January 11 2026 Baptism of Our Lord

Isaiah 42.1-9    Psalm 29    Acts 10.34-43    Matthew 3.13-17

Our gospel this morning raises a few questions for me.  How much did Jesus know about his origins.  I’m sure he would have heard, at least ‘scuttlebut’ about the fact that Mary was pregnant prior to marrying Joseph, but how much of the ‘angel visited me’ story did he know.  He clearly was trained in carpentry by Joseph, because he is described more than once as ‘the carpenter’s son’, but what was he doing for the past 15 years of his adult life.  The only story we have is him staying behind in Jerusalem when he was 12 and telling his parents, when challenged about frightening them by doing this, was that he ‘must be in my father’s house’.  And what was it that prompted him to go to John and request baptism.  He was very insistent that he ‘needed’ to be baptised by John, so what was he looking for.  And what were his thoughts when, after the baptism, he heard those incredible words, ‘this is my son, the beloved, in whom I am well pleased’ and he saw the Spirit descend on him.  No wonder he went into the desert.  There were a lot of things to ‘sort out’.  Lots of things to think over, who am I, what does this all mean, what do I do now, where to from here.

But those words were spoken for us too, when we were baptised.  We are all ‘God’s children’, God’s sons and daughters.  Yes I know, Jesus is more than a ‘son’, he is also one of the Trinity, one with God, but we too have the Spirit given to us at Baptism, we too are God’s child ‘in whom I am well pleased’, and we too have to work out what all that means for each of us.

As I read around this gospel passage during the week, there were interesting debates about ‘why’ Jesus needed to be baptised, considering John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance and as Jesus was ‘sinless’.  But the thing is, while we question why this ‘sinless’ man need to be baptised, the idea of ‘divinity’ was not even a concept until around the 3rd century, so Matthew’s audience and the community of his time as well as those with and around John, would not have even considered the question.  But there is more to baptism than just the ‘washing away of sin’, and while that is important, there is a more important element, and it is the one Jesus received.  It is being ‘named’; in baptism we are ‘given a name’, not just the name your parents gave you, but the one God gives you – beloved, and with that name we are given an ‘identity’, child of God.  You become one to whom God is unfailingly committed.

We all know names are important.  We all have many names, the one we received on our birth certificate, sometimes your ‘common’ name is different to that ‘legal’ name.  Modern society likes to identify us by many names, Labor or Liberal; Anglo or Asian, or African or …; rich or poor, gay or straight.  And increasingly we can be labelled by the products we use or the shops we frequent, you are an ‘apple tragic’ or a ‘windows person’; when I was growing up it mattered whether you were a ‘holden’ or a ‘falcon’ person; our shoes, our shirts, our cars, and our computers, convey a great deal of our identity.  Most of you are wearing a name badge.  I sometimes forget I wear one and then when I am shopping, I am surprised when the assistant calls me by my name, until I remember.  And sometimes, depending on where I am going or what I am doing, I remember to remove it so I am not ‘identifiable’.  Back in 2006 or 2007 while in the Northern Territory, when transferring the registration for his bike, Robert decided he wanted a ‘personalised’ numberplate, and when it arrived and he was screwing it on, he suddenly wondered if this was a ‘good idea’ because the numberplate said ‘Chaplain’.  He realised he now had to ride responsibly; he could not ‘hoon’ (the NT still had open speed limit then) or even gesticulate to those who he thought were doing the wrong thing.  I wonder, have you ever been told ‘you’re a Christian, you shouldn’t do/say that’.  Sometimes they are right, sometimes they are not.  But wouldn’t it be great if the fact that we are ‘beloved’ was as obvious as the name badge we wear.  Yes, it means we have to be careful about how we act or speak, but shouldn’t we already do that? 

And while the many names we have may ‘describe’ us, they can never ‘define’ us, because only the name we receive in Baptism tells us who we are by reminding us whose we are – God’s beloved child. May we continue to grow into our identy.