Brent Kuhlman

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St. John 1:43-51

“Phillip, come on! A complete stranger gets in your grill, barks out the order to follow him, and you say that’s exactly what you’re going to do?  Are you feeling all right?  Did you forget to take your meds this morning?  Here, sit down with me under this fig tree.  You’ve been in the sun way too long!  Take a deep breath!  Take a swig of water!  Let me call old Doc Horowitz to take a look at you.  I’m really concerned about you.”

“What’s that Phillip?  No need to call Dr. Horowitz?  Absolutely I do!  I mean … really …. Phillip!  You’re not yourself!   We all know that nothing good can come from Nazareth?   Really!  Nazareth?  In all of Israel’s history, Nazareth is a nothing!  Always has been!  People from Nazareth are nothings too!”

“And then you Phillip, all of sudden, just out from left field, you expect me to believe that this very odd Nazarite -- what’s His name? – Jesus  -- who got in your grill --  is the promised Messiah?  That this out of the blue Jesus is the promised descendant of Eve who will crush Satan’s  pointy head?  That this Out Of No Where Nazareth Jesus is the Prophet Moses promised?  You expect me to believe, Phillip, that this zero named Jesus is the promised eternal royal son of David?  You’ve got to be joking Phillip!  Next, I suppose you’ll try to sell me ocean front property in Jerusalem!  Come on Phillip!  I may look like I’m a few bricks short of a load!  But Jesus from Nazareth?  Really?”   

“Nathanael,” Phillip begs, “come and see!  Check out this Jesus for yourself!  He truly is the Messiah! You’ll see!  I promise!” 

Nathanael, no doubt, goes reluctantly with Phillip to check out this Jesus from Nazareth.  Probably just to humor Phillip.  The two have never met.  They aren’t properly introduced.  And yet Jesus knows Nathanael!  “How do you know me?” Nathanael asks.  “I saw you,” Jesus declares, “while you were under the fig tree even before Phillip begged you to come and see me.” 

Whoa!  Now that’s something from the Nazareth Jesus dude!  But He’s not just a dude.  He’s – and this now comes from skeptic and mocker Nathanael – “Rabbi, you are the Son of God!  You are the King of Israel!”   

That’s quite a switcheroo!  A total 180!  One minute this Jesus is a nothing!  The next minute He’s confessed as God’s very own Son and the promised Davidic king whose reign would be forevermore!  All because Jesus saw Nathanael and knew him before they officially met! 

Nathanael’s confession is correct.  Bang on!  So is Phillip’s!  Both men believe that Jesus is the whole enchilada – the entire fulfillment of the Old Testament promises!  In addition, He is God in the flesh!  God’s Son!  When you see Jesus of Nazareth, you see God Himself!  When you see Jesus you see the forever King descended from King David! 

Now if you all thought Jesus seeing Nathanael under the fig tree was whiz-bang stuff, there’s more from the Nazarite God-Man!  And that “more” will blow your mind further!  “Greater things are to come,” Jesus promises.  “Your eyes – your eyes of faith will get even bigger!  Bulging out of the sockets faith eyes!  You will see greater things than my seeing you under the fig tree Nathanael!”

What in the world could that possible be?

Are you ready for Jesus’ answer?  Well, are you?  Good!  Here is it!

Jesus says:  “You’re going to see heaven cracked wide open!  Torn open completely!  And, of course, when that happens you’ll see God Himself!  God revealing Himself!  With God in heaven are all the archangels and angels!  Millions upon millions of them will be ascending and descending – flying all around God – surrounding Him!” 

Where is all this happening?  Where do we see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending? Glad you asked!

I’ll let Jesus answer that one too.  He says it’s all happening in Him!  He’s the very gate of heaven!  The angels ascend and descend on Him!  He is the Son of Man!  Heaven comes to earth in Jesus! 

Or to put it another way – as Jesus preaches, teaches and carries out His ministry – it is the very ministry of God!  It is the very ministry of heaven itself on the earth.  The Most High God of heaven comes all the way down!  He roams the earth!    Where we sinners live!  When you see Jesus you see God.  You see heaven’s work and heaven’s voice! 

And this Jesus – He’s on a mission!  To save sinners!  To do a Good Friday!  For the world!  For you!  For Phillip, Andrew, Peter, and Nathanael!  

The very Son of Man from heaven itself – He comes and finds you!  Just like He found Philip, Andrew, Peter, and Nathanael!  And this is what He has to say to you:  “I died for you.  I rose for you.  I forgive you all your sin.  You are mine.  Heaven is yours.”

The absolution is His ringing-cracked-open-from-heaven-voice heard right here on this earth!  So too when Jesus of Nazareth – now crucified and risen Jesus of Nazareth – gathers you at His Supper!  He speaks.  He gives.  His body.  His blood.  And He promises that your sin is forgiven! 

Doesn’t get any more “you will see greater things” than that does it?  For at the Sacrament of the Altar heaven is open.  Wide open!  And innumerable angels are present in joyful assembly around the Host – Son of Man Jesus! 

And there, not only are your eyes all a-bulging, but also your mouths – fed with His most holy body and blood.  Hearts too!  Hearts all a-bulging with faith!  Faith in Jesus!  He is “greater things!”  No, He’s the greatest!  The Savior.  He saved and found you! “Rabbi, you are the Son of God!  You are the King of Israel!”  Indeed He is!

In the Name of Jesus.  

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The Baptism of Our Lord                         

8 January 2011                                                                                                     

                                                      + Jesu Juva +

St. Mark 1:4-11

There He is!  Thirty-year-old Jesus!  In the Jordan River!  Baptized by John! 

What’s the lesson here?  What’s the point? 

Well, most preachers today would say this:  Jesus doesn’t get baptized until he’s an adult.  Therefore you can only be baptized as an adult!  No children allowed!  So it’s time for you to be obedient!  Wait until you’re an adult to get baptized!  In fact, might as well wait until you’re thirty-years-old just like Jesus! 

Wow!  Is that it?  Is that the point of Jesus getting wet in the Jordan?  Jesus is baptized in the Jordan only to give you an example to follow?  To give you an opportunity show how obedient you are?  Really?  That’s all Jesus is for?  Jesus as example?  If so, then you better get your imitation of Christ cranked up like His!  And it better be perfect!      

That’s not good news!  In fact, it’s really bad news!  That kind of cracking the whip – get in line by following Example Jesus doesn’t cut it when it comes to salvation!  Example Jesus is not a Jesus you can live with or die with!  Example Jesus is always Accusing Jesus!  Example Jesus is always like the character Evil Monkey on the animated TV show Family Guy!  Always popping out of the closet to point his finger at Chris and you!  Always frightening Chris and you!  Forevermore revealing your shortcomings!  THAT YOU ARE NOT FOLLOWING THE EXAMPLE JESUS HAS SET!  So he always has to be disappointed and angry with you!

I have a better Jesus to preach to you today!  A totally different Jesus who is good news for you today! 

Baptized Jesus in the Jordan is not Example Jesus – BUT GIFT JESUS!  He receives John’s baptism in order to give you the gift of salvation! 

Here’s how Gift Jesus works.  The thirty-year-old begins His public ministry here at the Jordan!  Where will this ministry culminate?  In other words, where is He heading right from the start?  That’s right!  The cross!  To do a Good Friday and an Empty Tomb!  His ministry to Calvary publically begins here at the Jordan!

Do you get it yet?  Jesus comes to the Jordan River – not expecting you to follow His example – BUT TO DO SOMETHING FOR YOU!  I repeat!  TO DO A JORDAN RIVER FOR YOU!  It’s all about His doing!  His giving!  For you! 

Check it out!  It’s simply amazing!  Stunning!  Comforting!

Right off the bat – please note that John’s Jordan River baptism is for sinners!  And loads of sinners are baptized in this river.  Receiving a bath from John.  Getting all their sin off their chest, backside, feet, hands or wherever and leaving it all behind in the water!  “The whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem went out to him.  Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him …”     

The Jordan River is like grimy, grubby bath water!  Polluted with all these sinners’ sin!  From all these sinners being baptized by John.  Since their sin is in the water, the river is toxic!  Poisonous!  Noxious!  Contaminated! 

That’s when Jesus shows up!  That’s when Jesus hops right in!  Feet first!  Then up to His waist!  Oh heck!  Look!  It’s up to His neck! 

This is pretty dicey!  Doesn’t He know how dangerous it is to get in that septic water?  Where’s the EPA!  Where’s OSHA?  Good grief!  He’s wallowing in all that sin!  All that filthy, rotten, deadly deviant decay!  It’s hazardous to anyone’s health!  In fact, it’s malignant!  Not even Bear Grylls, host of Man Vs. Wild, would attempt to survive in skull and crossbones water like this! 

But there He is!  Armpit deep in it!  Chin deep in it!  Soaking in it!  All through His pores!  Into every nook and cranny of His holy Body! 

Doesn’t He know that sin kills!  All that sin will kill Him!

Now do you get it?  That’s right!  He gets in the water on purpose!  This is all by design!  He wants to absorb all this deep, dark, black, and deadly sin in the Jordan!  So that He can carry it somewhere!

And where would that somewhere be?  Yes, that’s right!  Calvary!  The Cross!  Where bearing all this sin, the sin of the world as well as all your sin, He who knew no sin is made to be sin (2 Corinthians 5)!  Beginning at His baptism in the Jordan and then culminating at the cross “the LORD has laid on him [Jesus] the iniquity of us all,” (Isaiah 53:6).

Jesus is given as Gift!  For sinners!  To take all sin – all your sin!  In His Body!  Fully and completely!  And then to forevermore answer for its hellish punishment in your place!  His Good Friday sacrifice satisfies and placates God’s wrath against you and all your sin by taking it all in His Body in order to endure the damnation you deserve! 

Your sin is Christ’s!  He comes to the Jordan to take it!  To soak it up!  And it does indeed kill Him! 

But that’s precisely the point!  He steps into the Jordan because He begins His ministry – His once for all / once for all time / once for all sin atoning, shed blood, for you on the cross death!  This ministry is for you and for your salvation!

This is why heaven breaks wide open as Jesus comes up out of the water! This is exactly why we hear the Father declare:  “Do you see that Man coming out of the Jordan?  That’s My Boy!  He is MY beloved Son!  I couldn’t be happier!  Absolutely delighted with Him.  Beginning His ministry in this way – the salvation for sinners way!  I give my wholehearted approval!”

For such a ministry Son of God Bearing the Sin of the World Jesus is equipped / anointed with the Holy Spirit!  He descends on Jesus in the form of a dove.  Anointed with the Holy Spirit He is!  This means He is truly the anointed One!  The very promised Messianic Servant King!  The King who lives not for Himself like all the Israelite kings of the past – but the King who gives His life into death for His people’s salvation!  For your salvation!

Jesus in the Jordan.  Gift Jesus!  With all your sin in His Body Jesus!  That’s a Jesus you can live with.  And die with!  For with Him you are forgiven.  After all, He’s taken all your sin!  They don’t belong to you anymore!  Covered you with His Blood!  Wrapped you up in His righteousness! 

Baptized into Christ Jesus you are baptized into His Good Friday death!  The only death that counts for all your sin!  You are buried with Jesus through baptism into death – death to and for all sin – so that just as Jesus was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, you too may live a new life. 

And that new life is spelled:  F-A-I-T-H!  Faith in Jesus.  Jordan River and Good Friday Gift Jesus!

In the Name of Jesus.