“Our Sin for His Righteousness”

Text: Luke 3:15-22

Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Some of you are in that place in life where nightly, or at least semi-regularly, you put kids in the bathtub. For others you probably have a memory of this from when your kids were young. I’m not going to pretend that this is a task that I participate in regularly these days. Naomi takes care of most of that, and for that I am very thankful. But I do know what happens at bathtime. Splashing and playing. Swimming laps. I know all of that because of all the extra towels that I find used to dry up the bathroom floor after bathtime. But those things aren’t the primary reason for kids to take a bath. The goal is that dirty kids get in the tub and then they come out clean and fresh.

And some days they need this transformation more than others. Think springtime when the yard is muddy, and kids can’t help but get right down there in it all. So, you run the bathwater and it’s nice and clean. Until…the kid gets in and the transformation happens. The dirty body becomes clean, and the water becomes dirty. It’s on these days that you break down and don’t worry about the water usage and drain the tub before the next kid gets in. I think back to the days when families would have had to haul the water in from outside, warm it on the stove and pour it into the tub. And those were times of working in the fields where real dirt had to be removed at the end of the day. They certainly weren’t draining the tub between kids. But imagine being the last one in the line to take a bath on one of those nights. You might wonder whether getting into that water would be beneficial at all or whether you’d come out just as dirty as you went in.

What we hear about in Jesus’ baptism is just this. A man, God Himself, who doesn’t hesitate to jump into the waters of the Jordan River that have been made filthy by all the sin of the people who have been baptized before Him. He doesn’t need to be made clean. He has none of the stain of sin on Him. And yet He willingly and gladly wades into the waters muddied by not only the sin of those being baptized by John the Baptist, but by us as well. And in that water He exchanges

OUR SIN FOR HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS

This is what Christ Jesus has done for us. He gives us what is His, and takes upon Himself what is ours. It’s what He accomplished through every act in His ministry, but there’s a very particular moment where we first see this, and it’s today’s account of the Baptism of our Lord in the River Jordan. It’s where we see that Christ is willing to exchange our sin for His righteousness. It’s where we begin to see the wonderful exchange made by Christ, on our behalf, which continues to bless us today.

Christ intentionally seeks out John to be baptized. At this point John is a well-known preacher in the area. He had many followers. Many who were coming out to hear him and to be baptized by Him. Probably a significant following. But he would have also had those who were hanging around, seeking out ways to oppose his teaching. Whether you liked him or not, people would have known who John was. In contrast, at this point, Jesus was a relative unknown, and He chooses to begin His ministry by becoming one of those who humbly comes to John seeking baptism. As we hear in Matthew’s account, John seeks to prevent Him. Because He recognizes Jesus’ sinlessness. Already in the womb, John leapt for joy at Jesus arrival. And His understanding of who this relative of his actually was, and what He came to do, would have only grown as the two relatives grew up alongside one another. It’s clear that He knows who Jesus is at this point as he tells the people, “I baptize you with water, but He who is mightier thatn I is coming, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.”

John certainly recognizes his own sinfulness, but Christ’s mission doesn’t always play out as we think it might. Christ joins sinners in the muddy Jordan River to do what they were unable to do-to fulfil all righteousness. All of us, just like John, are in need of forgiveness. For our sins of thought, word, and deed. For the times we allow our minds to wander to places they ought not be. For the words we say that hurt others, and the Lord Himself. And for the actions that betray our inability to control our hardened hearts. For all this we need forgiveness. For the things that we have done, but also for all the things we have left undone. For the times we know we should act, yet turn the other way because it’s just easier to ignore. For all these sins what we truly deserve is the wrath of God. But what we receive is not wrath. It’s quite the opposite. Jesus, in His wading into the River with us, begins the great exchange. Fulfilling the Law in our place, taking upon Himself God’s judgement against sin, and giving to us the righteousness that rightly belongs to Him.

It’s an exchange that began with His baptism and was completed at Calvary, where the sinless One bore the sins of the entire world. An incredible exchange. He hangs there bloodied and suffering, while we sit comfortably below. His rightful place as Son of the Father is disowned, so that we might become the Father’s beloved sons and daughters. We call this the vicarious atonement. What that means is that what He did he did so as a substitution for us. Christ literally did what was ours to do so that we might be reconciled to God. And our response to that should be, “that’s not fair.” Because it’s not. We should be thinking, “that’s not an even exchange.” Because it isn’t. It’s not fair. It’s not an even exchange.

Our sin for His righteousness is kind of like some of those trades you might have made as a kid. You got out the baseball cards and tried to find someone who knew a little less than you did about the value of those cards. And even if it wasn’t malicious, you’d always be trying to make a trade for something that was a little more valuable than what you had to give up. Some people have taken this concept to the extreme. We’ve all heard the stories of savvy traders who have started out with a matchbox car, traded it for larger toy, which they then traded for something just a little more valuable, until, after hundreds, or thousands of trades, getting something of slightly greater value in each trade, have make a final trade in which they drive away in a new car. Looking back, they could say they traded a matchbox for a real car. A truly unfair trade when seen without all the steps in the process.

Our Lord’s exchange of His life for ours, His righteousness for our sinfulness, is a truly unfair trade. And what’s even more incredible is that it requires absolutely none of the haggling and trading up, no work at all on our part, to become the recipients of this great exchange. Christ put Himself in our place, and gave us His. And the benefits of this wonderful exchange continue for us today. In our baptisms, where our sins were drowned and we were given the new birth of water and the Spirit, the infirmity of our sinfulness is washed away, picked up by Christ Himself, and paid for at the cross. All the times our minds wander to places they shouldn’t be. All the words we’ve said that have hurt others and our Lord. All the things we should have done, but didn’t. God’s forgiveness for all these things reminds us that Christ took each of these sins upon Himself.

Martin Luther explains what Christ did for us through His baptism and the great exchange, completed at the cross by saying, “That is the mystery which is rich in divine grace to sinners: wherein by a wonderful exchange our sins are no longer ours but Christ’s and the righteousness of Christ not Christ’s but ours. He has emptied himself of his righteousness that he might clothe us with it and fill us with it. And he has taken our evils upon himself that he might deliver us from them. . . . In the same manner as he grieved and suffered in our sins, and was confounded, in the same manner we rejoice and glory in his righteousness.”

It’s in the baptism of Jesus that we first see this wonderful exchange. Christ, God’s beloved Son, takes our place so that in our baptism we are beloved sons and daughters of God. So, baptism is where this exchange begins for us as well. That’s why the day of our baptism can also be called our re-birthday. If you don’t know your baptismal birthday, look it up. It’s why we send each person who is baptized home with a baptismal candle. A reminder of their baptism, but also a practical tool to bring out each year in order to remember the day on which God washed away their sins and welcomed them into His family. It’s a great practice. Another great practice is to wake up each morning, make the sign of the cross, remembering the words spoken at your baptism. Those commanded by God. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Remember those words too the next time you look at that filthy bathwater. While that’s just dirt that’s flowing down the drain, it can be a genuine reminder to us of the muddy waters of our sin that Jesus willingly jumped into for us. Taking them all upon Himself. And in doing that, remember that Christ exchanged our sin for His righteousness. And for that we thank and praise Him. Amen.

The peace of God which surpasses all understanding guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.