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| Lorenzo Scott, Baptism of Jesus |
Who do you think you are? That question might sound a little harsh, but I mean it in a positive way. Since this is Baptism of Jesus Sunday, we get to reflect on Jesus’ baptism as well as our own. In our reading from Matthew 3 this morning, God reveals something important about Jesus, but also about each of us. Paul writes in Romans 6 that baptism allows us to participate in the life of Jesus. So how might the word that God speaks concerning Jesus’ identity at his baptism help us define our own identity? Might we also be numbered among the beloved children of God, with whom God is well pleased?
It wasn’t that long ago that we were celebrating the birth of Jesus. We got to sing carols, light candles, and ponder the message of Jesus’ birth. That celebration continued through Friday when the season of Epiphany began with the magi’s visit to the Holy Family. This morning we jump forward several decades. The baby Jesus is now a fully grown adult.
The last we heard from Matthew is that Jesus’ family had returned home from Egypt where they lived as refugees. When Herod died, they headed home, but this time to Nazareth in Galilee rather than Bethlehem (Matthew 2). From there, Matthew jumps to the day Jesus went down to the River Jordan to receive baptism from John the Baptist who was preaching a message of repentance and baptizing people in preparation for the coming of the Lord. He was preparing the way for the coming of the one who would baptize not with water but with the Holy Spirit and Fire.
This is where the story gets a bit complicated. If John baptized people for the forgiveness of sins on the basis of their repentance does that mean Jesus needed to repent of his sins? Wasn’t Jesus sinless? That’s what the Book of Hebrews tells us—Jesus was like us in every way but he didn’t sin (Heb. 2:17).
Mark and Luke don’t offer an answer to this question, but Matthew does. In Matthew’s account of Jesus’ baptism, John tells Jesus that he, John, needs to be baptized by Jesus and not the other way around. In other words, John recognizes that Jesus is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit and Fire. Jesus is the one whose sandals he wasn’t fit to carry (Matt. 3:11). Despite John’s resistance, Jesus insisted that John baptize him so that righteousness could be fulfilled.
While we tend to think of righteousness in terms of moral behavior, in this case, Jesus had something different in mind. By telling John that they needed to fulfill righteousness he means that this is part of God’s process to redeem and restore creation to the way God intended. By undergoing John’s baptism, Jesus shows solidarity with us so that God’s work of redemption and reconciliation can be brought to fruition.
Paul’s description of baptism in Romans 6 helps us connect our baptism with Jesus’baptism. According to Paul, when we’re baptized, we participate in Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. By being buried in the waters of baptism, we identify with Jesus’ death. Then as we come out of the baptismal waters we share in his resurrection (Rom. 6:1-4). In this, the righteousness of God is fulfilled.
According to Matthew, after John agreed to baptize Jesus, immersing him in the waters of the Jordan, the boundary between heaven and earth suddenly opened up and the Holy Spirit descended from the heavens in the form of a dove and rested on Jesus. Then a voice called out from heaven, declaring: “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”
We hear a similar word later on when Jesus ascended the Mount of Transfiguration. While Jesus stood alongside Elijah and Moses, a voice from heaven declared: “This is my son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased” (Mt. 17:1-8). What is first affirmed at his baptism is then reaffirmed on the Mount of Transfiguration.
Matthew’s account of these scenes differs a bit from the picture painted by Mark and Luke. In these two gospels, God speaks directly to Jesus declaring: “You are my Son, the Beloved, with you I am well pleased” (Mk. 1:9-11; Luke 3:21-22). Whether anybody else heard God’s voice is unknown. But in Matthew, God declares that “This is my Son, the beloved.” In using the word “This”, Matthew envisions God speaking to the crowd rather than to Jesus. Whoever hears this voice, by making this declaration, God reveals that Jesus has fulfilled the righteousness of God in his baptism.
I don’t expect that most of us have experienced a baptism quite like Jesus’. But, even if a voice from heaven hasn’t declared each of us to be God’s beloved child, I do believe that God makes a claim on our lives when we’re baptized. That means, when we receive baptism we’re adopted into the family of God and we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit who cleanses us of sin and empowers us so we can participate with Jesus in God’s mission in the world.
As we consider what it means to participate with Jesus in the mission of God, we can find some of the details revealed in the reading from Isaiah 42. In this passage, the prophet speaks to exiles living in Babylon. He speaks here of the Servant, in whom God takes delight. He tells us that this Servant of God would receive the Spirit and bring justice to the nations (Is. 42:1). While each of the Gospels speaks of God’s embrace of Jesus in his baptism, if we turn to the scene in the Gospel of Luke where Jesus preaches in his hometown synagogue, we hear Jesus identify himself as the one God called to bring justice and healing to the nations (Luke 4:18-19). The reading Jesus was commenting on came from Isaiah 61, but it’s the same message as we find here in Isaiah 42. Therefore, according to Matthew Jesus is the one who is filled with the Spirit of God so he can bring light to the nations, open the eyes of the blind, and bring the prisoners out of their dungeons of darkness.
So, is what is true of the Servant named Jesus, true for those of us who seek to follow him? As I ask that question, I return to my opening question: Who do you think you are? Do you believe that you are a child of God with whom God is well pleased? Having been adopted into the family of God through your baptism, do you see yourself following Jesus along a path marked by humility and a commitment to the pursuit of the peace and justice of God?
In our baptisms we, like Jesus, receive our calling to live as servants of God. In receiving this calling, we’ve been given the responsibility to “bring forth justice to the nations.” If we will take up this mantle, then we’ll receive the Spirit of God who will empower us and not let us “grow faint or be crushed” until “justice is established in the earth” (Is. 42:4). This is the way of the kingdom of God that John proclaimed and Jesus embodied. Therefore, if we embrace Jesus’ calling, sealed in baptism, through which we become children of God in whom God is well pleased, we become God’s servants that are empowered to join Jesus in the mission of God that brings light to the nations so that the nations might know God’s compassion, justice, and peace.
Next Sunday Pastor Dan will say more about baptism along with offering an opportunity for you to reaffirm your baptisms. You might say that this year Baptism of Jesus Sunday is a two-parter. This morning you got to hear Part One, which lays the foundation for what comes next. I don’t know exactly what Pastor Dan plans to say in his sermon, but he will bring things to a conclusion by offering you the opportunity to reaffirm your baptismal vows. In doing that you can reaffirm your standing in the family of God. As you prepare for that event, know that God has made a claim on your life. Therefore, you are numbered among the beloved children of God with whom God is well pleased. May we continue the journey with Jesus begun in our own baptisms, so that we might continue to be God’s agents of light in the world. Yes, in baptism we become one in the Spirit so that the world might know that we are Christians by our love!
Preached by:
Dr. Robert D. Cornwall
Pulpit Supply
First Presbyterian Church
Troy, Michigan
January 8, 2023
Baptism of Jesus Sunday
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