Isaiah 42:1-9; Psalm 29; Acts 10:34-43; Matthew 3:13-17
The Epiphany of our Lord, which happened on Tuesday, is about three things: the three Kings (or Wise Men or Astrologers depending on what you call them) arriving at the nativity and offering gifts to the “Newborn King”, the revealing of Jesus’ ministry through his first miracle at the wedding feast in Cana, and Jesus’ baptism at the hands of John the Baptist in the Jordan river.
In our lectionary, however, in Year’s A, B, and C, the meaning of Epiphany is focused singularly on the importance of Jesus’ Baptism. And why not? His Baptism is the starting point of Jesus’ formal ministry, so his Baptism must be an extremely important event in his life.
I think if you ask most people about Baptism and its meaning, their first answer will be that Baptism is about forgiveness of sin, about erasing sin from our lives, especially that nasty old “original sin” as it’s called of Adam and Eve in the garden. There are other things that Baptism represents of course, but sin seems to be the first thing that comes to mind, even still for me.
There are churches and whole denominations where the focus of Baptism is forgiveness of sins. But if Baptism is primarily about sin, and it is partly about sin, then it begs the obvious question: Why was Jesus Baptized? If a part of Baptism is about reconciliation with God and the forgiveness of our sins, then why was Jesus, fully divine and fully human except for sin, why did God’s Son need to be Baptized?
In order to answer that question, the larger question then becomes, “What is Baptism and what is it all about?”
A great place to start is our own prayer book. We need to look at our Catechism, or teaching, that is the outline of our faith. And we find Baptism on page 858 of the Prayer Book.
Q. What is Holy Baptism? A. Holy Baptism is the sacrament by which God adopts us as his children and makes us members of Christ’s Body, the Church, and inheritors of the kingdom of God.
So in our Baptism we become God’s adopted children, we become the Body of Christ (the Church) in the world, and we become heirs of God’s kingdom.
Q. What is the outward and visible sign in Baptism? A. The outward and visible sign in Baptism is water, in which the person is baptized in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Q. What is the inward and spiritual grace in Baptism? A. The inward and spiritual grace in Baptism is union with Christ in his death and resurrection, birth into God’s family the Church, forgiveness of sins, and new life in the Holy Spirit.
So our inward and spiritual grace is: sharing in Jesus’ death and resurrection, becoming the Body of Christ (the Church), the forgiveness of sins – there’s the sin part, and in the process receiving the presence of the Holy Spirit.
Q. What is required of us at Baptism? A. It is required that we renounce Satan, repent of our sins, and accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior.
So we reject Satan, we repent of our sins – there’s the sin part again, and we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior. If someone asks you if you’ve been saved, or if you’ve accepted Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior, you can say, “Yes, I’ve been Baptized.”
We also speak of the meaning of Baptism when we bless the water of Baptism. In it we pray, “We thank you, Father, for the water of Baptism. (1) In it we are buried with Christ in his death. (2) By it we share in his resurrection. (3) Through it we are reborn by the Holy Spirit.”
But where’s the sin here? “In it we are buried with Christ in his death”. In Baptism we die – to sin – so there’s sin a third time.
So then today’s scripture begs the question, “Why was Jesus baptized?” In the days of John the Baptist, baptism was all about sin and repentance. If Jesus is divine except for sin, one who saw sin but never knew sin as we do, why did he insist on taking part in a ritual that offers confession of sins for repentance when he was not a sinner?
Our Episcopal theology in the prayer book sees baptism as primarily membership – joining something – becoming members of God’s household as his children, inheritors of His kingdom, and becoming members of Christ’s Body, the Church. Through this membership, we receive the free gift of salvation. We receive all these things through Jesus Christ.
That’s all fine and dandy, but frankly Jesus is these things, so – again – what benefit is baptism to God’s own Son?
To frame an answer, we need to consider several things about Jesus’ baptism:
First, Jesus’ Baptism is a perfect Trinitarian moment. In His Baptism we glimpse all three persons of the Trinity. We have the Son rising from the water of Baptism. We see the Holy Spirit descending upon Jesus like a dove and joining with him. We hear the voice of God the Father, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”
Secondly, Jesus’ Baptism is seen as a moment of solidarity. Jesus, the one who is without sin, submits himself to a ritual meant for us. The waters of Baptism wash away our sin, and Jesus models baptism for us and stands with us as one of us, despite the fact that he is not a sinner. He will do this again at the cross.
Thirdly, Jesus Baptism is a powerful revelation of the Holy Spirit. This is the first time we see the Holy Spirit as an independent and driving force in the Gospels. The Holy Spirit appears at Jesus’ baptism and joins with him, and from then on, the Spirit becomes an active part of Jesus’ walk to the cross and beyond. Here the Spirit is manifested to us, and from now on the works of the Spirit guide Jesus’ human life just as the Spirit guides our human lives, should we have the courage to allow it.
Fourthly, if Baptism is meant for human beings, and if Jesus was truly human, then Jesus needed to be baptized. Yes, he was the Son of God and the Son of Man, but if God truly ordained Baptism for humans, then Jesus had to be baptized, if for no other reason than to show that Jesus was both truly divine AND truly human.
Add to those other reasons what Jesus’ baptism teaches us about His humanity. Jesus’ baptism shows us that his humanity was just as important to the story of life as his divinity. Jesus’ baptism joins for us his divinity and his humanity, and in that joining we see hope for ourselves. We see what we could be if we could leave our tendency toward sin behind. We see the difference we will make in the world around us and in other’s lives when we become servants like Jesus was, when we put others first, when we love our neighbors as ourselves.
The Baptism and sending of Christ includes us. And as we see in the Baptism of Jesus, baptism is not just about sin and the forgiveness of sin. Baptism is not just about leaving something behind, about moving away from something, namely sin. Baptism is about moving toward something, joining something – each of us and God together. Baptism is about becoming something – a child of God. Baptism is about being called to something – being a servant to others. Baptism is about joining something that is greater than all of us – a community of believers, the Body of Christ.
The Good News today is that Jesus’ Baptism in the Jordan River by John the Baptist was for us. Jesus’ entire life and death were an example for us about what it means to be called by God, what it means to live life in obedience to God, what it means to go where God is calling us: to live a life in service to others, to live a life loving others as ourselves.
The Good News today is that, in his Baptism, Jesus taught us that the human body, our human bodies, are not some second-rate creation, not just some prison we need to escape from, not some trap that we have been tricked into inhabiting. We are not just a spirit trapped in a human body. Jesus has taught us that we are body and spirit. Jesus has taught us that salvation comes through God alone, and though our minds and our bodies are susceptible to sin and death, through our bodies, minds, and spirits Jesus comes to us and teaches us. Jesus teaches us that salvation is not about separating our good from our bad. Jesus teaches us that salvation is about joining the profane with the holy. That is a radical teaching. Jesus teaches us that salvation is about healing our whole being, body and spirit.
The Good News today is that in the baptism of Jesus, the human and the divine are joined together into one community of being, no longer just God and Man, but God AS Man, and humanity now in eternal communion with God. That is the gift of Baptism.
The Good News today is that Jesus’ love for us is so great that he allowed himself to be baptized for us so that we would know who he is. Jesus allowed himself to be baptized for us so that we would understand the sacrifice he would make for us on the cross. Jesus allowed himself to be baptized for us so that we would be saved and join him in his resurrection. Jesus allowed himself to be baptized for us so that we would all be one – our bodies, our minds, and our spirits, with God, all ONE. That is His gift of salvation.