Many years ago, in the middle of January, I was born, the third child for my parents. Seventy-eight days later I died. How can this be since I am writing this today? The answer is found within our text this morning. On April 3rd, I was baptized.
At the age of only seventy-eight days, I had already become proficient at sinning. It’s something we all have in common. We are all born into original sin and cannot deliver ourselves from its consequence of death. There is only one remedy, being baptized in the name of the Triune God, becoming joined to Jesus Christ in his death and resurrection and relying upon the gift of faith to believe God’s promises are true.
Being washed in baptismal waters joined with God’s Word and promise, my sins were forgiven on the day I died to sin. Having been born just months before, I was now reborn, claimed as a child of God. For all who believe and are baptized, death no longer has dominion. The sin Jesus Christ took to the cross for the sake of the world was put to death once and for all.
Prayer: Thank you, O God, for saving your people through Christ the Lord. Amen.
Original image: Holy Baptism at St. Barnabas Lutheran Church – Charleston, South Carolina
In the Beginning 