Bible Passage: Mark 1:9-11
Pastor: Joel Jenswold
Sermon Date: January 7, 2024

Bulletin January 7, 2024

In the name of, and to the eternal glory of, Jesus,

An interesting study could be made of this:  unexpected places we find the Son of God.  It might begin with what we just celebrated.  Who would ever expect to find the Son of God in the womb of a Galiean virgin?  Who would ever expect to find the Son of God wrapped in strips of cloth and lying in a manger?  But the study would not end there.  It would expand to include the early life of Jesus.  Who would ever expect the Son of God to be a villager in Nazareth?  Who would ever expect to find the Son of God working with his hands in his step-dad’s carpenter shop?  And of course in this discussion we would have to finally look at the cross and the tomb and conclude, “Who would ever expect to see the Son of God here!”

The event before us this morning would fit well in this discussion.  Before us today is the baptism of Jesus.  We see Jesus, the Son of God, going out to John the Baptist.  And what we see next is quite unexpected.  We are told that Jesus was baptized by John in the Jordan. (v. 9)  In the Jordan River.  Down in the water!  We see that Jesus is in the Water!

So why is this so unexpected?  The answer is found a few verses before our text.  There we heard:  The whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem went out to him [John the Baptist].  Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River. (Mark 1:5)   The people who were going into the water to be baptized were sinners!  They came confessing their sins.  They were getting into the water to be baptized for forgiveness.  Now Jesus is in the water with these people!

It sort of makes me think about the scene in the cell block of the prison.  You know the one.  The prisoners are sitting there.  In comes the new guy.  He asks the inmates, “What are you in for?”  And he hears the regular litany of offenses.  “I’m in for aggravated assault.”  “I’m in for grand theft.”  “I’m in for first degree murder.”  And then they look at the new guy, “And what are you in for?”  We look at all the offenders going out to be baptized.  We ask, “What are you here for?”  I suppose we would hear all the “standard” sins.  “Cheating.  Lying.  Lust. Greed. Hatred.”  And up walks the “new guy.”  Jesus of Nazareth.  We ask, “And what sins are you here for?”  And he says, “All of them.”  And Jesus gets in the water with the rest of the sinners.

It makes Jesus look like every other sinner!  And that’s the point!  The prophet Isaiah had prophesied about the Savior that he would be numbered with the transgressors (Isaiah 53:12).  Numbered with the transgressors.  That means that when it comes to counting all the dirty, rotten sinners in this world – a group, by the way, of which we are all distinguished members – Jesus said, “Count me in!”  The Son of God did not come to stand aloof from us.  To stand apart from us.  To stand at a distance from us.  He came to be with us.  He came to be one of us.

This is radical!  This is strange!  This is a new thing!  Is this all on the up-and-up?  Does God approve of his Son being in the water like all those sinners, looking like all those sinners?  Our text answers the question.  Just as Jesus came up out of the water, he saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove.  And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love.  I am well-pleased with you.” (v. 10-11)

There is the answer!  The Father is so pleased that his Son has stepped out of the anonymity of the carpenter shop in Nazareth!  The Father loves that his Son has now publicly come forth!  The Holy Spirit of God in the form of a dove flies down and lands upon Jesus.  The voice and the dove testify to the same thing:  this one is the Messiah, the Christ, the Lord’s Anointed!  The humble God-Man would be strengthened and encouraged for his Messianic work by the voice and dove.  But that voice and that dove are for our sakes, too.  Your God wants you to know without a shadow of a doubt that Jesus of Nazareth is the one!

There is a pivotal moment in Jesus’ ministry recorded by St. Matthew.  The disciples of John come to Jesus with a question, really it is THE question.  Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else? (Matthew 11:3)  Everything hinges on this!  If Jesus is the one, that settles it.  We must be “all in” for Christ.  But if there is someone else, then all this attention to Jesus is premature.  Is Jesus the one?  Jesus in the water, the voice, the dove all answer the question loud and clear.  Jesus is the one this world has been waiting for, and needing, all along!

Friends, seeing Jesus in the water today is not the most unexpected place Jesus went for us.  The water, the voice, the dove are all but a prelude to the cross.  The cross.  Jesus did not go to the cross WITH sinners.  He went to the cross alone, INSTEAD of sinners.  Instead of you and instead of me.  To suffer the punishment we deserve.  To pay the debt we owe.  To satisfy divine justice.  To patch things up between you and God, and me and God.

And here is a remarkable thing.  We find this loving Jesus, we find this Savior, this Substitute, this “Christ crucified,” in a most remarkable place.  We find Jesus in the water, in the water of our own Baptism.  Paul wrote, Don’t you know that all of you who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?  We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead in the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. (Romans 6:3-4)  You think your baptism was a little, “cutesy” thing that happened?  It was cosmic!  It was violent!  It was glorious! There was death!  There was resurrection!  There was Jesus…in the water!

All of this – Jesus in the water of the Jordan, the voice, the dove, the cross, the empty tomb, the water of your baptism – all of it so that you and I might spend eternity in the most unexpected place:  with him in heaven!

Amen.