12 January 2025 Baptism of Our Lord

Isaiah 43.1–7    Psalm 29    Acts 8.14–17    Luke 3.15–22

Our gospel this morning presents us with a conundrum that is not often recognised.  Every year we celebrate the ‘Baptism of Our Lord’, but if baptism is for the remission of sin, and we confess Jesus as sinless, then why did he insist on being baptised.

We also need to work out how we deal with the character of John the Baptist – he also had disciples, he was a revered teacher, but he didn’t see himself, nor do we see him, as having authority over Jesus, yet he is the one doing the baptising.  Which all leaves us with some interesting variations in the baptismal stories.  All the gospels tell us John is adamant that Jesus is superior to him, and they make clear that even though John facilitates Jesus’ baptism, it is the Holy Spirit who is the true agent.  In fact, the gospel of John does not even tell us that Jesus was baptised, it only witnesses that the Spirit descended on him.  In the gospel we have heard this morning, Luke takes a ‘middle of the road’ approach.  We are told John is baptising, we are also told Jesus is baptising, but the story then takes a relatively passive tone ‘now when all the people had been baptised, and when Jesus also had been baptised and was praying’.  And this statement is surrounded by the report of John’s imprisonment by Herod, removing John from the scene even further.

So, if we return to our original conundrum, how do we reconcile Jesus being baptised if he is sinless, because our theology says that Baptism is about forgiveness.  And I think this is where we may have misunderstood forgiveness and the relationship between forgiveness and baptism, and therefore baptism itself.  I know, that is quite a convoluted statement.

I think it safe to say that we would agree that baptism is about forgiveness but, the thing is, baptism is about a lot more than that.  It is about relationship, it is about being named, and claimed, as children of God.   And sometimes we tend to see forgiveness as a mechanism rather than a result, or most importantly as a gift.  This is why we often slip into the belief that God forgives us in order that we can be named, and claimed, and called God’s child.  But we are forgiven by God because we are God’s child not ‘in order’ that we can be called God’s child.  Forgiveness is a result of God’s love, not a condition of that love.

And our confusion is not limited to forgiveness and baptism, we make the same mistake when it comes to the law.  We say that God gives Israel, and therefore us, the commandments in order that Israel, and we, can improve our behaviour and thereby become God’s people. But if we read the story carefully, God makes the promise of covenant and Israel accepts this promise in chap 19 of Exodus, and it is not until chap 20 that God gives the Commandments.  So, God does not give Israel, and us, the law ‘in order for us’ to become God’s children, but because we already are God’s children.  The Commandments are gift, not mechanism.  And we also make this mistake when we speak about Jesus dying on the cross, but that is a sermon for a different day.

So, we can agree that Baptism is about forgiveness, but as gift, not mechanism.  We are not forgiven in Baptism ‘so that’ God can call us God’s children; we are forgiven because we already are God’s children.  Because Baptism is about a lot more than just forgiveness.  It is about love, identity, affirmation, commitment, promise, and lots more.  In fact, we could reasonably say that Baptism is about love, identity, affirmation, commitment, promise, and lots more things and then, as a by-product and gift, it is about forgiveness.  In other words, in Baptism God proclaims God’s love for us; calls, names, and claims us as God’s beloved child; gives us the gift of the Holy Spirit; and then, because of God’s love for us, God also promises to forgive, and renew, and restore us at all times.

Which is why what ought to surprise us is not that Jesus is baptised like we are, but rather that we get to be baptised, and therefore named as beloved child, just like Jesus is.  In his Baptism, Jesus hears God say some unbelievably important words of love, affirmation and identity: “You are my Son, the Beloved, with you I am well pleased”.  And the truly incredible thing is that in our Baptism we hear the same thing: “you are my child, my beloved, and with you I am well pleased”.