In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit

 If you could take on one quality or characteristic of another person, what would it be?  What attribute or trait would you like to borrow and have as your own?   Perhaps you would like to have the patience and gentleness that someone else exhibits and not be flying off the handle all the time.  Or perhaps you'd like someone else's intelligence or people skills or athletic ability or good looks.  One of the TV shows I'll admit to watching is "Heroes."  And one of the characters in that show has the ability to take on the powers of any other superhero he's in close proximity to.  Wouldn't that be nice, to have some superhuman power!

 In every example that I've mentioned, though, the quality or characteristic we'd want to have from someone else is something positive and beneficial to ourselves.  Almost never would we think of taking a negative attribute or trait from someone else, something that might harm us.  The only time where that might be the case is in a situation where someone we love is in great danger or terribly ill.  A parent of a child with cancer might well wish that he could have that disease instead of his child and in that way take the disease away from him.  Or the spouse of someone who's been kidnaped might wish that he or she could exchange places with the other one to set the other free.

 It is in those latter examples that we begin to get a picture of what Jesus was doing for us in His baptism.  Jesus is God the Son, who has nothing to gain from us.  For He Himself created us.  He can't acquire any positive quality or characteristic from us, for He, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, is the source of everything that is good and right and holy and loving and strong.  Still, He becomes man and is baptized in order that He might take something from us and make it His own.  Our Lord puts Himself in the closest possible proximity to us, stepping right into this baptism for sinners, in order that He might absorb our sin into Himself and take it away from us.  All of our greed and envy and lust and anger and laziness and selfishness–all of that, together with its fatal consequences, Jesus humbly and willingly assimilates into His own person so that we might be released and set free from it all.

 This is something that John the Baptist didn't yet fully grasp.  He knew Jesus was the Messiah, but when Jesus came to be baptized by Him, it is written that "John tried to prevent Him."  "Stop.  This just doesn't seem right.  What are you doing Jesus?  My baptism is a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.  It's for all these other people with their various vices and misdirected loves and unfaithfulness.  But you have nothing to repent of.  You need no forgiveness.  No.  I shouldn't do this."

 But Jesus insists.  "Permit it to be so now."  "You may not fully understand what I am doing right away.  But baptize Me anyway.  For this is how all righteousness will be fulfilled.  I must be counted among the sinners and become one with them in order to make them righteous. Here I take their place.  Here I make their sin My own so that in turn My righteousness might be their own."

 It is written, "God the Father made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him."  What an amazing verse that is!  Jesus became a sinner so that you would become saints–not that He ever sinned Himself of course, but rather that He took upon Himself the sin of all mankind.  Every evil thought and word and deed was counted as belonging to Jesus so that you would counted as holy and clean.  Martin Luther once expressed this in prayer, saying, "Lord Jesus, I am Your sin; You are my righteousness."  John the Baptizer said of Jesus soon after His baptism, "Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!"  Here at the Jordan, then, Jesus was beginning His sacred journey to Calvary.  He was taking and carrying your sin and your judgment, for which He would ultimately pour out His holy blood on the cross for your salvation and your forgiveness.

 At Christmas we celebrated the fact that our Lord humbled Himself to take on our flesh and to be born of a Virgin as one of us.  Now we begin the Epiphany season by celebrating that Jesus took the next step and publicly showed forth His solidarity with us fallen human beings.  He stands shoulder to shoulder with us in the water and embraces our darkness that we may be filled with His holy light.  Jesus chose to use His divine power not selfishly but sacrificially.  He freely entered into the toxic muck that infects our human nature in order that we might be lifted out of it and purified through Him.  That's why the Father's voice speaks from heaven and gives public approval of His Son's willing obedience.  The Father of love is well pleased that Jesus has become your substitute, trading places with you to set you free from the prison house of death and to give you His own standing as sons of God.

 So do you see now why it is that baptism is such a powerful act of God and a true Sacrament? Our Lord Jesus has put Himself into it!  The One who paid the penalty for our sins on the cross has sanctified the water with His presence.  Christ is in the water to make baptism a fountain of grace and forgiveness and life.  The Small Catechism poses the question, "How can water do such great things?" like rescuing from death and the devil and giving eternal salvation to all who believe.  The answer: "Certainly not just water, but the word of God in and with the water does these things, along with the faith which trusts this word of God in the water."  The Word of God made flesh is in and with the water, Jesus Christ, whom our hearts cling to and trust in.  His name and His presence make baptism a life-giving event.  As Titus chapter three says, "[God the Father] saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior."

 You see, since Jesus stood with you in the Jordan, since you are joined to Him by water and the Word, what took place here in the Gospel is true also for you.  Jesus saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him.  In the same way the Holy Spirit descends and is given to you who are baptized in Jesus' name.  Just as the Spirit of God hovered over the waters at creation; just as the Spirit of God blew across the waters after the flood to dry them, and a dove was sent out from the ark, so the same Spirit comes to you in the water to recreate you and give you new life.  Jesus said, "Unless one is born [again] of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God."

 It is also written here that when Jesus had been baptized, the heavens were opened to Him.  In the same way heaven has been opened to you who are in Him by faith.  That pathway that once was blocked has now been cleared for you through Christ the Mediator.  For He said, "I am the way and the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through Me."  Just as Israel crossed the Jordan to enter the promised land, so now you cross the Jordan with the Lord Jesus to enter the promised land of life with God in heaven.

 At the beginning of this sermon I asked you what quality or characteristic of another person you might like to have.  Well the truth of the matter is that you have received something far better than any trait you could ever wish for.  For you have been given the identity of Christ Himself in your baptism.  His holiness, His mercy, His life are all yours–a free gift to rejoice in and to live in.  The Father loves you as He loves Jesus.  He now says of you, "You are My beloved Child in whom I am well pleased."

 So when the devil or the world seek to bruise your spirit, to discourage and depress you, to make you feel like a smoldering candle wick about to be snuffed out, remember the Lamb of God standing in the Jordan shoulder to shoulder with you in the midst of the muck and the struggle of your life.  Remember that He has cleansed you and restored you to God.  Remember that the Father is well pleased with you because of Jesus.  Hold on to your baptism as the greatest gift and treasure that the Lord has given you.  For in it He is with you always, to the very close of the age.

  In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit