11/1/2026
Isaiah 42:1-9
Matthew 3:13-end
Happy New Year! Christmas is officially over. It is not just because Easter Creme Eggs have appeared in the shops! I find the transition from Christmas to Epiphany a bit jarring. One minute, we’re gazing at a swaddled baby. Next, we’re whizzing past a toddler, an array of gift-bearing Magi, a young family fleeing to Egypt, a twelve-year-old boy in a temple, and a mother, pondering all these things in her heart. And today we are standing on the banks of the Jordan River, waiting in line with Jesus watching John the Baptist baptise people who believed his message.
Epiphany starts with the visitation of the Wise Men to Joseph, Mary and Jesus. The significance is that this visit sent the clear message that Jesus came for everyone – not only the Jewish people. The revelation, this epiphany, was a life changing event for them and for us.
Over the next few weeks we will look at the epiphany moments of significant Biblical characters. Today we look at Jesus’ baptism.
Three of the four Gospels recounts the baptism of Jesus with varying degrees of detail. Matthew 3 begins with John calling for repentance with urgency and harshness; accusing the religious elite of being a brood of vipers and hypocrites before Jesus appears.
Mark has a shortened version of Matthew.
Luke has an even shorter version with no mention of John doing his baptism.
John’s gospel alludes to Jesus’ baptism but rather strongly alludes to it.
Up to this point, John has been calling people to prepare themselves to meet the Messiah when he comes. This involved confession and repentance of sin through the water of baptism. This was also a temporary measure and John knows it. When Jesus arrived at the river that day, the baton was passed.
Jesus was not being baptised for repentance or salvation; he was being baptised into ministry. See the picture for a moment – the crowd of people having confessed their sins and then standing in the river to be baptised. Then Jesus comes along after they’ve made their confession.
Jesus and John standing in the Jordan. Jesus is baptised; he was drenched in the same waters where they had confessed their sins. This is all about symbolism but do you see Jesus almost wearing the sins they had confessed in those waters?
In the waters of baptism our sin is washed away through the work of the Holy Spirit – this is the baptism that Jesus offers us. The crowd who were listening to John that day were full of expectation. They had heard John preaching about a baptism of repentance, probably not easy to listen to. John had previously referred to his listeners as a brood of vipers!
He was not preaching a message of fluff and ‘just be a good person’, or ‘as long as you don’t hurt anyone else’. John was preparing them not for salvation but for repentance, he was preparing them to encounter Jesus, the only one who could bring them salvation.
Sin is significant. It has a significant impact on your life and those around you.
Beth Moore: I believe they (the people being baptised that day) were quite specific confessing their sins. In all likelihood they were crying out these confessions, maybe even wailing them. They may have been weeping over their sins. Then came Christ. We know He was not coming to be baptised unto repentance. He was the spotless Lamb of God. Complete perfection. The only One who had no confession to do that day in those waters. He came for John to baptise Him.
There is power in the water of baptism. Do we live like there is? What an amazing privilege it is to be baptised. We never have to feel insignificant again. We are called by name into the deep waters of baptism where He is always with us. He took on our sin and paid the price for us.
After Jesus was baptised, the heavens were opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon him like a dove. The voice of God ‘You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.’ This little glimpse of heaven! Jesus was about to be taken into the wilderness for his 40 days of temptation. I would like to believe that the sound of that voice stayed with him.
The voice that called down from heaven is the same voice that calls our name. He is with us when we pass through the waters and the rivers and in the deep waters of baptism, we are significant; and we should be expectant.
Happy New Year!