The Baptism of Jesus

And the core meaning of baptism.

Because depending on where you come from,

! different people have different ways and associations

and ways of making meaning or thinking about baptism.

!

I would say the question of identity is a universal one.

Especially if you live in the postmodern West

where we are veritably obsessed with the search for identity.

And there is an inexhaustible supply of people

with strong opinions about where we should look

to figure out our identity.

If you're from a more traditional or communal culture,

most people would point you in the direction

of the people around you.

They would say, well, you're really meant to find your identity

in your tribe or your family or your traditions,

your people group.

That's where you look.

If you've grown up in the West,

you're pointed in the opposite direction.

Right?

In the postmodern West, the worst thing you could possibly do

is to look to some outside source to tell you who you are.

So if you let your family tell you who you are

or some set of social norms or your religion,

then you're a sellout, essentially.

And the only way we can really know who we really are

is to look inward and to analyze our feelings

and our desires and our impulses.

And that's really the source of identity.

It's interesting.

I was with some people from our church over this weekend

and we were just sharing our stories.

And one person in our church talked about what it was like

to grow up part of her life in a more traditional communal culture

and then to move to the highly individualistic culture

of East Coast U.S.

and the shift in identity for her.

Going from a place where you found identity

by kind of blending in and conforming to the people around you

and moving to a place where you really needed to be individual

and unique and make sure that you stand out.

And that was profoundly disoriented.

None of these ways of getting at identity actually deliver what they promise.

And that's what we're going to look at this morning.

The gospel offers something entirely different.

An identity that is not found by conformity

and it's not found by looking within.

It's an identity that can only be received

from Jesus Christ and sealed in baptism.

So that's what we're looking at.

We're looking at Matthew chapter 3, the story of Jesus' baptism.

Matthew 3 · chapter mention

So we're going to see the crisis of identity,

how Jesus restores identity, and what that means for us.

Let's pray.

Our Lord and Heavenly Father, we thank you this morning

for the fact that you are here

and you are doing your ministry in our midst.

We thank you that you love us, you love Patrick,

that what we're about to celebrate in this baptism

is all a response to your initiating love.

And we pray that in that love,

you would make your word understandable to us.

And that more than that,

you would do your work in us through your word.

We pray this in Jesus' holy name.

Amen.

So first of all, friends,

I want to talk a little bit about the crisis of identity.

Why is there this search to begin with?

In our passage, we meet a man named John.

John is a renowned prophet.

He lives in the desert.

And John's message is essentially boiled down to one core soundbite

that he repeats again and again.

He calls people to do two things,

to repent and be baptized.

Repent and be baptized.

One of the problems with the word repent

is I think when we hear the word repent,

we often think only of behavioral change.

What is John really preaching?

He's saying, stop doing the bad things,

get your act together,

start doing good things.

That's repent.

Stop the bad things,

start the good things.

And that's honestly what you find in a lot of religions around the world,

different versions of that message.

These things are bad.

These things are good.

Stop doing these things and start doing these things.

But John, we need to understand,

isn't just talking about changing behavior.

His message is really about changing our very identity.

To repent is to stop living out of a false identity.

It's to abandon your old way of life

and the identity that it's rooted in.

Because what the Bible would say

is that all of our behavior is downstream from our identity.

Whatever defines us,

that is what leads to all the ways that we live,

good or bad.

So to repent is to abandon an old identity

and then to be baptized is to put on a new identity,

a true identity.

This is why the Apostle Paul,

regularly in his letters,

refers to Christian conversion

as a putting off of the old self

and a putting on of the new self.

So why would we need a new identity?

What's the problem?

Well, what is identity?

Identity.

I heard one person say,

and I think this is a great way of thinking about it,

identity is composed essentially of two things.

Your identity, my identity, two things.

A sense of self

and a sense of worth.

By sense of self,

I mean what sits at the core of you,

underneath all the hats that you wear,

underneath all the roles that you play,

and the various spheres that you operate in,

what remains true about you

and does not change no matter what?

What's at your core?

That's the sense of self.

And then along with that,

where does your sense of worth come from?

What gives you significance?

What makes you confident of your value as a human being?

So those two things together,

sense of self,

sense of worth,

that's your identity.

And what Scripture teaches us

is that we were made in the image of our creator,

of a God who made us.

And what that means is that

we're meant to find our identity in Him.

Right?

We have His image.

And so that's the thing that's meant to define us,

is our relationship to Him.

It raises the question,

what happens when we stop doing that?

What happens when, at some point,

human beings said,

we don't want to be defined by you,

we don't want to live for you,

we want to live for ourselves.

In fact, we kind of want to be like our own gods.

What happens when we cast off

that source of identity that we're meant to have?

Well, inevitably,

we have to start looking for identity somewhere else.

And that's exactly what we see happening

all through history and all around the world.

Because the truth is,

as we have discovered,

much to our chagrin,

almost anything can become a source of identity

if we let it.

Almost anything can give us a sense of self

and a sense of worth if we let it.

So a lot of us look for areas

in which we have to perform.

Right?

So identity can be very performative.

So things that we do.

Most people come to D.C.

because they want to advance in their career somehow,

whether it's through education,

internship, fellowship, residency,

or some sort of career path that we're on,

which is great.

And there's a lot of impressive people

doing impressive things.

But it's easy in a place like D.C.

for career to become a sense of identity for us.

I am what I do.

I have value and significance

because of what I do.

Some people,

myself not included,

look to their athletic ability

and say, you know,

I was a college athlete.

I thought about going pro.

And for much of your life,

that's all you focused on.

Your friends were out playing and partying

and you were at practice all the,

you know, 6 a.m. every day,

you were up,

you were practicing all the time.

And it comes to define you.

Who are you?

Well, I'm a basketball player.

I'm a football player.

I'm a baseball player.

That's what I am.

That's what gives me value.

Some people look to their intelligence.

They're the smartest person in the room.

Right?

They're the one with the answer.

Some people look to their competence.

Some of us define ourselves

according to the values that we hold.

Right?

So that's why our political views

and affiliations can become

such a powerful source of identity.

I'm defined by the way I think

and I'm connected to the,

and validated by the other people

who agree with me.

Sometimes we're partially defined

by the roles that we play.

You know, we just came out of the holidays.

I don't know if you've ever experienced this.

When you go home

and you visit your family of origin

and maybe you've been living somewhere else

as a grown-up adult for 20 years

and you go back

and you spend time with your family of origin

and all of a sudden,

it's like you were sucked back into that role

that you haven't played for 15 or 20 years.

None of your friends think of you as that person

but you go back home

and all of a sudden,

you're that person again.

You get pulled into that old family system

and it's like they're forcing a hat on you

that hasn't fit for a long time.

But it's because the family system

needs you to play that role

and that's who you are.

That's your identity.

Right?

And so we can play lots of roles

as parents or as siblings or as kids.

You know, we can be helpers.

We can be rescuers.

We can be the golden child.

We can be the perpetual victim.

What defines us?

What gives us a sense of identity,

meaning, value?

It can be almost anything if we let it.

Here's the question.

I want you to think about your own life.

What are the things that you look to

and say,

that tells me who I am

and that tells me that I matter?

Because I guarantee you,

you're going to find stuff

and it's not going to just be one thing.

It's going to be probably

some combination

of everything I just said.

The point for this morning, though, friends,

is that anything we look to

to give us a sense of self

and a sense of worth

other than God

is doomed to failure.

It is unsustainable.

It will not last

for at least two reasons.

Number one,

if we look to something

other than God for identity,

our sense of self

will always be fragile.

It will always be fragile.

When we root our identity

in anything other than God,

then we end up

basing our sense of self

and worth

on something

that is impermanent.

It means it will

eventually be taken away from us.

So we have to live

with the perpetual insecurity

of knowing

that the things

that we are relying on

for our self

and worth,

we could lose them

at any point.

And that creates

a profound sense

of instability.

So recently,

we've gone through

a couple of hard years

with the government,

people who work

for the government,

and all the changes

in the government,

which means a lot of people

have lost their jobs.

So many of us know,

and at some point,

even if it didn't happen

even in the last year or two,

it's happened to many of us

at some point,

you have a job

that you think

you can count on,

that's stable,

that you kind of like,

and you're pretty good at,

and all of a sudden,

for reasons outside

of your control,

you lose it.

It's taken away from you.

Now, some people

can survive that.

Other people,

it just crushes them

because you realize,

I really came to look to that

to give me a sense of self

and a sense of worth.

And without that,

I don't know who I am anymore.

It's one of the hardest things

about losing your job

unexpectedly

is that you have to go

through a whole period

of asking,

who am I?

I don't know

who I am anymore.

If part of your identity

is wrapped up

in being attractive,

what happens

is we age

and we no longer

conform to the beauty standards

of the culture

that we live in,

right?

And you do a little Botox

and you do a little work

here and there

and you start,

you know,

take a GLP

and you kind of

do what you can.

But eventually,

you have to realize,

as the time passes,

I conform less and less

to the standards

of my society.

I'm trying to say it

diplomatically.

What happens?

Like, for some people,

it's like,

okay, I'm going to embrace aging.

I'm going to go gray.

It's going to be fine.

The muffin top,

I'm not going to worry

about that.

Other people,

there's a sense

that my very worth

as a human being

is draining out of me.

And I'm not actually knocking.

That's really hard.

If you feel that,

it's like,

who am I now

that I'm not beautiful?

Now that people,

now that when I'm out

in public,

I'm not turning heads,

who am I?

If part of our identity

and self-worth

is tied up

in our parents' approval,

what happens

when we get older

and maybe we come

to a different set

of convictions

politically or spiritually?

You know,

some of you grew up

in homes

and now you,

your politics

are very different

from your parents

or your family, right?

That used to fit in

because you agreed

with their politics

and now you're

in a very different place.

Some of you grew up

in non-Christian homes

and now you've come

to faith

and your family

thinks you're crazy?

And what happens

when you start

making decisions

and those decisions

don't line up

with what your parents

believe and value

and affirm

and you realize

that they no longer

approve of your choices?

What happens then?

But for you,

your parents' approval

is a huge source

of value

and meaning and worth

and you have to navigate that.

Who am I now?

What am I now

now that I don't have that,

right?

So if you are basing

your sense of identity

on anything other than God,

it's going to be impermanent

which is going to mean

that your identity

is very fragile.

So identity then

becomes something

that we have to perform

and we have to construct

something that we have

to achieve

and something that we

have to maintain

all the time

and it takes a lot

of energy to do it.

That's the first reason

why it's not sustainable.

Number two reason

why it's not sustainable

to search for identity

anywhere else

is that our sense of self

will not only be fragile,

it will be fragmented

because when you start

rooting your identity

in anything other than God,

very quickly

you will find yourself

pulled in lots

of different directions.

One of my favorite

European cultural observers,

Václav Havel,

who I quote from time to time,

former president

of the Czech Republic,

had this great analogy

of saying it's like

playing for a bunch

of different sports teams

and each has its own jersey,

right,

and you're constantly

swapping jerseys

and every team is saying

we are really your team

and all these other teams

are not your team

so you feel like

you're getting pulled.

Whose team do you

really play for?

Who are you really?

And that's what it feels like.

So you end up having

a version of yourself

that comes out at work.

You have a version of yourself

that comes out

around your family,

maybe a different version

that comes out

around your family of origin.

You have a version of yourself

that gets amplified

around your DC friends,

a version of yourself

that comes out

around your Christian

church friends.

It's weird

when you have a gathering

like a wedding

or something

where all those friends

get together

and all of a sudden

you realize

that different people

see you very differently

and who am I really?

The point is

none of these things

can bear the weight

of human identity.

They were never designed to.

How does Jesus

restore our identity?

How does Jesus

offer us something

better

than the constant

cobbling together

of fragile sources

of self and worth?

Here's where we go

with this passage.

John, as we said,

he's out preaching.

He's also baptizing people.

And then he sees Jesus.

And Jesus does something

totally unexpected.

Jesus asks John

to be baptized

by John.

And John's very

obviously confused

by this

because Jesus is

God's perfect

sinless son.

John's baptism

is a baptism

for sinners.

This is for people

who know they're sinful

to go into the waters

to renew their covenant

with God,

to be cleansed

and to be made right

with God,

put right with God.

And John is looking

at Jesus.

He's like,

you don't need

to be cleansed

of anything.

You don't need

to repent

of anything.

If anything,

he says,

I should be baptized

by you,

Jesus.

But Jesus insists,

and what does he say?

He says,

let it be so now

for thus it is fitting

for us to fulfill

all righteousness.

Now, we know

because I just said

a minute ago

he's not a sinner.

There's no sin.

That he doesn't mean

by fulfill all righteousness,

he doesn't mean

I need to be made righteous.

He means in order

to fulfill righteousness.

And this is a way

of him saying,

God has enacted

a plan

that has been unfolding

for centuries

to heal humanity

and put the world right.

And what I'm about

to do,

what I'm asking you

to do for me

is a crucial step

in that plan.

In order to fulfill

that plan,

John,

I need you

to baptize me.

when Jesus

is baptized,

we begin to see

the real reason

that he came.

Jesus did not come

to judge humanity.

Jesus came to identify

with humanity.

So instead of getting up

on the hillside,

so John's up here,

you need to repent

and be baptized,

and the sinners

are all down here.

Everybody would expect

somebody like Jesus

to come up on the hillside,

say,

John,

why don't you take a break

and take over?

Everybody needs to repent,

come be baptized,

right?

But Jesus doesn't come

up on the hill

and start preaching

to the sinners.

Jesus goes down

and takes his place

among the sinners.

What do we do with that?

Jesus doesn't heal us

by telling us

to get our act together.

Jesus heals us

by trading places with us.

He takes our old identity

on himself,

right?

So sinners who've rebelled

against God,

he takes that identity

on himself

and then he endures

the punishment

meant for us,

right,

on the cross.

And then what he does

is he offers

his identity

in exchange

as God's only begotten

righteous son.

So here is the gospel

in a nutshell.

Jesus becomes like us

so that we can become

like him.

It's a completely

different way

of offering hope

and salvation

to the world.

Jesus becomes like us

so that we can become

like him.

And you say,

well,

what does it mean

to become like Jesus?

Well,

we get a clue

right after,

as Jesus is being baptized,

immediately after,

it says,

the heavens were opened

to him

and he saw the Spirit

of God descending

like a dove

and coming to rest

on him.

And behold,

a voice from heaven

said,

this is my beloved son

with whom I am well

pleased.

To become like Jesus

is to know

that if you're

a baptized follower

of Jesus,

God speaks those

same words

over you

every moment

of every day

of your life.

Everywhere you are,

everything that you do,

at the height

of your greatest successes,

at the depth

of your worst,

most shameful failures,

the only words

God is speaking

to you

are those words.

This is my beloved child

in whom I am well pleased.

Over and over

and over,

Jesus says,

here's that identity,

this is the identity

that I want you to have,

this is the identity

you were made to have.

We said earlier

that our identity

is made up

of both a sense of self

and a sense of worth.

I want you to understand

that we find

both of those things

in the words

of God the Father.

Where can you find

a sense of self

that is so stable

that you never have

to worry about it

slipping away?

A sense of self

that can remain

regardless of what

circumstances

you find yourself in,

what hats you wear,

what roles you play.

you have to receive it.

You come to Jesus.

You allow God

to name you

as His child.

So if you're a Christian,

you allow God

to name you

and then you know

from that moment on

you are a son

or a daughter

of the King.

That's your identity.

Right?

And that remains true

no matter what.

That remains true

regardless of how you feel.

It may not feel true.

Who cares?

It is.

It remains true

no matter what role

you play.

So in all circumstances,

no matter what else

might change in your life,

the thing that is

most true about you

is that you are a son

or daughter of the King.

And then it gives us

a profound sense of worth

because we see

in these words

that God delights

when He looks at you.

God delights

when He beholds

His children.

And the great thing

about that delight

and love

is it's not the kind

of love

that you need to earn

or maintain

by holding on

to God's approval.

It's the kind of love

that flows freely

from God

into your life

as a gift.

And because you

didn't earn it

and because you

don't deserve it,

you can't lose it.

If you didn't do

anything to get it,

you can't do anything

to lose it.

When you know

deep down

that you are beloved

by God,

that gives you

an unshakable

and inexhaustible

source of worth

and value.

And here's what that does.

It protects you

from the highs

and the lows.

Right?

If your source of worth

is based in God's

free gift of love

for you,

then even if you

are wildly successful,

you're never going

to be tempted

to become smug

or cocky

or look down

on those little people

who never made it.

Right?

Because your worth

isn't wrapped up

in your success.

It comes as a gift

from God.

And on the other hand,

when you face

your worst failures

imaginable,

it's not going

to crush you

because your worth

is not wrapped up

in your failure.

It comes as a gift

from God.

So this is how

Jesus heals

our identity.

Being a Christian

is not about

being a better person.

It's allowing Jesus

to trade places

with you.

It's taking on

a new identity.

So last question

we want to ask

this morning,

what does this mean

for us,

those of us gathered here?

At the end

of Matthew's gospel,

and this is kind

of looking ahead

past our passage

to the end

of Matthew's gospel,

after his death

and resurrection,

Jesus sends out

his disciples

into the world

and he tells them,

go and make disciples

of all nations,

that means everybody,

baptizing them

in the name

of the Father

and of the Son

and of the Holy Spirit.

He's saying,

go out into the world

and tell everybody

you meet

that there is a way

that is made open

to the world.

There is a way now

to have your true

identity restored.

There's a way

for you to become

who God created you to be.

You no longer

have to look for that.

The way is open.

The answer is here.

All you have to do

is receive it.

And in many ways,

I think that, friends,

this captures

the whole mission

of the church.

church, this is why

we're here.

This is why we're excited

to have a permanent

location in a neighborhood

like Shaw.

This is why we show up.

It's because this

proclamation is going

out to the world

and there are many,

many, many people

who need to hear it

and many, many, many people

who need to be reminded of it.

Everything we do,

and by we,

I mean the church,

everything we do

is aimed at healing

and restoring

human identity.

Everything that we do

is aimed at healing

and restoring

human identity.

So it's about seeing

men and women

rehumanized

by becoming

what God created

them to be,

which is his children.

And friends,

this is especially

true of baptism.

When we see Patrick

baptized this morning,

who is going to go

get ready right now

for baptism, I think,

when Patrick comes up

here in a little while

and we baptize Patrick,

what we're really doing

is we are speaking

his true name

over him.

We're saying,

this is who you are, son.

You are God's

beloved child.

And that is the most

true thing that anybody

will ever say

about that child

is that you're

a child of God

and he delights him.

We're declaring

what is true about him.

Now why is that important?

Because remember,

what happens

just after Jesus

is baptized?

The very next verse

says he goes out

into the wilderness

and what happens?

Immediately,

Satan begins to challenge

and question his identity.

And that continues

to happen,

not just in the wilderness,

but for the rest

of Jesus' ministry

all the way up

to when he is hanging

on the cross

and they're sneering

and they're mocking

and they're saying,

if you're really

the son of God,

if you're really the king,

come down off that cross.

The entire time

Jesus is on earth,

his identity

is under constant attack.

And friends,

the same is true

for us.

From the moment

that child is baptized,

from the moment

you are baptized,

for the rest of your life,

your identity

will be under

constant attack.

Everybody wants

a piece of you

because if you can

tell somebody

who they are,

you can control them.

And whether you're

a good advertising agency,

a good political advocacy group,

or Satan himself,

everybody wants

a piece of you.

So they want

to define you.

This is why

we need the church.

It is not enough

just to get baptized

and say,

well now we've checked

that box,

go do what you want,

go to church.

This is why

when we baptize a child,

we want to make sure

the parents are followers

of Jesus

and we want to make sure

that those parents

are actively participating

in our church

or in a church

if it's not our church.

Because you need

the church

to constantly remind you

who you truly are.

And what do I mean by that?

I mean this.

I mean number one,

we need the scriptures

constantly preached

and taught in our lives

to tell us who we are.

Here is where it says

you're a beloved child of God.

We need the sacraments,

baptism,

and the Eucharist.

What do those do?

Those give us ways

of sharing in the identity

and sharing in the life

of Christ,

strengthening our identity

in Him.

Every time you receive

the Eucharist,

Christ offers His life

to you

to build that identity

up in you.

We need ways

of embodying

the gospel story

that shape our identity.

How do we do that?

That's the whole point

of the liturgy.

That's the whole point

of the prayers

and the singing.

It's to enter into

and embody

the story of the gospel.

So much of our sense

of our identity

comes from stories.

So we come here

to be restored

by being re-storied.

We are re-storied

through the liturgy.

As we hear of our sin,

as we confess,

as we hear absolution,

as we receive Christ.

And finally,

we need a community

people who have

the good combination

of love and guts

who will push back

and challenge

and question

if we start going

off that path

and veering into

another identity.

You need those people

in your life.

Unfortunately,

in our culture,

so many people

are so thin-skinned.

And so many people

in the church,

quite frankly,

are so thin-skinned

and so prone

to take offense

that we are so offended

when people push back

on our life choices.

And I would say,

if we're not doing that,

we're really abdicating

our responsibility

and our spiritual friendships.

You know,

we live in this world

where when somebody

says who they are,

that's like an unassailable thing

that it's like

an absolute truth.

That is absolutely bogus.

That is the worst possible way

to live as a society.

You know,

a few years ago,

the story came out,

maybe some of you read it,

about a woman

named Kira Bell.

And Kira Bell

began identifying

as a boy

around age 14.

And she was medically

transitioned as a teenager,

hormone treatment,

puberty blockers,

and later,

double mastectomy.

Later,

she realized

it had all been

a huge mistake.

She detransitioned,

but her body

has lasting permanent damage

that's been done to it

as a result

of the medical interventions.

But as she got older,

she looked back

and she realized

that her distress

actually came from the fact

that she was depressed.

She was anxious.

She did not fit in

with her friends.

She didn't like

stereotypically girly things.

She was going through puberty,

which was really hard for her,

and she had no one

to talk to

to help her understand

what was happening

to her body.

So,

the reason I'm bringing it up

is in 2020,

she won a landmark lawsuit

against the doctors

who led her down that path.

And what she said

is essentially this.

She said,

I went to that clinic

expecting for people

to ask me questions

and to challenge me

and to help me make sure

that this was the right

decision for me.

But she said,

from the minute

I walked in that clinic,

nobody challenged me.

Nobody questioned me.

They uncritically,

unquestioningly

affirmed me as a boy

from the moment

I walked in the door.

And she says,

I couldn't find

an institution

or an organization

anywhere

where anyone

would ask any questions.

She said,

everybody simply

affirmed me as a boy

and before I knew it,

I was on the path.

And it's heartbreaking

if you read her story

because she says,

I wish that people

had challenged me

because if they had,

I wouldn't have to live

with the consequences

of the choices I made.

You know,

the point,

friends,

is whatever it is

that is pulling at us

and trying to tell us

who we are,

it shouldn't be the case

that there are no

institutions out there

where you will ever

be challenged

to their questions.

That may be true

elsewhere.

But I just want

to make clear,

you should come to church

expecting people

to call you back

to what is most true

about you.

You should expect

to come to church

and have people

who are going to push back

when you begin

to be pulled away

from that truth.

Right?

When you start getting

too wrapped up

in your career

or too wrapped around

the axle of your,

you know,

politics,

right,

you should come to church

expecting that people

are going to say,

I think this has become

too important for you.

You know,

you need to come back

to Christ.

You are not your career.

You are not your accomplishments.

You are not your failures.

You are not your shame.

You're a beloved child of God.

You are not your feelings

and desires.

You're not the names

that people have called you

or the false accusations

they've made about you.

You're not a victim.

You're not defined

by the things

that have been done

to you

or the harm

that has been committed

against you.

You're a beloved child of God.

Every time we gather together,

that is the message

I pray you take with you

into the world.

And every time you forget,

come on back

and you'll hear it again.

Let's pray.

Lord, we thank you

for your goodness.

We thank you

that

through

an unfathomable mystery

across thousands

and thousands

of years,

you enacted a plan

involving

thousands of people,

thousands of years,

cultures

near and far.

and that plan

unfolded

leading all the way

to this moment

when we could simply

open our mouths

and call you

Father.

And Lord,

we pray that

whatever else

may seem

or feel

to be true

at any given moment,

the thing that is most true

for us here

is that we would know

beyond a shadow

of a doubt

that we are

your beloved children.

And we pray this

that we might glorify you

by living

and being

what we are created for.

in Jesus' name.

Amen.