Saturday, January 14, 2006

The ultimate stain remover

Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. But John tried to deter him, saying, "I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?"

Jesus replied, "Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness." Then John consented.

As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased" (Matthew 3:13-17).

It is Saturday morning, the day of the week that Maggie sets aside to get caught up on doing laundry. She gathers up the boys’ clothes and heads down to the basement. As she goes through Michael’s pile of dirty clothes, Maggie is horrified to find blueberry stains on one of his school shirts—it has been at least four days since that pie was finished off. She doesn’t hold a lot of hope for getting the stain out at this point, but Maggie uses a presoak and her best stain-removing detergent on the off-chance that maybe the shirt will come clean. Alas, when she finally takes it out of the washing machine, the ugly spot is still there, mocking her. She knows she has no choice: if she wants to salvage Michael’s shirt, she’s going to have to go to a professional spot-remover—she’s going to have to take the shirt to the dry cleaners.

We humans are messy people. There isn’t a single one of us who hasn’t spilled or dripped something on our clothes at some time or another. Every one of us has ruined more than one dress shirt or blouse or pair of slacks. Every one of us has stained some piece of clothing so badly that professional cleaning was the only hope we had of getting that favorite tie or dress back in wearable condition. In fact, most of us, in trying to get a stain out, have sometimes made the problem worse by using too much of the wrong stain-remover on the wrong fabric. Sometimes it just seems easier to throw the ruined clothing out and go shopping for a replacement.

Sin is a stain. Sin is an ugly blot on a person’s life, just like a stain is an ugly blot on a person’s clothes. Sin makes us ugly, just as stains make pretty clothes ugly. Pride is a sin; pride makes us ugly. Selfishness is a sin; selfishness makes us ugly. Laziness, greed, and lust are sins that make us ugly. Faithlessness is a sin; living without faith in Jesus makes us ugly.

Sin is the stain that we can’t wash out. In fact, the more that we try to get rid of our sins, the bigger a mess we end up making of our lives. Some people try to cover up the ugliness of their sins by pretending that they never happened. Some try to blame their sins on others. Some people try to make up for their sins by punishing themselves or by purchasing extravagant gifts for those they’ve hurt. But all these attempts to wash away our sins ultimately fail. People who lie about their sins are eventually exposed, getting into even worse trouble. People who punish themselves for their sins never reach a point where they feel free of their guilt. People who try to buy forgiveness through lavish spending only earn the contempt of those they’ve wronged. When it comes to washing away our sins, we are very poor launderers.

If we were just talking about clothing, it would be tempting to give up, throw the outfit away, and buy new clothes. But life isn’t like a suit of clothes. We are each of us only given one life to live. If that life becomes stained with sin, we must either have the stains removed or learn to live with them. It is a tragedy that most people are content to live with the stain of their sins. Most people live their entire lives soiled by selfish ambition, envy, and the pursuit of personal pleasure at all costs. Most people live their lives victim of the loneliness that is caused by sins alienating friends and family. This is a tragedy, because living with the stain of sin is unnecessary. Professional cleaning is available—and even better, it’s free!

In today’s Gospel lesson, we are told of Jesus’ baptism in the River Jordan. This event is of tremendous importance to us, for at least two reasons. First, this event inaugurated Jesus’ saving work on our behalf as our Redeemer. Second, Jesus’ baptism gave power to all of our baptisms, power that assures us that Jesus’ salvation belongs to each and every one of us.

The Son of God came into this world in the body of a human being to end sin’s control over human life. Jesus was both the holy Son of God and He was also a perfect man, born of His human mother Mary. At His baptism the Spirit of God came down out of Heaven and rested on the part of Jesus that was human, so that Jesus the God-man would have the strength to save all mankind from the sin that stained us. Jesus was not baptized to wash away His sins; Jesus had no sin in Himself. By His baptism, Jesus voluntarily came and stood beside everyone who did need baptism. Baptism brings the promise of eternal life and eternal love under the leadership and care of our heavenly Father. By His baptism, Jesus began His ministry among us under the same promises of God’s love that we live under. Jesus spent three years revealing God’s love to us. Jesus taught us about how we could be freed from the stain of sin: recognize that sin has made us ugly to God and to each other, ask God to forgive us, and trust that God will remove the stain of sin from our lives.

But why should we trust that God really is interested in cleaning us from our sins? Why would God want to pick up filthy, wretched humans in His pure, holy hands and clean up a mess that He didn’t make? We can believe that God will forgive us because He loves us. God loves us so much that He was willing to send the joy of His heart, His one and only Son, to die for us. At Jesus’ baptism, the Father said, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased." God loved His Son Jesus, yet He was willing to watch Jesus live a life filled with rejection, humiliation and pain, a life that ended with a criminal-style execution. God accepted this loss because He loves us, and Jesus’ willing sacrifice of His holy, perfect life was the only sacrifice great enough to make up for all the evil that we have done.

The sin that stains us is, at heart, rebellion against God. We sin whenever we do something that displeases God. Sin is when we disobey God; sin is rebellion. To sin is to turn traitor against the God who is our rightful ruler. In the United States and most other countries, to act against the government is to commit treason. Treason is the worst crime possible, and almost everywhere is punishable by death. Thus, when we stain our lives with sin, we commit treason against God, and God sentences us to death for our sins. But Jesus, because of His baptism in the Jordan, stands with us. Jesus, who is God made touchable to us, stepped forward 2,000 years ago and asked His Father to punish Him for our crimes so that we might be spared God’s wrath. Jesus died for our sins, and on the third day following His death Jesus returned to life, proof that His sacrifice had settled the debt of treason for every human sin. Now Jesus sits at His Father’s side in heaven. Whenever a Christian comes to the throne of God in prayer, begging for forgiveness, the Father forgives the sins of that person because Jesus has already paid their penalty. Whenever a Christian comes to God asking to be cleaned of the sin that makes him ugly and unacceptable, Jesus washes away the stain of sin.

Jesus is the professional cleaner. We come to Him seeking cleansing, and we wonder what He will demand in payment. After all, Jesus suffered so much for us—He must expect something in return. But Jesus surprises us. Jesus offers to clean us from the stain of our sins for free! The only thing Jesus wants from us is to give up our pride and come to Him empty-handed, seeking His help. Jesus wants nothing from us but our need. God told Saint Paul, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness" (2 Corinthians 12:9). When we have nothing to offer but our need, God gives us everything that we could ever need to live a happy, fulfilled life.

It can be hard to believe in God’s grace. It can be hard to believe that God’s grace to us comes freely. There are days when, worn down by the sins that fill this world, we begin to doubt. We begin to doubt that God really loves us. We begin to doubt that Jesus really does forgive us our every sin. We begin to doubt that heaven doesn’t come with a price tag. It is for this reason that Jesus gave us our baptisms. Baptism is a joining of water with the spoken promises of God. Peter states the promise this way: "baptism…now saves you…It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at God's right hand--with angels, authorities and powers in submission to him" (1 Peter 3:21-22). Just as Jesus joined with mankind through His baptism, we are joined to Jesus through our baptisms, as Paul explains: "We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life" (Romans 6:4). Baptism brings us the benefits of Jesus’ work on our behalf: forgiveness of sins and eternal life with God. Baptism is an event in our lives, an event that erases the guilt of sin and makes us part of the Kingdom of God. Baptism is an event that is a matter of record; you can check its reality on your baptismal certificate and in the church records. It is a matter of record to give you assurance on those days when you find yourself assailed by doubts about God’s love for you. When you start to worry that you are so stained with sin that God won’t clean you up anymore, you can look to the fact of your baptism and be reminded that you are a child of God, bought from sin at a price—but it was a price that God was willing to pay. Peter wrote, "Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God" (1 Peter 3:18). The price has been paid in full. There is no reason to doubt that God will ever stop forgiving you, because Jesus has settled the debt of all sin forever.

Jesus was baptized in the Jordan River for us. In a sense, Jesus used His baptism to sanctify the waters of baptism for you and me and those who still live uneasily with the stain of their sins. Take comfort in the fact that, through baptism, Jesus has made you a member of His heavenly kingdom. When doubts start nagging you, look at your baptismal certificate and be reassured that God has made a commitment to your eternal welfare. "Baptism…now saves you."

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