Bible Passage: Matthew 3:13-17
Pastor: Joel Jenswold
Sermon Date: January 11, 2026

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In the name of, and to the eternal glory of, Jesus,

Have you ever noticed how often we find the Son of God in the most unlikely of places?  It just happened.  We celebrated Christmas and we found the Son of God in a trough, in a feed-box for animals!  Not exactly where one would expect to find the Son of God.  It happens time and again in his ministry.  We find him in the company of society’s “outcasts.”  Those known only as “sinners.”  We will find the Son of God on a smelly donkey on Palm Sunday.  We will find him as a defendant in court.  We will find him on a cross.  And we will find him temporarily in a tomb.  Not exactly places we would expect to find the Son of God.

Today we have another example of this.  Today we see Jesus go out to John the Baptist to be baptized.  Now, you may recall, we reviewed John’s baptism a few weeks ago during Advent.  John’s baptism was a “sinners’-baptism.”  It was called a “baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.”  Of the people who came to John for baptism, we are told:  Confessing their sins, they were baptized by [John] in the Jordan River. (Matthew 3:6)  Yet today, we will find the Son of God in the most unexpected place.  Today Jesus Gets in the Water!

If this surprises us, we are not the first!  Our text begins with Jesus seeking out John the Baptist to be baptized by John. (v. 13)  Now John had baptized a lot of people.  We are told, People went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan. (Matthew 3:5)  But the thought of Jesus getting in the water cut John across the grain!  John protests, I need to be baptized by you, and yet you come to me? (v. 14)

Jesus was not like the people who were coming out to him to be baptized.  Jesus had no sins to confess!  Jesus had no need to repent!  Jesus had never lied to anyone or cheated anyone!  Jesus had never been disrespectful or disobedient!  Jesus had never lusted or coveted!  Why would he get in the water!  John recognizes the complete absurdity of it!  If there’s any baptizing to be done, Jesus ought to baptize John for the forgiveness of his sins!

Jesus gives the reason he will get in the water.  Let it be so now, because it is proper for us to fulfill all righteousness. (v. 15)  Jesus says getting in the water is necessary to fulfill all righteousness.  You see, God has a plan to save us.  It is a good, perfect, and righteous plan.  The plan hinges on this:  the Son of God in flesh will be the “stand-in” for sinners.  He will be our Substitute under God’s Law and obey it perfectly in our place.  And he will be our Substitute and take the punishment we deserve for our sins.

So for God’s righteous plan to be fulfilled, it is necessary that the Son of God be willing to be our Stand-In.  Thus arises a pivotal question:  is Jesus, the Son of God in flesh, willing to do the work, to be our Stand-In, to be our Substitute?  Jesus getting in the water answers the question!  Jesus is willing to be the Sin-Bearer of the world, our Savior!  He is willing to be, as Isaiah the prophet says of the Savior, numbered with the transgressors (Isaiah 53:12).   He is willing to look like, to associate with, every sinner who came to John’s baptism.  He is willing, as Paul says, to become sin for us, so that in him, we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:21)

There is more significance of Jesus getting in the water.  This also became the event the Father used to publicly introduce the world to its Savior!  After Jesus was baptized, he immediately went up out of the water.  Suddenly, the heavens were opened for him!  He saw the Spirit of God, descending like a dove and landing on him, and a voice out of the heavens said, “This is my Son, whom I love.  I am well pleased with him.” (v. 16-17)  In Isaiah 61 the Messiah is quoted as saying, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the afflicted. (Isaiah 61:1)  At his baptism, Jesus is anointed with the Holy Spirit.  In Psalm 2 the LORD says to the Messiah, You are my Son. (Psalm 2:7)  At his baptism, Jesus hears the Father say, This is my Son.  The message is clear!  The Jesus who gets in the water is the Son of God, our Savior!

Isn’t this a comforting scene in our text?  God does not want you to have even the teeniest, tiniest doubt that Jesus is your Savior.  This account makes clear that Jesus takes on the work willingly.  The Father looks on with approving love.  The Spirit descends on the Son to equip him for his work.  What more could we want?

All of this leads to us finding the Son of God in yet another unexpected place.  Jesus gets in the water of YOUR baptism.  Paul wrote to the Romans, Don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?  We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may have a new life. (Romans 6:3-4)  Jesus has gotten into the water of baptism, and he put his cross and tomb there!  He put it there so that those who are baptized die and rise with him!  His death for sin becomes your death for sin.  His resurrection from the dead becomes your resurrection from the dead.  I have seen baptismal fonts that have a cross etched in the bottom of the bowl.  So when you look into the baptism water, you see Jesus’ cross.  We might even say, “Jesus got in the water!”  Yes, Jesus gets in the water.

Paul wrote to the Galatians, All of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. (Galatians 3:27)  Think about it.  When Jesus was baptized, he looked like every sinner.  When we are baptized, we are clothed with, covered up with, Christ so that we look like Christ in God’s sight.  And if God sees Christ when he looks at you, he again speaks those words, This is my son…this is my daughter, whom I love.  With him, with her, I am well pleased! 

Amen.