Sermon ideas

• The baptism of Jesus is no mere rite of passage. It heralds the inauguration of his ministry, modelling both style and content. John the Baptist rightly recognises the inappropriateness of baptism for Jesus: he has no need of washing or repentance. Paradoxically, however, it is entirely fitting for the Saviour to immerse himself in a world of woe, identifying with us so as to redeem us – ‘thus fulfilling all righteousness’ (v.15). It was a radical act of obedience endorsed by heaven that cost him his life. Perhaps we need to think more carefully of the meaning and the challenge of baptism. One commentator on this reading, Dean Lucking, describes it as ‘living wet’!¹ How can we live wet? 
• Are we prepared to allow God to surprise us, or are we held prisoner by our expectations? Robert Runcie, a former Archbishop of Canterbury, used to remark that one of the characteristics of divine activity was God’s habit of surprising us. John had preached about the coming one in apocalyptic terms (Matthew 3.11-12), but Jesus comes quietly and in humility like the servant in Isaiah 42.  Only afterwards is heaven opened, the dove descends on Jesus, and the voice of God rings out in affirmation.
• A reviewer of CS Lewis’ book Mere Christianity,² remarked that the author possessed ‘the rare gift of making righteousness readable’. The gospels show Jesus unashamedly valuing righteousness (v.15) and the following he readily drew demonstrates that he managed to make it attractive. Too often we concur with the young girl’s prayer: ‘Lord, please make the bad people good, and the good people nice’. It would do a great service to Christianity if we attempted to rescue righteousness from its bad press. A way of thinking through this might lie in studying Jesus’ humility and graciousness as he inaugurates his mission. William Barclay, in his commentaries, often talks of Jesus’ ‘winsomeness’. 
• Broadcaster Lavinia Byrne³  tells of the priest who asked Sunday school children: ‘What were the words which came from God when Jesus stepped out of the water?’ A child replied, ‘You are my beloved daughter, and I love you very much’. That child heard God’s affirmation; she knew God loved her. We must recognise in Jesus’ baptism the implication that, through him, we too are beloved.
• William Temple (another former Archbishop of Canterbury!) described Christianity as ‘the most avowedly materialistic’ of all great religions⁴. Our sacraments use tangible elements such as water, bread and wine or oil. Jesus does not divide the spiritual from the material; he is at home in both. The beloved Son immerses himself at his baptism in our world which, though muddy and murky like the River Jordan, still retains its connection with its Maker. Consider the importance of the conjunction of water and the Spirit in baptism.