Sunday Worship
Welcome to Sunday Worship in Leesfield Parish on the First Sunday after Epiphany, when we celebrate the Baptism of Christ.
Our Church Services this morning are at the usual times of 9.15 at St Agnes' and 11.00 at St Thomas'. If you are unable to be with us in person, you will find resources below to worship at home.
Our first hymn this morning is "As We are Gathered, Jesus is Here"
Today's Gospel
Matthew 3:13-17 Baptism of our Lord
Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan, to be baptised by him.
John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptised by you, and do you come to me?” But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now; for it is proper for us in this way to fulfil all righteousness.”
Then he consented. And when Jesus had been baptised, just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens were opened to him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him.
And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”
Reflection
I love this story about the baptism of Jesus and I usually reflect quite a lot about how wonderful and special that moment is when God speaks from heaven and says, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”
But for a change, I thought I would reflect a little on the way Jesus focus on righteousness and also what baptism meant at that time.
When we think of baptism as we know it in our church today, we see it as a way of welcoming new people into the church and faith. The candidates confirm their faith and belief in God the Father, Jesus his son and the Holy Spirit, (The Holy Trinity), and at the baptism of Jesus we witness the presence of the Holy Trinity at the river Jordan.
Another important part of the sacrament is that candidates are required to renounce evil, the devil and all his works, and we are reminded that immediately after his baptism, Jesus went into the wilderness where he was confronted by Satan and his temptations.
But you might wonder what baptism was about before Jesus. Did baptism exist for the Jews?
Well, sort of, but not in the way we would recognise it. It was more a form of cleansing and purification. The Hebrews going back to the times of Moses had many cleansing rituals they were required to perform if they had become unclean by touching bodily fluids or diseased people and priests were required to wash before performing Temple duties. There is also the example of Elisha requiring Naaman to bathe seven times in the river Jordan to be spiritually cleansed and cured of his leprosy. Clearly this wasn’t anything like the baptism we would recognise ; it was more of a ritual ceremony and, unlike today, it was done more than once.
A key change in the practice of baptism came when John the Baptist emerged in the Judean wilderness, calling people to confession and immersion in the Jordan River. He preached “a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins” and he elevated ritual washing from a repeated cleansing ceremony into a unique, one-time sign of authentic repentance and preparation for the coming of Jesus.
John’s baptism built on the Jewish cleansing rituals and established a practice that implied deeper implications of moral reform and expectation of God’s coming kingdom [Matthew 3:2].
In that context, the baptism of Jesus surely presents us with a conundrum. If John was drawing huge crowds of people preaching the need for confession, repentance and baptism as a means of forgiveness and preparation for the kingdom of God – Why did Jesus who had nothing to repent for or to be forgiven for, need to be baptised?
Try to picture that moment when Jesus arrives on the scene, steps out of the vast crowds and enters the river Jordan. As he wades and splashes his way through the water to his cousin, John is similarly confused by this jaw dropping and bewildering turn of events.
John has been aware who Jesus was from the moment Mary visited Elizabeth when both Jesus and John were still in their mothers’ wombs, and so he challenges Jesus, and asks for Jesus to baptise him instead,
But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now; for it is proper for us in this way to fulfil all righteousness.”
In Matthew’s gospel these are the first words spoken by Jesus, and it might at first sound like Jesus just telling John to get on with it! But it is profoundly more significant because by using the words ‘it is proper for us’, he is not only affirming the ministry of John, he is saying that it is God’s will.
Righteousness is all about doing God’s will – and in complying with this strange request for role reversal and baptising Jesus, John is also fulfilling God’s will, enabling Jesus to receive the anointing of the Holy Spirit and God’s word-from-on-high announcing Jesus as the Son of God.
In doing so he allows Jesus to humble himself and be with the people he has come to save. Jesus wants to lead by example and help them learn what God wants them to do, and he will do this through tolerance, understanding and love.
When we see how God expresses his love for his son, we should remember that we are also children of God and he loves all of us for who we are. God wants the best for us, and to be the best we can be and we can do this by following Jesus and John in their example of obedience and righteousness. Paul
