Sermon preached on 11th January 2026

1st Sunday of Epiphany, the Baptism of Christ

By Rev. Mark Payne

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Isaiah 42.1-9
Here is my servant, whom I uphold,
    my chosen, in whom my soul delights;
I have put my spirit upon him;
    he will bring forth justice to the nations.
2 He will not cry or lift up his voice,
    or make it heard in the street;
3 a bruised reed he will not break,
    and a dimly burning wick he will not quench;
    he will faithfully bring forth justice.
4 He will not grow faint or be crushed
    until he has established justice in the earth;
    and the coastlands wait for his teaching.

5 Thus says God, the Lord,
    who created the heavens and stretched them out,
    who spread out the earth and what comes from it,
who gives breath to the people upon it
    and spirit to those who walk in it:
6 I am the Lord, I have called you in righteousness,
    I have taken you by the hand and kept you;
I have given you as a covenant to the people,
    a light to the nations,
7     to open the eyes that are blind,
to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon,
    from the prison those who sit in darkness.
8 I am the Lord, that is my name;
    my glory I give to no other,
    nor my praise to idols.
9 See, the former things have come to pass,
    and new things I now declare;
before they spring forth,
    I tell you of them.
 

Matthew 3.13-17
13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan, to be baptized by him. 14 John would have prevented him, saying, ‘I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?’ 15 But Jesus answered him, ‘Let it be so now; for it is proper for us in this way to fulfil all righteousness.’ Then he consented. 16 And when Jesus had been baptized, just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens were opened to him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. 17 And a voice from heaven said, ‘This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.’
 

Talk

I am not sure if there are any other fans in the congregation today, but we have been avid watchers of the TV series “Stranger Things”. On New Year’s Day, the story came to an exciting conclusion and lots of loose ends were tidied up. With that, inevitably, there were links made between different, seemingly insignificant, parts of the earlier episodes that brought new meaning to characters and the story as a whole.

Now, whether you like this series or have even heard of it before doesn’t really matter as I am sure that everyone can relate to that feeling of finally seeing the bigger picture when links with what has gone before are revealed. 

One of the things that I have always enjoyed throughout my time at college and when preparing talks such as this is when I discover new links between different parts of the Bible. And more than that, when those links reveal some extra bit of meaning or teach us something new about the nature of God. I find that very exciting!

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Today’s Gospel reading might seem, at first glance, to be easy to interpret. We hear about the baptism of Christ and the full revelation of Jesus as the son of God. However, if you dig a bit deeper it is full of symbolism and, as is common in Matthew’s Gospel, references and comparisons back to the Old Testament.

Let’s explore that now and experience that joy of discovering new meaning together!

Firstly, we have the image Matthew gives us of Jesus coming up from the water. The symbolism of water is found throughout the Bible, but I wonder if anyone can remember the story from Exodus 14 that happens after the nation of Israel has escaped Egypt and are being pursued by Pharoah’s army? They are confronted with the seemingly impassible barrier of the Red Sea. 

On that day, God parted the waters so that the people could pass through to safety. The nation of Israel rose from the waters of the Red Sea confirming their status as God’s chosen people and, ultimately, they were given the law to guide their lives with God. 

In our Gospel reading we hear about Jesus rising from the water and receiving the Spirit. If we draw parallels with the parting of the Red Sea then here was someone chosen by God and sent to save the people and guide them back to Him.

The form in which the spirit descends on Jesus after his Baptism is also very revealing. It comes down in the form of a dove, the symbol of peace. If we compare this to the behaviour of the kings and other leaders in the Old Testament, which tended towards the warlike, it indicates that Jesus’ leadership was going to very different from what the people were used to or, indeed, what they may have expected. He was not going to be a warrior in the traditional sense of that word. Jesus was not going to lead the people to freedom through strength of arms but through the promotion of peace.

Perhaps most revealing is the fact that Jesus felt it necessary to be baptized at all. After all, we know he was without sin so why did he need the cleansing of baptism? One explanation is that this was another way of God becoming fully human in Jesus. In the Old Testament, God always maintained His “otherness” such as when leading the Israelites away from Egypt as a pillar of flame by night and a pillar of cloud by day. In Jesus, God decided to share in the condition of being human and that meant sharing in all of it. It meant that Jesus had to be baptized.

So, what does this teach us about God and about how we can deepen our relationship with God? 

As it says at the end of our reading from Isaiah, in Jesus God is “declaring new things”. It meant that those witnessing Jesus’ baptism were being invited to behave differently in order to become righteous with God, to repair their relationship with Him.

And, some 2000 years later, we are still being asked to do the same.

Jesus came to save and guide. In Jesus we have a role model to emulate and to put us on the right path. And what Jesus taught came from the heart and went beyond slavishly following a set of rules (something that Jesus criticises the nation of Israel for throughout the Gospels). Jesus teaches us that it is through having unconditional love that comes from the heart that we can be saved.

Jesus came as a peacemaker, not a leader who would overthrow and impose God’s will through strength or dominance. So too are we asked to pursue a path of peace. Seeking to reach out to those who, for whatever reason, may have less power than us. To influence people and bring them back to God through kindness and not domination. 

And Jesus showed us that to be fully human meant there was a need to be humble and to realise that none of us is perfect. We do make mistakes and need to ask for forgiveness. We might seek forgiveness from other people or from God but, the first step is always for us to acknowledge that we need forgiveness.

To summarise, through his baptism Jesus indicates that we should do right because we rejoice in doing it, not just because it is something we have been told we have to do. Our love must come from the heart. That we should pursue peace and put others before ourselves, especially those worse off than us. That we should be humble enough to recognize our flaws and seek forgiveness for the things we do wrong.

Throughout all of this, all our striving to meet these standards, God is with us. His spirit guides our efforts and strengthens us and His infinite patience forgives us when we inevitably get things wrong. In his love for us God says, every day, “you are my children, the beloved, with whom I am well pleased”.

Let us pray:
God our loving parent,
In Jesus you came among us to share in what it is to be fully human. You guide us towards peace and towards love that comes from the heart. Help us, with humility, to follow in the footsteps of Christ our saviour who you revealed as your son, that day many years ago at the river Jordan.
Amen

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