Saint Luke's Lutheran Church

Today we go with Jesus from the backwaters of Nazareth to River Jordan where his cousin John is offering a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. Jesus goes there and is baptized along with crowds of tax collectors and soldiers and other common sinners. You have to wonder what in the world Jesus is doing there. This is the Jesus who was born Christ the Lord and Son of God. This is the Jesus who was tempted in every way as we are, but without sinning. So, what's going on here? Why does Jesus submit to this baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, and what does it mean for him?

I think that the key is found in verse 23, which reads: "Jesus was about thirty years old when he began his ministry."

When you look at Jesus' baptism in connection with this verse and in the context of the Gospel, it looks an awfully lot like an ordination. At the age of five, I began to feel that God was calling me to be a pastor. By the time I was eight years old, I believed that this was exactly what God wanted me to be. But I did not go out and start preaching. Instead, I went to school to study for the ministry - first to a Lutheran high school, then to college and finally to seminary. It was not until 18 years later, on June 30, 1972, that I was ordained a pastor in the Lutheran Church. At my ordination, the church affirmed me as a child of God and affirmed my calling into pastoral ministry. Ordination did not change who I was. I had been a child of God since the day of my baptism. Nor was ordination the point at which I felt God's call. I had been living with that call for 18 years. But ordination marked the beginning of my ministry as a pastor.

The first thirty years of Jesus life was spent preparing for his ministry. Then at the Jordan River, Jesus was ordained into his ministry and began his work as the Messiah. At his Baptism, Jesus was affirmed in who he was and what he was to do by the voice of God the Father which said, "You are my son, whom I love." Baptism did not change who Jesus was. He had been Son of God from all eternity. Baptism did not change what he was to do. His mission and his ministry had been determined long before he was even born. But baptism marked the beginning of his earthly ministry.

What was that ministry? The answer to that question has two parts. We get a clue to the first part from what follows in the rest of chapter 3. The next 15 verses outline Jesus' ancestry - tracing his family tree all the way back to Adam, who in the last verse is called son of God. This suggests that part of Jesus' ministry was to replace Adam. Adam was the first human being God had created. But Adam sinned. And when he sinned, Adam messed everything up, not only for himself but for all of his descendants. Jesus came to be the Son of God, the descendant of Adam, who replaced him and got it right.

Getting it right, however, was not enough. If Jesus had only lived his perfect, sinless life and then returned to his Father in heaven, it would have done Adam and us no good. We would still be in our sin. So the second thing that Jesus had to do was to redeem Adam and his descendants. Jesus came to suffer and die on the cross for the sins of the world, and with his death and his resurrection to save from sin all of those who believe in him. It all began with his baptism.

Understanding Jesus' baptism in this way helps us to understand the significance of our own baptism. Baptism not only defines who we are as children of God, but baptism also defines what we are to do.

Fred Craddock tells about a man he knew in the little town of Custer City, OK, where he once served as pastor of the Methodist Church. John was 77 years old - a good man, a successful farmer and rancher, a leader in the community. But John never went to church. He was the patron saint of the unchurched congregation of men that gathered every Sunday morning at the local café.

Craddock met John for the first time on the street one morning. John recognized him as the new preacher in town, so as they shook hands, John took the offensive. "I work hard, I take care of my family, and I mind my own business. Far as I'm concerned, everything else is fluff." Craddock got the message: "Leave me alone. I'm not a prospect for membership in your church." So that's exactly what Pastor Craddock did.

That's why everyone, including Craddock, was so surprised when John came and wanted to be baptized. It was the talk of the town. "I never thought ol' John would do that. He must be sick. Heard he had some heart trouble. Guess he's scared to meet his maker."

Well, all the rumors were wrong. When John came wanting to be baptized, Craddock reminded him of what he had said about working hard and taking care of his family and minding his own business.

"Yeah, John replied. "I remember. I said that a lot over the years."

"Do you still say that?" Craddock asked.

"Yeah, I do."

"Then what's the difference?"

John replied. "I didn't know then what my business was."

John finally understood that it was his business to serve God and others - not just take care of himself and his family. So Pastor Craddock baptized ol' John "in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit."

Baptism is our ordination into the ministry - our ordination into the service of God. Baptism makes us a child of God and that determines who we are. It also determines what we are to do, because when God claims us as his own God calls us to be his servants, his ministers. That is true for all of God's children, not just those who are pastors or professional church workers. In many ways, those who go into pastoral ministry take the easy way out. Our lives are more unified because there is a clear and powerful connection between our faith and our careers. We do not have to do the hard work of straddling two different worlds and trying to build the necessary bridges between Sunday morning and Monday morning.

Besides that, we get paid for doing our ministry. As one parishioner once said to me, "You pastors get paid to be good. We're just good for nothing."

The classical term for the ordination of the baptized is vocation. Vocation, which literally means "calling," is more than our career or what we do for a living. Vocation is what God calls us to be and to do. The classical doctrine for the ordination of the baptized is "the priesthood of all believers." This is a teaching of the church that Martin Luther revived and emphasized at the time of the Reformation. It is not a teaching that appeals to many lay people these days. It sounds like more work and more responsibility than they want, especially when they are already overloaded and even overwhelmed.

Perhaps it is because we have such a tendency to divide our lives into segments and roles that are separate and distinct from each other. We say to ourselves, "Now I am acting as an employee. Now I am acting as a mother or father. Now I am acting as a student. Now I am acting as a friend or neighbor. Now I am acting as part of a team. Now I am acting as a citizen, and now I am acting as a member of the church."

The problem with this is that being a church member, being a child of God, is something we are all the time. And acting as a child of God is something that we are to do all the time. It is not so much a matter of doing more as it is a matter of doing differently. The ordination of baptism means that I do my job at work as a child of God. It means that I do my homework as a child of God. It means that I fulfill my parental responsibilities as a child of God. It means that what I do as a neighbor or a friend, I do also as a child of God. And it always makes a difference.

Today as we recall the Baptism of our Lord, may you also reflect upon your own baptism. May you recognize again how baptism makes you who you are - child of God. And may you realize again how who you are determines what you are to do. Then go and live as a child of God - every minute of every hour, every hour of every day, every day of your life. Amen.