Sunday, January 11, 2026
Today we are focused on the Baptism of our Lord. We have a very short and to the point story in Matthew’s version of this actual, definitely historical event when Jesus was Baptized, along with everybody else one day in the River Jordan by his cousin John.
However, we still marvel at the baptism of Jesus. Each year, when this passage comes up in the lectionary, we ask the yet unanswered question about why Jesus, who was without sin, needed to be baptized. We also still argue in the church about how we should be baptized - as adults or infants or teenagers who have decided on their own; with a sprinkle, overhead pour or full immersion; and in groups or in private.
There’s a story that Mark Twain was asked if he believed in infant baptism. “Believe in it?” He supposedly replied with mock astonishment, “Hell, I’ve seen it done!”
There’s another funny line I remember in the movie “Oh God!” I’ll bet some of you are old enough to remember that film. John Denver played a normal guy who is visited by God in the form of George Burns who was only 75 when it was filmed in 1977 but he looked 100 to most of us. No need to revisit the movie. I don’t even recommend watching it if you missed it! But the line I remember is when George Burns-as-God is put on the witness stand in front of judge and jury and says in his oath, when asked that stuff about “telling the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, he said, “So help me, me.”
When Jesus was baptized, I’ve often wondered if John Baptized him in the name of him. Because the one theological requirement for baptism is not that you are baptized in the name of the trinity, and outside of “emergency baptism”, by an ordained person. Whomever does the sprinkling or dipping must use water and name the Trinity.
So, was Jesus baptized in the name of his father, the Holy Spirit and himself? Why did he need to be baptized anyway? It seems he is perfect, the one without sin who is in fact fully divine. Why would he need to have his sins cleansed if he doesn’t have any sins? John the Baptist was certainly thinking this when he tried to refuse to baptize him, but Jesus said, no. Make it so, “for it is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness.”
This is truth.
And it is not so much about washing away sins. It is about fulfilling prophesy. It is about putting things that were broken back together. It is about healing the anguish of a people lost and confused and oppressed. It is about a new beginning.
And so, in this new beginning, at the very beginning of his work on Earth, Jesus comes to John for baptism before he does anything else.
But if you notice, God is not ecstatic. The Creator is not jumping for joy, or so one scholar says.
God simply says, “I am well pleased.” This is the response of God at the baptism of Jesus. The heavens open. There is a dove. God speaks. Well, technically a voice from heaven speaks (Matthew 3:17). It is as if there is another “epiphany” or “divine show”. We’re expecting a big show but, as another scholar put it, “God’s response is not of exponential proportions. It is not like the response shouted by fans at athletic events or concerts. No, in a kind of anthropomorphic coolness, the Creator is merely pleased or a better translation is that God is content. (The Greek word is eudokeo.)”
It’s almost anticlimactic that God’s only response to the baptism of Jesus is that of “being pleased,” or “content.” To be fair, Jesus hasn’t done anything - yet. He has merely appeared. According to Matthew, Jesus hasn’t yet performed any miracle. At this point Jesus hasn't even spoken. A voice from heaven gives utterance. Jesus is silent. There is no parable, no prayer, no blessing. He has just “shown up.” (still quoting Crowder)
That’s the way beginnings are. After much ado of packing for a trip or getting the house ready for company, there comes a moment when all is done and all is right with the world and you can rest in the moment, enjoy the refreshment of the trip or the fellowship of the party. The Baptism of Jesus is, according to Matthew just so. It’s no big deal because it is the obvious moment of all things coming together.
There was a boy riding on his bike outside a church. The priest saw him and told him to come into the church and the boy said, “But they’ll steal my bike.” The priest explained how the Holy Spirit would take care of it, so they went inside. The priest showed the boy how to make the sign of the cross and told the boy to repeat it so he did: “In the name of the Father and the Son . . . Amen.” The priest said,”What about the Holy Spirit?” The boy replied, “It’s outside taking care of my bike!”
This Gospel lesson is the divine affirmation of Jesus; this is where the Spirit descends on Jesus. When we use the image of the Trinity we are trying to capture the complexity of the truth of the divine engagement with human life. This is theology at its hardest: the Trinity is a difficult doctrine to understand. The Father is the image of the cause and creator of everything; the Son is the image of the revealer and redeemer; and the Spirit is the image of the connector with human situations and lives. The good news is that the Spirit can be both at the same time inside the Church and outside taking care of the bike.
And this is truth.
It’s no big deal in a way. The trinity just is, whether you believe it or not. God is content at the Baptism of our Lord because everything is aligned and all is right with the world at that moment. Not when we sing Silent Night on Christmas Eve, but when Jesus comes up out of the Baptismal water. That’s the moment. Of course, it is also the moment that is in every moment. In a way, time stopped at that moment. The coming of God into the world changed everything and yet it is no big deal.
It just is.
It is the fundamental truth.
So, friends, what are we to make of the baptism of our Lord, of our own baptism, of our longing to lead others to this sacramental, living, connection to Jesus? How do we enter a daily practice of baptismal living? Maybe it’s no big deal, maybe it’s the only deal. But I find myself wondering in response to these ancient questions, what then is truth? Because if none of these questions are leading us to the truth, what then are we here for?
My friend and colleague, Stuart Higgenbotham is a priest in Atlanta who sees our current problems in the church as having to do with a certain loss of our understanding of what truth is. And I agree with him.
Listen to what Stuart says. He says that “we were challenged to reflect on truth. What is truth? How do we understand truth? How do we encounter it, share it, dedicate our lives to it?
When we speak of truth, aren’t we speaking of wisdom? Aren’t we speaking of that greater reality which draws our hearts forward, which inspires us and challenges us to be better people?
Truth seems like a slippery thing these days, doesn’t it?”
Stuart goes on to say that “When (he) thinks of truth, (he) must consciously differentiate this from fact.”
He says, “Too often when we hear folks speak of truth, we speak in terms of ‘who has it’ and ‘who knows it.’ Truth seems to have become a commodity to own, something powerful that we try to control.”
He says, “it seems like there is a limited amount of it out there, so you better make sure that you listen to (those who have it) so that you can share in this limited resource.
Too often in conversations around truth,” Stuart says he “experiences a posture of grasping. I have grasped onto truth, and I can now rest assured that I am safe. What if there is another approach to truth? What if, instead of this posture of grasping, we see truth as something that we yield to and rest in? Rather than seeing truth as a limited resource that we strive to control and disperse, what if truth is an all-expansive reality that we are called to fall into and be carried within?
I think our hearts yearn for this release, and I think it terrifies us at the same time. The tension in those two are what makes us so beautifully complex as human beings. I think our hearts are tired, cramping from (a long season of) grasping out of fear and anxiety. Perhaps that’s why so many folks have stopped going to church. They keep encountering a message that tells them to be afraid of not being a part of a limited resource.
What if we turned those tired tables over and celebrated the abundant grace of God that beckons us to rest in faith rather than keep trying to grasp it?”
We too have encountered God through Jesus and the Holy Spirit through our baptism, through our study, and through our following of Jesus. This must be true or we wouldn’t be here, in this place, praying and seeking and sharing the Eucharistic meal. This simple truth of being present together is all we need to know that we have been called. Besides our courage to show up and listen, it says we are called to follow Jesus in the Bible. One way or another, Jesus calls for us to listen to the epiphanies that transform our lives. And then invite others to “come and see.” What then will our witness be? How will we tell the story? How will we model for others how to stop grasping at truth and instead learn to rest in faith?
The truth is in our Baptism.
The truth is in our intention to follow Jesus.
The truth is in His Way of Love.
Amen.
The Rev. Dr. Kathy Kelly
1 Stephanie Buckhanon Crowder, http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=4307
2 Markham, Ian S., Lectionary Levity. Church Publishing Inc.
3 See also Thomas Keating’s thoughts on grasping.