2026-01-11 The Baptism of Jesus

Scripture Readings

Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen!

The video sharing site YouTube is really a modern marvel of information. It hosts zillions and zillions of videos encompassing pretty much everything of interest to every person on earth. Want to fix your car? There’s a video for that. Need a recipe for supper? There’s a video for that too. Want to explore the ever practical world of equestrian vaulting?! They’ve got that too! But they also have a lot of old TV commercials from yesteryear. Retro stuff from the 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s. One commercial that comes to mind for me was a product called Didi Seven. Do you remember that?! It was a magical cleaning paste that removed ink, tar, iodine, blood, rust and pizza stains from carpet, clothing and upholstery! Even dye from the one rogue red sock that got into your load of whites! No match for Didi Seven! Just a little dab in your final rinse and voila! Sparkling white! And it was only $14.95 per tube, but if you called now, right now, because they can’t do this all day, you get two tubes for the low, low price of $19.95, saving a whopping ten dollars! Cleaning so much never cost so little! My favourite part of the ad was they had this big bowl of blue water, stained from ink and iodine and whatever else. They put a little dab of Didi Seven in the water and gave it a swirl and bam! Crystal clear! They even had a little sparkle magic sound effect to go with it. Didi Seven. It even cleaned the water!

What does this have to do with anything?? Well, I’m glad you asked. The season of Epiphany is officially here now as of January 6. And besides the visit of the Wisemen from the East, the foundational Epiphany event is what we have before us today: the Baptism of our Lord in the Jordan river. And Baptism is all about what? Yes, you guessed it, making dirty things clean! Physically, the word baptism just means ‘to wash,’ like washing the dishes or the laundry or giving the toddler her bath. You scrub with water and soap and the dishes come out clean, leaving the dirt and grime behind to go down the drain. Spiritually speaking, baptism does much the same thing. In the water and the word of God’s promise we are washed clean of our sins. They are left behind in the water as we come out squeaky clean, forgiven free and clear, new creations, clothed in Christ to walk in His ways.

This is not a new teaching by any means. But when you stand back and consider our Gospel reading today of our Lord Jesus’ Baptism, does it make any sense? He is the sinless Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world. He doesn’t have any sins of His own to warsh away like your regular, day-to-day average Joe sinner. So why is He baptized by cousin John in the river? Even John realizes this is odd and reluctantly asks “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” (MT 3:14). But our Lord assures cousin Johnny. We need to do this as “it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness” (MT 3:15).

Traditionally, in Protestant Christian thinking, this is Jesus identifying with said average Joe sinner. Though sinless, Jesus identifies with humanity’s sinful condition by undergoing a baptism of repentance. This act publicly aligns Him with the sinners He came to save, prefiguring His future suffering and death on the cross, burial, and resurrection. In fact, He even calls His passion a baptism in this regard. St. Luke tells us “I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how great is my distress until it is accomplished!” (12:50). It tells us how He will bear our sins and provide righteousness for others. This is St. Matthew echoing the prophet Isaiah in 53:11–12. So the overall emphasis is this: Jesus steps into the role of substitute, beginning the path to the cross where righteousness by faith is fully accomplished for all who believe.

This sounds pretty good. It’s a pretty Scriptural and reasonable understanding of why our Lord is baptized when He has no sins of His own to wash away. But there is an even more profound understanding here for us consider. Think about our Lord’s life and ministry. Specifically, think about the miraculous healings that He did. Even more precisely, think about lepers. These were people stricken with terrible suffering from diseases that were bad enough but they also cut these people off from regular community life. These people were unclean and were ostracized and kicked out. If you touched a leper you likewise became unclean and required purification. But when Jesus healed these people look what He did: “Jesus stretched out His hand and touched him, saying, “I will; be clean.” And immediately his leprosy was cleansed” (MT 8:3). Jesus didn’t become unclean in touching the leper, rather, He made the unclean clean!

This is the same thing that our Lord is doing in His baptism. Just as Jesus’ holiness transfers cleansing power rather than being contaminated by impurity, so too in the Jordan river. The sinless Christ enters the waters used for a baptism of repentance not to be purified Himself, but to purify and sanctify the waters. Like a Divine Didi Seven, Jesus cleanses the water and institutes it to be used for our blessing and salvation - not unlike what He does with bread and wine in Holy Communion.

John’s baptism was preparatory and symbolic (a call to repentance), but when the eternal Son of God immerses Himself, the waters are transfigured and cleansed by His grace. From that moment, the water in of Holy Baptism becomes an instrument through which the Holy Spirit conveys forgiveness of sins, spiritual rebirth, adoption as children of God, and union with Christ’s death and resurrection.

In this light, “fulfilling all righteousness” includes completing God’s plan not just by obeying for us and identifying with us, but by empowering the Church’s ongoing mission of salvation. This is precisely why St. Peter can write “Baptism … now saves you,” (1PE 3:21). All water now becomes a life giving flood of forgiveness, redemption, salvation and sanctification. For in our Baptism, the same presence of Christ is revealed to us, given to us and heals us of our sin and conquers death. It calls us to the new life He gives us, and assures us all that God’s love for us will never fail in this life or the next.

In our Lord’s Baptism, the Father speaks from Heaven. The Son blesses and sanctifies the water while the Spirit descends as a dove. God The Holy Trinity is made manifest and revealed for all the world to see. It takes us back to the heart of creation where God created all things seen and unseen. It shows us God’s plan of new creation. It reveals that God is a God of love and healing and redemption. Epiphany becomes the season of light because here God has shined the light of His grace and mercy in His creation. Yet at the same time there is a connection to water.

We simply can’t ignore how pivotal water is to us and our salvation. Think about Noah. In Noah’s day the flood came as a magnanimous judgment on a sinful and unbelieving world. But at the same time, it was cleansing the world of sin. It was purifying. It was saving, as believing Noah and his family were saved, eight souls in all, through the water. And when the cleansing was complete, what did Noah send forth? A parakeet? A magpie? No. He sends forth a dove.

Again this little detail connects us to our Lord’s Baptism. In our Baptism, both death and life come together. Both cleansing and sanctifying come together. Our “old Adam” or “old Eve” dies to sin and death and the new creation in Christ rises to new life by the grace of God. This is the same gift for all people, regardless of age or circumstances. “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved” St. Mark tells us (16:16).

When You, O Lord were Baptized in the Jordan, the worship of the Trinity was made manifest, for the voice of the Father bore witness to You, and called You His beloved Son, and the Spirit, in the form of a dove, confirmed the truthfulness of His word. O Christ our God, you have revealed Yourself and have enlightened the world, glory to You now and forever more! Amen!