Text: Matthew 3:13-17

Title: Washed for wear

Everyone washes himself. We wash for two reasons: we wash when we are dirty, and we wash, even when we are clean, as part of the ritual of preparing for a special occasion. Today, as we begin the season of Epiphany with the baptism of the Lord Jesus, we will consider baptism from these two perspectives.

When the Lord Jesus was baptized by John, it marked the beginning of His ministry. For the first thirty years of Jesus’ life, He was a private citizen. He lived in Nazareth. He worked at the carpentry trade of his though-to-be father, Joseph. He had attended the local Lutheran school. He enjoyed pizza and movies with His friends.

Why was Jesus baptized; why was He washed in the ritual cleansing of John the Baptist? John’s message was one of repentance. Jesus had nothing to repent. Jesus had no spiritual dirt clinging to His soul. So, why was Jesus baptized?

Jesus was baptized for the same reason that you might take a shower before a big event, even when you’re not dirty. You shower as part of the act of getting ready. Even though you wouldn’t be showering if the rest of the day held nothing special, because this day does hold something special it wouldn’t feel right to get into your special clothes without first washing.

Think of the Lord’s baptism in this way. Jesus’ days, for thirty years, had been regular days, but now it was time for the special days of His life; it was His time to proclaim the kingdom of heaven, to help and heal and feed, to ready Himself for His walk to the cross.

Even John knew that Jesus didn’t need the baptism that John was offering. Jesus was there to be baptized for the other reason that people get washed: Jesus was getting ready to go somewhere special, and getting washed up was part of His preparation.

That God the Father spoke from heaven—and, as we learned during the Advent Wednesday sermons, this was one of only three times that God the Father spoke to Jesus from heaven—shows that this washing was an important part of His getting dressed for the big event of His ministry, which paved the way for Jesus to lay down His life for the sin of the world, even for your sins.

The epistle lesson from Romans has been paired with this Gospel lesson because it has a wonderful treatment of baptism. Paul, inspired by the Holy Spirit to write this, asks, "How can we who died to sin still live in it?" But, when did we sinners die to sin? Paul continues, "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 . . ."

There’s the first reason that we wash: because we are dirty. Jesus called you by the Gospel to be baptized because, in baptism, He would unite you to Himself through the washing of forgiveness. This is where Paul wrote that you "were buried therefore with him by baptism into death." When you were baptized, your spiritual death, in which you were living by virtue of being born with Original Sin, was united with Jesus’ death on the cross . . . and it was left there, with Jesus’ death, in Jesus’ grave.

You are no longer spiritually dead; you are spiritually alive. One of the gifts of being washed up by Jesus is to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit lives in you, keeping your spirit alive so that, even when you sin—even as you continue to sin daily and often—you do not revert to spiritual death but remain spiritually alive; you remain united to Jesus Christ.

Now, for the second reason that people take a bath: to get ready to be dressed for a special event. Your Lord Jesus called you by the Gospel not only to wash you with His death but to dress you with His resurrection. Here’s what I left off from Paul, a moment ago: "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 the newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his."

In Galatians, the Spirit led Paul to talk about your baptism into Christ in the manner of being dressed: "All of you who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have clothed yourselves with Christ." This is how it is that you appear to God the Father to be properly dressed to be in His presence, because you are dressed in and with His Holy Son, Jesus. This is how you are prepared for death, for your death has been died by Jesus and, thus, you are prepared to be resurrected from the dead, as was Jesus.

With all of this wonderful stuff, you continue to sin; you dirty up the holy clothes which were placed upon you when you were baptized. You experience the guilt of your sinning, and it makes you feel guilty.

I was reminded of this in a documentary I watched, last week, called "Into the Void." It’s about two mountain climbers, who thought they were headed for a routine climb in the Andes. On the climb down, an accident left one of the them with a broken leg. As the other tried to lower him with a rope, the one with the broken leg fell several hundred feet into a crevasse. His friend couldn’t figure out how to climb down to him, and he was sure his partner was dead, so this one got himself down the mountain, safely. Back at camp, guilt worked him over, but good.

At the base camp, there was a lake. As he bathed in the lake, he admitted that he was on his fourth washing. He said that he couldn’t get the mountain off his skin. His guilt made him feel dirty. He simply had to wash. You know the feeling, don’t you?

When the guilt of sin makes you feel dirty, where do you go and what do you do to wash? As with everything, you go directly to Jesus Christ. You wash your memory afresh with your own baptism into Christ, reminding yourself that you were buried with Christ in baptism, into Christ’s death, and you are now dead to sin. You wash your memory afresh that you have been clothed with Christ and, while the guilt of your ugly thoughts, wrong words, or dastardly deeds is plaguing you, you are reminded that your Father in heaven doesn’t see what you feel, but sees you as a holy one—His saint—for He sees upon you His holy Son.

This good news washes away your guilt and gladdens your heart. You repent of your sin. You promise to do better and put it behind you. You revel in the Good News of all that Jesus has done for you in His holy life, bitter death, triumphant resurrection, and glorious ascension. You come to worship Him and joyously prepare to accept His invitation to come to His supper table, where He feeds your faith on His living body and blood.

Jesus was baptized to get ready for the big event of His life: to take on the dirt of your sin. Jesus had you baptized to clean up the dirt of your sin and to dress you for the big event of your life: to make you a child of God and an heir with Him of the resurrection to eternal life. Amen.