Sunday Homily - January 12th, 2020 - Jesus is baptized. But...Why?

The Baptism of Christ

I.

"I need to be baptized by you,
 and yet you are coming to me?"

That's what John the Baptist says to Our Lord Jesus this morning,
 but I imagine that might also be what some of us this morning
  might be asking ourselves:

"Why does Jesus come to be baptized by John this morning?"

And there are good reasons for thinking about this as well.

After all, it says explicitly in the Holy Scriptures
 that John the Baptist came proclaiming repentance
  and that he was baptizing people who came to repent of their sins.

But the Holy Scriptures also say that Jesus Christ, the Son of God,
 was without sin,
  the perfect spotless Lamb of God
   who takes away the sin of the world
    by taking it upon himself for us.

How do we reconcile Jesus's sinlessness
 with his desire to be baptized by John?

II.

Well, to get at this complicated question,

 let's consider a few things at the outset. 

First of all, what does our passage reveal about Jesus's baptism?

In our Holy Scriptures today,

 Jesus has just come to John the Baptist to receive baptism. 

  

And perhaps the obvious point is the most important one for this passage:

 John doesn't want to baptize Jesus.

  In fact, John says that he needs Jesus to baptize him instead!

But what does Our Lord say in response?

 It is simply this:

  "Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness."

   [Matthew 3:15 NIV]

Jesus insists on being baptized for the "fulfilling of all righteousness."

 But, goodness, what does that mean?

Well, maybe we get a glimpse in the next scene of this story,

 a powerful scene that involves the actual manifestation of the Trinity,

  the One God in Three Persons:

   Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. 

As Jesus comes out of the water,

 the Holy Spirit descends on Jesus like a dove,

  and the Father's voice from heaven resounds,

   "This is my Beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."

    [Matthew 3:17]

Something incredible just happened.

And to get a small glimpse into what just happened,

 let's turn our perspective toward what our Baptism is in Jesus Christ.

So, secondly, what does our baptism into Christ say about Christ's own baptism?

Well, in short,

 St. Paul describes in his letter to the Romans several important truths about our baptism,

  the central point being made by him in the following passage:

   "We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, 

     just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, 

      we too may live a new life."

       [Romans 6:4]

We are baptized into Jesus's death and resurrection

 so that we, too, may die and rise with Christ.

The essential relationship in baptism, therefore,

 is that we are somehow mystically and beautifully identified with Jesus Christ 

  and are no longer our own,

   but God's own adopted daughters and sons,

    as the Gospel of John attests in chapter 1.

     [John 1:1-14]

We have been caught up into the very Body of Christ,

 the mystical body of the baptized. 

But it all would never have happened if not for Jesus's atoning sacrifice

 and through his resurrection in power,

  a foretaste of the heavenly kingdom where there is no more death. 

You see, Jesus came to save us from sin and death forever. 

 And in order to do that, Jesus also makes a commitment that he doesn't have to make,

  and yet does anyway:

   the commitment to identify and stand in solidarity with the very creation

    he so wonderfully made at the beginning of the world. 

Jesus chooses to be baptized into our humanity,

 fully, 

  no holds barred,

   truly becoming fully human,

    with all of our mortality and weakness to boot.

Jesus Christ loved us so much that,

 as the former archbishop of Canturbury Rowan Williams put it,

  "...the incarnate Jesus is also in the neighbourhood of the chaos and the suffering of the world

   a world he has entered to transform."

    [http://aoc2013.brix.fatbeehive.com/articles.php/583/the-fellowship-of-the-baptized-the-john-coventry-memorial-address]

Jesus Christ came to our neighborhood,

 leaving the glorious riches of heaven

  to actually, fully, and truthfully become one of us. 

And that is what Jesus's baptism is all about. 

III.

Just as our Baptism is a commitment and entrance
 into the very Body of Christ in his death and resurrection,
  so also Jesus's own Baptism is a commitment and entrance
   into our very lives,
    taking on our humanity
     and bringing immortality to our frail and fallible mortality.

Jesus Christ Our Lord makes a commitment to us,
 chooses the baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins,
  not that he needed it,
   but rather as a real and tangible sign
    of God's commitment to us,
     even in our deep brokenness.

God chose our brokenness in order that we be made whole.
 Jesus Christ, the Son of God, chose our weakness so that we could be made strong.

And Jesus chose baptism into our mortal life,
 so that anyone who comes to Jesus Christ in Baptism
  is baptized into the immortal life that does not end.

It's a grand and holy mystery that God became human
 to redeem our humanity from within.

And while we may never be able to fully explain the depth of this holy mystery,
 we aren't called to perfectly understand it:
  rather, we are simply called to proclaim with joy to the world
   what God has done for you.

And even better, you are called to proclaim what God has done for everyone!
 Because it is not just us individually that Jesus Christ has come to save:
  it is the entire creation!

 The Great Commission that Jesus gives after his bodily resurrection is this:
  "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations,
   baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
    and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.
     And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."
     [Matthew 28:19-20 NIV]

So go, friends, and proclaim the joyous mystery of what Jesus has done for all of us.
 And always remember:
  Jesus is with you: always.

In the name of the +Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.