Matthew 3:13-17 E1/Baptism of Jesus
Pastor Ron Koehler
Grace—Tucson, AZ
January 11, 2026
Revelations at the River I don’t know if you’ve ever heard when a child is asked what their pastor’s first name is, but you can probably guess the most common answer—and it isn’t their actual name. To a kid, Pastor Kassulke’s first name is…Pastor! So is Pastor Koehler’s! So is every pastor’s that they meet! If we’re kind of young in our faith or our familiarity with the Bible, there’s a name thing that’s kind of similar. We may hear the name Jesus Christ and naturally think that this is the Savior’s first and last name. That’s a very reasonable assumption given how we use names. As we start getting to know our Bible better, we find out that Jesus is his name, and Christ is a title. It means “Anointed One” and refers to him as the promised Savior. Today, we’re thinking about the anointing of Jesus at his baptism—and what we hear probably raises some questions for us—whether we are relatively new to this event in Jesus’ life, or we have heard it many times. As we listen to what happened at the Jordan River one day, there are important things to learn about Jesus, and they bring us to think about our own baptisms too. Let’s call them Revelations at the River. Jesus’ Identity Revealed—to John and to Us Our list of curious things begins immediately in the first words of our reading: Jesus came from Galilee to be baptized by John at the Jordan. I thought that baptism was for washing away sins and giving faith and being brought into a happy relationship with God! Isn’t that what we spent the opening of our service reviewing and thanking God for? Then why on earth would the perfect Son of God need to be baptized? That really is an excellent question. In fact, John the Baptist—the one sent by God to call people to repentance and baptize them and point them to Jesus as the sinless Son of God who had come into the world—even he asked the question! And you notice, he exerted some force and emotion—he tried to stop Jesus! “You’re coming to me?!” We might look at it this way: Jesus’ birth was in almost every way was just like ours, but the one difference was that when he came into the world, he was not simply human—he was also true God. In a similar way, Jesus’ baptism is like ours in some ways, but there is a difference because he is true God. You notice that Jesus didn’t correct him when John said that he needed to be baptized by Jesus, indicating that Jesus was greater than he was. And Jesus didn’t say that he personally needed baptism. He is the sinless Son of God. What did he say? He said that he needed to be baptized because it was proper. His Father planned for him to do this. So, while baptizing Jesus might seem like taking your professionally detailed car home and washing it off with your garden hose, it wasn’t really like that.
Imagine standing in line at the Motor Vehicle Department, watching the line crawl forward, when suddenly the governor steps in behind you. You might be confused , thinking a mistake had been made. Important people don’t wait with ordinary people. But here stands Jesus, shoulder-to-shoulder with sinners, waiting his turn. This is not confusion. This is his calling. When Jesus says, “Let it be so now because it is proper for us to fulfill all righteousness,” he’s telling John, “This is why I came.” It is true that by undergoing baptism Jesus identified with those he would save. He lived as true man, a human being, and he underwent baptism like the others who came out to see and listen to John. But there was a lot more than that going on at the river! It was a revelation, an epiphany, to John that baptizing Jesus was part of the Father’s overall plan. You might know that the Jewish people, at God’s instruction, would anoint people for important religious positions. They anointed them by pouring oil over their heads. It could be a king (like Saul, David, or Solomon), a prophet (like Elisha), or a priest (like Moses’ brother, Aaron). At those anointings, God would also pour out his Spirit on them. Maybe it’s a revelation to you that Jesus’ baptism was his anointing as he began his public ministry—the years that people would see him to be the promised Savior of the world. Or maybe the benefits he received at his baptism are the real revelations. When Jesus stepped out of the water, the heavens ripped open, and blessings tumbled out onto him. We are not told that any in the crowd saw or heard what happened. We do know that John witnessed them after baptizing Jesus. The Holy Spirit flew down like a dove and landed on Jesus. This first blessing wasn’t just a symbol, but something that actually benefitted Jesus! This was a special outpouring of the Spirit. Way back when, Isaiah had prophesied that the Holy Spirit would be with him as he went about the righteous life his Father had planned (11:2). Luke’s gospel says that Jesus was filled with the Holy Spirit as he went away from his baptism (Luke 4:1). The Bible tells us that the Holy Spirit empowered him to live, to do miracles, and preach good news to sinners. The Spirit remained with him and truly helped him to fulfill the righteous demands of the Father. This might be a revelation to those of us who just assumed that since Jesus is true God, he didn’t need the Holy Spirit to do anything! Another blessing was the loving voice of his Father. Jesus would go immediately from his baptism into the desert wilderness and be tempted by the devil as he was fasting and preparing to present himself publicly as the promised Savior. He would, no doubt, remember his Father’s words when the days of desert solitude and hunger and temptation grew long. Some of you know the temptations Satan threw at Jesus at that vulnerable time: “If you are the Son of God…If you are the Son of God… (4:3, 6)”
Is it difficult to imagine Jesus, isolated and weakened by hunger, facing that and recalling his Father’s words, “This is my Son, whom I love?” Is it hard to envision Jesus remembering those words when crowds turned against him…or when religious leaders refused to believe that he was the Messiah, the anointed One…or after they had whipped him and nailed him to a cross? “This is my Son, whom I love. I am well pleased with him.” Like the Holy Spirit coming to him, this was a blessing that would stick with him for the rest of his fulfilling all righteousness! Since his birth in Bethlehem 30 years before this, Jesus had already been living righteously in the place of sinful people. He came to live exactly the way the Father looks for people to live. Sinners can’t do that, but Jesus had been doing it every minute of every day of every one of those 30 years. Righteousness was being fulfilled, but it was not complete. There was more to come. Baptism was part of it. Suffering and dying would come years later to actually complete all righteousness. So, he had begun the work at birth and was continuing it at his baptism. His heavenly Father was pleased with all his Son had done. Baptism was the next thing…then three years…then the cross. The Father would be pleased when his work was done too. And that would mean everything for sinners! Baptism Brings Blessings for Us Too So, this brings us to you and me. What exactly does all this mean for us? There are two things from this account that remind us of the sinfulness of all people. The first is God’s expectation that the people would go out to John, listen for his call to repent of their sins, and be baptized. The religious elite actually rejected God’s expectation that they be baptized by John—they needed to repent and be baptized too. The other thing is the way John reacted to Jesus coming to him. Even this man called by God to point people to the Savior knew that he was a sinful man before Jesus. We’re no different than any of those people. Jesus needed the blessings he received at his baptism, and we need the blessings he promises to give to us at ours—some of which are different and some that are similar. Just like something really happened for Jesus at his baptism, something really happens for us at ours too! We are connected to Jesus when we are baptized. The sins we need to have washed away were paid for when Jesus lived sinlessly from birth to death…and when he suffered what we should have suffered…and when he felt on the cross the cold rejection of God we deserved to feel…and when he fulfilled all righteousness on a cross plugged into the ground on a hill called Golgotha. The perfection he lived is given to us at baptism. The forgiveness he won is given to us at baptism. The eternal life he made possible is given to us at baptism.
Despite what some will tell you, baptism is more than a thing that we are supposed to do, a thing we do for God—just like it was much more than that for Jesus. Something really happens when we are baptized, just like something really happened when Jesus was baptized! We get all those necessary saving gifts from him when we are touched by the water and the Word! That could be a revelation to some of us today. We also get some other spiritual gifts that are similar to the ones Jesus received. We also receive the Holy Spirit. He lives in us. He changes our self-serving hearts to hearts devoted to God. He moves us to live each day for God. Like the Father declaring Jesus to be his Son that he is pleased with, we are also declared to be God’s dearly-loved child when we are baptized. God is pleased with us, not because we have done something, but because Jesus did everything, and he gives it all to us at our baptism. So, when you think of Jesus’ baptism you can think about these things: We see the Anointed One revealed there in the river, standing with sinners, being baptized along with them—not needing to be forgiven, but receiving blessings from the Holy Spirit and the assurance of his Father’s love and approval as he set out to complete his righteous work that would save us. We are reminded of the blessings we receive when we are baptized: We receive the forgiveness that the Anointed Christ won for us…we receive the blessings of the Holy Spirit…and we are assured that we are God’s children too. I pray that the questions about Jesus answered at his baptism and the blessings you receive in yours give you confidence about your standing as God’s child and the promise of heaven you have because the Anointed One fulfilled all righteousness for you. Amen. Now the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.