Today is Baptism of the Lord Sunday. Oh, yes, that's another one of those obscure church holiday. There’s a historical reason why for centuries, the church created such holidays as this.

In the forth century, Emperor Constantine declared that the Christian faith was for the whole Empire. That day, the Christian faith was sprung upon people who didn't understand it. They did not know the stories of the Old Testament or the stories of Jesus. So the church developed holidays, holy days, as teaching tools to educate the people.

I say this because across our country, people are becoming more secular. Worship attendance is down in proportion to the population. Today, 70% of school age children are not on the rolls of any kind of church. Although most people agree with the idea of God, they don’t really pay attention to the gospel of Jesus Christ. As a whole, people simply don’t get it. The core message of the gospel, that Jesus died for us to forgive our sin, is painted over with spiritual inventions people make up about God.

Baptism is the key to our salvation. It is the way that God claims us and forgives our sin. For many, baptism has become just a ceremony commemorating our individual notions and decisions. But the scriptures affirm that baptism was instituted by Christ himself. It was so central, the early church made the Baptism of Jesus a Holy Day.

The story begins when Jesus was just beginning his ministry. He went to John the Baptist to baptize him in the Jordan River. I've never been there.  I’ve only seen pictures. But those who have seen it say it’s not the beautiful river they expected. Its very shallow, not very clean, mostly very muddy. They say, it's very narrow, not as big as the Trinity River that runs through Fort Worth. For some reason, when I think of the baptism of Jesus, I get hung up on the thought that the water was very muddy.

Long before John, the Jews had a baptism which was an initiation for Gentile converts to Judaism. That baptism symbolically cleansed the Gentiles of all their impurities before they were allowed to undergo circumcision.  John was talking to his fellow Jews, telling them they had strayed so far from God’s will, they needed to be baptized and repent. He was saying in effect, "You have strayed so far from the teachings of the torah that you need are like the gentiles. Repent, and be baptized because God's judgement is coming soon."

Hundreds even thousands of John's countrymen were packing their bags and hiking out to the Jordan River valley to get right with God and have all their sins washed away. John had put a new meaning upon that Jewish rite of purification. And they came by the hundreds.

When Jesus arrived and asked to be baptized, John already knew him quite well. Luke’s gospel tells us Jesus and John were kin. John said, "I ought to be baptized by you," John said, "and yet you have come to me." He knew Jesus did not have to repent of any sin, and was trying to make Jesus change his mind. Jesus did not contradict John, but answered him, "Let it be so now. For in this way we will fulfill all righteousness. Jesus was saying that for now, baptize me so that God’s will is fulfilled, and John agreed.

That muddy water contained, symbolically, the sin of all humanity. Jesus was immersed in us! An early church leader bishop named Irenaeus wrote, "He became what we are, in order that we might become what he is."  In that muddy water, Jesus plunged into the mess of human life. Then heaven was opened to him, and he saw the spirit of God coming down like a dove and lighting on him. Then a voice said from heaven, "This is my own dear son, with whom I am well pleased." (Matthew 3:13‑17.)

With that, Jesus began his ministry, and continued to please God.  He went across the country preaching and teaching that God’s kingdom had begun, feeding the hungry, and healing the sick. But many of the people in power didn’t like his teaching, and rejected his claims about the kingdom. They saw him as a dangerous traitor, and crucified him. But God raised him from the dead, and made him the ruler over the new creation. He commanded his disciples to teach and preach the message of his kingdom, and to baptize in his name. 

Jesus took the old Jewish baptism of repentance and made it a visible and tangible sign of the grace and forgiveness he won for us on the cross. The point is simply this. John’s baptism was not a Christian baptism. Jesus had not yet gone to the cross. After Jesus was raised from the dead, he made baptism into a sacrament where we are baptized into his body and his resurrection.  The apostle Paul wrote that when we were baptized into Christ, we were buried with him in his death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead, we too might live a new life in his resurrection. We are baptized into his crucified body so that we will be raised in his resurrection.

In baptism our sin is forgiven. Even though we are still sinners in a world of sin, we are no longer condemned. Baptism happens once, but the promise is renewed every day.  We are washed clean, and called to follow Christ today and forever. But there’s the rub.

Once we are baptized, and we receive God’s grace, Jesus taught us how to follow him. Through baptism, we are called to show his grace toward others. God wants us to forgive others as Christ has forgiven us. It’s in the Lord’s Prayer Jesus taught us. “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.”

In Matthew 6:14-15 we read that Jesus says,  For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you; 15but if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. That’s about as clear as it could be. We simply are required to forgive as we have been forgiven.

But again, many make up their own interpretation. Some say that if the person doesn’t repent or say I’m sorry, we don’t have to forgive them. That’s not what Jesus said, nor is it recorded anywhere in scripture. Jesus tells us to forgive, regardless of the circumstance. Justice must still be done, but we can forgive even those who need to be in prison.

Forgiving means letting go, and releasing the person from any need for revenge or retaliation. It means being open and willing to work for reconciliation, if that is possible. It does take at least two willing people in order to reconcile.

I know how hard it is to do! Sometimes when someone really sinned against me, it took years to forgive them. I could tell my own stories, but today I wanted you to hear one of the best stories of forgiveness and reconciliation I’ve ever heard. I invited my good friend, Sargent Mark Thorne, to tell his story.

<Sargent Thorne told a story of forgiveness to a man that beat him before he was arrested>

Thank you, Mark! What a great story! God bless you. Let the peace of God which passes all human understanding work in you a forgiving heart, that you may give thanks to God for the forgiveness we have in Christ Jesus.

Amen!