1st Sunday after the Epiphany – Mark S. Winward
Today is the First Sunday after Epiphany, the season of the Church Year that celebrates the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry. Appropriately, that ministry begins not with a sermon or a miracle, but with Jesus standing in the Jordan River, submitting to baptism by John. Yet for many people, today’s Gospel reading can be confusing. On the one hand, the surrounding verses in Matthew chapter 3, as well as the witness of the other Gospels, make it clear that John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance, intended for the cleansing of sins. On the other hand, Scripture also clearly affirms that Jesus was without sin. As Paul writes, “For our sake God made Christ to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21, RSV). So what is going on here? Was Jesus submitting to something that did not apply to him? Were the Gospel writers—or Paul—simply confused? I want to suggest that three things are happening in Jesus’ baptism that help us understand not only his baptism, but our own.
First, Jesus’ baptism is proleptic. In Scripture, there are moments when one event foreshadows another. Scholars describe such passages as proleptic. Jesus’ baptism is a clear example of this. The Gospels tell the story of his baptism in a way that points beyond the Jordan River to his death at the end of the Gospel narrative. In fact, Mark records Jesus explicitly referring to his death as his baptism: “Are you able to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?” (Mark 10:38). By submitting to baptism, Jesus models for us the connection between his baptism and his death. This theme is echoed powerfully in Romans 6, where Paul writes, “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:3–4, RSV). Paul continues by explaining that if we have been united with Christ in a death like his, we will also be united with him in a resurrection like his. In adult baptism, after declaring their intention to turn from sin, a person visibly enacts this connection with Christ’s death through the waters of baptism. And in dying with Christ, the baptized person also shares in Christ’s resurrection to everlasting life. As Paul says elsewhere, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, behold, the new has come” (2 Corinthians 5:17, RSV). Baptism marks a profound transformation—nothing less than a new order of being.
Second, Jesus’ baptism is introductory. In this moment, God publicly declares exactly who Jesus is. Matthew records the voice from heaven saying, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17, NRSV). Living in the South, one cannot help but notice the abundance of spiritual messages on highway billboards. Over the years, people have lightheartedly attributed a number of these messages to God:
“Let’s meet at my house before the game.”
“What part of ‘Thou shalt not’ didn’t you understand?”
“Loved the wedding—invite me to the marriage.”
Or even, “Keep using my name in vain and I’ll make the rush hour longer.”
God did not launch an advertising campaign or carve a new set of rules into stone at Jesus’ baptism. Instead, God simply introduces his Son to the world, saying, in effect, “I want you to meet someone special. This is my Son, whom I love.” Baptism remains introductory in this same sense. When someone is baptized, they publicly affirm Jesus as God’s Son, and at the same time they introduce themselves anew to Jesus. They declare, before God and the community of faith, their intention to enter into a personal, daily relationship with Jesus Christ as their Lord.
Finally, Jesus’ baptism is inaugural. Matthew tells us that when Jesus came up from the water, the heavens were opened and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. It is worth noting that the Spirit came upon him like a dove, not as a dove. The Holy Spirit is not a bird, but the image conveys the Spirit’s gentleness and character. In any case, the coming of the Spirit marks the inauguration of Jesus’ ministry. From this moment forward, Jesus is empowered to confront sin, evil, and suffering head-on. In the same way, all Christians—lay and ordained alike—are empowered for ministry through baptism and the gift of the Holy Spirit. Jesus tells his disciples in Acts, “John baptized with water, but before many days you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit” (Acts 1:5, RSV), and shortly afterward he adds, “You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be my witnesses” (Acts 1:8, RSV). Through the mystery of baptism, the Spirit empowers believers who dare to yield their will to God’s power to share Christ’s message of hope and salvation with a wounded world.
The English missionary Jackie Pullinger once said that many Christians have “hard hearts and soft feet,” when God desires “soft hearts and hard feet.” We resist anything that might disrupt our routines or demand courage. Perhaps we might appreciate the need for toughness in mission, but a heart turned to stone is no longer useful. God does not call us to be brittle or unfeeling. God calls us to be open to transformation and willing to go where love requires us to go. Even the toughest among us, touched by grace, can be given soft hearts and hard feet.
In Jesus’ baptism, we see the pattern of our own: dying to sin, being named and claimed by God, and being empowered by the Spirit for mission. The question before us is not whether baptism matters, but whether we will allow its promise to shape our lives. Do we have the courage to let God transform the ordinary into something extraordinary? That transformation can begin today, with hearts softened, lives yielded to God’s grace, and hardened feet prepared to share God’s love.