The Exchange
Luke 3:15-22
Rev. David Domanski
1/12/20253 min read
The season after Christmas, Epiphany, is all about God manifesting his salvation to us and to the world. The Gospels are silent regarding Jesus’ life between ages 12 and 30—and nothing is added to our real knowledge by some rather fanciful stories found in apocryphal books, such as the young Jesus making clay birds fly or miraculously lengthening the leg of a chair that his carpenter father, Joseph, had cut short. The Gospel accounts, after all, are not biographies but rather extended introductions to the Passion of Christ which highlight His work of salvation.
In our text today, God begins revealing the saving work of his beloved Son. And Jesus does not introduce himself; John the Baptist was called to prepare the hour of the Messiah-Servant. In the Baptism Jesus receives from John, God marks Him as the fulfillment of all salvation history.
In His Baptism, Jesus is anointed to complete the exchange necessary for the salvation of the world.
And as we read the details of Jesus’ Baptism in Luke’s Gospel and in the others, we understand what occurred at the Jordan, but understanding the meaning of what is going on in the details is not as clear. And what happened at Jesus’ Baptism is that all three persons of the Holy Trinity together set into motion the beginning work of Jesus for our redemption. Jesus’ saving ministry and mission began in earnest with his Baptism.
Even the greatest of the prophets, John the Baptist, was confused about what Jesus’ baptism meant, but Jesus wasn’t confused at all. John believed that it was improper for Jesus to be baptized by him, but Jesus understood that, in order to save the world from its sin, He would have to submit Himself to John’s authority and put Himself in submission to ALL sinners. In bowing His head to receive the washing of water and Word, Jesus is praying to His Father, saying, “Amen. Let it be so. Thy will be done.” These are the same sentiments that Jesus speaks in Gethsemane as He faces His coming trial, torture, and death. Jesus knows that there can be no negotiation, no bargaining, and no deal-making as He begins the three-year work of our salvation.
The Baptism of Jesus is a window into his sacrificial death as Messiah-Servant of God. He was not anointed to be a nice guy or great philosopher, a mere example or coach. When He lowered Himself into a common, not so-special river at John’s hand, Jesus was voluntarily baptized into the ocean of our misery and wretchedness and sin. He did this because we are helpless and fallen children of God. The history of Israel is a story of rebellion and discontent—and it’s our history too. Every time, when the evils of their enemies and the evils of pagan worship brought disaster upon them, Israel cried out to heaven, “Who will save us?” And God responded to their cries with deliverers, with plagues against their enemies, with kings and generals, and with prophets and priests—all so that they would return to God and be saved for only a while.
But when Jesus is baptized, Jesus completes the great exchange that will save God’s children forever, not just for a while. At his Baptism, Jesus binds himself to our poor, miserable condition so that He can make the great exchange an eternal one: His righteousness for our unrighteousness—forever. Jesus knows that when His work of redemption is done, rebellions will be forgiven. Sins will be forgotten by endless grace. And we would no longer be enemies of God, but grateful and loved heirs of heaven.
This is why we Lutherans tend to put a lot of weight and emphasis on Christian baptism. Jesus allows Himself to be baptized, not only to put His stamp of approval on the practice, but to point us to the marvelous exchange—His righteousness for our sin—that took place that day.
When we are baptized in the name of Father, the Son, and Holy Spirit as Jesus commands, we receive ALL the blessings of Jesus’ death on the cross. We receive His forgiveness, His perfect life, and His peace. That’s why, in this life, the only direction that those marked with the name Christ can go back to is to one’s Baptism. Do you know the date of your Baptism? Do you remember the united work of the Trinity at your Baptism during the speaking of the Invocation? Do you ask God for the ability to pray, “Amen. Let it be so. Thy will be done”?
Faith in God’s grace through baptism allows us to look at the sinful condition of our hearts and hands and lips and yet believe that what was spoken over Jesus at His Baptism has also been spoken to you: “You are my beloved child; with you I am well pleased.”