Scriptures:- Matthew 3. 13-17; Isaiah 42. 1-9; Acts 10. 34-43
Sermon Preached on:- 12th January 2020-Baptism of Christ
last Sunday that was the Epiphany we celebrated the visit of the Magi to baby Jesus which marked the beginning of the Season of Epiphany when we look at various accounts during which Christ was being ‘made manifest’. Today we have read about Jesus being “made manifest” at His baptism.
The First Sunday of Epiphany is known as The Baptism of Christ. The Baptism of Christ is one of the events that all four of the Gospels describe. Every author of every gospel found this event so inspiring and important that it was included. And so was obviously an event that the Early Church saw as of great importance. Gospel according to Mark and John give us the briefest details. Luke’s Gospel doesn’t give us much more, but Matthew fills out the story a little bit more.
But have you ever wondered? Why did Jesus need to be baptized?
It’s an unusual story because, depending on what you think about baptism, there doesn’t seem to be any reason for Jesus to be baptized.
If baptism is primarily about the washing away of sin, what is Christ doing, standing in the river or in other words standing in the line of sinners. It is his first public appearance and his first public appearance is his baptism. According to Luke 3.23 our Lord is 30 years of his age.
Actually, I think, there’s a very important phrase there in the text that helps us to really understand what’s going on here.
“Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan, to be baptized by him”. (matt. 3.13)
I think it痴 extremely important to take note of the fact that Jesus was baptized in the Jordan. Why? Well, just think about what John was doing there. In John’s baptism there was a summons to repentance, and the offer of a way to the forgiveness of sins. John’s baptism was for sinners conscious of their sin, and therefore it does not seem applicable to Jesus at all. People were coming from all over to be washed of their sin. They confessed, were washed and forgiven. It痴 like all their sin was washed off into that water. When Jesus stands on the bank looking in, what he sees is a sewer of sin. He doesn稚 need convincing. He walks right in and is baptized. The difference between Jesus and all those people who washed there is that Jesus didn稚 have any sin to wash away. Instead he sucks it all up into himself. He becomes the carrier of sin. John poured water on him and said God痴 name and Jesus became the sin bearer. In the Gospel of John, when John the Baptist saw Jesus coming to him and said Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! (John 1.29) Peter says in 1 Peter 2:24– “He himself bore our sins” in his body.
Our Gospel this morning says that John the Baptist at first refused baptise him, because John felt unworthy. In Matthew 3:14 John says to Jesus, “I need to be baptized by you,” meaning “I myself am a sinner. You do not need my ministry, Jesus, but I need yours. However Jesus said: “Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfil all righteousness.” This is the only time in the New Testament we ever see Jesus and John the baptist together. This is the meeting of the two this is the only one recorded in the New Testament. This meeting is very important- this meeting has significance that is far reaching because on this occasion of their meeting there is a coronation of a new King. Matthew is writing about God’s great King the new King who is coming and who will declare the new era for the world. This is His coronation.
Jesus humbles Himself to do what God asks – it’s obedience to God. Jesus does this because God requires it. He lived a life of complete obedience to God.
Jesus baptism was a sign of his complete dedication to following the will of God. The voice which Jesus heard at the baptism is of supreme importance.” This is my beloved Son,” it said, “with whom I am well pleased.” That sentence is composed of two quotations. “This is my beloved Son,” is a quotation from Psalms 2:7. Every Jew accepted that Psalm as a description of the Messiah, the mighty King of God who was to come. “With whom I am well pleased” is a quotation from Isaiah 42:1, which is a description of the Suffering Servant, a description which culminates in Isaiah 53.
So in the baptism there came to Jesus two certainties–the certainty that he was indeed the chosen One of God, and the certainty that the way in front of him was the way of the Cross. in that moment he knew that he was chosen to be King, but he also knew that his throne must be a Cross. In that moment he knew that he was destined to be a conqueror, but that his conquest must have as its only weapon the power of suffering love.
One of the challenges of this Epiphany season and the baptism of Christ, is to be
surprised again and again by Jesus. The Lord Jesus’ baptism was an act that He performed on our behalf as the mediator of the covenant of grace. He did not need the baptism of repentance. He did identify Himself with His people as the one who would be the sin bearer and the whose baptism, the baptism of the Holy Spirit would bring renovation of our hearts and lives.
We are reminded today as we celebrate the Baptism of Christ that we belong to God and he delights in us. Through Christ we become children of God who delights in us.
It is that new understanding of God that we see manifest in Christ’s Baptism this morning, God who loves, who cares for us. My friends, let me say this, if you are in Christ, if you have embraced the Lord Jesus Christ, the heavenly Father delights in you, just like He delights in His Son.We are the body of Christ and God loves us. Because, we are the members of the same body as St. Paul says. So we have the responsibility to love each other.
Like it or not if you are a baptized person you become a living mystical body of Christ- the Church. You are connected to all baptized people across the age. Becomes brothers and sisters in Christ not just the saints but the good,the bad the ugly, the indifferent. Everybody who is baptized is connected to us the way organs in a body are connected to each other. How ridiculous, if the lungs were to say to the liver who are affected by cancer that’s your problem. I am going to worry about that that’s your problem. It is not the problem of one organ but the entire body. Your problem becomes my problem, my problem becomes yours because we are connected to each other in the living mystical body of our Lord.
For we have become brothers and sisters in Christ if you are joined to Him. And the Father delights in you.
In the name of God, who is father, Son and Holy Spirit. AMEN
