Introduction
In Christ Jesus Heaven isn’t closed for business: In Christ Jesus Heaven is open to you, in Christ Jesus your wait is over. There is no need to remain impatient. This is the work that Jesus does on your behalf, He opens heaven for you and He takes everything that Heaven will pour out upon Himself first in your place.
Jesus in His perfection, when He opens heaven for us, is first in line to take onto Himself all that Heaven gives, and this is a good thing. This is a good thing because, in the Old Testament there were times when the opening of heaven upon the peoples of the world was not a joyous occasion, mainly because the heavens opening up also meant the righteous wrath of God being poured out upon the world. You might remember the account of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorra when “the LORD rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulphur and fire from the LORD out of heaven” (Gen 19:24).
Reflection
Now in today’s Gospel reading the Prophet John the Baptizer says this about Jesus, that Jesus would “baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” John continues saying that, “[Jesus’] winnowing fork is in His hand, to clear His threshing floor and to gather the wheat into His barn, but the chaff He will burn with unquenchable fire.”
Now in order for Jesus to do these thing He must experience them first Himself. “The Spirit descends on Him when He is baptised in the Jordan. The fire of God’s wrath at sin is kindled against Him, and [ultimately Jesus] suffers the bloody baptism of death [on] the cross,” after this something happens, “after [Jesus is risen from the dead] and ascends [to heaven], the Holy Spirit is poured out as tongues of fire on [the Day of] Pentecost. But the fire of God’s wrath has become the purifying fire of God’s love because God’s anger has been quenched by Jesus on the cross, and so Christian Baptism conveys the forgiveness of sin (Acts 2:38-39)”Matt 3:14-15.
Application
For this reason we can look with joy upon the heavens that are now open to us, in our baptism we no longer need to look with fear. You may have heard people joke about being struck by lightning or having fire rain down on them for all of their sins; usually it’s something that they think is small and they want to make a show of it by being dramatic, in our case we know as Christians that the One who truly took onto Himself the full punishment for our sins is Jesus. At the waters of the Jordan River that day, He switched Himself into our place. Jesus entered the waters of the Jordan to take our place under the law and did so to fulfill righteousness for us.
In Saint Matthew’s Gospel John the Baptizer, recognizing who Jesus truly was, says to Jesus, “I need to be baptized by You, and do You come to me?” But Jesus answered John, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness” (Mat. 3:14-15).
Saint Peter tells us that “[Jesus] Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By His wounds you have been healed” (1 Peter 2:24).
In just one little sentence Saint Peter paints exactly what we heard from Saint Paul in our Epistle lesson today, that as a Christian you are connected to the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, and that because of this He has given to you His righteous identity in place of your own.
Malady and Grace
While we have a problem being patient, while we can be tricked and deceived into thinking that Heaven is closed to us, there is Good News. God loves you and is patient with you. “Love is patient and kind,” (1 Cor. 13:4) and “God is love.” (1 John 4:8). And there are two sides to the patient love of God, one side of God’s patience is Him being slow to anger, holding off on the punishment at hand, relenting from destruction; the other side of God’s patience is Him waiting? for us to return to Him, His desire to seek out the lost and the ones who have strayed far away from Him, it’s Him relenting from disaster so that you and I, and as many as can be, can be saved. God is slow to punish and quick to forgive.
In Romans Saint Paul tells us that, “For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly” (Romans 5:6).
In Galatians we read: “when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as [His Children]. And because you are [now His Children], God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” (Gal. 4:4-6).
This is the cry that goes up to the now opened Heaven, we cry up to God saying Father! We pray, “Our Father who art in heaven,” and because of Jesus and His Baptism God calls back to us with forgiveness in His Word, saying “You are my beloved [child]; with you I am well pleased.”
Reflection
Beloved in Christ, Heaven is no no longer closed; in Christ Jesus the Word is proclaimed, the Good News is preach, sins are forgiven, Jesus is present in His Supper and Baptism is open to all. Listen to His Word. Speak His Word. Receive His patient love and be patient with others as He is patient with you.
Conclusion
In Christ you have forgiveness for your anger, your frustration, your impatience – He forgives it all. Amen.