Heaven is Opened

The Lord speaks of his Anointed One: Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight. I am placing my Spirit on him (Isaiah 42:1). Amen.

Raising four daughters, we had plenty of stuffed animals, ponies, dolls, and Barbies in our home. But we also had - and still have - Batman. Our youngest daughter, Belle, especially loved Batman. We watched all the shows. She knew all the characters. She even had the pajamas. When she was three, I took Belle with me to Target just before Christmas to show her the Fisher Price Batcave. It was big. It was awesome. And she really wanted it!

Shortly after seeing her dream toy, Belle was on the phone with Shelley's mom and was telling her all about the Batcave. Again, Belle was only 3 and she didn't always speak very clearly. Over the phone she excitedly said, "Grandma, I want the Batcave. It has Batman and Robin and Joker and Penguin and Mr. Freeze and I really want it!" But Grandma Stolzman said, "Belle, I don't understand. What are you saying? I don't think I can get it for you." An exasperated Belle replied with a deep sigh and said, "Grandma, just give me the money. I buy it myself!"

You can imagine the look on Belle's face on Christmas Day as the last present to be opened was ... the Batcave! And she didn't have to buy it.

The delight on a young child's face as she opens her big Christmas present. The joy on the face of a young woman as her boyfriend gets down on one knee and opens the ring box. The stunned look on the man's face as he walks into his surprise 40th birthday party. The relief on the couple's faces when the locksmith opens their car door after the keys had been locked inside and they had been standing in 10-degree weather. Expressions of delight, joy, surprise and relief - just from opening something.

Today we find these same expressions on our faces at the opening of something else. It is the opening of heaven.

Over the past few weeks, we have knelt with the shepherds to worship the Infant in the manger. We've traveled with the Persian astrologers who followed the star to worship the King of the Jews. Today we take a huge leap - 30 years later. We are on the banks of the Jordan River with John the Baptist. On this first Sunday after the Festival of the Epiphany, we celebrate the Baptism of our Lord.

We are in the season of Epiphany. Epiphany means "reveal." During the season of Epiphany, we see the Christ Child revealed to the Magi with the miraculous star. We see the Christ revealed in the waters of the Jordan River as God's Son. We see the Messiah revealed as the miracle worker when he changes water into wine at a wedding. Jesus' Epiphany in the water is his inauguration, the official beginning of his ministry, and his anointing with the Holy Spirit and power.

Until his baptism, Jesus was recognized and worshiped only by a handful of people. Shepherds at his birth. Simeon and Anna in the temple when he was 40 days old. Magi from the East when he was a toddler. The neighbors in Nazareth probably didn't have a clue. To them, Jesus was the carpenter's son, working in his father's shop.

Then one day when he was 30 years old, Jesus stood in the Jordan River, shoulder to shoulder with the people he came to save. What a day this is! At Christmas we celebrate heaven opening so the Son of God may be born to live with us. At Jesus' Baptism we celebrate heaven opening so we may be reborn to live with God.

We need Jesus coming to us and God opening heaven to us. On our own, we are not coming to Jesus. We are not entering heaven. That's because we are dirty with sin. We have separated ourselves from God. We have strayed from his way and rejected his will. As Isaiah said, we are like broken reeds and snuffed out wicks (Isaiah 42:3). We are filled with anger, venom, and spite. We are covered with pride, prejudice, and profanity. We are consumed with apathy, indifference, and stinginess.

Heaven is closed to people like us. Hell is reserved for people like us. Adam and Eve were created by the Trinity to be holy and righteous children of God. They lost God's image with their fall into sin. As children of Adam, we are now born slaves of Satan. Sin is our master. Hell is our dungeon. Like our first parents, we hide from God and don't want to be in his presence.

Jesus comes to us so he can bring us to God. As Jesus is standing in the water, God's Son is standing in solidarity with sinners. Jesus is fulfilling all righteousness in this water, so we might be made righteous ones through that same water. Jesus is baptized in our sewer, to put our sins upon him, so that with that same water, we might be cleansed. He takes the filth, stench, and sewage upon himself so we might be purified, rinsed, and restored. That's a graphic picture. But it's also an accurate picture. Our sin is the cesspool we are living and wallowing in. And without hesitation, Jesus steps in.

John objects. Don't step in this water, Jesus! It's filthy! It's full of sins! But Jesus steps right on in. It's where he wants to be. It's where he needs to be!

Jesus isn't washing away any one specific sin. He is washing away all our many and varied sins. He washes away our inherent, inborn, natural sins. He cleanses us from sins we commit knowingly and purposefully - the one drink too many, the angry word, the vengeful thought, the lustful glance, the covetous desire, the stress-filled impatience, the doubt-filled worry, the gossip-laden text, and the profane post. He wipes away all the sins we try to defend as righteous anger or filling loneliness or "that's the way I was born" or "everybody else is doing it" or "God wants me to be happy." He even bathes us from all the sins we have forgotten or didn't realize we were committing - our apathy toward lost souls, our uncaring for the hurting, our indifference for the less fortunate, our stinginess with our money, or our lack of prayers for God's ministry.

The Spotless One was washed in Jordan's baptismal water so you might be spotless in your baptismal water. Jesus' work at the Jordan was not in power, but in weakness. Not by force but in love. Not by separating himself, but by joining us in our cesspool.

God the Father is delighted with his Son's work. He opens heaven just to speak to his Son and announces, "This is my Son, whom I love. I am well pleased with him" (Matthew 3:17). Just as Old Testament prophets, priests, and kings were anointed with oil, so the Father sends the Holy Spirit to anoint the Son for his offices as Prophet, Priest, and King. Certainly, the Father could communicate with his only-begotten Son without parting the clouds. So, there's something else happening here. Something more than the Father needing to speak to his Son and opening the heavens like you might open the car door window to speak to the drive-thru attendant.

Matthew writes, "Suddenly, the heavens were opened for him" (Matthew 3:16)! Such a small sentence. Easy to miss. But don't take this phrase lightly. When this happened before "when the floodgates of the heavens were opened," (Genesis 7:11) God sent a flood to destroy sinful humanity with whom he was displeased. He sent down judgment. He ordered his wrath upon the world. He deluged the world with the waters of absolute annihilation. But now he opens the gates of heaven to bring washed humanity to himself. He sends down the Holy Spirit with power and peace. He brings a deluge upon the world with the waters of pure grace. Heaven is opened so that the angels and archangels and all the company of heaven may see this wonder in the making.

All three persons of the triune Godhead were present at Jesus' Baptism. Just as all three persons of the Trinity were involved at the beginning of the universe, now all three are involved at the beginning of Jesus' public ministry. At creation, the Father was speaking, the Son was the Word being spoken, and the Holy Spirit was hovering over the waters - blessing creation. At Jesus' baptism, the Father was speaking, the Son made flesh was standing in the waters, and the Holy Spirit was hovering over the waters like a dove, blessing the event. In the same way, the Holy Trinity was present at our baptisms, as we are baptized "in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" (Matthew 28:19).

The Father announced, "This is my Son, whom I love. I am well pleased with him." These words comfort us because Jesus was fulfilling his purpose as God's only-begotten Son. Now, through faith in the only-begotten Son, we are made God's adopted sons and daughters. We become members of his holy family through Baptism.

Because Jesus stood in the water for you, the Father has opened heaven to you. Like a child opening her special present with joy on her face, so we look with joy that heaven is opened to us. Like the young woman with delight on her face at seeing the man she loves open the ring box, so we are delighted that the God-Man has opened heaven to us and made us his eternal bride. Like the couple who have relief on their faces that their vehicle doors have been unlocked and opened so they don't have to suffer the frigid cold any longer, so we have relief on our faces that God has opened heaven and closed the gates of hell and the suffering of fire to us. Like the man with a look of shock on his face at his surprise 40th birthday party, so we are shocked and surprised that God would ever open heaven to sinners like us.

Baptism is not a one-time event that happened years ago for us. It is a life-changing occurrence every day of our lives. In our Baptism, we are freed, claimed, cleansed, forgiven, born again, clothed in Christ, sealed by the Spirit, and marked with the sign of the cross. Whew! The Paschal Candle beside the font is lit today. That candle is lit only for baptisms, funerals, and the season of Easter. The Paschal Candle displays that we have died to sin, been buried with Christ, and raised to a new life in him. That's why we'll end our worship today singing, "There is nothing worth comparing To this lifelong comfort sure! Open-eyed my grave is staring: Even there I'll sleep secure. Though my flesh awaits its raising, Still my soul continues praising: I am baptized into Christ; I'm a child of paradise!" (CW: 737 v 5).

Martin Luther asked in his Small Catechism, "How can water do such great things?" If it's plain water, it can't. It can only wash your body, but it cannot touch your soul. But if Jesus is in the water, it can do great, divine things. When Jesus stepped into that water, the water didn't change Jesus, Jesus changed the water. "He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit" (Titus 3:5). The Holy Spirit who leads you to Christ also joins you to Christ.

Remember your Baptism daily. Your sin torments you. Satan plagues you. The world tempts you. Death is near you. You become weary of the fight. You appear weak, helpless, hopeless - as if there's no reason to go on. Fellow baptized saints, travel daily to the font. Your Baptism releases a forgiving flood. Your Baptism washes a guilty conscience. Your Baptism gives you strength divine. Your Baptism ends Satan's ugly accusation. Your Baptism ends Death's gladness. You no longer live a life that will end in death, but you will die a death that will end in life.

When we moved to Casper, we moved all the Batman characters and vehicles. We even moved three Batcaves! Belle doesn't play with them anymore. Hopefully our grandchildren will. And hopefully, they'll love them as much as Belle did. All we have to do is open the closet door.

In Jesus' baptismal river and your baptismal font, with water and Word, heaven has been opened to you ... and it shall never be closed again. Amen.

This is what the true God says, the Lord who creates the heavens and stretches them out, who spreads out the earth and everything that it produces, who gives breath to the people on it and life to those who walk on it (Isaiah 42:7). Amen.