Sermon for Transfiguration Sunday: "A Mountain Story"

 + The Transfiguration of Our Lord – February 15^th, 2026 +

Series A: Exodus 24:8-18; 2 Peter 1:16-21; Matthew 17:1-9

Beautiful Savior Lutheran Church

Milton, WA

 

 

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

 

Looking out your window, at a postcard, or a photo, it’s easy to think that the mountains are quiet. Docile dots on a map: Mt. Rainier. Mt. St. Helens. Mt. Adams.

 

And yet, those lahar sirens don’t fill the valley on the first day of the month because the mountain is always silent. The mountains are not always mute. If we look and listen closely we’ll discover that the mountains are rarely silent.

 

So it is with the mountains of Holy Scripture. The mountains of God’s word have a story to tell as well.

 

They tremble with the footsteps of him who treads our enemies under his feet. They’re alive with seismic activity of salvation. Here is the God who comes down: who ascends the hill of the cross and descends into the heart of the earth and rolls the stone away with a mountainous tremble and quake.

 

There’s Mt. Sinai, where the God of the burning bush and the Red Sea thundered forth and lit up the mountain with his glory, presence, cloud and covenant.

 

There’s Mt. Tabor, where the God of Sinai stands enfleshed. The embodied incarnate covenant. 

 

And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James, and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. 

 

Mountains are places where the air is thin, but so is the veil between heaven and earth. Jesus lifts the curtain for a moment. Cracks the lid open on the ark. Jesus’ face is a solar flare of glory. His clothing ablaze with the light brighter than what he first spoke into creation. 

 

And there, standing next to him, are two of the Old Testament’s most famous mountain men. Moses who saw the backside of God’s glory, ate and drank, and spent 40 days on the mountain. Elijah who stood on the mountain trash-talking the prophets of Baal in a fiery divine-duel, and spoiler alert…YHWH wins, just as he does again on Mt. Calvary.

 

Peter interrupts the majestic moment. “Lord, it’s good that we’re here.” And he’s right. Well, half right. For if Jesus stays on this mountain with Peter, all of our sin stays with us. If Jesus takes shelter on Mt. Tabor he will not be our shelter on Mt. Calvary. 

 

So, what goes up the mountain, must come back down. Mt. Calvary, the cross, has a gravitational pull on Jesus. As good as this mountain is, Jesus must go on to Golgotha. So must Peter. And so must we.

 

Because the truth is, as Peter and James and John quickly learn, there’s no shelter on the mountain. Nowhere to run. Nowhere to hide. You’re exposed. 

 

And that’s when the cloud descends. God interrupts Peter for a change. This is my beloved Son. Listen to him.

 

Listen to him when he says…The Son of Man will be handed over. Delivered up to death. Condemned. Crucified. And killed. 

 

Listen to him when he says…destroy this temple – let the mountains melt like wax – and on the third day I will raise it up again.

 

Listen to him when he says…Rise, and have no fear…I am the resurrection and the life.

 

For Peter James and John and for us, there is nowhere to hide in the light of his glory, in the holiness of his presence. Nowhere except in the one who hides his holiness in our humanity. 

 

He is not tame, but he is good. He is wild and free, yet a humble servant. He is majestic and mighty, yet he stoops down in the mud.

 

So Jesus says to his fearful disciples, and to us, the same thing he says to us in his resurrection. Rise. Have no fear. Do not be afraid.

Rise, and have no fear.” And when they lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only.

This is the story that echoes through every hill and holler of Scripture. Over hill and dale, God comes down to lift up. God goes up the mountain and down again, but not alone. 

 

Jesus goes down from this mountain where Jerusalem awaits. Where Pharisees plot. Where disciples will betray and scatter. Where he will hang all alone on the mountain where he is crucified. And yet not alone. Jesus goes up that mountain, and hangs on that cursed timberline for you.

 

Jesus hangs there, not with Moses and Elijah, but with criminals and sinners. Jesus, once again, is covered by clouds and thick darkness. Only this time, the only voice that’s heard is his: my God, my God, why have you forsaken me. Forgive them. It is finished.

 

Jesus goes up that mountain to come down. To be with you in your frailty. To sit with you in your shame. To weep with you in your grief. To cry out with you in your anguish. To walk with you in your loneliness. To bleed and suffer and die for you. To pay sin’s wages. To climb the mountain only he could climb for you. 

 

The mountains of Scripture have quite a story to tell. Each mountain has a story to tell. Or rather, each one has the same story to tell, like a never-ending mountain range rising with peak after peak. The hills of Scripture are alive with the sound of mercy and grace and the glad songs of salvation. 

They ring out with good news:

 

That the God who formed the mountains with the word of his mouth shakes the grave open with a word: be of good cheer, your sins are forgiven.

 

That he who made the heights of the hills and holds them opens his holy hands not with to give you rocks and stones but his body and blood. Like Moses we eat and drink with God on this mountain.

 

That he who brought Noah’s ark to rest on the mountains of Ararat opens the rock of his side and bathes you in divine grace and goodness. 

So, rise, and do not fear. For today, the Lord of the mountains comes down once again. For you.

 

A blessed Sunday of Transfiguration to each of you…

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Sermon for Epiphany 5: "Light of the World"

 + 5^th Sunday after the Epiphany – February 8^th, 2026 +

Series A: Isaiah 58:3-9; 1 Corinthians 2:1-12; Matthew 5:13-20

Beautiful Savior Lutheran Church

Milton, WA

 

 

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

 

Jesus does not say you are a Tesla, now go plug in at a charging station for a while until you’re fully charged.

 

Jesus does not say run like a hamster on a science experiment treadmill power generator till the bulb burns bright enough.

 

Jesus does not say you must become light so fire up that inner nuclear reactor of faith.

 

Jesus does not say that you are the little light bulb that could. I think I can. I think I can. I think I can.

But instead…you are. You are. You are. 

 

Jesus does not talk to you like Yoda talks to Luke Skywalker telling you to search your feelings for the light. 

 

No. Jesus simply says, you are. He promises. He makes a holy declaration.

 

You are the light of the world. 

 

When it comes to the Christian faith. When it comes to our identity in Christ. When it comes to you are as his baptized child, there is no such thing as energy independence. 

 

The same Jesus who said…“I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” …also declares you to be children of light, not darkness. Children of the day, not the night. Children of the heavenly Father, not the father of lies. Children of life, not of death. Children of resurrection, not the grave.

 

You are not who you say you are. Not who the world says you are. Not who your sinful flesh says you are. Not who your past sins and failures say you are. Not who the serpent with whispering accusations lying in your ears says you are: full of fears and guilt and shame and weakness. 

 

You are who Christ declares you to be. You are the light of the world. 

 

It is for us as it was for the psalmist… you are my lamp, O Lord, and my God lightens my darkness.

 

Apart from Christ we were what creation was before Genesis 1: chaos and void and darkness and nothingness. Then, as he did in the beginning, Jesus, the Word of God declares, “Let there be light.” And it just as it was in the first creation, so too, he makes you a new creation. “You are the light of the world.”

 

The same Lord who called light and life out darkness and chaos, says you are the light of the world. For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

Apart from Christ we were what Moses was before the Lord appeared to him in the wilderness. wandering exiles. Lost in the night. Unholy, adrift in the dark.

 

But then  same Lord Jesus who appeared to Moses in the fiery light of the burning bush is the same one who comes to you and declares:

 

you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

 

Apart from Christ we were what Israel was without God’s presence in the blazing pillar of smoke and fire. Alone in the wilderness. Alone in their idolatry. Alone with sin and the haunting hole of the grave.

 

But then the same Lord who stood between Israel and Pharaoh’s army in the pillar of fire, who filled the tabernacle with his holy presence in the smoke and cloud and blazing glory, who led his people through the wilderness following the light of his holiness is the same Lord who says:

 

at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light.

 

“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. ¹⁵ Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. 

 

Jesus is your light and life. Jesus gives you light and life. Jesus declares and makes you his light. 

 

You and I are the moon, reflecting the light of Christ. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

 

Jesus does not say this to shine the spotlight on your works. He does not say this to put you out on to center stage for a round of applause when all the lights come up. He does not say this so that you and others gather around your good works like campers huddled around a campfire. 

 

Jesus says this to you that you and I would be who he declares us to be. Who he has made us to be. Who he says we are.

 

You are the light of the world. let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and…glorify you? Me? No. But rather, our Father who is in heaven.

 

The same heavenly Father whose only begotten Son is God of God; light of Light to be born in the darkness of the Bethlehem, rescue us out of darkness and death and the grave by going into the black night of that Good Friday afternoon. Covered in blood. Soaked in sweat. Hanging in the pitch black on a cursed tree. Breath by agonizing breath, making his way through the valley of the shadow of death for you and for me and for us all. 

 

And there on the cross, the God who said, “Let there be light” that filled creation is also the God who says, “It is finished” and accomplishes your redemption. The God who came down into the darkness, was laid in the abyss of the grave is the same God whose death destroys the power of death and whose resurrection is your victory, light, and life. 

 

In this dark and dreary world do not forget who and whose you are. In Jesus you are the light of the world.

 

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Sermon for Epiphany 4: "The Weakness of God"

 + 4^th Sunday after the Epiphany – February 1^st, 2026 +

Series A: Micah 6:1-8; 1 Corinthians 1:18-31; Matthew 5:1-12

Beautiful Savior Lutheran Church

Milton, WA

 

 

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

 

When our kids were younger we’d make an occasional trip to the Build-A-Bear workshop at the mall. It was a buffet for the imagination. Pick your stuffed animal of choice. Stuff it. Give it a heart. And don’t forget all the accessories. Harry Potter scarves and Star Wars Jedi robes. You get to create your own little cuddly critter just the way you want it.

 

It’s a great, fun idea for a toy store. But a terrible idea when it comes to the holy gifts and holy name of God.

 

And yet, that’s how our Old Adam thinks when we open up God’s Word. Our Old Adam waltzes into the storehouse of Scripture like a kid at Build-A-Bear. Here’s my toyshop. My playground. My build-a-god workshop. I can mix and match and stuffs my build-a-god creation with all my favorite things.

 

A mighty, rippling-muscled Messiah. A deity who flexes his divine power at my every whim and fancy. A tame god who obeys my every command and does what I say. When I say. How I say. A superhero savior who can leap Jerusalem’s walls with a single bound. A rockstar redeemer promising fame and fortune. 

 

A little pet-god of my own creation. Just the way I want him to be. Mark Twain was right. “In the beginning God created man in his own image…and ever since then we’ve been trying to repay the favor.”

 

Thankfully, God has a different way. A better way. His way. The way of the cross. The way where everything he does is so opposite of what we would do or think or expect that salvation and rescue can only come by His grace. 

 

For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 

 

This way of Christ is power, but power made perfect in weakness. Jesus wraps his might in mercy. He hides his glory in the blood and sweat and agonizing gasps for air of the crucified. Jesus cloaks his divine wisdom with the folly of a lowly criminal’s death on the tree. Jesus hides his holiness in utter humility for you.

 

God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; 

 

And this is nothing new. This is how God has always worked. When God revealed his promise to Adam and Eve to send a savior from sin and death and the serpent’s tyranny, he foretold his coming in the flesh. an infant redeemer. A swaddled savior. Born of a woman. Born under the law to redeem us who are under the law. 

 

When God chose the man through whom he would make his everlasting covenant and bless all nations of the earth through his Offspring, he chose a pagan from the land of Ur named Abram.

 

When God blessed one of Jacob’s sons through Jacob’s hands and words, he did not choose the first, or even the second or third born son, but the fourth son. Judah, from whom would come the Seed, the Offspring, the unexpected Deliverer, Jesus.

 

When God led his people Israel out of slavery in Egypt, he called Moses a murderer and a man too afraid to speak in public to be his servant and to lead his holy people in the exodus.

 

When God defeated Israel’s enemies in the days of the Judges, He did not conscript Israel’s best bowman or their elite warriors. Instead, God paid a visit to Gideon – his mighty man of valor – who was threshing wheat hidden in a winepress for fear of the Midianites. And yet YHWH brought victory through seeming weakness. Not 30,000. Not 10,000. But 300 men. No weapons. No shields. Just torches. Trumpets. And the sword of God’s word. 

 

When God placed a king on the throne and promised him that one of his Offspring would sit on the throne forever and his kingdom would have no end, God anointed the covetous, murderer, liar, and adulterer, David. 

 

Not surprisingly, when God takes on human flesh he continues to confound us by turning page after page of his gracious playbook to our marvel and wonder and awe.

 

The Holy One of Israel is born a humble infant. The Mighty Fortress is made man. The Blessed One bleeds for you. The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob reveals his greatest glory in unimaginable suffering. The Son of God becomes the Son of Mary to save sons of Adam and daughters of Eve. The Anointed One – the Christ – chooses to be spat upon, mocked, betrayed, scourged, and ridiculed. The Faithful and True One chooses to become the fool and the faithless and the sinner for you. The Author and Giver of life chooses death by spikes and thorns and wood and spear to deliver you.

 

Indeed… the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

So, God being God. God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.

Paul does not mince words. He offers no spoonful of sugar. He tells it like it is. We are sinners in need of a savior. Debtors in need of redemption. Lost. Lowly. Little. Last. Least. And in need of rescue. The diagnoses is in and the disease is terminal. Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.

 

And like the good physician’s assistant and preacher that he is, Paul gives you the cure; he delivers with God’s word, the one consolation and antidote. We preach Jesus Christ and him crucified.

 

For the word of the cross – foolish as it is and looks – is your salvation. Jesus crucified is the power of God for you who are being saved. You will not find this salvation in your pride, power, prestige, or pet-gods, but in the passion and pardon and promise of Jesus.

 

For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. For you.For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.

 

Therefore, let the one who boasts, boast in the crucified Lord Jesus.

 

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Funeral Sermon for Mike Schliebe: "The Road and the Redeemer"

 + In Memoriam: Michael Schliebe – January 29^th , 1955 – December 7, 2025 +

January 31^st, 2026

Beautiful Savior Lutheran Church

Milton, WA

Job 19:23-27; 1 Corinthians 15:1-8, 17-20; Luke 24:13-35

 

 

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior + Jesus Christ. Amen.

 

 

There’s an old Johnny Cash song that came to mind this week as I thought about our brother in Christ, Mike Schliebe. You might remember the chorus:

 

I've been everywhere, man
Crossed the desert's bare, man
I've breathed the mountain air, man
Of travel I've a-had my share, man
I've been everywhere

 

Mike was a traveler who embraced the words of another more recent country song. Life is a highway.

 

From his years with the LA Sheriff Dept., to his years of retirement; from Southern CA to the Pacific NW; from his labors to his leisure time, if Mike wasn’t on a journey of one kind or another, you can bet he was plotting his course for the next one.

 

Mike also knew what Adam discovered long ago before his journey out of Eden. That on the road of life it’s not good for man to be alone. So our Lord gave Cyndy to Mike and Mike to Cyndy. Husband and wife. Fellow road warriors and companions. Bound together by Christ. And in Christ. 

 

They traveled near and far the way God intended man and woman to be: together. Whether it was cruising the Antarctic, walking the golf course, curling on Fridays or simply cozy on the couch next to Cyndy, Mike was a traveler.

 

And anyone who’s walked through the years of life as Mike did will tell you the trip doesn’t always go as planned. The road takes twists and turns, detours and ditches, There’s the potholes and pits and grit of sin. But sometimes you find yourself in a place you never thought you’d be. Battling obstacles you never saw coming your way. A pain in the throat. A difficulty to swallow. And then appointments and tests and diagnosis. Cancer. And then more trips…only this time for treatment and doctors and hospitals. 

 

And yet through it all, Mike was never alone. In all his travels, even in the hardest leg of the journey, these past few months, Mike didn’t travel solo. He was accompanied by a man who had traveled the way of death and disease ahead of him and before him. He was shepherded along by one who had already walked through the valley of the shadow of death and promised to be there when Mike did too. Mike was on the road we all walk, but with Job’s Redeemer and ours carrying him all the way home.

 

Life was the road which Christ the Redeemer carried Mike along in his arms of mercy.

 

It’s tempting for us to think of death as the end of the road. The terminus of the journey. The final destination. But it’s not.

For alongside all of Mike’s journeys there and back again there was another greater pilgrimage taking place. 

 

Mike’s greatest journey is the one that our Lord set him out upon back at First Lutheran Church in Long Beach, CA, where Christ paved a holy highway to himself made entirely out of his Word, water, and the Holy Spirit. It’s a road that leads straight through Jesus’ death and the grave and out again in his resurrection. It’s the trail where sin and sorrow and suffering meet their death and where Mike, and all who are baptized are washed and cleansed and robed in Jesus and greeted with a holy homecoming: 

 

“Fear not, for I have redeemed you;
    I have called you by name, you are mine.
² When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
    and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;
when you walk through fire you shall not be burned,
    and the flame shall not consume you.
³ For I am the Lord your God,
    the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.

 

Throughout all his years and trips and travels, through milestones at work and married life with Cyndy, Mike was never alone. Just as Job was never alone in his life – even when he suffered, as Mike did, in unimaginable ways. Christ, the King of the Road, Christ our Redeemer, promised to be there with him and for him. Which is why Mike confessed to anyone he talked to the same faith in Christ that Job did even while walking through suffering and sorrows and sickness:

 

I know that my Redeemer lives,
    and at the last he will stand upon the earth.^[b]
26 And after my skin has been thus destroyed,
    yet in^[c] my flesh I shall see God,
²⁷ whom I shall see for myself,
    and my eyes shall behold, and not another.
    My heart faints within me!

 

You see, Mike knew and believed and trusted this good news. That our Lord Jesus is also a rambling man, a Redeemer who meets us on the road. Scoops us up in his arms. Hauls away all our sin, death, and disease and heaps it up onto his own back and step by step makes his way to the cross for Mike, for you. For us all.

 

For us, our Redeemer hit the road. First with a swaddle and then a crawl and then a walk and then a steady, determined trek up the hill outside the city walls. A place they called the place of the skull. Not exactly a destination recommended by the chamber of commerce or something you’d see in travel brochure. But that’s where our Lord journeyed for Mike and for you. Up on the cross. He breathed his last. He was laid in the grave. 

 

And, again, we think that’s it. The end of the road for Jesus. Death wins. The grave conquers all. 

 

His Emmaus disciples certainly did. But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things happened.

 

But it’s not over. Not by a long shot. Death doesn’t win the day. Death is destroyed by Jesus’ dying and rising. The grave is conquered by the Lord of Life. The road through the grave is paved by the blood of Jesus shed for you and Mike and for us all. 

Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.

Our Lord is right. It was necessary for him to suffer everything a sinful, broken world could throw at him. This was his journey to save and rescue and deliver Mike and you and us all. And all of God’s word – each and every person, place, or event – is one great sign post after another, announcing the good news of great joy that is for all people: Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again.

And the great news about this journey is that where Jesus goes, you go.

Jesus died. You have died already in Christ.

Jesus rose from the grave. You have already risen again in Christ. Now by faith, but one day in the flesh where we will stand with Job and Mike and all the faithful in the flesh once again. Raised from the dead. Standing on the road that leads out of our graves and into the holy city where Christ the Lamb and our Redeemer and King – him who is the way, the truth, and the life – will welcome us home at last.

 

For Mike and for you, the journey is not over. Far from it. It’s just beginning.

 

For… in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. 

 

And the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ + Jesus to life everlasting. Amen.

 

 

 

Sermon for The Conversion of St. Paul: "Death and Resurrection"

 + The Conversion of St. Paul – January 25^th, 2026 +

Acts 9:1-22; Galatians 1:11-24; Matthew 19:27-30

Beautiful Savior Lutheran Church

Milton, WA

 

 

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

 

There are a quite a few death and resurrection stories out there in the world of fantasy and sci-fi. Mr. Spock in Star Trek III. Aslan the Lion in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Sleeping Beauty.

 

What could these fictional characters in sci-fi and fantasy possibly have in common with the apostle Paul in real history? Something that is the heart of the Christian story. And St. Paul’s life. And yours and mine too.

 

Death and Resurrection.

 

Death we’re familiar with. Tragically familiar. But resurrection? That sounds too good to be true. Like a fairy tale. A legend. 

 

And yet, St. Paul’s conversion is a real life death and resurrection story built on the foundation of the greatest death and resurrection story of them all: Jesus’ death and resurrection. 

 

And this story takes place not in comic books or carefully crafted tales, but in human history. In real time and place. On a Friday afternoon, upon a cross, outside Jerusalem. Jesus is crucified under Pontius Pilate for you.

 

For Paul, Jesus’ death and resurrection meant his own death and resurrection. And that’s what he preached. Again. And again. And again.

 

 I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him Crucified.

 

For Paul, as for Jesus, and for us…everything Jesus says and does. His life and teaching. His miracles and mercy. It’s a road that leads to the cross or from the cross. 

 

The Conversion of St. Paul is a death and resurrection story. For every time the Holy Spirit creates faith there’s a death and resurrection. 

 

Same goes for us. Baptism is our death and resurrection in Jesus. Christ crucified is the sum and substance of our faith as well.

Today we join St. Paul in rejoicing in and proclaiming Christ crucified and risen for us. For Jesus has also brought us back from the dead.

 

That’s precisely where Paul’s story begins. No doubt he felt alive, heading down that Damascus road breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord. The high priest gave him a license to persecute. Then suddenly a blinding light. Heaven flashed before his eyes. Saul fell to the ground. Dead in his tracks. And the voice of Jesus rang out.

 

 “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?”  And he said, “Who are you, Lord?” And he said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.

 

Saul probably thought he was going to die. The irony is that Saul was already dead — dead in trespasses and sin. His mouth was an open grave that spewed forth curses, bitterness, and deceit (Romans 3) against Christ and Christians.

 

He was blind – spiritually – and for three days, physically as well. On that Damascus road, Jesus stripped Saul of his boasting in the Law, confidence in the flesh, and zealotry, and revealed it for the rubbish it truly was.

Saul, who had so violently warred against Jesus and the Way, became utterly and completely dependent, like a newborn infant. Rise and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do, Jesus said. Saul couldn’t even do that on his own. The men traveling with Saul led him, blind and helpless into Jerusalem. 

This is how our Lord converts us as well. We too, were enemies of God. The wages of our sin is death. Our hearts and breathe burns hot with threats and murder against our neighbors. There’s a little Saul in each of us who delights in doing whatever we think is right, and doing it with great zeal. We’re right there on the road with Saul. Enemies of God. Blind. Helpless. Utterly dependent. Dead…and in need of resurrection.

 

And that’s precisely where your story begins. You were dead  in trespasses and sin (notice the past tense)…But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us,  even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ.

The wages of our sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

By grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 

In Saul’s conversion, we see our own. We’re utterly dependent upon God’s mercy. It need not be as dramatic as experience like Saul. And yet with simple water and word, Christ gives us faith in Him the same way: death and resurrection. 

Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road by which you came has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.”  And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and he regained his sight. Then he rose and was baptized.

 

Saul received new birth in baptism, and a new name too - Paul. He who used to persecute Christ is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy.”

 

Paul’s story is a death and resurrection story. And so is yours and mine. Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?  We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

 

By God’s grace, how Paul lived. Walking in newness of Jesus’ crucified and risen life. By God’s grace, that’s how we live too. Each and every day…in the death and resurrection of Jesus.

 

A Blessed Conversion of St. Paul to each of you…

 

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Sermon for Baptism of Our Lord: "Jesus in the Water"

 + Baptism of Our Lord – January 11^th, 2026 +

Series A: Isaiah 42:1-9; Romans 6:1-11; Matthew 3:13-17

Beautiful Savior Lutheran Church

Milton, WA

 

 

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

 

Fishermen and mariners will tell you that whenever you’re near rivers, lakes, or ocean to keep and eye on the water.

 

Deep currents run swift. Those peaceful ocean waves also have violent rip currents. The tranquil, moving river hides a raging undertow. That pristine, peaceful lake suddenly drop off into the depths.

 

Keep your eyes on the water.

 

Holy Scripture does something similar. God tells us to keep an eye on the water. For wherever you find water in God’s Holy Word, you’ll soon find God working for your salvation.

 

When it comes to the streams and seas of Scripture, keep your eyes and ears on the water. Why? Jesus is in the water doing what he does best with water: rescuing. Delivering. Saving. 

 

The promise of Jesus’ rescue on the cross runs its course through all the waters of Holy Scripture. The rising tide of God’s grace and forgiveness swell the waterways of his word. Beneath the seemingly calm and placid surface of God’s Word runs a deep current that flows downstream from the rivers that watered Eden to Jesus’ baptism in the Jordan all the way to your baptism.

 

This is why Paul says “faith comes by hearing.” It’s easy to look at the Jordan River and see merely a slow-moving meandering river. But when you look with your ears you discover something far deeper in the waters of Jesus’ Baptism. The water trickles and winds its way through the land, but underneath the water there’s a battle raging.

 

When Jesus dips his toes and dives into the Jordan River the doors of the deep and the vaults of the heavens open up in a deluge of God’s divine grace. All the waters of Scripture come rushing in as John baptizes Jesus. There’s the waters of creation with the Spirit hovering once again. There’s the flood and the ark and the dove resting on the Son of God and the Son of Rest and the greater Noah. There’s the Red Sea waters parted once again in a greater exodus. There’s the Jordan River splitting in two as the heavens are opened and the Father says “This is my beloved Son”. The path to paradise is paved with water. The liquid highway to the cross runs through the Jordan River.

 

When Jesus steps into those ordinary waters of the Jordan River he’s doing something marvelous and wondrous. For wherever there’s water, there’s God working for your salvation, deliverance, and rescue.

 

Keep your eyes and especially your ears on the water. 

 

Below the calm surface the Son of God is stirring the waters of salvation.

God incarnate churns the wells of salvation.

God’s beloved Son is the Captain of our deliverance, battling the leviathan of sin. Drowning the dragon beneath the waves. Flooding the grave with his grace.

Beneath the verdant banks of the Jordan a violent victory over death has begun. The one who treads into the Jordan will tread the serpent and all our trespasses under his water-soaked feet. The one who drips dry the waters of the Jordan is the one who drips and drains his own blood on the cross for you.

 

John is right. Jesus needs no baptism. He has no sin to call his own. He’s the God-man. The Righteous Redeemer incarnate. And yet, this is what Jesus has come to do. To do what you and I cannot and will not do on our own. To fulfill righteousness. To forgive sin. To raise from the dead. To tear the grave open from the inside. To rend the heavens wide open, flood you with forgiveness, and wash you clean.

 

Jesus’ baptism is like those infant mommy and me swim classes. Babies can’t swim on their own. They need a substitute. Someone to hold them in the water and save them from drowning. So Jesus goes in first. Not only tests the waters, but turns and churns the waters for us, mixing the font with his mercy. Splashing us with his grace and goodness. Flooding us with forgiveness. All while we’re held safe and saved in his pierced and glorified hands.

 

Where our love for God ebbs and flows, Christ’s mercy for you in the Jordan River and on Jerusalem’s cross overflows with life and salvation. A steady stream of grace and steadfast love flows from Jesus’ wounded side into the cup. Onto your lips. Into your body. Over your head and over body and soul. Washing. Cleansing. Hallowed waters. A divine flood that works faith and forgiveness. A saving bath of blessing. A deluge of God’s goodness and mercy.

 

It is for you as it was for Jesus in the Jordan River that day. Where there’s water, there’s God working his great and gracious salvation. Soaking you with his saving gifts. Pouring out his promises upon you and into you. 

 

So it is with your baptism. The water appears to be ordinary tap water. And it is. And yet it’s more. 

 

Beneath the surface of those calm waters rests the cross. Underneath the smooth surface of the font runs a swift current of salvation. 

Below the calm surface the God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - is stirring the waters with his word and promise for you. 

God incarnate churns the wells of salvation into a whirlpool of faith, hope, and love.

God’s beloved Son is the Captain of our salvation, battling the leviathan of sin. Drowning the dragon beneath the waves. Flooding the grave with his grace.

 

From our eyes baptism looks ordinary. Plain. Maybe even a little boring. But beneath the surface a battle is raging. Those waters are a violent flood for our old sinful flesh. A naval victory over the ancient serpent. Jesus drowns our sin and shame. Jesus cleanses us from all unrighteousness. Jesus washes us clean with holy water. Holy words. His holy presence. Those waters are death and life all in one drop.

 

Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?  We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. 

For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.

 

Keep your eyes and ears on the water and the word. For there in the water. There in his word. There in his body and blood. There’s Jesus with you and for you. 

 

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.