The First Sunday after the Epiphany
Baptism Makes Your Daily Task Holy to the Lord Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ! Amen. In today’s Gospel, Jesus was baptized. The first Words *after* today’s Gospel immediately speak about Jesus beginning His daily work. What therefore was the source, the beginning, and the foundation for our Lord’s daily work? It is every Christian’s favorite one-word answer: Baptism! Dear Christian friends: In the Christmas Gospel, when Jesus was born of the Virgin Mary, He blessed and sanctified childbirth. Because Jesus was “*born of a woman*” (Galatians 4:4), every newborn Christian child can now confidently reason, “If this manner of entering the world was good enough for my God, then it is certainly good enough for me!” In last week’s Gospel, when He “*came to Nazareth and was submissive to His parents*” (Luke 2:51), our Lord Jesus blessed and sanctified family life. Because Jesus obligated Himself to family, every Christian can now look at his or her family obligations and declare with joy, “If family endurance was acceptable to Jesus, then it is by all means acceptable to me!” In the Good Friday Gospel, Christ Jesus our Lord hung and died for the sins of the whole world, including your sins and mine. When Jesus died, He blessed and sanctified our deaths. The death of our Lord makes it possible for every Christian to pray in the Words of the psalm, “*Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints*” (Psalm 116:15). In today’s Gospel, Jesus came to be baptized. When Jesus was baptized, He “sanctified and instituted all waters to be a blessed flood and a lavish washing away of sin” (from the flood prayer in the baptismal liturgy). Because Jesus added His Word of forgiveness to the water, you and I can now live in the certain knowledge that all our sins have been washed away, once and for all (Hebrews 7:27). The Baptism of our Lord, however, was something more than His gracious act of taking away our sins. In today’s Gospel, Baptism stands at the beginning of our Lord’s daily work. What I mean is this: · First, “*The people were in expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Christ*.” John, as you know, was NOT the Christ. Jesus is the Christ. Jesus is His name. Christ is His job. Christ means “*the anointed one*”; the One who gets something poured out upon His head in order that He may be set apart for the very important task of rescuing us from sin, death, and the power of the devil. When was Jesus anointed? He was anointed in today’s Gospel, when the water of Baptism was poured out upon Him from the hand of John. What did the anointing of Baptism do for Jesus? Baptism designated and set Jesus apart to be the Christ, the Holy One of God. · Second, the Words that immediately follow today’s Gospel—the Words that were not spelled out in today’s bulletin—talk about Jesus at the beginning of His earthly work, His everyday task, His daily service to others (Luke 3:23). Simply stated, Baptism positioned our Lord Jesus to do the work His Father in heaven had sent Him to do. Here is why all of this matters for you, no matter how old you are or what you end up doing with your every day: · In the same way that our Lord’s birth has blessed and sanctified your birth and my birth; · In the same way that our Lord’s family life has blessed and sanctified your family life and my family life; and · In the same way that our Lord’s death has blessed and sanctified your death and my death; so too · Our Lord’s baptismal entry into His daily work blesses and sanctifies our everyday work, no matter where it takes us or what it requires. Stated another way, Baptism has anointed you and set you apart and positioned you to do the things that your God has now given you to do. Stated yet another way, in Baptism you were “*created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them*” (Ephesians 2:10). And once again: Baptism makes your daily task holy to the Lord. Far be it for any Christian ever to say, “I’m just a factory worker; I’m just a truck driver; I’m just a teacher or just an office worker; I’m just a mechanic; or I’m just a mom.” When you entered in the Jordan River of Baptism to stand there with Jesus, the Lord your God laid the foundation for your daily work. By the power of Baptism, you now are: · an employee whose faithful work is not only pleasing to the boss, but pleasing also to God (Colossians 1:10); · father or mother, sister or brother whose care for your family now rises as “*a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God*” (Romans 12:1). · a retiree, concerning whom the Lord God will be delighted to say, “*Well done, good and faithful servant*” (Matthew 25:21). · a doer of good works—not works you must go out to search and find, but good and holy works that your God has lovingly brought to you: filing papers, replacing broken engine parts, logging miles, stacking firewood, changing diapers, feeding calves, moving up the street, washing dishes, moping floors, and carrying the groceries out to the car. Go gladly into your daily task, whatever it might be! Rejoice that it is not the work itself that makes God happy with you. God is happy with your work because your Lord Jesus was baptized. In His Baptism, Jesus blessed and sanctified all of our work by forgiving us all our sins. In Baptism, Jesus gave Himself to us, so that the heavenly Father’s Words to Jesus may also be our heavenly Father’s Words to us: “*With you I am well-pleased*.”
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