“Good News on a Day that will Live in Infamy”
Mark 1:1-8
12/7/08
Today is Sunday, December 7th, Pearl Harbor day, a
day which will live in infamy, according to President Franklin Delano
Roosevelt. On this day in 1941 the United States of America was
suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the
Empire of Japan. Perhaps some of you can remember that day.
If not that day then September 11th, 2001, another day that will live
in infamy. Recently the stock market has experienced a number of
infamous days, reminding us of the infamous crash of 1929 which led to
the Great Depression. There have been both national and global
days of infamy in this world’s history. One only has to
look at a newspaper to see that every day could be a day which could
live in infamy. But infamy hits us on a more personal level as
well. When a loved one dies, when we’re diagnosed with a
terminal disease, when we lose a job, when we lose a house, all of
these days for us could go down as days that will live in infamy.
But one of the greatest days of infamy was the day that the human race
fell into sin. The day that Adam and Eve disobeyed God and ate of
the fruit of which they were told not to eat will go down as one of the
most infamous of all days, for from it and because of it come all other
days of infamy. To this day we suffer from the fallout of that
day.
I looked up the word “infamy” in the
dictionary, and there were a number of synonyms that were listed for
it: disgrace, shame, blame, condemnation, dishonor. Other
synonyms include sin, vileness, iniquity, evil, and depravity.
“Infamy” is quite an appropriate term, then, for describing
our condition since our fall into sin. But many do not recognize
the fact that they live in this infamy before God. We would not
have recognized this either, unless the Lord had made it known to
us. No one had to tell us that 9/11 was a day of shame and
disgrace; we all felt it. But with sin it’s
different. We don’t feel our sins. In fact,
it’s often fun to sin. Sin is pleasurable. It feels
comfortable. It can even be exciting. It’s only a
cause for infamy if we get caught in it. Otherwise, sin is
natural for us. It’s what we do as sinners. No
wonder, then, when someone comes along and tells us that what
we’re doing is wrong, we get angry, try to defend ourselves, and
justify our behavior, saying something like, “That’s the
way God made me; that’s just who I am.” By nature we
glory in our infamy. Part of sin’s infamy is the refusal to
confess it and repent of it. Only by the work of the Holy Spirit
is this possible.
And this is what He used John the Baptist for.
John was sent to prepare the way of the Lord. He did this by
blasting away at sinners with the words of God’s Law, in order
that they might come to know the infamy of their sin and how they stood
before God. Some continued in their opinion that this message
didn’t apply to them. Others, however, confessed their
sins, repented of them, and then received John’s Baptism.
John not only proclaimed the bad news of the infamy of sin, but he also
proclaimed the good news of forgiveness. His Baptism was a
Baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. Through this
Baptism the infamy of sin was removed from repentant sinners and the
way of the Lord was prepared for Him to come and baptize them with the
Holy Spirit.
But before Jesus could baptize with the Holy Spirit,
He had to complete His work. And that work began by Him stepping
into the infamy of our sin Himself. This He did by receiving
John’s Baptism, a Baptism that was reserved for sinners.
Knowing who Jesus was, John couldn’t fathom how this could be,
and he tried to prevent Jesus. Jesus was no sinner; He was the
Son of God. Why should He be receiving a Baptism of repentance
for the forgiveness of sins? But Jesus told him, “Let it be
so now for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all
righteousness.” The way of righteousness is the opposite of
the way of infamy. The way of infamy is our way of doing things;
the way of righteousness is God’s way of doing things. All
righteousness is fulfilled when God has His way, when His will is done
and He works righteousness for those who live in infamy.
One of the necessities for fulfilling all
righteousness was that Jesus be baptized by John. In receiving
John’s Baptism, Jesus was showing that He was identifying Himself
with us, becoming one with us in the infamy of our sin, so that He
might take that infamy with Him to the cross and there remove it once
and for all. At His Baptism, Jesus took on your disgrace, shame,
blame, condemnation, and dishonor, along with your sin, vileness,
iniquity, evil, and depravity as if it were His own. Talk about a
day that will live in infamy! The day when the Son of God took
our sins upon Himself at His Baptism was certainly an infamous day for
Him. It led to the most infamous day of all, the day when He was
crucified for our sins. And all the days in between His Baptism
and His crucifixion were for Him days of infamy as well, as He daily
bore our griefs and carried our sorrows.
Yet, what were for Jesus days of infamy were for us
days of salvation, glory, and honor. Good Friday is not a day
that lives in infamy for us. It’s the day when Jesus took
away our sins with the shedding of His blood. And yet we are not
proud of the fact that Jesus had to die for us nor do we rejoice in His
suffering and death, as if we wanted His crucifixion. Days of
infamy are occasions for sober reflection. So with Good
Friday. On that day God the Father put Jesus on the cross in our
place. When you look at Him there you see your own infamy and
what you deserve. Christ’s cross gives us no license to be
proud of our sins or to revel and live in them. It rather gives
us cause to mourn over our sins, confess them, and repent of
them. As an earthly example, Germany isn’t proud of the
infamy of it’s WWII history and its concentration camps. If
you go to visit one of those sights there’s a solemnness in the
place. It reminds them never to forget the infamy that they
brought upon the world, and they still bear the marks of it
today. Similarly, with Christians, when we look at the cross of
Christ there is a solemnness with which we reflect on that sacrifice
and what it cost the Son of God to take away our infamy. We
should have borne the marks of such infamy ourselves. But because
Jesus bore those marks in our place, we have been spared. And to
this day, Jesus still bears those marks, in order that you might know
that the infamy of your sin was removed from you and given to
Him. For this reason, then, we glory in the cross of Christ,
through which He has fulfilled all righteousness for us.
Having completed His work of taking the infamy of
your sin upon Himself on the cross and atoning for it with His blood,
He’s baptized you with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is
given to deliver to you Christ crucified and the righteousness He
worked for you. Today, instead of John’s Baptism, He works
through an even greater Baptism, the Baptism you’ve been given in
the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Through this Baptism He daily washes away the infamy of your sins and
gives you Christ and His righteousness. In this Baptism you have
been sprinkled with the blood of Jesus. As the author of the book
of Hebrews writes, our hearts have been sprinkled clean from an evil
conscience and our bodies have been washed with pure water. As
the Apostle Paul writes, “For as many of you as were baptized
into Christ have put on Christ.” And he also writes that
the Lord sanctified and cleansed us, His Church, by the washing of
water with the Word. It would be nice if the infamies of WWII,
9/11, and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan had never happened. It
would be nice if we had not brought about the infamy of sin in the
first place. But now the Holy Spirit washes this infamy away, as
if it had never been. Your infamy was given to Jesus, in order
that His glory might be given to you. In God’s eyes you are
now holy, righteous, and blameless in Christ.
During this season of Advent, then, prepare to
receive Him again who once came and who will come once more to deliver
you from the infamy of your sin and its consequences once and for
all. Confess your sins, repent of them, and hear the good news
that your Savior, Jesus Christ, has taken your infamy upon Himself on
the cross, so that you might live under God’s favor now and enter
into glory on the Last Day. Then all days of infamy will be at an
end. “Behold, I am making all things new,” says the
Lord. And He will wipe away every tear from our eyes, and death
shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain
anymore, for the former things will have passed away. The
dwelling place of God will be with man. He will dwell with them,
and they will be His people, and God Himself will be with them as their
God. Amen.