement, his wonderful payment, where he lay down his life for the sin of the world, and he burst from the empty tomb on Easter Sunday. And for us, even though we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, we will fear no evil, for Jesus is with us, his rod and his staff, they comfort us.

And so, as Jesus comforts us, and brings us into his presence to worship him on bended knee, he shapes us and forms us through whatever experiences he led us through to get us there, so that when he sends us back home, we can also help and strengthen those we meet who need it. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 1: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in his comfort too. If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer. Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort.

And so, as we come here today to celebrate Epiphany, we remember the wonderful and miraculous way in which God brought all of us unlikely people here together to worship the Lord Jesus. You might remember the story of Jacob, when he woke up from his dream about the angels and the ladder, he said: Surely the LORD is in this place, and I did not know it! It’s just like the wise men must have said when they saw the humble home that Mary and Joseph lived in! Jesus didn’t live in Herod’s palace, but in a humble house in Bethlehem, even having been born in a humble stable.

We have a humble Saviour, who is pleased to meet unlikely sinners like us, and is pleased to forgive us, to meet us, to baptise us, to encourage us, and even to feed us with his body and blood! And so, as we remember these things today, let’s also remember what it was said of the wise men all those many years ago: When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. And going into the house they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshipped him.

Amen.

Dear Jesus, you have drawn us too to meet you today, and what a great joy it is to be with you here in your house. Bless us and our congregation both now and into the future, and lead and guide us through the light of your holy and pure word. Amen.

Epiphany I: Baptism of our Lord [Matthew 3:13-17] (7-Jan-2018)

This sermon was preached at St Matthew's Lutheran Church, Maryborough, 8.15am, and Grace Lutheran Church, Childers, 10.30am.

Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ.

John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptised by you, and do you come to me?”

Prayer: May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.

In our Gospel reading today, we read about Jesus’ baptism by John in the Jordan. And this is a very significant event: The gospels of Matthew and Luke begin by teaching us about the birth of Jesus. But the gospels of Mark and John begin with the baptism of Jesus. This is because Jesus’ baptism is the beginning of his ministry. Before Jesus was baptised, he didn’t go around preaching and healing people yet—but he led a simple life of a humble carpenter in Nazareth.

We sometimes forget about the city of Nazareth. We talk about Bethlehem, where Jesus was born, and Jerusalem, where he went to the temple and was later sentenced to death. But Nazareth—which was in the area called Galilee, north of Jerusalem—was the place where Jesus spent his childhood, his teenage years and his life as a young adult.

And at the beginning of our gospel reading today we read: Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptised by him.

Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee all the way to the place at the River Jordan where John was. This was a long journey of about 125kms.

But this is not the first time Jesus had made a long journey to visit John. This had happened once before, when his mother Mary was still pregnant with him, and went to visit Elizabeth, when she was still pregnant with John! We know that Mary and Elizabeth were distantly related in some way. And when pregnant Mary came to visit pregnant Elizabeth, the baby John leaped for joy in his mother’s womb.

Here in our Gospel reading today, we read about where Jesus and John meet each other again, but 30 years later as grown men.

Many people in the early church also believed that John was in the wilderness right from when he was a boy. In Luke it says about John: And the child grew and became strong in spirit, and he was in the wilderness until the days of his public appearance in Israel.

We often assume that he grew up into a man first and then went out into the wilderness, but it is also quite likely that John went there very early in his life. Remember that his parents were both old when he was born, and could have died early in his life. Also, remember that John ended up being dressed in clothes in which any mother would have been embarrassed to send their child outside, and eating certain food that seems as though he wasn’t been looked after properly. We read: John wore a garment of camel’s hair and a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. John seems like a pretty wild character! His mother and father are probably quite long dead and are not making sure his hair is combed and teeth are cleaned!

So what exactly was John doing?

We read that he was preaching in the wilderness of Judea, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” We also read many people were going out to him, and they were baptised by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.

John’s baptism had a particular character to it. John was a voice crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord. And in order to prepare, the people were coming to John to be baptised, and to confess their sins.

John’s baptism is slightly different from Christian baptism: Christian baptism is not preparing for Christ’s coming, but happens after Christ has already come in the flesh, and has already suffered, died and rose. As baptised Christians, we are not waiting for Christ to come the first time, but we are waiting for him at the end of the world.

When John baptises people, people come confessing their sins. Everyone who comes to be washed by John is a sinner. Someone who is clean doesn’t need to be washed. Only people who are dirty—not physically dirty, but spiritually dirty—need to be washed.

Now before Jesus arrived, we read that some of the Sadducees and Pharisees came to be baptised too. These people were the Jewish religious teachers at the time, and they fiercely disagreed about many points of theology. But they were self-righteous, and trusted in their own works and their family trees in order to be saved. They wanted to be righteous, but they just wanted to be baptised just so that they could add another feather to their spiritual caps, and sew another spiritual badge onto their hat.

But John won’t allow this sort of hypocrisy. So he preaches a very strong sermon against them: You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruit in keeping with repentance.

John’s sermon is a very harsh one, a very strong one! He preaches against their hypocrisy, and their trust in their family tree. What’s the point of being part of God’s family, if you act like you’re part of the devil’s family? God doesn’t want pretend sinners coming for baptism, he wants real sinners coming for baptism, sinners that know they have nothing to give God, nothing to show for their lives, no brownie points. And so this is what John preaches about.

So we can see the sort of work that John has been doing: baptizing, preaching, calling people to repentance, hearing the confessions of sin that people were making before God.

And now Jesus comes. And John recognises that Jesus is the only person he has met so far that has absolutely no need for this baptism whatsoever.

We read: John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptised by you, and do you come to me?”

John recognises that his ministry has its limits. He recognises that if Jesus himself baptised people, it would be a different kind of baptism altogether—not simply a pouring out of water, but a pouring out of the Holy Spirit! John is simply preparing the way for the Lord, but Jesus is the Lord himself! And John recognises that this is the kind of baptism that he needs!

He knows that Jesus doesn’t need his baptism, because Jesus isn’t a sinner. He has no sin to confess, and he has no need to repent. Also, why would Jesus want John’s baptism? Think of all the people who have come to John to be baptised: all those sinners – isn’t Jesus giving the impression that he’s a sinner too?

But this is precisely what Jesus does. Jesus is happy to be counted as a sinner, and to be mistaken for a sinner! He comes to be baptised just like all the other sinners, and joins in with them.

But Jesus is not a sinner – so what’s going on? The book of Hebrews says: that Jesus was tempted as we are, yet without sin. On the other hand, Jesus takes upon himself our sin—he takes the weight of it all upon his shoulders. He is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Jesus bore our griefs and carried our sorrows. And this is the precise reason why Jesus came—to die for sinners, and to carry and bear their sin.

And so Jesus is happy to dive into the Jordan, without hestitation. And he says to John: Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfil all righteousness.

Here Jesus fulfils all righteousness. He wants to take our sin upon himself, and share his righteousness with us. He wants to go into the water and take every piece of sinful human filth into his own hands and die for it, so that we can share in every drop of divine eternal joy and live forever.

St Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5: For our sake [God the Father] made [Jesus] to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

And so we read that John consented.

But just imagine if you were an onlooker and bystander on this occasion: you would have thought that Jesus was simply another sinner just like you! And if that were the case, he would never be able to die for your sin, because it would be an imperfect sacrifice, one that was tainted, and not holy and pure. Jesus needs to be a lamb without blemish.

And so, just at the time when Jesus is baptised—just when Jesus could give the wrong impression that he is actually a sinner—God himself intervenes, and makes sure that all the bystanders and eyewitnesses and all people throughout history won’t make that mistake. So we read: When Jesus was baptised, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”

God the Father sits on his judgment throne, and he reveals himself to the whole world before the eyes of all. God reveals himself as the Father, speaking from heaven, as God’s beloved Son, Jesus Christ, with whom his Father is well pleased in the water, and he reveals himself as the Holy Spirit descending on Jesus like a dove.

And so, when Jesus ascends into heaven and sends out his disciples to baptise in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, promising to be with them always, we know that when we are baptised too that we are adopted as God’s beloved children, his sons and his daughters, together with Jesus, praying to his Father together with him. We know that we are made the brothers and sisters of Jesus and are with him always. We know that the Holy Spirit is poured out on us, and the forgiveness of sins, life and salvation are given to us. The door of heaven is opened to us and we can walk in together with Jesus.

And this wonderful manifestation of the Holy Trinity—the Father, Son and Holy Spirit—is given at the very same time when Jesus identifies himself and joins himself with sinners. This happened again later in his life, when Jesus was happy to be mistaken for a criminal, in fact, dying the worst kind of criminal’s death on a cross. He even was happy to be mistaken for a dead, buried failure. But God does not desire that Jesus’ death should be thought of in this way—and he does not keep silent, but raises him from the dead, to show us that what Jesus did on Good Friday was not a failure, but a perfect, holy, acceptable sacrifice for the sin of the whole world.

So also, at Jesus’ baptism, God does not keep silent, but opens up the heavens, and speaks his own voice, so that we would not mistake Jesus for any old sinner like us, but that we would trust in him as our Saviour, God’s beloved Son, filled with the Holy Spirit, to save us and rescue us and bring us to eternal life with him.

And just as Jesus is happy to let himself be mistaken for a sinner, so also he is happy to let us sinners be mistaken for a child of God. But Jesus does not make mistakes—he knows who he baptises, he knows to whom he preaches, and he knows each person to whom he gives his body and blood. And it’s no mistake that we are beloved children of God—because Jesus forgives us. He cancels our debt, wipes our slate clean, and presents us pure and holy and perfect before God, taking all our sin and guilt and punishment that we deserve upon himself. This is no mistake! It is a true and living fact: it is the way that Jesus fulfils all righteousness.

And so, what John says is true: I need to be baptised by you. What a wonderful gift it is to be baptised, not simply by a pastor in the church, but at the same time by the living hands and voice of Jesus Christ himself! Yes, Jesus, I need to be baptised by you, and yes, I have been baptised by you, washed with water and your holy and precious word.

Amen.

Lord God, heavenly Father, thank you for the precious gift of baptism, and for making us your beloved children together with your Son Jesus Christ. We thank you for adopting us as children completely freely through baptism. Send us your Holy Spirit continually, that we may always trust in the precious gifts that you have poured out on us through the water and the Spirit. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.