INTRODUCTION:

A pastor explained to his congregation that the church was in need of some extra money, so he asked them to consider being more than generous. He said that whoever gave the most would be able to pick three hymns.

After the offering plates were passed about the church, the pastor glanced down and noticed that someone had graciously offered a $1,000 bill. He was so excited that he immediately shared his joy with his congregation and said he'd like to personally thank the person who placed the money in the plate.

A very quiet, elderly, saintly lady in the back of the church shyly raised her hand. The pastor asked her to come to the front, so she slowly she made her way towards him. The pastor told her how wonderful it was that she gave so much, and in thanks he asked her to pick out three hymns.

Her eyes brightened as she looked over the congregation. She pointed to the three most handsome men in the church and said, "I'll take him and him and him."

1. Well, we understand that in this story there is a little problem with communication.
1. Misunderstandings are inevitable.
1. We live with them.
2. We work with them.
2. We seek to understand them.

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MAIN BODY:

1. In Jesus statement to John, "Let it be so now; for it is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness." there is a great deal of room for misunderstanding.
1. Not on the part of Jesus.
1. Jesus knows who he is.
2. Jesus knows what he is about to do and why.
2. John the Baptist is initially troubled by this experience.
1. He would have prevented Jesus from being baptized.
2. He states that he needs to be baptized by Jesus.
3. He asks "Why do you come to me?"
3. How do we begin to answer our own questions surrounding Jesus' baptism?
1. We need to understand what he did.
2. We need to understand why he did it.
2. Three reasons Jesus was baptized. Three possible reasons given to clarify what Jesus did and why.
1. Jesus was renouncing, not any guiltiness.
1. He is surrendering the dear and sheltered life of home
2. He is consecrating himself to the dangerous mission to which he felt called.
1. Jesus at his baptism took up the cross which he carried all his life an on which at last he died.
2. He became a homeless person who had "nowhere to lay his head," (Matthew 8:20b).
3. He is taking the necessary risks to secure a positive result.
4. In Isaiah 50:7-9 one of the Messianic portraits given to us by the prophet these words are applied to Jesus.

⁷The Lord GOD helps me; therefore I have not been disgraced; therefore I have set my face like flint, and I know that I shall not be put to shame; ⁸he who vindicates me is near. Who will contend with me? Let us stand up together. Who are my adversaries? Let them confront me. ⁹It is the Lord GOD who helps me; who will declare me guilty? All of them will wear out like a garment; the moth will eat them up.

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3. In this he serves as our example.

Karl Wallenda spent practically his entire life on a high wire, thrilling crowds with his daring high-altitude act.

That all ended in 1978 when Wallenda plunged 75 feet to his death before an audience of thousands in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

When Wallenda's widow began to sort out what might have happened that dreadful day, she noted how that recently her husband had become more and more concerned with little details of safety.

His precautions became a preoccupation. Instead of all his energies being channeled into performing his act, his purpose had now become how to keep from falling.

Out of this terrible story has come a new label - the "Wallenda factor." It cautions us to beware of being so afraid of failure that we dwell only on the negatives.

Life is a risk we must take. While we should be careful in a prudent sort of way, we cannot allow ourselves to become paralyzed by the fear of failure.

4. In Jesus Christ we can be positive and progress on to accept the necessary and calculated risk.
2. Jesus at his baptism took upon himself the common sin.
1. The sinless One became sin for those who could not, of themselves attain righteousness.

²¹For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:21, NRSVA).

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2. Jesus at his baptism took the sin of humankind unto himself
1. He was assuredly not to become party to sin.
2. He is to share the shame and the pain.
3. Jesus is, by absorbing the sin into the purity of his own love, to redeem sinners.
4. He repented with humanity as human, to redeem humanity--in God.
3. He again serves as our example in repentance and forgiveness.

Os Guinness includes a poem, "More Victimized Than Thou" in a book he helped edit No God but God ⁽¹⁾

When Allied troops liberated the Ravensbruck concentration camp in 1945, they stumbled onto the indescribable horror of he Nazi Moloch-machine in which 92,000 women and children had died. But they also came across signs of unquenchable faith. The following words were found written on a piece of wrapping paper near the body of a dead child:

O Lord,
Remember not only the men and women of goodwill,
But also those of ill will.
But do not only remember the suffering they have inflicted on us,
Remember the fruits we brought thanks to this suffering,
Our comradeship, our loyalty, our humility,
The courage, the generosity,
The greatness of heart which has grown out of all this.
And when they come to judgment,
Let all the fruits that we have borne
Be their forgiveness.
Amen, Amen, Amen.

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3. In our current national and world crises this is a prayer set to verse with which we may all become familiar.
4. As Donald Shriver, writes in the column, "A Christians Dilemma: Forgiveness? Now?", in the latest issue of the "Christian Century" October 24-31, 2001, p 6

To be sure, this event tests our American Christian ability to demonstrate moral judgment without an instinct for revenge, an empathy for our enemies without sympathy for their crimes, and a hope that we can eventually find ways to reconcile with them. This complex combination amounts to a definition of forgiveness. We should be devoting a lot of time and energy to coping with the complexities of forgiveness as they relate to our immediate and long-term relation to the world of Islam. ⁽²⁾

5. Jesus, as Lord and Savior, does serve us as a teacher, guide and exemplifier of dealing with the issues of sin and forgiveness.
3. Jesus sought baptism because, in some deepening sense of destiny, he knew that God has some commission to lay on him.
1. He believed the voice of God might come pleadingly, piercingly, and with divine endowment through the ministry of his brave cousin who was disciplined in righteousness.
2. It was a baptism not unlike ordination.
3. It was a baptism not unlike a commissioning service.

Going through a stack of old photos was a picture of my ordination along with five other men to the Gospel ministry.

I remember the sense of excitement.

I remember the sense of obligation to the life that lay before me and my family.

I remember the sense of duty and responsibility.

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1. Jesus will experience the laying on of hands, but according to divine and not human conditions.
3.     Thus, as it says "it became him to fulfill all righteousness."
1. Righteousness is right doing.
2. Righteousness is right thinking.
3. Righteousness is right standing.
1. Jesus found peace and purpose
2. And in all of these Jesus found his divine acceptance and fulfillment.

CONCLUSION:

1. We can be deeply grateful that Jesus has done and is doing all this for you and me.

J. Ellsworth Kalas in The Ten Commandments: From the Back Side reports a story of Tauler of Strasbourg ⁽³⁾

He is remembered as a great 14th century saint and mystic.

One day he learned a lesson from an anonymous beggar.

"God give you a good day, my friend," Tauler said as he met the beggar.

"I thank God I never had a bad day," the beggar quickly answered.

Tauler was silent for a moment, then said, "God give you a happy life, my friend."

And the beggar answered, "I thank God I am never unhappy."

Now Tauler was nonplused. "Never unhappy," he said. "What do you mean?"

"Well," the beggar replied, "When it is fine, I thank God; when it rains, I thank God; when I have plenty, I thank God; when I am hungry, I thank God; and since God's will is my will, and whatever pleases him pleases me, why should I say that I am unhappy when I am not?"

Tauler was now in awe of his new friend. "Who are you?" he asked.

"I am a king," said the beggar.

"A king!" said Tauler, half ready to believe it. "Where is your kingdom?"

The man in rags spoke calmly, strongly, "In my heart," he whispered. "In my heart."

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1. The outside is important.
2. The inside is more important.
3. Jesus makes it possible to have a new inside and a new outside.
4. Baptism is really Jesus in our hearts, our minds, our whole being.
2. "Let it be so now; for it is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness."
1. May each of us say with Jesus:
2. Let it be so now
3. Amen.

   1. As referenced in Os Guinness, "More Victimized Than Thou" in No God but God, ed. Os Guinness and John Seel (Chicago: Moody Press, 1992), 92.

   2. A Christians Dilemma: Forgiveness? Now?, by Donald W Shriver Jr, "Christian Century" October 24-31, 2001, p 6

   3. J. Ellsworth Kalas, The Ten Commandments: From the Back Side (Nashville: Abingdon, 1998), 106-107.

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