Sermon preached at the Sung Eucharist at the Baptism of Christ, 2026

Have you ever had a moment when you saw someone you know well in a new light? Did it change your view of them? I think it can happen with family members or old friends quite easily—we get so used to seeing those close to us as we think we know them, as we’ve grown up with them, that if they act in a way we don’t recognise, it can really surprise us, and make us realise that there’s more to them than we thought. 

It’s a bit of an ‘aha!’ moment when you see someone in a new way. But, of course, they’re the same person they always were—it’s just that your eyes are opened a bit more to the complexity of their character. They’re still just being themselves, not someone new or other. 

There are sometimes 'aha' moments like this in the Gospel, glimpses of who Jesus truly is. In this Epiphany season, when we celebrate the manifesting of God to the world, we are given a glimpse when men from far away follow a massive star in the sky which leads them to visit him as a boy; we are given a glimpse when he performs miracles, like the turning of water into wine; and we are given a glimpse when he is baptised in the river Jordan.

Of course, the Christian faith centres around the fact that Jesus is God, so he offers more than just glimpses. But I find it’s often too easy to think of Jesus as a man who was very good, and very kind, and very wise. That is something I can get my head around, and indeed there are many people who believe that is the extent of who Jesus was. When we meet Jesus as an adult in Matthew’s gospel, we've missed out on 30 years of his life. All that time, after his parents brought him back from Egypt, they were living in Nazareth, carrying on as a family—he gained brothers and sisters, they grew up together, played and fought, helped in the home, learned Joseph's trade. We can all understand that man. And yet, all that time, he was not just man but also God.

At the Jordan river, we are shown how much more there is to Jesus than his early life in Nazareth. This is an 'aha!' moment on a cosmic scale. In his baptism, we are seeing Jesus manifested as fully God and fully man and manifested as one person of the Holy Trinity.

Baptism seems a confusing choice for Jesus. John the Baptist, who has been faithfully preparing the way for him, says it himself—'I need to be baptised by you, and do you come to me?' If Jesus is divine as well as human, what possible reason could he have to be baptised? Baptism is about repentance and the washing away of sins, of a renewed life and a heart turned to God. None of these things are required of Jesus. He says to John that this is to fulfil all righteousness, but that’s all the explanation we are given in Matthew’s account. Lucky for us, the church fathers and great theologians of the past have also ruminated on this question, and here are four helpful thoughts drawn from their writings on why Jesus chose to be baptised.

Firstly, he was identifying with humanity, taking on the burden of sin, so to free us from it. Second, in entering the waters of baptism, he was sanctifying the water for all of us for all time, enabling us to receive that same sacrament. Third, he was foreshadowing his own death and resurrection—just as we enact this same death and rising to new life in our baptisms. And finally, he was formally receiving his anointing, and with it the start of his mission on earth. In all these things, Jesus was manifesting himself as fully man and fully God.

In this scene at the river Jordan, Jesus was also being manifest as the second person of the Trinity. As he surfaced from the waters, two things happened: the Spirit of God descended like a dove and alighted upon him; and he heard a voice saying, "This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased." Here is a picture of the Trinitarian God in loving relationship within himself.

And the words he hears are in fact echoes of prophesies about himself. Psalm 2, understood to be a description of the Messiah, the Saviour, contains the words, 'He said to me, “You are my son."' And Isaiah 42, a passage describing the Suffering Servant which we've heard today, begins, 'Here is my servant whom I uphold.' These words encompass who Jesus is for humankind—our salvation; and who he is in God—the second person of the Trinity.

As we marvel at the mysteries of Christ's identity, there is a gift here that we can take into our own hearts, as we consider who we are in Christ. Jesus heard the Father call him the Beloved before he had even begun his ministry. He hadn't achieved anything special at this point—no disciples, no sermons, no miracles. He simply was. And so, as we look to his life, and seek to follow him and learn from him, we also receive the name ‘Beloved,’ knowing there is nothing we need to do or can do to earn this title. God bestows it upon each of us as his children, with no prerequisites or points to be scored. We are beloved, just as we are, whoever we are. 

This Epiphanytide, may we know Christ manifest to all peoples, who is Beloved, and by whom we are called Beloved.