Return to Sermon Page

January 9, 2005; The First Sunday after the Epiphany: The Baptism of our Lord Jesus Christ, Year A
    The Rev. Harold "Skip" Comer, Rector

Fishermen are crazy!  Yesterday a friend and I stood in the Betsie River for hours throwing night crawlers and spawn bags into the current.  The only thing we caught were cold, very cold feet!  I wonder if John the Baptist’s feet got cold standing in the Jordan River.  And I wonder how long he had to wait before the people took his bait.  If you compare the bait – from a fish’s perspective night crawlers and spawn bags are like a nice juicy steak or black cherry ice cream – from a person’s perspective, John’s shouting to repent of your sins was like, well, a cold burnt steak or warmed melted ice cream – you have to wonder why John caught anything.  And what about Jesus, what was he doing in the river, asking John to baptize him.

John must have been puzzled, remember how he said, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” [i] I believe that if there was any doubt about whether John the Baptist knew the identity of Jesus, this question clears it up.  John pointed his finger at Jesus and in effect said, “Jesus, you’re the one who I have been telling everyone about.  You’re the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire.  You’re the Messiah.  Wait a minute Jesus.  You’ve got it all wrong.  You are the reason that I called all of these people down to the river and gave them a bath.   You’re confusing all of us, by wanting me to baptize you.  You have not committed any sins; you don’t need to be baptized by me.  I, we, need to be baptized by you.”

Today we celebrate the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist.  But did you ever wonder why Jesus was baptized?  It has puzzled many people down through the centuries.  Why would Jesus who was without sin need to be baptized by John who was calling people to repent of their sins and be baptized as a symbol of their purification?   I believe that this act symbolizes what Jesus came to do.  He came to take and give.  He came to take away our sins and give us new life.

Consider the image.  The waters of the Jordan River are dirty, dirty from all of the people who have been baptized by John.  The water is dirty from their sins.   Jesus, who is clean (remember was without sin), enters the dirty water of the Jordan River and comes out dirty – dirty with all of the sins of the people.

Remember the TV commercial for Oxy Clean?  How the dirty water in the glass bowl turns crystal clear when Oxy Clean is added.

What is so wonderful about Jesus is that through him the water not only becomes clean, but so do we.

Jesus in being baptized takes the symbolic baptism of repentance by John the Baptist and makes it real.  As the Rev. J. Guillet says, “Jesus consecrated John’s baptism.  Up to his coming it had been a mere figure and a preparation, but after him it was to become the Christian sacrament.”[ii]

Jesus’ baptism is his inauguration as, “the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.”[iii]   In his baptism, Jesus is taking on not only the sins of those who were baptized by John, but ours also.

What I find amazing in the Gospel of Matthew is how he describes Jesus’ baptism.   Matthew records, “And when Jesus had been baptized, just as he came up from the water…”[iv]   The Greek word translated here as “just” is more properly translated “immediately.”  Understood in this way, “Jesus immediately came up from the water.”  I focus on this phrase because I sense power.  A power over sin that could not keep him down.  Just like his death when he could not be kept in the sealed tomb, death could not end his life.  So Jesus has power over sin.

Jesus said that his baptism in the Jordan River by John was, “…proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness.”[v]  Righteousness is not just being right or good.  Righteousness has to do with an individuals relationship with God.  The baptism of Jesus was a public display of his relationship with God.  God in the baptism of Jesus shows the whole world that this is his anointed one, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”[vi]

It is through Jesus Christ that we are given another chance, a new lease on life.   This is made possible, not because of Jesus’ baptism by John in the Jordan River, but rather by his “second baptism.”  Prior to his crucifixion Jesus tells his disciples that he has another baptism to be baptized with.[vii]  Jesus is referring to the baptism of his crucifixion, death, and resurrection.  This is the final baptism which completes our salvation.  It is this life giving sacrifice that is at the center of our sacraments of Baptism and Holy Communion.

What is the reason for Jesus’ baptism?  At Jesus’ baptism he is publicly recognized as the Savior who bears our sins so that we might become righteous.  Jesus takes the ordinary baptism of John, and transforms it into the life giving sacrament of Holy Baptism.  Through baptism, God catches us and we become beloved sons and daughters, anointed by the Holy Spirit, and marked as Christ’s own forever.  The question that remains is, will we allow God to reel us in, into an intimate relationship with him, or will we struggle to break the line that has been established through Jesus Christ.

Return to Sermon Page