Sermon: Baptism of Our Lord, Matthew 3:13-17

January 11, 2026 
Faith-La Fe Lutheran Church
Pastor Jonathan Linman

Let’s do a quick thought experiment. What if John the Baptist did not end up baptizing Jesus? After all, John wanted to stop the baptism from happening, saying to Jesus, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” 

In short, if John had not baptized Jesus, then the particularities of Jesus’ ministry leading to his death and resurrection might not have taken place. Or maybe the trajectory of Jesus’ life would have gone in very different directions. 

What we consent to doing or not doing can change the course of our lives. Think about your own lives. Think about how different your life might be if you had made different decisions than the ones you made. To get married or not. To stay married or get divorced. To have children or not. And on and on the list goes, from big decisions to smaller ones – even seemingly little decisions can sometimes change our lives. 

Now think about all of things that might have happened in your life if you had not hesitated. That’s the “could have, should have, would have” factor. I know that I’ve missed out on a lot in life because of my hesitation to jump in and try new things. 

Such hesitation can translate into sins of omission: sin consists not just of things we have done but also that which we have left undone, as we confess each Sunday. 

In short, that which we consent to do or not do can lead to heaven or hell and usually lots of points in between. 

It’s kind of frightening and awe-inspiring to think about how different our course of life would be if we had made different decisions. Let that soak in for a moment.

But it makes all the difference in the world when what we consent to or what we decide to do is in keeping with the principles of God’s good and gracious will. 

Consenting to God’s will is what resulted in John baptizing Jesus. When John objected, Jesus retorted, “Let it be so now, for it is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness.” In other words, “let’s do God’s will.” That’s when John consented. Above all things, John wanted to be obedient to God’s will. The foundation of all prayer is what we pray in the Lord’s Prayer: “your will be done on earth as in heaven.”

It's what Jesus prayed in the garden, “let this cup pass from me, but not my will, but yours be done, O God” (cf. Matthew 26:39).

And look at what was unleashed when John consented to baptizing Jesus. Jesus’ baptism became a fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy which we heard this morning: “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.” (Isaiah 42:1) That’s exactly what happened when the Spirit of God descended like a dove through the opened heavens accompanied by the voice that proclaimed: “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.” (Matthew 3:16-17)

Jesus’ baptism by John then led to the temptation in the wilderness where Jesus strengthened his resolve to do God’s will. And this then led to Jesus beginning his public ministry when Jesus fulfilled so much of the prophecy which we also heard in today’s first reading: “I have given you as a covenant to the people, a light to the nations, to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness.” (Isaiah 42:6-7)

Jesus’ ministry of proclaiming in word and deed the nearness of the kingdom of God in himself led ultimately to his arrest and trial, crucifixion and death. Which then led to the resurrection, the ultimate victory of life over death, the source of our salvation.

This whole trajectory got started with John’s baptism of Jesus in the river Jordan. Of course, the story doesn’t end there. What happens next, after Jesus’ ascension to his Father in the heavenly realms is that the Holy Spirit descends yet again at Pentecost, this time as tongues of flame which release the tongues of the apostles to proclaim in the language of the nations the mighty deeds of God in raising Jesus from the dead.

And this led to the emergence of the church, the activity of which is reflected in today’s second reading in the book of Acts. Peter here sums up the gospel to Cornelius and his whole household in a way that sounds like the creeds we recite: “God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power; he went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil…  They put him to death by hanging him on a tree, but God raised him on the third day… He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one ordained by God as the judge of the living and the dead.” (cf. Acts 10:38-42) 

And the fruit of this proclamation is that Cornelius and his whole household were baptized (cf. Acts 10:44-48). Again, it all began with John baptizing Jesus. 

And this whole process fulfills all righteousness, God’s justice, and God’s justification of us all by God’s loving grace in Christ which is made effective through our faith, our trust in Jesus.

And look at all the moving parts and different people in this process that Jesus’ baptism unleashed. There was Jesus, son of the Father, and the divine energies of the Holy Spirit. There were the apostles and the recipients of their proclamation. Included also are the many who, like Cornelius and his household, became baptized believers. These are all interdependent inter-workings and inter-connected people, not unlike the interdependence of the three persons of the Holy Trinity.

And this whole process has continued for over two thousand years of Christian church history, the outflowing of the three persons of the Godhead to billions of people throughout Christian history. 

Which is to say, our own baptisms continue what was begun by the baptism of Jesus at the River Jordan. The Holy Spirit descends on us as well with the same voice from heaven addressed to each one of us: “This is my child, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.” 

Our own baptisms likewise propel us into the world to also proclaim God’s mighty deeds of power in raising Jesus from the dead. And we do this in word and deed, and at our best in the spirit of the suffering servant: “a bruised reed he will not break, and a dimly burning wick he will not quench; he will faithfully bring forth justice. He will not grow faint or be crushed until he has established justice in the earth.” (Isaiah 42:3-4a)

All of this divine activity that resulted from Jesus’ baptism and our own baptisms becomes a gift to our sorry nation and world, where so much leadership these days is reduced to domination, violence, and might making right – as we’re seeing and enduring in current events. As a counter witness to that, we proclaim a savior and at our best, model that savior’s witness, when in our humility, we preserve and cherish the bruised reeds and dimly burning wicks of this world among the most vulnerable, the least, the last, and the lost.

When it’s all said and done, this saving process is all about consenting to God’s will. So let us ever pray this in all circumstances of life, both great and small: “not our will, but yours be done, O God” And: “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as in heaven.” Amen.