Baptism is the beginning and ending

Mark 1:4 And so John came, baptizing in the desert region and preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. ⁵ The whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem went out to him. Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River. ⁶ John wore clothing made of camel's hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. ⁷ And this was his message: "After me will come one more powerful than I, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. ⁸ I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit." ⁹ At that time Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. ¹⁰ As Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. ¹¹ And a voice came from heaven: "You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased."

Did you know that the Bible begins and ends baptismally? I know that sounds strange, but think about it for a moment. The second verse of Genesis tells us, “The Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.” Spirit and water. Water and Spirit. A new creation. Right there in the opening verses of Holy Scripture, a baptismal beginning. Before there was day and night, sea and sky, sun, moon and stars, sea and dry land, plants, fish, birds, land animals and humans as the crown of God’s creation – in the very beginning there was water and Spirit and Word.

Jesus Christ reveals to St. John a vision of heaven in His Revelation. It is a picture of the eternal end. John sees Christ’s saints dressed in white robes. Just as the baby is brought to the font wearing her white baptismal gown, as the confirmand stands before the font wearing his white confirmation gown, so the saints in heaven are standing before the River of Life wearing their white robes of righteousness.

The Bible begins and ends baptismally.

Mark begins his Gospel about Jesus Christ, the Son of God, baptismally. The beginning of Mark’s story of the Gospel is John the Baptist and the Baptism of Jesus. Mark has no need to tell us about Jesus’ conception, His birth in Bethlehem, His presentation in the temple, or anything about His childhood. He allows Matthew and Luke to fill in those blanks. For Mark, the Gospel, the Good News of Jesus, begins with His Baptism. And we are here once again on the first Sunday after the Epiphany to consider the Baptism of our Lord.

Jesus came out to the edge of the wilderness where John was preaching and baptizing for repentance and forgiveness of sins. Even though Jesus had no sins to repent of, no sins to be forgiven of, He was baptized. Not because He needed it, but because we needed it. He waded into the muddy waters of the Jordan River so that those waters might flow with the mud and filth of our sins being washed from us. Because if He had not been baptized, then our baptisms would be empty.

Martin Luther asked the question in his Catechism: “How can water do such great things?” The answer is that “it is certainly not the water that does such great things, but God’s Word which is in and with the water.” And today we see that picture before us – both verbally and visually. The Word made flesh is in the water … for us. The same Word through which everything was created in the beginning and the same Word which will announce the end of all things at Judgment Day – that is the Word that is in the Jordan River. The same Word that is spoken at our font.

We need this Baptism of water and the Word. For it is water that creates life, makes it clean and makes it new. We pray with King David, “Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a right spirit within me” (Psalm 51:10)

Do you remember when your children were younger, and after a full day of rough and tumble sports and play activities, they would arrive home for supper, filthy? Their little bodies looked like they had been rolling in dirt, their clothes stained with grass marks, and the smell of sweat from the hot summer sun was clearly evident. As soon as they entered the house and you got a look at them, you stated, “Into the bathtub you go! And don’t forget to scrub!” Thirty minutes later, the kids would walk down the stairs sparkling in their cute footied-pajamas, wet combed hair, clean and sweet-smelling bodies. “How different you look,” you would say. “Are these the same dirty children I saw a few minutes ago?”

God does the same thing for us, but with much more miraculous proportions in our lives. We come to edge of the water filthy with our inborn sin, our natural lusts, our sinful cravings, our lies, jealousy, anger, gossip and guilt. We were brought to the font by our parents so that we might be washed clean, presented with a new heart and spirit. We are bathed in the light and love of the Lord and made a new creation. How different we look from the way we once were.

But just as we need to bathe daily to wash away the sweat and grime of the day and be made clean and sweet-smelling again, so we need to come before Christ’s font daily with our sins. Sadly, the unbelievers around us do not see the power in Baptism because they see us daily offering the parts of our body to sin, living as the spawn of Satan instead of the heirs of salvation we were recreated to be in our Baptism. That is why Baptism is not just a one day event, but it is a daily occurrence and a daily washing.

Baptism isn’t something that happens once and is then forgotten except for the pictures and the certificate. It is a daily repentance of transgressions, a sorrow over sin, a grieving of the heart that we have once again fallen into the hellish desires of our inborn sinful nature. It is a daily washing and rebirth. Each day Baptism drowns our Old Adam (and boy, does he need drowning). The sinner dies, the saint in Christ arises. Each day is a new resurrection day. That is why our font has 8 sides, 7 sides for the 7 days of creation, and the 8^th day for the dawn of the new creation. That is why the Paschal candle is lit to remind us that Baptism lifts us out of the death and chaos of sin to a new life in Christ. It is an identity we wear – like white-robed saints. We don’t simply say, “I was baptized,” but “I am baptized.” That’s who you are. Every time you see this font and confess your sins, you are once again identifying yourself with what Christ accomplished that day in the Jordan River.

That is why Mark stresses Jesus’ Baptism at the beginning of his Gospel. For just as the Holy Trinity was involved at creation and will be eternally present in heaven, so the Father, Son and Holy Spirit were present and active at Jesus’ Baptism. The sinless Son stands in solidarity with sinners, immersed in their putrid bath water. All our adulteries, thefts, murders, deceits, idolatries and blasphemies are washed in that water, and Jesus steps into it to make the bitter water sweet. Like a sponge, He absorbs the sin of the world and becomes the Sinner for us all.

Remember how the Spirit was hovering over the waters at creation? Here the Spirit hovers over Jesus’ baptismal waters as a dove. And in your Baptism, the Spirit descended upon you. Not visibly in the form of a dove, but audibly in the Word. The Spirit is there in that water combined with His holy Word testifying, naming and claiming you as one anointed by God, chosen for a purpose, and made an heir of eternal life. By Baptism, the Holy Spirit unites us with the God-Man, Jesus Christ, who unites us to His Father.

The Father bears witness with His voice calling from heaven, “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.” There’s an echo of Isaiah here: “You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will display my splendor” (49:6). The Father is well pleased because the plan of salvation that was formulated before the foundations of the world were laid, is now being put into effect. The pin is pulled; there is no stopping it now until it all ends on a cross outside of Jerusalem. There Jesus is once again declared to be the Son of God, but this time by a Roman soldier witnessing His death.

Mark adds one more detail that we should not overlook. As Jesus was coming up out of the water (Jesus was probably baptized in the shallow Jordan River by standing in the water up to His knees or waist and then walking up to shore), He saw “heaven being torn open.” The English translation is fine, that the heavens were “tore open.” But the Greek Mark uses is much stronger. He says the heavens were “schismed!” At Christmas I encourage my girls to nicely unwrap their presents and neatly fold up the wrapping paper so we can reuse it again next year. Yeah, like that ever happens! They tear into their presents and there is paper everywhere!

God the Father tore the heavens in two! And Mark uses that word on purpose. In fact, he’s the only Gospel writer to do so, even though Jesus’ Baptism is recorded in all four Gospels. Because he wants to make a point, a connection, with this word – for it is a word that he uses in only one other place – and that is at Jesus’ death. The connection is that when Jesus died on the cross, it was the curtain in the Temple that was “schismed,” torn in two from top to bottom. For in Christ – in His sacrificial death for us, in His atonement for our sins, in His bringing God and man back together again in the forgiveness of our sins – there is now no longer any separation between us and God. Because of what Jesus Christ, our Great High Priest, accomplished in the muddy Jordan and upon the bloody cross, we now have free and unfettered access into the Holy of Holies, to the throne of God.

And Mark wants you to know that is what your Baptism means for you today. In Jesus’ Baptism, we see our own. And remember that when you were baptized, hell’s gates were slammed shut and heaven was torn wide open to you through the forgiveness and washing away of your sins. There is now no longer any barrier for you to overcome. Your Baptism has not just promised you heaven and eternal life … it has given it to you!

That is how important Baptism is! It is more than just an initiation rite into the Church. It is more than just a one-time event. It is an enduring reality in our lives. For Martin Luther it was virtually synonymous with the entire Christian life. Just as the Bible begins and ends baptismally, so our life as a Christian begins and ends baptismally.

Baptism is the foundation of who we are and what we are. Baptism is what makes us justified saints and heirs, and it is Baptism that keeps us as sanctified saints and heirs. The Sacrament of Baptism is the foundation sacrament for all other church rites and the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper. In Baptism we are brought into God’s holy family, marked with the sign of the cross and sealed with the Spirit. It is the beginning of our life as a child of God.

Confirmation is the affirmation of Baptism. It is the confirmand’s opportunity to make his parents’ or godparents’ promises his own.

Confession and Absolution is the practice of Baptism. We stand before the Lord’s altar and His font and ask that our sins and guilt once more be washed away. We are once again made clean and new in our baptismal grace.

Baptism is our invitation to the wedding feast of the Lamb here on earth given to us in Holy Communion. We are baptized before we may commune.

As we received the blessing of forgiveness in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit in our Baptism, so we end our worship by receiving the three-fold blessing of peace from our Triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

It is also at the end of a Christian’s life, at the committal at the end of the funeral service where the pastor asks for the Triune God’s blessing and recalls the departed saint’s baptism: “May God the Father, who created this body; May God the Son, † who by his blood redeemed this body together with the soul; May God the Holy Spirit, who by Holy Baptism sanctified this body to be his temple; keep these remains to the day of the resurrection of all flesh.”

For all this, Luther could not extol and lift up Baptism enough, encouraging in his Catechisms that every day – twice a day, every morning and evening – we should make the sign of the cross over our head and heart and remember our Baptism.

In Baptism, Jesus in the water, there with you as your Brother, making His Father your Father. Making His death yours, His life yours, His holiness yours. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit declare it to be so. It is your new creation so that you may stand confidently at the end on Judgment Day. Baptism is your beginning and ending of the Christian life. Amen.