[Sermon Archive] - [Weekly Devotional Guide]

This Week's Sermon The Baptism of Our Lord 07 January 2007 "The Great Exchange Begins" LSB Series C Pastor Philip G. Meyer Soli Deo Gloria!

Vicar Fiene has a habit of using movies as his illustrative material, and I must say, he usually does it very well except when he references a movie that only he has seen! Not to be outdone, I'm doing that this morning because it fits in with our theme of "The Great Exchange," which is a description of what happens in Holy Baptism.

"Trading Places" is a 1983 comedy starring Eddie Murphy, Dan Ackroyd, and Jamie Lee Curtis. Its plot was one of many adaptations of Mark Twain's 1882 story of The Prince and the Pauper, a tale of two 16th century boys who share a striking resemblance but have very different stations in society. In the movie "Trading Places," two immensely wealthy and patrician brothers find themselves on opposite ends of the old heredity versus environment argument. They decide that the best way to settle it is by having an experiment in which they pick one impeccably pedigreed member of high society and one of the lowest members of the social order. The experiment seems easy enough: ruin the life of the successful one and radically change the fortunes of the street hustler, and see how they respond. Neither man deserved what he got. It's all very funny.

Exchanging places is something about which many people have fantasies. From recent news reports, many Americans fantasize about being celebrities, perhaps because they seem to have a glamorous lifestyle. Some, without doubt, fantasize about being very wealthy and having the things that money can buy. But no one really fantasizes about exchanging great wealth for poverty and the life of a servant. But that is exactly what Jesus does in his earthly ministry.

Today we celebrate The Baptism of Our Lord, but it is one of the least understood events in our Lord's ministry. Just what was it and what does it mean? The word "ministry" really means "service," but who is serving whom? It seems that a good many people fail to understand that the Baptism of our Lord is the beginning of his official, public ministry for the world. They don't comprehend that Jesus is submitting to something for which he has no need.

Luke tells us about it in a single sentence, something we would expect from Mark's brief style:

"Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heavens were opened, and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form, like a dove; and a voice came from heaven, "You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased."" (Luke 3:21-22, ESV)

Earlier in the chapter Luke tells us that John was in the wilderness "proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins" [3.3]. He went on to spell out the fruits of repentance, about how people needed to change their behavior based on this repentance. Finally, Jesus comes for baptism. While Luke doesn't tell us that John first objected [John does], he tells us simply that Jesus was baptized along with all the other sinners. Incidentally, all of the ancient works of art that portray the Baptism of Jesus have Jesus and John standing in the Jordan, with John pouring water over Jesus' head. There is no historical evidence to suggest that either Jesus or any of the other baptismal candidates were immersed! The mode of Baptism is not important nor is the amount of water.

Why did John baptize Jesus even though Jesus did not need to repent, even though Jesus had no sins? Because Jesus was now declaring himself to be in solidarity with all of us sinners. Just as Jesus became a true man with his Incarnation, so now he takes upon himself the sins of the world. Jesus becomes the biggest sinner in the world! It isn't because he had any sins of his own, but because he was fulfilling his God-given role as the Lamb of God. In John's account we have that clearly proclaimed as John the Baptizer points to Jesus and says, not once, but twice:

"Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!" (John 1:29, ESV)

To understand this whole scene we must know something of the Old Testament and the Great Day of Atonement [Leviticus 16]. On the Great Day of Atonement, also known as Yom Kippur, the high priest would offer a sacrifice of a bull for the sins of the priests and then sacrifice a lamb for the sins of the people. The blood of this lamb was sprinkled on the mercy seat on behalf of the sins of the people. This lamb died innocently, shedding its blood for the people. Then another lamb was brought forward and the priest laid his hands on the head of the lamb, confessing over it all the sins of the people. The sins of the people were transferred to this lamb. They were "put on his head," as it were. This lamb was also known as the scapegoat. A scapegoat is an innocent person who gets blamed for the wrongs of another. Jesus was this lamb, or scapegoat, too. This lamb was then led out into the wilderness, thus taking away the sins of the people. In the wilderness wild animals would attack and kill this lamb, the sins dying with it.

An exchange took place on the Great Day of Atonement. The sins of the people were put on the lambs and the innocence of the lambs was transferred to the people. All of this was symbolic or prophetic of what Jesus would do in his ministry. Listen to a couple of our hymns describe it. First, the great Christmas hymn by Nicolaus Herman, Let All Together Praise Our God:

4 He undertakes a great exchange,
Puts on our human frame,
And in return gives us His realm,
His glory, and His name,
His glory, and His name.

5 He is a servant, I a lord:
How great a mystery!
How strong the tender Christ Child's love!
No truer friend than He,
No truer friend than He.

Text (sts. 1, 3-7): © 1969 Concordia Publishing House Used by permission: , number 06: 10-60B. Text (st. 2): Public domain

6 See all your sins on Jesus laid;
The Lamb of God was slain.
His soul was once an off'ring made
For ev'ry soul of man.

Text and Music: Public domain

Then comes the Lamb of God, our High Priest and Advocate, with the Blood that speaks better things than the blood of Abel. On behalf of the miserable, lost and condemned criminal, he urges his suffering and death in his place, his perfect merit and victory over all our enemies. What an advocacy! The poor sinner near to death embraces his feet, in fullest trust, and full of penitence and sorrow.
Then comes a voice from the Holy of Holies: "Tear down the indictment. The guilty man is acquitted for Jesus' sake from all guilt and punishment; he is justified, and without price the righteousness of Christ is accounted his. [The Great Exchange]

Where does all this take place? God always acts concretely. He puts his forgiveness where sinners can find it, where he directs them. He directs us to Holy Baptism first of all. Jesus was baptized into all our wretchedness and unhappiness. Jesus takes on all our sin, guilt, and misery when he was baptized. Did not the prophet Isaiah foretell it when he wrote:

"He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted." (Isaiah 53:3-4, ESV)

The Apostle Paul puts it all into the context of Holy Baptism in today's Epistle.

"Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life." (Romans 6:3-4, ESV)

Holy Baptism, then, is pure gift. Jesus does everything. He willingly takes our place, he takes on our sin, he dies in our place. We are simply the recipients of his gracious work. And yet there are those who view Baptism as man's work, man's decision, yet it never is! It is pure giftedness. An infant being baptized exemplifies this best because this child could do nothing to receive the gift. No decision, no testimony, just pure reception. Christ sought her out and called her by name [Isaiah 43.1]:

"Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine." (Isaiah 43:1, ESV)

How can you be sure that this is so? Don't look to your own feelings or emotions because they are often faulty. Look only to the heavenly seal, the word of the Father himself. When the confirmation of Jesus' ministry came with the Holy Spirit descending on him like a dove, there was also the Father's own voice, "You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased." If the Father is pleased with Jesus, then he is pleased with you because you have been baptized into Christ's death and resurrection. God the Father approves this Great Exchange that his Son has made for you! God appeared at Jesus' Baptism and he appears also at every proper Christian Baptism. Listen to what Luther says:

Indeed, if I had the matter under my control, I would not want God to speak to me from heaven or to appear to me; but this I would want-and my daily prayers are directed to this end-that I might have the proper respect and true appreciation for the gift of Baptism, that I have been baptized, and that I see and hear brothers who have the grace and gift of the Holy Spirit and are able to comfort and encourage with the Word, to admonish, warn, and teach. For what better and more profitable appearance of God do you want?¹

And again:

Even though God does not appear to us in an extraordinary form, as He did to Abraham, yet His usual and most friendly and most intimate appearance is this, that He presents Himself to us in the Word, in the use of the Keys, in Baptism, and in the Lord's Supper.²

Here again, today, God speaks directly to us in Word and Sacrament! Here The Great Exchange has again taken place in the life of Opal! Here again The Great Exchange continues for you in the hearing of Christ's Word and in the receiving of Christ's body and blood. He is so rich in grace and mercy that we can scarcely fathom it all!

So today the Church celebrates The Baptism of Our Lord because you hear once again the great, good news that "The Great Exchange Begins" and continues for you!

¹Luther, M. (1999, c1961). Vol. 3: Luther's works, vol. 3 : Lectures on Genesis: Chapters 15-20 (J. J. Pelikan, H. C. Oswald & H. T. Lehmann, Ed.). Luther's Works (3:165). Saint Louis: Concordia Publishing House.
²Luther, M. (1999, c1961). Vol. 3: Luther's works, vol. 3 : Lectures on Genesis: Chapters 15-20 (J. J. Pelikan, H. C. Oswald & H. T. Lehmann, Ed.). Luther's Works (3:165). Saint Louis: Concordia Publishing House.