“The Hope and Promise of Baptism!” | A Sermon for the Baptism of Our Lord | 11 January, 2026 | Matthew 3:13-17 | David M. Wendel |

First Reading: Isaiah 42:1-9

Second Reading: Romans 6:1-11

Matthew 3:13-17 English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles

¹³ Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. ¹⁴ John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” ¹⁵ But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he consented. ¹⁶ And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him,^[a] and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; ¹⁷ and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son,^[b] with whom I am well pleased.”

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The first thing to be pointed out on a festival day like today, is that today is about Jesus. This is the festival of the Baptism of our Lord! Today is about how our Lord, to fulfill all righteousness, to do the right thing, in accordance with God’s will, for us and for our salvation, submitted Himself to John for baptism, which was a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. Yet, though He was sinless, He took on our sin and our humanity and was baptized to please His Father God, as the only begotten Son. That’s what today is about. His baptism in the Jordan was the anointing with water and the Spirit that Isaiah foretold when he prophesied that the Lord God would “send His servant, His chosen; that God would put His Spirit upon him, to bring forth justice to the nations…to establish a covenant for the people, to be a light for the nations, to open eyes that are blind, to bring out prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness.” This festival day, as with every festival day, as with every Sunday, really, is about what God has done for us, in Jesus, His anointed. Which today proclaims that our Lord Jesus led the way into the waters of Holy Baptism, so that we would follow Him, into and out of the baptismal waters, to be baptized into His death, to also be baptized into His resurrection. That’s why every time we celebrate the Baptism of our Lord, we are remembering our own baptisms and the fact that because we, too, have been baptized, we too have the hope and promise, the assurance, not just of death, but of resurrection after death, to share in Christ’s eternal life. So, while today is about Jesus’ baptism, it can’t help but cause us to reflect, a bit, on what it means that we are baptized, as well. It can’t help but cause us to reflect, a bit, on what it means that we, you and I are baptized Christians, called to live a Christ-like life, not to earn salvation, but because we are saved, already, through our baptism into Christ’s life, death and resurrection. So, as we reflect on our lives as baptized Christians, what do we learn? Well, honestly, being a baptized disciple of Jesus is HARD!

As most are aware, we were at Fort Sill, Oklahoma on New Year’s Day where I officiated at the wedding of our son, Chaplain/Pastor Chris Wendel. And Chris and Nicole had chosen wonderful, meaningful scripture lessons for their wedding. I mentioned in the sermon that the two lessons they had chosen were appropriate, not just for a couple being married, but for any Christian seeking to live a faithful, disciplined life. Their lesson from Proverbs speaks of loyalty and faithfulness to God, trusting the Lord with all your heart, acknowledging God in all your ways, following the path He would lay out for you. The lesson they chose from Colossians encourages the Christian to “put on then, as God’s chosen ones, compassion, kindness, lowliness, meekness and patience, forbearing one another, and forgiving each other, as the Lord has forgiven you, putting on love, letting the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, letting the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another with wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts, doing everything, in word or deed, in the name of the Lord Jesus.”

Now, I say today as I said to the couple being married on the first day of the new year, those are words to live by! A husband and wife, and any and every baptized Christian, would do well to make those words a motto for life! Being faithful and loyal to God, trusting God, following His path for your life, enveloping yourself in kindness, meekness and patience, forbearing and forgiving one another, letting the peace of Christ rule in your heart, with the word of Christ dwelling in you richly. That’s pretty much what it means to be a disciple of Jesus! And, on your wedding day, or your baptismal day, we might do pretty well at all that forbearing and forgiving stuff, that faithfulness and trusting God stuff, that peace of Christ ruling in your heart stuff, the word of Christ dwelling in you richly. Like on your wedding day, the baptismal day is not the hard part. It’s every day which comes after which is hard! We all clean up pretty good on our wedding day, just as we might look quite clean and pure on our baptismal day, especially if baptized as babies. But then the next day comes and we’re not so pure and righteous. We sin again, almost before the baptismal water is dry on our heads! There are many Christian traditions which teach that once you are baptized, you should never sin again. And if you sin again, well, you’re a “backslider,” so you need to be baptized again, because the first one didn’t “take,” the first time, you evidently didn’t mean it. So, there are Christians who have been baptized again and again, because they keep backsliding. We believe, we know that even after baptism, Christians will sin again. While we are no longer in bondage to sin, after baptism, while we have been set free from sin and are no longer enslaved to sin, the undeniable truth is that we are, at the same time, both saints and sinners. Though we have been washed clean by the blood of the Lamb of God, like St. Paul, though we know what God wants for us, we do the opposite. Day after day after day. We Lutherans describe our predicament using the Latin term, “simul justus et peccator.” We are simultaneously, at the same time, justified by God’s grace, through the death and resurrection of Jesus, while yet sinners. We may want with all our hearts, to live faithful, forbearing lives, letting the word of Christ dwell in us richly, being patient and kind, doing everything, in word or deed, in the name of the Lord Jesus, but in real life, that stuff is hard! It’s hard enough as a husband or wife, a son or daughter, a parent, an employer, a businessperson, a teacher, a plumber or a construction worker, to live a saintly life, let alone trying to be Christ-like toward every person we meet, in this crazy, stressful life. Oh, there are those who claim things are changing and there is a revival, a great transformation coming, maybe because of what’s called the Charlie Kirk effect. But that’s what was said about the 9-11 effect. Reports are that people are experiencing newfound faith and churches are full and Bible sales are up! While not wanting to sound too cynical, because discipleship is hard, folks often start out strong, but falter when the going gets rough. After 9-11, that renewed faith and commitment lasted about two weeks. Churches were full for about two weeks. Sadly, one-time, emotionally impactful events, don’t often have a lasting impact on faith and discipleship. Not over the long haul, even as the greatest commitments to new year’s resolutions falter after the first week or two. So, where’s our hope for the future? Is there hope for us lukewarm, lackadaisical Lutheran Christians? Our hope is in the faithfulness, the trustworthiness, the constancy of God!

The reason we believe in Holy Baptism as God’s work, not our own, is because God’s promise never fails, while we often do. If the effectiveness of baptism for salvation is based upon you and me; if baptism for salvation depends upon you and me being sinless and saintly, always, at all times, then we’re doomed. But baptism is not our work or the result of our activity. Rather, baptism is a promise made by God, to His child being baptized. And God’s baptismal promise is, “I love you and I choose you, to be my child. And I will never turn away from you or fail you or abandon you.” And God goes on to say, “No matter how many times you turn from me or sin against me or your neighbor, I will forgive you, so that in that forgiveness, you will find freedom—to be renewed, to be restored, to be changed, for the better!” That is God’s baptismal promise to us, intended to give us new life, again and again, as we return to the promise of our baptism, again and again. Martin Luther, and we Lutherans, do not understand baptism as a one-time event in the past, but as a daily returning to Christ, a daily returning to the promise of forgiveness and salvation, to be able to begin anew and afresh in daily life. As we have been baptized into Christ’s death, we have also been baptized into His resurrection, which isn’t just for eternal life, but for new life—right now, today, as we receive again, the baptismal promises made to us, in our baptisms! Luther suggested, when troubled or in doubt or weak or faltering, that we say, “But I am baptized!

I may be a terrible sinner, but I am baptized and have the full promise and assurance of eternal life and abundant life. I may be struggling in life and unsure of the future, but I am baptized! I may feel at times completely unworthy and undeserving, but I am baptized! I may be the least of all the disciples and followers of Jesus in the world, but I am baptized! And that means I—we have the full promise of God’s love, mercy and grace, for Jesus’ sake—for—I am baptized—and because I am baptized, I have hope for new beginnings and renewed life and strength and courage! The festival of the Baptism of our Lord is about the baptism of our Lord, AND it’s about the hope we have for the future, because I am baptized!

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The Rev. Dr. David M. Wendel

d.wendel@grace43081.org

Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church

Westerville, Ohio USA