For us as Christians, baptism is a means of grace, a gift from God offering forgiveness of sin and a welcome into God’s family. But if baptism is for forgiveness, why does Jesus need it? Today’s sermon for Baptism of Our Lord Sunday explores baptism as identity.
Jesus comes to identify with us—not to receive forgiveness, but to stand with humanity, offering grace. In a divided and overwhelming world, baptism reminds us who we are and whose we are.
Today’s Scripture readings are Acts 10:34-43, Psalm 29, and Jesus’ baptism in Matthew 3:13-17. A portion of this sermon is adapted from my 2022 sermon on the Epiphany of Jesus’ baptism. As in that sermon, I found helpful Debie Thomas’ essay One of Us at Journey with Jesus.
Here’s the worship livestream from Living Hope and the sermon podcast audio.
Powered by RedCircle
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen
I always struggle a little on Baptism of our Lord Sunday, because every year when we hear this story of Jesus being baptized, the obvious thing to do is to talk about baptism. Baptism is a core part of our Lutheran theology, so Jesus’ baptism is a great excuse for a sermon on baptism.
The challenge—the reason I struggle with this story—is that I’ve participated in quite a few baptisms, including my own children, and not one of them has looked very much like the one we just read about. In 57 baptisms, not once have I seen the heavens opened. Not once have I witnessed the Holy Spirit descending like a dove or heard an audible heavenly voice.
I think I realized this challenge when I first tried teaching a confirmation class lesson on baptism. Again, baptism is really important, definitely one of the top three things you ought to learn in confirmation class. I figured we’d start with reading the story of Jesus’ baptism like we just heard, then compare it with the Lutheran baptism service in the hymnal.
Somewhere around halfway through that lesson, I realized the problem: Baptism in church looks very different than John baptizing Jesus in Matthew 3. We don’t usually go down to a river, we baptize children as well as adults, we have sponsors and godparents, all of that, but most importantly, we baptize for the forgiveness of sins. Baptism is a means by which God gives us grace and forgiveness.
To quote Luther from his Small Catechism, we believe baptism “brings about the forgiveness of sins, redeems from death and the devil, and gives eternal salvation to all who receive it, as the words and promise of God declare.”
Baptism is for drowning sinners, putting to death the old Adam. In baptism, you die to yourself and are raised up to begin a new life in Christ. It’s a fresh start.
Luther again: “[Baptism] signifies that the old person in us with all sins and evil desires is to be drowned and died through daily sorrow for sin and through repentance, and on the other hand that daily a new person is to come forth and rise up to live before God in righteousness and purity forever.”
Wonderful! Forgiveness and being washed clean in baptism is a great image. But it makes no sense for Jesus’ baptism.
Jesus didn’t need forgiveness. Jesus is pure, holy, sinless. That’s kind of the point! Next week, we’ll hear John call him “the lamb of God.” He can’t receive forgiveness of sin through baptism, because he’s literally the only person in all of history who hasn’t done anything wrong!
So what is he doing here getting baptized by John in the Jordan River?
Let’s back up a little, a few verses. John’s been out in the wilderness bellowing about how ya’ll are a brood of vipers, fleeing from the wrath to come, calling people to repent. Jesus doesn’t need to repent. He doesn’t need to be reconciled with God; he is God!
And I don’t know how much John knew all this—especially since he didn’t have a Small Catechism—but he knows something about Jesus coming to him for baptism doesn’t make sense. He knows Jesus is different than everyone else in the crowd. When Jesus shows up, verse 14 says, “John would have prevented him, saying ‘I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?’” Jesus has to convince him.
So why would Jesus choose to come and be baptized? If not for forgiveness, why does Jesus choose to go out there in the wilderness with this crowd, this “brood of vipers”, mingling with the sinners, the tax collectors, Roman soldiers? Not a nice group of people.
Perhaps that’s exactly the point. The first public act of Jesus’ ministry, the first story we have of him as an adult, is him choosing to join the poor crowds in need of repentance, in need of saving. He comes and stands among the people who are most in need of God.
As Debie Thomas says, “The holy child conceived of the Holy Spirit, celebrated by angels, worshiped by shepherds, and feared by Herod, stands in the same muddy water we stand in. The Messiah’s first public act is a declaration of solidarity. God is one of us.”
I heard someone on a podcast once talk about the idea of “selling by association.” It’s a sales technique where basically, if you go stand next to someone your audience trusts, they’ll start to trust you. People will associate you with them. It’s similar to the idea of getting an endorsement, like when some athlete you admire starts talking about a breakfast cereal, you start to associate the cereal with that athlete and your opinion of the cereal goes up.
By that logic, you’d think Jesus ought to be spending as much time with the high priests, the Jerusalem elite as he can. Signing autographs outside the temple or something.
But of course, Jesus does the opposite. Jesus chooses to come out into the wilderness and associate himself with these crowds.
These are not the cream of the crop people who seem to have it all put together. These are not the wealthy, the prize winners, the well-educated. Jesus is aligning himself with the people who are desperate enough to go out in the wilderness and get dunked in a river, people who are looking for something.
We Lutherans understand baptism as a welcome into God’s family. Baptism is the point at which you become a member of the church, part of the body of Christ. It’s a communal entrance rite.
When you are baptized, God puts a claim on your life. God says, “You! You belong to me. You are my beloved child. I know you, I claim you by name.”
Baptism is about identity, who you are. No matter what happens in life, you have been sealed by the Holy Spirit and marked with the cross of Christ forever. Named beloved.
Baptism is the reason our chief affiliation is never to a sports team. (Maybe that’s an important reminder this morning. Your identity doesn’t depend on how good or bad the Packer’s special teams are. […Bad…]).
Your ultimate allegiance is not to a political party, or even to a nation. Baptism is the testimony that your citizenship is in heaven. It’s God’s opinion of you that matters, not anyone else’s. You belong to Christ.
Rev. Ignacio Cepero writes, “Jesus does not place himself above others; he steps into the same water where the people stand…That simple gesture says everything. God does not save from a distance. God does not reveal himself by excluding. God enters the water. God allows human fragility to touch him and transforms ordinary water into a place of grace.
For this reason, the Baptism of the Lord is, at its very core, deeply inclusive. It does not divide, classify, or rank. It calls together. It embraces. It unites.” (This quote is from a post by Rev. Cepero in the ELCA Clergy group on Facebook.)
This story of Jesus’ baptism revealed that he is on our side. And not just our side, but their side. Whoever they are. In a world full of divisions, baptism matters.
When you look at the world and feel overwhelmed, when you’re struggling with finances or health concerns, when you’re grieving loved ones, when you’re not sure where you belong, afraid for the future, hold on to the promise of baptism.
God in Christ doesn’t enter the world to just look around and see how this whole creation thing is going; Jesus comes to identify with us, with the sinners, with humanity. With the hopeless. With the ones seeking justice and peace.
Incarnation goes all the way. God with us. He comes to be with the desperate, with the people seeking God, the ones looking for hope. Jesus says, “We’re in this together.”
Baptism is about identity. Jesus’ baptism; our baptism. God comes to be with us, so that we can be with God. You belong to Christ, in whom you have been baptized.
Amen