Becoming Beloved

Rebecca Sheridan
Sunday, January 8, 2023
Matthew 3:13-17

    Why did Jesus need to be baptized?  In the four gospels’ accounts of Jesus’ baptism, Matthew is the one who is most concerned about this question.  It’s a good question!  John the Baptist, Jesus’ cousin, has already been baptizing people with water for repentance, a cleansing sign of forgiveness for sins.  But if Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, he is sinless. So, why does he need to be baptized? There’s nothing to be forgiven, nothing for Jesus to repent from.  Jesus answers John’s concern in a somewhat perplexing way, “it is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness.”  Ok…what does that mean, exactly?  It’s a good enough answer for John – he goes ahead and agrees to baptizing Jesus.  But it doesn’t immediately make sense to us, perhaps. How does Jesus “fulfill all righteousness” through his baptism?
    Martin Luther liked to describe what Jesus does for us to save us from our sins as the “happy exchange,” which means Jesus takes our sin and gives us his righteousness.  My Lutheran Confessions professor in seminary, Dr. Kurt Hendel, calls it “the sweet swap.”  In less-churchy terms, we aren’t perfect.  When we look at ourselves in the mirror, we see the wrinkles, the blemishes, the few extra pounds after the holidays. We think of the expectations we’ve had for ourselves or that others have for us and we may sometimes call ourselves “not good enough.”  We strive to do better but don’t always do what’s best.  Sometimes we downright do what’s wrong.  In Christ, God makes a switch so that all of our shame, humiliation, and guilt are placed on the cross, and instead those beautiful words we hear from heaven at Jesus’ baptism become ours also, God declaring to us, “This is my beloved child, in whom I am well-pleased.”  God looks at us and sees Christ. God is well-pleased with us because of our faith in Jesus.  God’s words to Jesus at his baptism are God’s words for us.
    So maybe we can understand that Jesus had to be baptized in this way, because this is why God sends his only Son in the first place – to experience what we experience.  To be born, to grow up, to live among all kinds of sinners like us, to heal, forgive, and save us.  Jesus humbles himself to be baptized like us, so that his name might become ours.  This is why at a baptism still today, we say that the baptized person has “put on Christ.”  John the Baptist was a pretty righteous dude, if there ever was a righteous person, and yet he has the humility to recognize he doesn’t deserve to baptize Jesus. He’s not THAT good of a person.  Yet Jesus recognizes there’s no good enough or right enough person.  That’s precisely the point – it’s only Christ that makes him so.  It’s only Christ that allows us to hear without self-help books and new year’s resolution strategies that we are good enough because he is good enough. We are God’s beloved children with whom GOD is well pleased. Our baptism in Christ assures us of this good news.
    In a few minutes, some members of Faith will share what they do to live out their faith in Christ by serving our church in a variety of ways.  In baptism, we are not only called God’s beloved but given gifts of the Holy Spirit to serve one another with the love of Christ.  When we look around the room, we see a great diversity of people and gifts. We can’t all do the same thing, but together, we make up the body of Christ, the church, to accomplish all things.  To fulfill God’s purposes just as Jesus asks John to baptize him to fulfill God’s purposes through him.  I’d encourage you in this New Year to really think not just about some self-improvement goals, but about your spiritual gifts, and how God might be asking you to serve and fulfill God’s purposes. Take a few minutes, if you haven’t already, to fill out the Time and Talents form at the back of your bulletin.  Please return it in the offering plate or to one of our Stewardship Committee members after the service.  God can use everyone, even someone like you, Thanks be to God!  Amen.