Acts 10:34-38
First Sunday after the Epiphany - 8 January 2017
Rev. John Derme
I wonder how much everybody else who was there understood what was happening. As Jesus began to step into the water and John started to baptize him, everybody else probably assumed that Jesus was being baptized for his own sake. All of the others who were baptized that day did so because they wanted to receive forgiveness after repenting of their sins. But then they heard the voice speak from heaven. And they saw the dove descend upon him. They must have understood that something special was happening. But did they realize who Jesus was? And did they realize that he wasn’t being baptized for himself, but for others? Did they realize that he was being baptized for them? Did they realize that Jesus was baptized for all?
No, I don't imagine that they understood all of that so soon. After all, it took Jesus' own apostle Peter a long time to realize all the people for whom Jesus was baptized. It took him until after Jesus died, rose again, ascended into heaven, and sent the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. Then it took a vision from the Lord to teach Peter that one.
One day, when Peter was waiting for his lunch to be prepared, he fell into a trance. Do you ever dream about the things that are on your mind? Well, Peter was really hungry, so he had a dream about food. Except that this dream was from the Lord, so it had a really important purpose. In this dream there were animals all over the place, and a voice told him, go, kill, and eat. But there was one problem: the animals were unclean.
To this day, followers of the Jewish religion recognize a distinction between clean and unclean foods. Foods that are acceptable to eat are called "kosher." Many foods are not. This distinction goes back to the Old Testament law of God. Peter had never eaten unclean food before, so when the voice told him to kill and eat, he said, "Surely not, Lord!" The voice was the Lord's, and his reply to Peter was, "Don't call anything unclean that I have made clean." This happened three times, until the animals were taken away.
Not coincidentally, after Peter's vision ended, some visitors came looking for him. They had come from a Roman centurion named Cornelius. Cornelius may have been Roman, but he believed in the true God. An angel had appeared to him and told him to send for Peter. Now the Holy Spirit told Peter to go with them.
When Peter arrived at Cornelius' house, he walked right in. This was unusual for Peter, because Jews didn't associate with Gentiles. That meant that they didn't enter Gentiles' homes. They would be considered unclean if they did. But Peter had learned a couple of lessons from his vision with the animals.
The first lesson is more obvious. There was no longer any such thing as clean or unclean animals or food. The Jewish dietary laws had served a purpose during the Old Testament. They separated the Jews from the Gentiles. But that purposed had been fulfilled in Jesus' life and death, and the Lord made it clear to Peter that they were no longer in effect. The Jews could eat what the Gentiles ate.
The second lesson is less obvious. But it follows naturally that if there is no longer any such thing as unclean food, and the dietary separation between Jews and Gentiles was gone, then there must no longer be any separation between Jews and Gentiles at all. The Lord had separated the Jews from the Gentiles to keep them from being absorbed into the nations. But once the Savior came and completed his work, there was no longer any reason for a Jew to consider a Gentile to be unclean.
Peter explained himself after he entered Cornelius' house. "Now I understand," he said, "that God does not show favoritism." God didn't like the Jews better than the Gentiles. The Jews hadn't done anything to earn their favored place as God's people. He had to choose one nation through which to send the Savior, though, and by his grace he chose the Jews. But now Peter understood that the distinction was gone.
Now Peter understood far better for whom Jesus lived his life. He went on to talk about Jesus. You might have expected Peter to say something about how Jesus died on the cross for all people. Sometimes that is what we talk about right away when we're telling people about Jesus. Since you don't have time to talk about everything in his life, you have to hit the high points, right? Peter summarized Jesus life, too, and he eventually did get to talking about his death and resurrection. But did you notice the first thing he mentioned? In his short summary of Jesus' life, he made sure to talk about Jesus' Baptism! And after he was finished speaking, Cornelius and the members of his household were baptized.
It took Peter a long time to get over the idea that there was a separation between Jews and Gentiles and to understand that Jesus was baptized for all. I'm not aware that any of us struggle with the distinction between Jews and Gentiles. Most or all of us here are Gentiles. Yet we still do not always appreciate what it means that Jesus was baptized for all. Many of us were baptized a long time ago. We rightly think of Baptism as something that has brought good blessings into our own lives. But we forget that Baptism is not something that Jesus wants us to keep to ourselves. We may think that we must have done something good to deserve it. But Baptism is something God wants all people to experience.
Yet if we forget how God wants all nations to be baptized, then we've forgotten how important it is for us. If we think we've done even one small thing to earn it, then we have forgotten that Baptism is something God does for us. We need Jesus' Baptism to be for all, otherwise we would not be saved. No matter whether we are Jews or Gentiles, we are all foreigners by nature, alien from God's family. Without Baptism, we would never enter his family, but would be separated from God all our lives now and forever in hell.
That is why it was so important for Jesus to be baptized for us. He wasn't sinful by nature. Because he is true God and born of the virgin, he is holy and perfect by nature. Jesus came to the Jordan River and was baptized for our sake. He united himself to all the sinful people who were baptized and all of us who have been baptized since. Because he was baptized and we are baptized, he has taken our sin on himself. And he took our sin with him all the way to the cross, where he suffered and died and paid for that sin, so that our sins will not separate us from God. They do not separate us now and they will not separate us forever.
That is not all that Jesus did with his life. He also lived perfectly every day of his life. And because he was baptized and because we are baptized, he has given the perfect life that he lived to us, so that we receive all the benefits of that life. Now God the Father sees in you the perfect life of Jesus. Because God declares us to be holy as holy as Jesus, we can enter heaven and live there forever.
Can't you see how important it is that Jesus was baptized for us? Yes! But, as we see in our Second Lesson, Jesus wasn't just baptized for us. He was baptized for all. That means that you and I aren't any more deserving of Baptism and the gifts that come through it than anybody else. All people in this world are equally sinful by nature. All people need Baptism to be saved. God wants all people to receive this gift.
God uses you and me, like Peter, to bring the gifts of Baptism to others. That is why we have a baptismal font in front of our church. Many children and adults have had their sins washed away and been given Jesus' holiness right here. That is also why this congregation began a mission congregation in Sparks. Just last week Pastor Hillmer and Ben Benson went to pickup The Springs' new baptismal font so that it can be installed in the new church building when it is completed in a few months. Who knows how many children and adults will be baptized in that font to receive the gift of faith. That is also why we are looking to start another congregation. At yesterday's joint council meeting, the leaders who were gathered encouraged both congregations to set Palm Sunday, March 25 2018 as the opening date for the next mission church. We'll be talking about that in our open forum and voters' meeting over the next two Sundays. Who knows how many people will be baptized in our next church? That is also why we support missions with our offerings, so that we can send missionaries to baptize throughout this nation and to take the gift of Baptism into the world.
We are accustomed to saying that Jesus died for all, and he was. What a wonderful message that is! Keep proclaiming that good news. But Jesus did more. His Baptism empowers our Baptisms. Now we are forgiven and holy. Now, like him, we can go and bring this message of forgiveness to all. Jesus was baptized for all.