“Jesus’s Baptism" Luke 3:1-22

 I recently was listening to an interview with Harriet Learner, who is a psychologist. Amongst things that she is known for studying is forgiveness. The piece of the interview that stuck out to me was that sometimes saying “I’m sorry” isn’t enough. If we are truly repentant for what we have done to another person we need to try to make to right and take steps not to do the harmful behavior again. 

Sounds a lot like the repentance that John is calling folks to at the Jordan, doesn’t it. Only unlike Dr. Learner who was talking about when we harm another person, John was talking about turning from our sin against God. 

The third chapter of the Gospel of Luke starts in this interesting way, inserting John right into history amongst all of these names of religious and political leaders. Folks who were powerful. Folks who were in charge. Only the world of the Lord didn’t come to all of these important folks. No, it comes to John, son of Zechariah. John who has this amazing birth story that I’m sure was passed down to him from the time he was old enough to hear. Can’t you just hear Elizabeth whispering into John’s ear. “you, little one, are going to turn people back to God. You are going to prepare people for the Lord. The angel Gabriel said so.” 

Now, all of these years later, it is John who is turning people to God out in the wilderness. Not the people in charge. John. 

The wilderness is a funny place for John to begin his ministry, but in so many ways to brings the people back to the story of Exodus, where their ancestors wandered in the wilderness for forty years until God brought them into the promise land. Now God is preparing his people once again for a new thing in the wilderness, this place of discomfort, this place of the unknown, this place of transformation. 

John is proclaiming this powerful message about repentance and forgiveness of sins. And Luke ties it back to the words from Isaiah 40: 1-5 about the one who cries out to prepare the way of the Lord. This particular passage from Isaiah was written when the people of Israel were about to return from exile. Its a word of encouragement that they are going to lead people to return to the way of the Lord and be part of revealing God’s glory to the nations. 

And now, the people once again find themselves about to return from a time of exile, a time of spiritual exile, with the coming of the Messiah. And once again they are being invited to repent, to return tot eh way of the Lord, and be a part of boldly proclaiming this new thing. 

As the people come to the river to be baptized, we find not just John the Baptizer, but John the Prophet, as he proclaims this firey message from God starting out “You brood of vipers!”. I want you to stop this morning and actually consider what John is saying. What would happen if I stood up here this morning and compared you to vipers, snakes. Would it be a term of endearment? Certainly not. I wouldn’t doubt that some of you would walk out and not come back again. Yet, John starts off by calling folks snakes and they end up not only staying, but asking John how they can be changed. 

Again and again and again the people are asking John “what should we do?” In other words, how do we know that we are bearing this fruit that is worthy of repentance that you talk about? And he tells each of them what - to change their ways. 

Repentance isn’t just about being sorry, my friends, its about a complete change. Which is nice to say, but harder to live into. We, too, need to come to a place of transformation. A place where we surrender our whole lives to God. We need to come not just with an attitude of repentance, but the actions to back it up. 

If you have more than you need, share. 

If you have been dishonest in your work practices, stop.

If you have been coveting what your neighbor has, be satisfied with what is before you. 

If you’ve been caught up in sin, flee from it. 

Repent. Change. 

This week I was reading a book about raising up leaders, and the author Marv Nelson told the story of young adults he is shepherding. Every week they meet together on his back porch and ask each other how have you sinned this week. Why? To hold each other accountable to true change. Heart change in action. And that type of accountability, the call to that question, isn’t just for the young, my friends, it is for all of us. 

Only into the mix comes Jesus, one who was sinless and didn’t need to repent at all, asking to be baptized. The people earlier were confused, they thought that there was a possibility that John was the one that they had been waiting for. That John could be the Messiah. And John firmly said no. 

So why did Jesus come that day to be baptized, if he himself didn’t need to repent? To remind us what baptism is all about. Throughout the ages, for thousands of years, the church has continued to baptize people. To call people to the waters of repentance. And as we emerge from the waters, we join with those asking John - “now what? Now what do we do? Now how do we live?”

To which we find Jesus as the one calling us to live out our faith. 

See, baptism as a sacrament isn’t just an act. Its a vow. A promise. A call to change. Repentance and faith are so connected that they cannot be separated from one another, yet we often don’t talk about it like that. We think that we repent with what we say and then keep going on living as we wish. No! When repentance is tied to faith, we desire to change. We desire to bear fruit worthy of repentance. We desire to follow Jesus with not just our lips, but our feet as well. 

While that seems like a daunting call, it is not one that we enter into alone. One of my favorite parts of Jesus’s baptism story is often overlooked. Verse 21 starts out by saying, “Now when all the people were baptized”. All the people. Other’s. Baptism is not something that is done alone. It is something where we join together and hold each other accountable to the vows being made. We aren’t expected to go through this alone. Instead, we are tied together as the community of faith. The community of repentance. The community of accountability. 

I want to end this day in prayer, just as Jesus prayed following his baptism. I want us to come together and pray that God leads us to bear fruit worthy of repentance. I want us to pray for transformation in our hearts and in our lives. Will you join me…. Amen.