St. John’s Lutheran Church
Albany, New York
11 January 2026 + The Baptism of Our Lord
Matthew 3:13-17
The Rev. Josh Evans

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Baptism: what’s the point?

To do the thing because it’s what we’re “supposed” to do?
To check the “salvation” box and make sure we get into heaven?
Or to check the “ELCA” box and make sure we get another member for our congregation because that’s what Chapter 8.02.a. of the Model Constitution for Congregations of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America says?

Well, if that’s all it is, that’s easy enough:
Just sprinkle some water on the kid (or the adult),
say the magic words,
update the parochial report,
and bam, we’re done!
Another soul saved and another ELCA member gained!

Except…
that feels kind of empty, doesn’t it?

On the one hand, if baptism were only about
being initiated into a flawed human community
like the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (or any other denomination) that probably won’t even be around, at least not in its current form, for the duration of my lifetime…
well, that’s pretty bleak.

And at the same time,
if baptism were only about salvation,
then why does Jesus of all people get baptized?

Our Roman Catholic siblings put it this way
with regard to the “necessity” of baptism in their own catechism:
“God has bound salvation to the sacrament of Baptism,
but he himself is not bound by his sacraments.”

I’ve always appreciated that line for its explicitness,
especially when it comes to the question
of those who have died without being baptized –
part of my “holy envy” for another tradition’s teachings –
as if to say:
Yes, it’s a good and important thing to do,
but it’s not a prerequisite for God’s love and mercy.

So if it’s not (necessarily) about
becoming a member of the institutional church
or ensuring our eternal salvation
(although both of those things are, in a sense, true),
then what is it about?
Surely there’s something more going on.

***

There is of course more to the story,
beyond Matthew 3:17 where our reading neatly ends,
and in fact, for me, what comes after is just as important:
“Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit
into the wilderness
to be tested by the devil,”
Matthew goes on, in the very next verse (4:1).

In the wilderness.
That’s where we encounter Jesus
immediately after the dramatic scene of his baptism,
when the heavens are opened,
and the Spirit of God swoops down like a dove.

Until, in an instant,
all of that is gone in the very next verse.
The same Spirit that alights on him moments before
now leads him into the wilderness,
to be tested by the devil.

Alone and hungry and fearful,
Jesus’ wilderness journey lasts not just one day,
but for forty days and forty nights.
It had to feel like a lifetime,
like the wilderness would never end.

Of course, the wilderness does end,
with Jesus beginning his public ministry,
proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of heaven come near,
calling his first disciples to join him in the work he was doing,
teaching and preaching,
and curing every disease and every sickness among the people.

***

Baptism isn’t a blessing that ensures there will be no wilderness,
no struggle, no hardships.
Baptism is a promise that God will be with us always,
through it all, no matter what.

“This is my Son, the Beloved,”
Jesus hears as he comes up from the water.

This blessing, this belovedness,
goes with Jesus into the wilderness,
the echoes of that heavenly voice reverberating in his ears
in the face of each new test.

“You, dear child of God, have been sealed by the Holy Spirit
and marked with the cross of Christ forever,”
we hear in our own baptism,
as this promise goes with us,
beyond this place,
into the wildernesses of our lives,
in all the twists and turns
and unexpected – and unwelcome – detours.

But wait, there’s more:

Baptism isn’t a one-and-done, dip-and-dash thing,
as if to say “I was baptized,”
but it is a daily reality and blessing that is new every morning,
as Luther puts it in his Small Catechism:
“[Baptism with water] signifies that the old person in us with all sins and evil desires is to be drowned and die through daily sorrow for sin and through repentance, and on the other hand that daily a new person is to come forth and rise up to live before God in righteousness and purity forever.”

Baptism is as much about the blessing itself
as it is about what comes next –
inviting us, daily, to participate in the work of the kingdom of heaven,
as the words of the baptismal covenant encourage us:
“to live among God’s faithful people,
to hear the word of God and share in the Lord’s supper,
to proclaim the good news of God in Christ through word and deed,
to serve all people, following the example of Jesus,
and to strive for justice and peace in all the earth.”

***

This is the point:
To remind us of our belovedness,
a promise and a reality that nothing can take away.
No matter how bleak things feel –
in our own lives
or in the world around us –
we can cling to this promise:
I am baptized.
I belong to God.
I am beloved.

This is the point:
To remind our neighbors of their belovedness too,
the promise and the reality that God is with them always,
that God’s love is for them and for all,
no matter what,
and to participate together in the work
of God’s justice-seeking, peace-building love
for the sake of the world.