BUT I AM BAPTIZED! | The Baptism of our Lord | 11 January 2026 | Matthew 3:13-17 | David H. Brooks |

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

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

This scene from Matthew, where Jesus goes to John in the wilderness and is baptized, has long served as a conundrum for the Church. Matthew tells us in the opening verses of this chapter that John was offering a baptism of repentance as a part of his ministry, and that everyone in the region, including Pharisees and Sadducees, were going to him. But why Jesus? From what did he need to repent? Isn’t he the sinless one?

The conversation between the two men does not, at first glance, resolve the difficulty. John is apparently uneasy at the prospect, and his question to Jesus points to the problem: why are you here? If anything, I need you to baptize me! Jesus’ response is enigmatic: Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness. In other words, this is the correct thing for us to do right now.

But what is that correct thing? What did Jesus (and John with him) do?

To answer that question, we need to talk about repentance.

When most of us use that word, what we are talking about is the sense of remorse or sorrow that we feel when we have done wrong. Maybe it was something unscrupulous or deceitful, like lying to a friend. Maybe it was something dodgy or unethical, like misleading a customer or client and pocketing the difference. Maybe it was something immoral, like having sexual relations with someone other than your spouse.

You’ll notice that I’ve not said “sinful.”

The reason is that we use that word incorrectly. We talk about “sin” or “sinfulness” in the same manner as immoral or unethical, but the word sin is not a synonym for the hurtful and self-serving things we do, the injuries and sorrows we inflict on ourselves others. Sin involves those other things, but sin is not those things.

One of the interesting things that the Bible reveals about sin is that God is the one ultimately affected by sin. Search through the variety of books of the Old Testament, God begs and pleads, scolds and condemns His people because their sin disrupts their relationship, their access to Him. Here Luther’s famous definition of sin shines: sin is being turned inward, sin is having our eyes, our ears, our hearts filled with … not-true-God. When he unpacks the meaning of the First Commandment, Luther doesn’t talk in lofty theological or philosophical language; he asks (and suggests) some simple questions—

What is a god?

What does having a god mean?

What do you do with one?

How does it work?

His answer is equally simple: A god is whatever we trust; that thing in which we place our hopes and dreams; that thing for we grow in love in all of life’s ups and downs. But Luther’s point is deeper: to be human is to have a god of some kind or other, because being human is reckoning with the vulnerability, the powerlessness, the needs that come from being a creature. You can’t be human without a god.

Sin is the condition of putting our trust, our hope and our love in something that is not-true-God. Sin is the situation that says the true God is untrustworthy, and that we humans are better off looking somewhere else—and so we do. We turn away, inward. And all the things that we say are sins—all the evil that history records–arises from this fact. Worse of all, sin is both my individual problem and our collective burden. Sin is both intensely personal and yet unhappily public, and to focus on one at the expense of the other is no solution.

Out there in the wilderness, John called people to repentance. The word he would have used literally means “to turn around.” You’re going the wrong way! You’re facing the wrong direction! Come back! John wanted the people to turn toward God, for once they did that, then all the things that we associate with repentance are available.

But Jesus did not come for repentance. He came for righteousness. In that moment, Jesus—the Word, the Son, true God of true God—acknowledged his humanity. This is what Jesus did, with John’s help.

I need you, God. I trust you. I’m keeping my face, my eye, my heart on you.

Jesus arises from that moment, and for the next three years he faces the things that every human fears. He accepts the vulnerability, the powerlessness, the need. He gets hungry and thirsty. He gets tired and lonely. He experiences misunderstanding, conflict, grief and betrayal. Jesus moves toward the fulfillment of what righteousness really means, remaining on the cross, refusing to save himself because he did not sin.

And now his righteousness, his relationship with God is yours. Whenever our faces turn to another path, we can say “I belong to Christ!” and repent. Whenever our eyes are filled with the darkness of our sin, we can say “I am baptized!” and repent. Whenever our hearts are filled with fear and distrust of God, we can say “God has made me his beloved!” and repent. For God has come to us. Amen.

Pr. David H. Brooks

Raleigh, NC USA

Pr.Dave.Brooks@zoho.com