2026 01 11 Baptism of our Lord Year A
What do you
imagine when you hear about John the Baptist?
His whole life was so invested in baptizing people that he became known
as, “John the Baptist”. He called
people to repent, for the Kingdom of God was at hand. John knew that the Kingdom of God was at hand
because his own birth was a miracle, surrounded by miracles and he was filled
with the Holy Spirit while he was still in his mother’s womb and it was him, as
an unborn babe, that leapt for joy while still in his mother’s womb, when Mary
greeted his mother, Elizabeth. John
knew that the Kingdom of God – the coming time of the Messiah was here. His job was to prepare the way, and he did
this by telling people, “Repent for the Kingdom of God is at hand”.
In our
culture, “Repent” is generally understood to mean, “be remorseful and sorry for
your sin, turn to God and dramatically change your life”. Although this can happen, it isn’t exactly
the original understanding. For a start,
it is important to understand that John could not forgive anyone their
sins. Being baptized by John, did not
mean having your sins washed away – he did not have that power – no one did –
or does. The only way to have sins
forgiven was for Jesus to be crucified and pay the spiritual price for
sin. There is no other way.
It seems cruel
that Jesus had to die for us, and we don’t fully understand how it all works,
but we are told by scripture that because we have all fallen by turning from
God, God respects our choice and our free will, and it means that we are no
longer belonging to God. Originally, when
God created mankind, we had an eternal Spirit.
But it was connected to God – and the connection was broken by turning
away from God. The spiritual price for
sin is death –– not just physical death, but spiritual death It wasn’t so much
a punishment, but simply a consequence. The
only one who could redeem us – pay the price and restore us, was Jesus, who was
God and without sin, paying for us- Dying for us.
So, it is
important that we keep in mind that these people who were coming to John,
responding to his message, were not going away cleansed of their sin. What was happening was that they were
responding to John’s message that the Kingdom of God was imminent – and they
were committing themselves to be part of that Kingdom. In order to be part of the Kingdom, they
stepped down into the river, figuratively out of the darkness and into the
light and into the promises of God. The
word, “Repent”, means “Change your mind/heart”.
Jesus came
to John to be baptized and from our perspective we think, why would Jesus need
to repent of his sin? Jesus didn’t have
any sin in him, as we know, yet what was happening here is that Jesus was also
making a commitment to step into the Kingdom of God. It was a public declaration that he was
committed to the Kingdom of God. From
that time on, Jesus’ life was to take on an even more focused direction. He had come to us to achieve a purpose, and
by this baptism, he confirmed his direction and showed all his intention.
An important
aspect that we might miss in these readings is that in Matthew 3:17, where we
read, “this is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”, it is actually the same quote as the famous
Isaiah reading that we began with today, which says; “Here is my servant, whom
I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my spirit upon him;
he will bring forth justice to the nations.”
Slightly different words, but the same message. This is an absolute confirmation that Jesus
is the Messiah. Jesus is the one who was
promised and prophesied about all those hundreds of years before he was
born.
At the
Baptism of Jesus, God was making some things abundantly clear. At the time, perhaps it was only glimpsed
that God’s hand was on him, but when we understand that God’s message, at that
time was re-stating his word to Isaiah, we can look at Isaiah’s message and
know some more about Jesus and his role as Messiah. Following on from last week’s celebration of
the Epiphany, which celebrate’s that God’s salvation is for all the people, that
the Messiah was to come to save the Gentile – or non Jew as well, this first
sentence from Isaiah also confirms that this was God’s intent from the beginning. Note that phrase, “for all the nations”. It means for all the Gentile – non Jew
people. In the original language; the
Messiah (or Christ) brings divine “Mishpat”
- which is God’s justice or righteousness to the “Goyim”, meaning
Gentiles or nations.
Isaiah’s
prophecy tells us, “a bruised reed he will not break, and a dimly burning
wick he will not quench; he will faithfully bring forth justice.” When Jesus began his ministry, he did not
seem to be dimly lit or a bruised reed….
But then he was crucified. It
wasn’t the end because he rose from the dead, being witnessed by more than 500
people, we are told elsewhere in the Bible.
Jesus, in his life, death and resurrection accomplished God’s justice and
righteousness. He lived a life perfectly
in complete submission to God and that role was only complete by being obedient
all the way through his suffering of the whips, false accusations, and finally
the nails and death on the cross.
Through all this, he completely submitted obediently to God’s will.
We believe
in one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.
That one baptism is Christ’s baptism into all the sin of the world which
he bore on the cross. He identified with
us and took it all to the cross. When we
are baptised, we identify with Jesus and accept his making us righteous – right
in God’s eyes…. He brings justice to the world because justice demanded that we
pay for our disobedience to God, and Jesus paid that price for us.
Our baptism
is different to the baptism that those people experienced who were baptised by
John. They responded to his message and
committed to setting their hearts on God, but they couldn’t be forgiven for
their sins. Our baptism is greater,
because we are baptised into Jesus.
Through our baptism we are also called to repent, just as they were, and
set our hearts on God, but our baptism is about being identified with Christ. The scriptures talk about being clothed in
Christ. Through our baptism we take on
the identity of Christ. Through that identity
alone, we are cleansed from sin. St.
Peter tells us in our reading; “All the prophets testify about him that
everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his
name." St. John’s Gospel spells it
out, that through that identity, all who did receive Jesus Christ, to those who
believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God! Through our baptism, which is our commitment
to continue to identify with Christ, we become “Born of the Spirit”… We receive something new – the Spirit of
God…. The Holy Spirit. God lives in you
and me, and that Holy Spirit brings us to life spiritually. Without the intervention of Jesus there was a
part of us that was not alive…. Our spirit.
It died in the garden of Eden, and since then it is only through God’s
gift, that we can have eternal life.
Jesus brought us that life and our eternal life begins from that moment
that we identify with him.
Life is still hard. But we continue to identify with Jesus because through him we have eternal life and that life is absolutely secure. John the Baptist became known as such because he committed his life to his role in God’s plan. We are also called to a new identity in Christ. Are we so committed to that new identity that people know us as belonging to Christ? We are called to be so… called to be doing the good works that Jesus wants done in this world. We are human and always fall short, but rest assured, because we identify with Jesus, even though we are far from perfect, God the father sees us and says of us, “This is my beloved, of whom I am well pleased.”
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