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Grace, mercy, and peace be unto you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, the text for this morning comes from the Epistle reading. You may be seated.
And God said… Those are powerful words that were recorded by Moses for you and for me. Because for the first time was something said or spoken that had never ever been said or spoken… For the first time in all of creation, sound came forth from God. And those words were declarative words of power. They were not wishful words of thinking, but declarative words. For God said what? Let there be light. And what happened? There was light. We ought not to marvel too much. This is how God has always worked throughout all of Scripture. Time and time again in the Old Testament… And time and time again in the New Testament, does God speak and what he speaks comes to pass. Be healed, and the man was healed. Be seeing, and the man was seeing. Be baptized, and you shall receive the gifts of baptism.
When God spoke in the beginning, and the earth was formless and void, the earth did nothing to do anything to make itself. There was nothing done by light to create light. There was nothing done by darkness to shy away from the light. It was God who brought light into darkness. Just as you saw light brought into two young boys’ lives out of darkness of their sin in their baptism. We, as they, are all alike light. We came and we were dark, and God enlightened us by his gospel, his good news of forgiveness of sins in that baptism. And you are continually taught that because it is not something that is merely a symbol or some fond memory. It is an actual imparting of it. Faith, forgiveness, salvation.
That’s comforting. And only our Lord knows we need comfort. We get very weary sometimes. A Lutheran Christian sermon. We can quickly say, oh yes, the enemy is Satan. The enemy is this world. But the enemy that you grow the most weary of fighting, the enemy that you grow tired of having to deal with the failures, the enemy that you grow so abundantly frustrated with is yourself, your own sinful flesh. And it is God’s word this morning that brings you comfort there.
The first words you hear when you gather in God’s house is this short and sweet sentence: In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. That’s God reminding you, you’re his son, you are his daughter. For that is the name that Aidan and Michael were baptized into, and that is the name that each of you, whether you were baptized as an adult or as an infant, were baptized into: The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Just as in Jesus’ baptism this morning, did Jesus have all three persons revealed there at that river? No. God the Father’s voice spoke from heaven. God the Son stood in the river. God the Holy Spirit lit upon his head. Let those words not pass you by. And let you not think that they’re merely flowery words to begin the service. They are God’s declaration to you: you’re my baby, you’re my little boy, and you’re my little girl. Because those words were spoken of you so long ago.
And as you have lived out your faith from that moment, you have become weary, have you not? Weary with yourself, who is your own worst enemy. Weary of finding yourself judging other people far more harshly than you choose to judge these people. Weary of having to put up with your own inconsistencies when you’re so quick to point them out in other people. Weary indeed. Which is why God brings us himself in his water and word. Baptism. It’s something you don’t do. It’s something that was done to you just as it was done to Jesus.
So it was done to you. Jesus did not need it for the forgiveness of sins. Jesus did not need it for salvation. Jesus did it to fulfill all righteousness. And Jesus did it to reveal to you your daddy’s name. Notice that the only words spoken at Jesus’ baptism were by the Father. And God said, just as he spoke in the beginning in our Old Testament text, so he spoke here at Jesus’ baptism at the beginning of his ministry.
And what were his words? You have now become my child. You now are on the road to prove yourself to be my child. This is my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased. I remember when you held those twins in your hands beyond comprehension, two children at the same time, and there’s a few other twins within our congregations whose parents alone know what that’s like. You only have two hands. What do you do? But you don’t love that child in your hands because that child has shown themselves to be a stellar athlete or intellectual par excellence. You hold and love that child because this is bone of your bone and flesh of your flesh. This is you, which those are the words that are said by you and me, Dada.
Because he does not say to you at your baptism, I look forward to seeing how well you perform as one of my children and whether or not you are indeed entitled to the inheritance therein written in the Scriptures. I gave birth to you. I died for you and shed blood for you. I claimed you, though no one else would, because I’m a God that calls something into existence that didn’t exist before. There was not light hanging around that God grabbed and put forth into creation. There was nothing known as light till God called light into existence. You didn’t exist as God’s child until God called you into existence as his child in that font.
What? That’s what brings weary hearts like yours and mine comfort because we know we come here with such hypocrisy. We have no right to call him our father. And you know what he says to us? Call me daddy. Come on, call me daddy. I’m not trying to be too simplistic or even crass. I’m trying to make the point he’s the one that puts upon your lips the ability to call upon him as your father. Father. And he gives that to you at your baptism. It is the only place throughout your week where you are brought together with fellow adopted children. And all of us are reminded again, yes, we were adopted. And all of us are reminded again, yes, we have a father. And all of us hear again, you are my beloved little girl. And you are my beloved little boy. And with you I am well pleased.
He is only pleased with you because of Jesus. Jesus is who makes you pleasing. In that epistle text, it talks about being baptized into Christ’s death and raised into Christ’s resurrection, joined to Christ. So if it can be said of Christ that you in Christ have had your sins forgiven, you in Christ have defeated the devil, you in Christ have been raised from the dead, it can be said the same of baptism. Amen. There is Christ. There is where he gives you forgiveness. There is where he delivers you from the devil. There is where he raises you from the dead and claims you.
All of us know people who have had, unfortunately, a father in their life who have walked away from them. And all of us have seen the great tragedy it brings to the youth, or the adult for that matter. Here you have a daddy who never will walk away from you, ever. Here you have a daddy who doesn’t claim you because you’ve completed certain specific tasks, but because he chooses to redeem you, his flesh and blood. Joined himself to you and you to him.
It is weary fighting yourself in this world. Don’t give up the battle, but keep being comforted and restored here where life is given to you and freedom is given to you.
In the name of Jesus, amen. The peace of God which passes all understanding. Keep your hearts and your minds on Christ Jesus to life everlasting. Amen.