A Sermon for the Baptism of Christ
January 12, 2025 at Holy Communion
Isaiah 42:1-8, Galatians 3:23-29, Mark 1:1-11
“As many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ” (Galatians 3). In the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. ☩ Amen.
This week at the men’s lunchtime Bible study, one of the things we talked about was how to read the Bible by taking into account the genre of each biblical book. So later, on a lark, I decided to look up what the internet had to say about how to read the Bible. The first thing that comes up nowadays is an “AI overview,” a summary compiled by artificial intelligence, and it told me, “The Bible should be read in accordance with the intent of its authors, its literary style, and the guidance of the Holy Spirit.”
That’s not bad, I suppose. But whether its an AI summary or an authored article, I observed that most sources miss something rather fundamental: the Bible teaches us how to read itself, by its own example of commenting on earlier parts. The New Testament uses, adapts, and comments on the Old Testament. Peter comments on the letters of Paul (2 Peter 3:16). The prophets comment on the law.
This week, an example from the Christmas story caught my attention. Joseph is warned in a dream to take the Christ Child and the Mother of God out of Judea, into Egypt, to flee from King Herod. Then St Matthew, the author, adds a comment: “This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, ‘Out of Egypt I called my son’” (Matthew 2:15). This is a direct quotation from Hosea 11:1.
But if you were to read Hosea 11:1 without the Christmas story in mind, you would get a different impression. It says, “When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son.” It is totally clear that the “son of God” in question is the people of Israel, who in their national infancy God led out of Egypt.
So if Jesus “fulfills” this prophecy, it doesn’t exactly mean that Hosea “predicted” that the Messiah would spend time in Egypt. Instead, as it says in one paraphrased version of the Bible, when Jesus’ family went to Egypt, “This gave full meaning to what the Lord said through the prophet.” Jesus “fulfills” this verse from Hosea because the pattern and image established by the Exodus came to have a richer, deeper, and more ultimate meaning when it’s applied to Jesus.
And this is a big claim! St Matthew is saying that the foundational event of Israelite history, the exodus of an entire people from slavery, only attains its full meaning when that pattern is followed by a single baby boy, because that boy is the Messiah.
St Paul would say that “all the promises of God find their Yes in Jesus” (2 Corinthians 1:20). Christians believe that every jot and tittle of the law, every prophetic poem, every rapturous image of coming fulfillment, refer to Christ, who is All-in-All (Colossians 3:11), the First and the Last (Revelation 1:17).
So as we read the Bible, we have to practice a kind of double-seeing. We read about Israel, the beloved child of God, chosen for his special purposes, led through death-bringing waters unharmed to live in freedom as the world’s priestly people—and we see both the historical Israel and the Son of God. We read about David, anointed with oil to mark his kingship, to whom the Lord promised an everlasting throne, and to whom God himself promised to be a father—and we also see Jesus anointed with the Spirit of God and worshipped on the throne of heaven. Adam, Noah, Abraham, Jacob, David—each one of them is himself, but each is also the imperfect bearer of an image fulfilled in Christ.
In fact, this is how we “read” every human being. Scripture tells us that Christ is the true image of the Father (Colossians 1:15). And it tells us that human beings are made “according to the image of God” (Genesis 1:27, LXX), that is, after the pattern of God the Word, who is God’s image from everlasting. As Jesus taught, the way you treat your neighbour is the way you treat Christ (Matthew 25:40), since cherishing or desecrating the image of another person is an act of symbolic love or hatred.
Our Old Testament reading tells us about the “servant of the Lord” (Isaiah 42:1–8). He is God’s chosen and God’s spirit rests on him (v 1). He is gentle (v 2–3), and he will heal the blind and free prisoners (v 6–7). To my delight, at the Bible Fellowship this week, instead of automatically assuming that this was a prediction of the ministry of Jesus, someone asked, “Is this us? Are we supposed to be the servant of the Lord?” And the answer is, of course, yes. But it also does refer to Jesus. And it also (in its original context) refers to Israel, God’s chosen servant-nation. Here, we have to practice not only double-seeing, but triple seeing. The mystery of Israel God’s servant finds deeper meaning in Jesus the Christ, and the mystery of Christ finds concrete (if imperfect) meaning the life of Christians.
So, in our Gospel reading, who is baptized in the Jordan? Over whom does the Father speak the words “this is my beloved son?” And upon whom does the anointing Spirit rest? The figure in the water is the Son and Word of God, which means that the figure in the water is also Adam and Israel and David and every saint from the beginning to the end of ages. It is every saint baptized in that font and in every font in every church.
For that reason, our Epistle reading makes the most fundamental point about baptism that can be made: “as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ” (Galatians 3:27). Baptism clothes you with another person, superimposed upon your old person. From your birth you were the old Adam, the man formed from dirt, but now you are also the image of the second Adam who descended from heaven (1 Corinthians 15:49).
So today we will reaffirm our baptismal identity and calling. It is a commitment to live as a single coherent person, to align your natural self with the person of Christ who, through baptism, you also are.
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